I am not going to post a review of No Way Out simply because I don’t want to come across as being negative against the WWE Superstars, that wouldn’t be fair at all. I have the up most admiration and respect for each and every one of them, they always deliver in the ring and you can’t deny their dedication to the business and to the fans. No matter how little build up they have to their matches or the lack of heat or Storyline going in they still manage to tell a great story in the ring - its what they do best and I always find them entertaining.

In my humble opinion the Creative Team needs a real good shake up in the WWE on both Raw and Smackdown and they need to hire writers who have a wrestling background and who know what the Wrestling fans would find intriguing and interesting. With each passing week there are hints that they are getting further and further away from the actual wrestling side of the business, the continual push of the new Diva’s for one that no one cares about but for some reason the Creative Team and Bookers think that the fans want to see more of them instead of actual wrestling matches. It makes watching a PPV very hard because your concentration waivers because of these types of segments, it certainly doesn’t enhance the card.

The poor treatment of the Cruiserweights on Smackdown is beyond my comprehension, fans love to watch the smaller guys and the high fliers but most of them seem to have been grounded for the most part and for some unknown reason the WWE continue to push huge monsters that fans just have no interest in at all and hate to watch in the ring. Some of them succeed in getting over with the fans - Batista, Big Show, Kane and Undertaker etc. mainly because they have a personality as well but most have a very short shelf life in the WWE. Why not give the fans more high flying, high energy, fast paced matches rather than these slug fests that fans lose interest in early on?. I felt that the booking of the Cruiserweight title match at No Way Out was extremely confusing and seemed rushed which was just such a shame and a complete waste of six incredibly talented athletes.

The other thing that confused me no end at No Way Out was the actions of the referees and none more so than in the opening Tag Team Match. Now I know heels cheat to win but surely to god referees are supposed to be impartial and should treat all the Superstars equally (gone are the days of having heel referees like Nick Patrick was when he first joined the WWE!). In the Tag Match Eddie Guerrero was being thrown out of the ring constantly by the referee for trying to interfere yet The Basham Brothers spent most of the match just blatantly double teaming and the ref didn’t do anything about it. They just completely ignored him and it just got annoying in the end. The referees really need to start calling these matches down the line and if the heels won’t leave the ring then they need to warn them that they will be disqualified if they don’t take note.

With Wrestlemania but six short weeks away they have only really built on one match - Triple H vs. Batista and I can’t for the life of me see right now any other matches that could be on the card. Okay, we have John Cena vs. JBL now and hopefully that match will be built up in the next six weeks but what about the rest of the talent on Raw and Smackdown?. Most of them, thanks to the Creative Team, are drifting from one week to the next right now and are not involved in any real plots or Storylines - not long term ones anyway.

I personally feel that guys like Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Big Show, Undertaker, Randy Orton, Edge, Kurt Angle, Kane, Shawn Michaels etc, the main stays in the WWE right now and the huge fan favourites, should all be involved in high profile matches at Wrestlemania, matches that fans would love to see and not just filler matches. We have been teased that we will see Benoit vs. Jericho 3 in their current series but I bet you it won’t take place at Wrestlemania - yes, a majority of fans would love to see them face off in some sort of Stipulation Match at the PPV but its rare the Creative Team REALLY listen to the fans these days. They would need to start some sort of Storyline between them this week so if it doesn’t happen tonight then it ain’t going to happen at Wrestlemania (unfortunately).

Same goes for Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels, that feud has been touched on but if they are going to give the fans that match at Wrestlemania then the Creative Team need to come up with an intriguing WRESTLING BASED Storyline and soon. The match needs to mean something.

I know that the WWE have to debut new stars, it’s the natural progression of any business, they are looking to the future after all and have to build on their future stars but why the rush to debut them and push them up the card so quickly these days?. Their Storylines and push needs to be realistic otherwise the fans just won’t buy it and the characters won’t be over for long. Patience is a virtue after all and the slower the push the longer the Superstar will last in the business and the more of an impression they will make. It will also allow them to find their feet and earn their wings on the way up learning from the best in the business today. Having them beat those veterans so early on does not mean that they are that good but that the bookers want to push them up the card quickly. Fans just don’t buy into that and tend to watch in disbelief most of the time when that happens.

Maybe if the Creative Team listened to their actual Superstars more then things would be less confusing, more believable and more exciting Storyline wise. After all they tend to know what the fans like and don’t like more than the Creative Team do.

Take Care

Di