I was hoping the new acquisition would have been Cesaro, but in essence, I think Curtis Axel could use it more. He's a good worker, like Cesaro. He has a better pedigree with the family and was trained by Harley fucking Race. Cesaro could easily be another Heyman guy coming soon, or he could probably get by with something as simple as a face turn.

Now all we need if for DiBiase to be brought into the fold.

tell me more about this kid on the pole

They'd make the kid sit on the pole rectum first waiting for Axel or Cena to pull him off

That's definitely not PG.

Well I'm sure they'd have a few censors.

I have to say, as much as I'm not a huge fan of The Shield as main event caliber guys, I'm glad WWE is pushing some guys to the point where their TV matches actually matter.

One reason why sitting and actually watching Raw is impossible is because it's just a bunch of thrown together matches with meaningless outcomes. One guy can squash someone one week and then when the guy they squashed is getting pushed, he can turn right back around the next month and squash the guy who squashed him. It's why no one gets over anymore.

I like that The Shield has been consistently booked as a force for a while without any dips now though. I still don't see main event potential in them and wish part of their push wasn't at the expense of a guy like Ryback. And their reasoning for doing some of the shit they do it retarded. But they can compete in a match with no titles on the line and the outcome is a big deal. I'm actually invested in how their match turns out. That's something WWE has failed to do for a long time and I wish they'd figure it out with everyone.

Daniel Bryan vs. Curtis Axel on SmackDown could be the perfect way to get Axel over and to give him a solid victory that could make us realize this is meant to work.

Fuck him. He doesn't deserve to go over Bryan. Bryan's credibility is more important. Don't have him lose to try to gain momentum for this guy. Let him beat some lower level guys and see how things work out there first.

Oh please Bryan wouldn't lose any cred and he's great at putting other niggas over.

I think the outcomes of matches matter. So yes, wins and losses do factor into credibility. See: The Shield.

WWE likes to make guys lose to build up credibility for their latest project. And that project usually fails. And both guys end up looking like shit. Putting Axel over guys who already have something going for them right now only serves to make them look worse when Axel fails and starts jobbing again in a couple months. It takes a shitload of time to build credibility and jobbing out your somewhat established guys to a guy like Axel is a good way to continue the trend of everyone being muddled in the middle of the card and no one being really over for good.

I do see what you're saying, fan, but in essence you'll be sacrificing the potential of the heel act that is Curtis Axel by not doing something with him. Daniel Bryan is my favourite in the WWE bar none, which is why he is the perfect man to make Axel look good. He'll give him a good outing, will look amazing in losing, and since Bryan and Kane are probably still going to be going after the Tag Team Championship, Bryan's singles career isn't top priority right now (it will be after The Shield beat them again).

Kofi Kingston is another guy that could feud with Axel in the short-term. Kingston has nothing really going on and there is that history there between the two. Heyman could line Kingston up as an opponent because it would represent Axel rising above his former mentor.

You know this isn't as far-fetched as the last sentence makes it seem. Heyman dumping Axel and then Curtis turning face and feuding with a new Heyman associate (Antonio Cesaro) could potentially get the two of them over. McGillicutty worked quite nicely as a babyface on NXT Season 2 (probably the best work of his career next to his recent NXT stuff).

Not sure what people think of the guy, since a lot of people try to act too cool for people who are actually in the biz, but Lance Storm is in support of Curt Axel. I appreciate Storm's insight. He always seemed like a guy who knew what was meant to happen, when and how, and never cried foul that he never got a huge push. He seems to understand what he was the the industry and continues to give to it in his own way.

So, yeah, fuck you Hennig haters.

On the topic of Randy Orton: I can see him continuing to build momentum and eventually challenge Dolph Ziggler for the World Heavyweight Title. Orton seems too big to be in a MITB Ladder Match this year, so maybe they will have Ziggler vs. Orton as the World Title match. A victory for Ziggler there would be great for him. It's about time some big players got back in contention for that title.

I don't really give a fuck about Axel himself, but damn that theme is legit.

More of that, and less generic whiny rock songs by shitty bands please.

yeah, pretty cool theme.

not much to say about curtis axel yet... didn't capture me though.

Responding to the wording of that could get me in trouble with the authorities.

Apart from barely anybody would see it with it being on SmackDown.

i don't think his dad was that good on the mic ether, they put him with bobby the brain to get him over, an that killer pirfect gimic.

A similar argument was made for people like Cody Rhodes and Husky Harris, you know. Since then, people complained Cody being thrown into a random tag team with Sandow asas a demotion and there is outcry for THE TALENTED ROTUNDA (read: NOT Bo) to be called up to the main roster doing the Bray Wyatt thing.

Not everybody needs to be flashy with the personality, and at least now they are kind of not running away from him being Perfect's kid (this is a long way from Just Joe).

Just see where this goes and enjoy it. You may be surprised. I mean, a couple years back, would you have suspected Jon Moxley, Tyler Black, and Ano'i #329 to be one of the hottest things on RAW?

