{"id":38988,"date":"2017-02-18T21:43:18","date_gmt":"2017-02-19T03:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=38988"},"modified":"2017-02-18T21:43:18","modified_gmt":"2017-02-19T03:43:18","slug":"five-count-five-lessons-wwe-learn-elimination-chamber-including-bayley-title-win-naomis-ring-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/02\/18\/five-count-five-lessons-wwe-learn-elimination-chamber-including-bayley-title-win-naomis-ring-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"FIVE COUNT: Five lessons for WWE to learn from Elimination Chamber including the Bayley title win, Naomi&#8217;s in-ring skills, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-4076908345\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>In this edition of \u201cFive Count,\u201d I\u2019ll be looking at five lessons for WWE to learn from the Bayley title win on Raw this week and then the Elimination Chamber show focusing on the women&#8217;s and tag team divisions.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(1) The Chase Is Dead<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>I love Bayley. I cried when she won the NXT Women&#8217;s Title. I cried even during her entrance for that match. I was so emotionally invested in Bayley\u2019s chase of the title in NXT. And it wasn\u2019t an overly complex story being told or even an original story. The likeable babyface starts out at the bottom of the division, gets established in a certain position in the division, and over time and has to overcome defeat and adversity before finally reaching the very top of the division. It\u2019s classic pro wrestling storytelling and, with the right person, a sure-fire success tale. So now that we\u2019ve established that I get emotional over Bayley and that her progress through NXT was perfection, here was my reaction to her winning the Raw Women&#8217;s Title. I groaned.<\/p>\n<p>This has been the case for years now in WWE and is by no means a new problem, but I\u2019m just sick and tired of every new act reaching the top of their division almost instantaneously. When Bayley won the NXT Women&#8217;s Title it meant something because the story and the outcome and the title itself meant something. Winning a title in WWE doesn\u2019t mean anything. Winning the Women&#8217;s Title on either brand especially doesn\u2019t mean anything. Winning a title in your first year on the roster doesn\u2019t even mean anything because it\u2019s the same path that every act goes on. Kevin Owens was a World Champion in little over a year from his debut. Finn Balor was a World Champion on his first major show. A.J. Styles in less than a year. American Alpha pretty much straight away. Sasha, Charlotte, and Becky all within little over a year.<\/p>\n<p>Can we not just have someone have to wait an extended period of time before they reach the top of their division? Can we not just go on a struggle with someone as they come up short and we see how they react to defeat and adversity. Can we not have moments again where someone goes on an actual journey progressing up the card rather than just debuting at the top and reaching the pinnacle in barely any time at all?<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019m not even arguing that all them names listed above should have to wait years before winning the title. And, yes, I completely understand that the introduction of NXT makes the chase harder to pull off in a relevant fashion because \u201cthe modern chase\u201d now encompasses not only a wrestler&#8217;s journey through NXT but everything leading to their signing with WWE. I\u2019m not asking for WWE to start debuting acts like Bayley and Finn Balor as enhancement talents that have to work their way up the card from the very bottom. That would obviously be daft. But can we please just have somewhat of a chase so that it feels as though we\u2019ve gone on some sort of journey with our favourite wrestlers? So that when Bayley does win that title it feels like somewhat of an achievement. I miss those true feel-good moments when guys like Daniel Bryan and Eddie Guerrero finally reached the very top after the journey not only they themselves but their fans got to go on with them.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(2) Winning Titles Is Meaningless<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Leading in from the previous lesson, the other major reason why I just didn\u2019t care about Bayley winning a slightly different piece of material to the NXT Women&#8217;s Title is because none of the titles in WWE mean anything. And my use of the word \u201canything\u201d is become more and more literal with every title change that happens.