Lowenthal's Lowdown - WWE Week of April 28, 2014

By Greg Lowenthal

In this week's blog, I break down the events in WWE. While I didn't watch Impact Wrestling this week, I'm certain a lot went on. So here we go.

The WWE is gearing up to its next major Pay Per View entitled Extreme Rules. It looks like the buildup towards it is a lot more intense than even the buildup leading up to Wrestlemania 30. I'm impressed this week and I saw some very interesting developments this week. So it's time to break it down according to what I saw.

Monday Night Raw had its moments. One of which was the return of the Big Red Monster, Kane. I am impressed that the WWE finally brought him out of his "Corporate" character, because it was rapidly growing stale and was not creating the type of impact I wanted to see from the "Authority-Daniel Byran" feud that had been brewing for some time. This latest twist should ensure that one of WWE"s longest performing superstars sees a lot more matches for the near future. The least impressive development was between Fandango and Layla and Santino Marella and Emma. This feud is nothing more than filler for the WWE and it needs to see all 4 competitiors develop their talents and gimmicks a lot more if they are going to sell the crowd on this gimmick. Evolution, a stable curently composed of Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista, made a bold statement to The Shield, another faction composed of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. The Shield was told to "adapt or perish" and The Shield didn't take kindly to that response.

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Overall, Raw got a grade of a B-. This is because while I felt there were some good moments, it wasn't as impressive as I'd have liked it to be.

Smackdown was far more exciting. The Shield are the babyface (or good guys) and were ordered to participate in an 11-on-3 handicap match. But those superstars involved faced the wrath of those 3 men throughout the night and it proved that a push was needed to improve this gimmick (the character or role used by the wrestler as their alter ego in the ring). This was impressive because the Shield not only improved the odds for their match, but each man showed their talents and mic skills, which have dramatically improved since their debut 2 years ago. The Antonio Cesaro/Jack Swagger match was impressive as it showed just what a beast Cesaro is in the ring.

Overall Smackdown gets a grade of A plus. This is because the Shield stepped up and proved they are a force to be reckoned with.

Tune in next week for the next installement of my weekly blog. Enjoy!

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