Ryback heading in the right direction

"Goldberg! Goldberg! Goldberg!" 

Those chants echoed around arenas for the first few months of Ryback's career.  The comparisons to start with were undeniable.  The music, the look, the power.  All a reminder of Bill Goldberg, the man who exploded on to the scene in WCW and went on to dominate the company through the late nineties.  With Goldberg being such an iconic figure in the history of the industry, it has been a real struggle for Ryback to shake off those chants but in recent weeks there have been real signs that Ryback is emerging from the shadows.

It has been slight tweaks to Ryback's character, not a complete overhaul that have seen more and more fans accept him as his own man.  Let's start with his entrance theme.  When Ryback first arrived, the music was a generic, heavy bass theme.  This has had lyrics added and a bit more guitar which gives it some real originality.  Also it now starts with Ryback's words "Feed me, feed me more".  The fans have always loved a "singalong" and now everyone has started chanting these words.  This gives Ryback a real connection with the fans, as it has created a catchphrase for him.  This has been a great way of getting over for decades.

We have also heard more from Ryback recently.  Granted, he is no Jericho or Edge when it comes to mic skills but his short pre-recorded promos break down the walls (excuse the pun) that his previous silence had built up between him and the audience.  They are showing that he is not just a powerful machine but a man on a mission, a mission the fans can get behind.  And the hilarious Subway sketch this week on Raw showed him in another positive, human light. Although did anyone else wish he had put Jared through that table?...

Most importantly though it has been the beginning of meaningful feuds.  For a long time Ryback was fed weak, small, indie wrestlers that nobody really cared about.  However what this was doing was steadily building the character's momentum so that the fans would be interested to see if he could do it against established superstars.  And it looks like his first real test is just around the corner.

Miz seems to be the first real top rung Superstar about to embark on a feud with Ryback.  I for one, am keen to see where Ryback goes from here.  A successful feud with Miz could mean an IC title run.  If the momentum continues to build, he could be a real contender for the Royal Rumble, meaning a big match spot at Wrestlemania.

I will leave you with this thought.  Instead of drawing comparisons to Goldberg, Ryback is starting to remind me of another ring "Warrior"...

AP

WWE's Tag Team Woes

Can I have all the people who care about the WWE tag team division please raise their hands?

Hmmm, that doesn't look to promising.

Okay, so I don't actually have a room of people here to poll but what I am gauging is the lack of any sort of reaction for the tag team matches in WWE at the moment.  I say at the moment but this is pretty much the case for the last couple of years and I think I've found the reason why...

When I first got into pro-wrestling in the mid-nineties I just took for granted the amount of strong tag teams in the company.  To me the tag team titles were prestigious and something to aim for, to any Superstar.  I used invest real interest in the tag team matches and found the title matches to be just as enthralling as the singles championship matches.

This was because the company invested just as much interest as I did in these teams, something they don't seem to do today.  My question is; When was the last time an up and coming tag team got any real time on the mic?

See in order for us to care about these teams we need to know who they are.  Do they think that Hulk Hogan would have been as successful if there was no "What ya gonna do..." speech before he took on the bad guys?  Or that The Rock would be the Hollywood movie star he is today without a good ten minutes of promo time every Monday night?

Its the same for the tag teams.  I can still remember the Dudley's arriving in the WWE.  They would gut a promo before every match, giving the crowd an insight into there characters and devloping real personalities.

It is hard to imagine any team today getting as much promo time as Edge and Christian did, with their five second poses and back stage interactions (the ones with Kurt Angle being particularly memorable).  It meant that people care about their TLC matches with the Hardys and the Dudleys because people actually knew who they were cheering for.

The WWE needs to learn from it's on successes and start giving these current teams some real storylines or else it will continue to suffer.  While building these teams up, give some credence to the titles by putting them on some monster talent.  I am aware that both R-Truth and Kofi-Kingston are successful, I mean former world champions like they have in the past.  Take The Rock n' Sock Connection, Undertaker and Big Show or Stone Cold and Triple H.  If you have the belts on guys like these then they will matter.

 

My own favourite would be a team of two men who's interactions of late have probably been the most entertaining on TV over the past few months.  Kane and Daniel Bryan would be the classic odd couple tag team but could probably work successfully in the ring too.  It's just a suggestion but I think it's better than anything the WWE have come up with recently.