<\/p>\n<p>Winning one of the top titles should be an accomplishment. It should be a massive deal. It should be a huge talking point. It\u2019s not any of those things in WWE and that\u2019s because everyone gets their turn with the belt. Being the champion of your division isn\u2019t unique. Everyone gets to hold the Women&#8217;s Title at some point and, if everyone gets to hold it, then why should I care when one particular person gets to hold it? If I\u2019m the only person in my class to get an A on the test, then I\u2019m feeling pretty great about myself and my parents would be super proud. But if they then learned that 80 percent of the class also got an A, what do you think happens to their reaction? The more scarce an accomplishment, the more prestigious it is. Everyone \u201cgetting their turn\u201d with the belt totally kills off the prestige and the equity that belts hold and, without them, it\u2019s nothing more than a piece of material that someone carries around with them.<\/p>\n<p>And even when people do win a title, nothing changes. Keeping with the Bayley context, what changes now for Bayley? She\u2019ll still be working with the exact same people she was before and the exact same people she would be had\u00a0she didn\u2019t won\u00a0the title. The perception of Bayley won\u2019t change. She won\u2019t draw more money now that she\u2019s a champion and she won\u2019t be presented any differently. Nothing changes. Maybe a better example to use her are Karl Anderson &amp; Luke Gallows. They won the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championships a few weeks ago now and what has changed? Being a champion doesn\u2019t prompt different booking, it doesn\u2019t place them in a more prominent position on the card, it doesn\u2019t cause fans to change how they look at them. Nothing changes. So where\u2019s the value in being a champion?<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-521486061\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>And that\u2019s the reason why I don\u2019t get anyone reacting to Naomi or Bray Wyatt winning their respective titles like it\u2019s a thing of consequence. It\u2019s just their time to carry around that piece of material. Naomi will have some time holding that piece of material and then she\u2019ll pass it on to the next person whose turn it is and her career will be the same it was before. You look at the Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton match for WrestleMania and how many people feel that, because it\u2019s now for the title, Bray and Randy have been elevated up the card?<\/p>\n<p>Titles need to matter and you do that by raising prestige and equity in them. If winning a title isn\u2019t unique or a game changer, then why should people care about who holds a piece of material?<\/p>\n<h3>(3) <b>Smackdown\u2019s Tag Team Division Needs Credible Teams<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Not that we needed the Tag Team Turmoil at Elimination Chamber to prove this point, but it really did make it abundantly clear just how deep of a\u00a0mess Smackdown\u2019s tag team division is. It\u2019s not a quantity issue. Six teams is on the thin side for sure, but it\u2019s something you can work with. The issue is who those six teams are.<\/p>\n<p>American Alpha are a great pair of talents, but they haven\u2019t gotten over on Smackdown and that\u2019s because there are no teams with any credibility for them to beat (that, and their personalities haven\u2019t been showcased at all). The only credible team they\u2019ve even faced are The Wyatt Family and the only reason they beat them is because Harper and Orton couldn\u2019t get along. They did have a good opportunity to finally showcase them at Survivor Series against credible teams but completely passed that one up.<\/p>\n<p>The Usos should be a great team in this division with tons of credibility, especially coming off their heel turn, but they never beat anyone since turning. The greatest indicator for the failure of their act is how credible an act can look wrestling in street clothes. For a credible badass team it\u2019s cool, but for anyone else they just look like schmucks. At the start of their run it gave them a bit of a swagger, but watching them at Elimination Chamber they had totally lost that swagger and were schmucks in that ring gear.<\/p>\n<p>Slater &amp; Rhyno are a comedy team. A comedy team that had a run with the belts and kept on beating The Usos, but regardless of all of that they\u2019re a comedy team. A\u00a0non-comedy team beating a comedy team doesn\u2019t do anything for them. It\u2019s fun when they win, but it never means anything for someone else to beat them. And then we have The Ascension, The Vaudevillians, and Breezango&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>In the best case scenario, you have American Alpha and The Usos that you can run with in a credible program, but they\u2019ve completely diluted that potential rivalry since the brand split by taking the poor hand they were dealt with the tag division and making it an even weaker hand. Remember coming out of the brand split when an Alpha vs. Usos series had people excited. Now who is excited for that match at all? So the one good hand you had to play now means nothing.