I'm really liking Summer Rae's gimmick: being really hot.

Cody or Husky Wyatt being the Heyman guy would have been superb.

I don't know how I'd feel about Wyatt being the Heyman guy. He's just so good at his character, he should let it form on his own. A manager, even one as good as Heyman, doesn't fit with the gimmick. He's a cult leader. He doesn't need anyone to lead him.

As for Cody... well I'm just not a fan of his outside the "disfigured" gimmick. He's horribly generic. The most the guy has to separate him from the pack of average sized, average weight, boring personality guys on the roster is that he now has a mustache.

BUT HE SHOULD WIN MONEY IN THE BANK AND BECOME WORLD CHAMPION

Cody had a ton of personality in the Dashing and Disfigured days and now that hes not up to much he could have used Heyman to put him back on track. Wyatt is fine on his own but then so was Punk

I think it was a wasted opportunity not making Kane the new Paul Heyman Guy.

I love Cody Rhodes. Whenever he is given something to actually work with, he makes it work and is entertaining.

He also seems to do something to get over even when he isn't given anything to do. His moustache is more over than 80% of the roster.

Cody and Bray have more personality in their pinky than Axel does in his body.

And no I wouldn't have suspected that because I thought the WWE wouldn't have sunk to those depths.

Cody Rhodes is pretty fucking good. His mustache was as over as Ryder on RAW. He's always doing something that is cool. He's in a slump at the moment because there isn't much for him to do. If they turn Wade Barrett face, I'd actually like to see a Barrett vs. Rhodes feud. Barrett could cut some pretty good promos about disfiguring Rhodes and making him whinge about it for half a year again.

Since he seems to be moving away from Fandango, Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Axel could be a pretty interesting rivalry, especially since Jericho could explain what it means to be a Paul Heyman Guy first-hand. They had Jericho lose due to a tweaked knee against Fandango, but a clean victory for Axel over Jericho would really get people talking.

Another thing they could do is have Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel cut an in-ring promo on RAW. Heyman can say that he didn't expect Curtis Axel to become an overnight sensation, but this guy is even better than even he gave him credit for, because he put the nail in the coffin on Triple H's career. Stephanie McMahon can then make a rare RAW appearance and address "Joe" about what he did last week. Axel grew up in the business, and so did Steph -- you could perhaps reference some sort of "past" between the two. Childhood friends? Perhaps even a romantic link? Maybe you could have it revealed that Triple H and Steph kept Axel around for years because of this past shared between him and Steph? Anyway, you can have Stephanie ask Curtis "Is this how you wanted to make it? With Paul Heyman? After everything he's put my dad through? After everything he's put me and the kids through?" And then Axel can say "Steph, sweetie -- I don't give a damn about your dad; I don't give a damn about your husband; I don't give a damn about you; and I sure as hell don't give a damn about your kids!" Then you cue a babyface like Jericho coming out for the save and shifting focus to in-ring action for later.

Next week RAW is apparently having a Bret Hart appreciation night after the show.... but since Bret Hart is a religion in Canada, they will actually be airing it in Canada live. Seems like the first time they have done something like that.

Yeah, it's gonna be on The Score. Let's hope Bret doesn't get a live mic.

If Axel came out with a slightly tweaked titantron (something sparkly and more "Perfect" -- maybe a pyro shower), new ring gear (something colorful that shows him off to be a bit of a tosser), and did a gum spit and catch (or something where he spits the gum and then doesn't care to catch it), cut that promo with Heyman and then beat Chris Jericho in a 15+ minute match with the Perfect Plex? I think things would begin to click for the guy. Oh, and put him in a Triple H shirt just for that promo to make him look like a real dick.

Think they could actually do something huge with this. Bret apparently can't do anything physical, but I could see some heel punking out Bret and setting something up with someone. Might even be Curtis Axel. When is Tyson Kidd ready to return? I don't think he's medically cleared, but a heelish kicking out of his crutches could lead to something with someone down the track.

Except for the fact that only Canadians would see it

We're the only country that matters.

Would be pretty "crazy" if they did an exclusive "Canadian" angle after RAW each week.

Tyson Kidd gets back at Christian for taking Natalya out to a nice seafood dinner and never calling her gain!

Tyson Kidd is fucking magic in the ring. I wish he could talk.

Tyson Kidd does a sweet blockbuster, I don't remember whether he's in WWE 13 or not, but I may load it up and give him a year long IC title reign, and a custom belt too, woooooo!

Glad Ryder changed his tights, his push me ones were pretty gay if you think about it.

he should get shorts that say tna bound or big rob on them.

They could just recap it on SmackDown/the following Raw.

he was chewing gum on raw i was ready for him to spit it out, the writers could make him a bad ass heel, he could be as good as cody.

Perfect didn't catch the gum, he swatted it away (a bad habit I picked up, incidentally). He tossed his hand towel behind his back and caught it. Unless you're saying Axel should do the opposite: catch his gum and swat a hand towel into the crowd. Bonus points if its pre-autographed.