<\/p>\n<p>The fix isn\u2019t easy. Raw has a similar problem &#8211; at least in terms of depth &#8211; with their tag division too. But the neat thing about tag teams is that anyone can be in one. It\u2019s not like a women\u2019s division where you need to have a vagina in order to compete in it. Yes, there are teams in NXT that could be called up to reinvigorate the division, but I\u2019m not even going to entertain that as a solution because it\u2019s not happening, just like how Smackdown won\u2019t get to raid Raw\u2019s tag teams. NXT needs their own tag division because NXT also needs to draw and that\u2019s a third division thin on tag teams.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-456087437\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>What Smackdown can do, however, is redirect directionless singles wrestlers into the division. Guys such as Kalisto and Apollo Crews are totally directionless and likely will be for the foreseeable future, so why not make them a tag team in the division. Okay, they won\u2019t be the stars of the division, but you have American Alpha and The Usos heading up the babyface and heel sides of the division. What they\u2019re in need of are\u00a0credible supporting acts for each to work with.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(4) Nikki Bella Wrestling Just Isn\u2019t Worth It<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Okay, let me preface this by saying that I somewhat like Nikki. Her matches aren\u2019t memorable, but they\u2019re watchable and far from terrible. But that being said, if the reports about her health since returning from neck surgery are to be believed then she should really just retire because, frankly, it just isn\u2019t worth her wrestling. Nobody really benefits from it. I mean, sure she\u2019s popular and she has the benefit of being known to a somewhat different audience through Total Divas and Total Bellas, but that\u2019s as a personality not as a wrestler. She doesn\u2019t need to be wrestling in order to stay relevant.<\/p>\n<p>The concept of risk vs. reward has been pretty much tossed out the window in the modern wrestling landscape, but with Nikki, the risks are so much higher. Neck fusion surgery is no laughing matter and not an injury to be just shrugged off as \u201coh, she\u2019ll get surgery and come back.\u201d The risks here are life changing. If she\u2019s already feeling constant numbness and pain and she continues wrestling, then that\u2019s not a remedy for improvement. Compare that to the rewards from Nikki Bella wrestling. She isn\u2019t all that good of a wrestler. She\u2019s like a two-star match kind of wrestler who\u00a0can vary a star here or there depending on her opponent. She is somewhat of a draw, but not in a way that people are coming to see Nikki Bella wrestle matches. It\u2019s a &#8220;oh, we know Nikki Bella from E! and we like her.&#8221; It\u2019s the sort of pop you get for appearing, but isn\u2019t maintained past that. And you don\u2019t need to be wrestling matches in order to get that pop.<\/p>\n<p>Is it really worth her being in constant pain and anguish just moving around the house before she\u2019s even 40 so that she can have more two-star matches with Natalya and Alexa Bliss. Is it really worth her not being able to run around the park with her kid if she ever has children? It really isn\u2019t. It isn\u2019t really worth it if you\u2019re Daniel Bryan and you\u2019ve just reached the peak of the industry and are about to make more money than you\u2019ve made before, let alone Nikki Bella.<\/p>\n<p>And Nikki Bella retiring from wrestling doesn\u2019t mean you lose all the benefits that she brings to the table. She can still be an on air personality. Make her a GM, a manager, a brand ambassador &#8211; there\u2019s plenty of roles that she can fill where she can still be \u201cNikki Bella: Role Model\u201d and continue to be a relevant part of Total Divas. Or if for some reason wrestling is an itch she just can\u2019t leave be, then have her work a no bumps schedule where she only works tag matches, comes in, hits her moves, and gets out. At the very very very least, please let\u2019s not have her taking a superplex spot that barely gets a reaction.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(5) Naomi Isn\u2019t A Good Wrestler<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>I know that opinions on wrestling quality are subjective and there are people who will read that and shake their head that someone could think such a thing. What it would probably read more accurately as is \u201cNaomi Isn\u2019t A Good Ring Worker.\u201d She\u2019s athletic, can jump high, and can do gymnast shit. Okay, cool. But that\u2019s what makes her an even bigger danger inside the ring and why Naomi\u2019s shortcomings are a lesson that WWE needs to take on board.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t a new thing with Naomi off the back off a fluffed ending to a match at Elimination Chamber. I\u2019ve been saying that she\u2019s terrible for a while now and the worrying thing is, she\u2019s not improved since she started in WWE. But the match with Alexa Bliss really drove home the danger that she can be in the ring. Now don\u2019t get me wrong, she isn\u2019t alone in this category. Carmella is a really raw act inside the ring too, but the difference is that the danger level on the moves that Carmella is doing is much safer compared to the moves Naomi is doing. Because Naomi is such a great athlete and can do these more visually impressive spots, she\u2019s allowed to do them and, for as fancy as they look, they\u2019re also dangerous, especially if the person doing them isn\u2019t a great in-ring worker. A split-legged moonsault for instance is a fine spot to do in a match between two experienced and polished workers, but when the person doing the move isn\u2019t either of those things, moves like that become reckless and really dangerous for both wrestlers involved.<\/p>\n<p>There were two occasions on Sunday where Naomi did the split-legged moonsault spot. The first time she was supposed to miss as Alexa rolled under it but ended up catching Bliss cleanly with it and caused a weird moment of confusion. Now I\u2019ve seen some people blame Bliss for not moving quick enough, but if you watch it back, Naomi gives her no time at all to get firstly into position and then secondly to roll under it because she rushes to the spot a million miles an hour. And it\u2019s not just a case of her rushing; it\u2019s a lack of ability in doing the things between the spots. Once she has Alexa set up for her finish, she needs to let that moment breathe. Let the fans realise that she\u2019s about to hit her finish and possibly win the match and the title. Let that feeling sink in for a few seconds first. Let the emotions of the match takeover. And in doing that you give you and your opponent more time to properly set up for what is a high risk spot. Instead she rushes through a high risk spot which then turns into a dangerous and reckless spot.<\/p>\n<p>Same case for the second split legged moonsault spot. And this one was all on Naomi. First of all, her setup for the spot was horrible, leaving Bliss knocked down halfway across the ring. Which fair enough, it happens. But don\u2019t just leave her that far out of position and race over to the ropes for your next spot. It\u2019s like robots at work and, if something goes wrong, they\u2019re not programmed to react accordingly. So already you\u2019re making your opponent look silly for having to roll herself back into position to take a move she should be avoiding. If she can roll towards the spot, then why doesn\u2019t she roll the other way out of danger? So once again she rushes the spot, doesn\u2019t check to see that Bliss is in the correct position and ready to take the move, and this time she ends up hurting both herself and her opponent doing a high risk move which turned into a reckless move because she isn\u2019t a good enough ring worker.<\/p>\n<p>The lesson isn\u2019t that WWE need to tell Naomi to stop wrestling. The lesson is that if she\u2019s going to do these high risk spots, then she needs to become a much better, smarter, and safer worker inside the ring in order to take better care of both herself and her opponent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/02\/05\/five-count-five-lessons-wwe-can-learn-royal-rumble-weekend-including-reigns-going-heel\/\">FIVE COUNT: Five lessons WWE can learn from Royal Rumble weekend including Reigns going heel, making outcomes matter more<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"entry-content clearfix\">\n<div class=\"entry-content clearfix\">\n<p><em>(\u201cFive Count\u201d is a weekly Specialist column by PWTorch Specialist Matt Seabridge who will present a list of five lessons to be learned from various categories, theme, shows, eras, or events in pro wrestling.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-255002084\"><div id=\"pwtor-676376263\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>In this edition of \u201cFive Count,\u201d I\u2019ll be looking at five lessons for WWE to learn from the Bayley title win on Raw this week and then the Elimination Chamber show focusing on the women&#8217;s <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/02\/18\/five-count-five-lessons-wwe-learn-elimination-chamber-including-bayley-title-win-naomis-ring-skills\/\" title=\"FIVE COUNT: Five lessons for WWE to learn from Elimination Chamber including the Bayley title win, Naomi&#8217;s in-ring skills, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,52,4366,27],"tags":[127,321,974,4766],"class_list":["post-38988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlightarticles","category-opnionandanalysis","category-five-count","category-specialists","tag-bayley","tag-naomi","tag-nikki-bella","tag-smackdown-tag-team-division"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/NaomiWK_3x2_600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38989,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38988\/revisions\/38989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}