Gabriel VS Cesaro on RAW this Monday....

[Isaac Kaye]

Over the last few weeks I've really struggled to connect with the RAW brand, whether it's the tiring 3 hour format, weak and comical booking or simply a lack of emphasis on mid card feuds. 3 hours is a hell of a long time, but for some reason there are more and more 2-3 minute matches booked essentially to get upper mid-card heels over. Take Del Rio for example. Since the last PPV he's beaten Zack Ryder and other lower midcard babyfaces on countless occasions, supposedly in an effort to garner heat and make him look violent, aggressive and dangerous. In short they are presenting him as a threat to top babyfaces in the division. This isn't working and it is a prime failing of the RAW booking at the moment.

So out comes Cesaro, the relatively new US Champion who has been on a good run (I really like Cesaro btw, I think he's great). Garbiel is already in the ring, jobbers entrance. Let's just say for a second that I'm a more casual viewer. I've seen Cesaro go over Garbiel once already, as well as other similarly placed babyfaces on the roster. Is he gonna win this match? No! That's what my first thought is. However, I'm curious, the last match between them was superb, and they are both top in ring performers. Cut to the finish, Gabriel wins clean with his signature move, not a roll up or anything like that. As a fan, I'm absolutely delighted! The heel has lost, and an exciting babyface has got a (albeit shock as Cole adds) victory.

Garbriel has gone from having 0 momentum and reasons for the crowd to get behind him in recent months yet he has been working hard on his character and even his in ring work which is already superb. He beats the US champion and suddenly everyone thinks 'hey, this guy is a legit threat to the title, maybe we should get behind him!?'

The point I am trying to make it that WWE seem to have forgetten a basic rule of booking which is to leave a good taste in the fans mouth after the show. Having heels crush babyfaces every week is boring, counterproductive and leads to fans losing interest. I understand that Gabriel was booked as the underdog, but he still won clean with his finisher. Now there is a potential feud I actually care about and this is how the creative team should go about building solid mid card babyfaces more often.

So, my question is, has the WWE forgetten how to capture the feelgood factor of midcard babyfaces winning and presenting a legit threat to to midcard titles?

Do you think that Gabriel will not be inserted into a US title match at HIAC with Cesaro for the US title, and do you think this is a good idea?

IK

 

[The_Vigilante]

This was actually my favourite match of the night, for the fact that I don't think anybody really expected Gabriel to win, Cesaro has been squashing lower mid-card guys for weeks and it seems to have been too easy for him. Gabriel picking up the win frustrated Cesaro and it was good to see that side of his character, and for me they pulled off a genuine shock victory for Justin.

As for Hell In A Cell, I don't know if they SHOULD book the match, but I think that they will, getting Cesaro on PPVs is good exposure for him and he deserves it.

I don't think they should book a title match just yet, they could book a tag team match, for example, Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel vs. Cesaro & any heel, maybe even Dolph Ziggler, who doesn't seem to have anything else than the MITB case to keep him occupied at HIAC. Anyway, have Gabriel pin Cesaro again, and continue to pick up a couple of wins leading up to SS, then have the U.S Title match on one of the biggest PPVs of the year, if Gabriel wins it's huge for him, if Cesaro wins, it's a huge win at a huge PPV. Either way it would be a feud that could even continue to TLC, where they could utilise either Gabriel's high-flying style in a ladder match, or Cesaro's brutality in a tables match.

 

[Isaac Kaye]

Yes I agree, I enjoyed seeing Cesaro develop his character and show his frustration at losing. This is a great way of developing his gimmick but also drawing interest to see what his next move will be if they face again? Will he be able to counteract Gabriel's agility and speed? The fact is that I CARE, and I haven't cared about what Justin Gabriel has done for the past 10-12 months because he's always booked to lose! Now he has won, and I care. It's really basic stuff but it doesn't happen anywhere nearly enough anymore. I understand that this strategy is used every now and again (Kidd Tensai springs to mind), and they eventual outcome is that the heel comes out of top, and the babyface falls back down the card. Maybe this time it could be different.

I expect Gabriel and Cesaro to match up at HIAC as it doesn't make much sense to book anyone else in the match. Cesaro will probably win, but making Gabriel look great in the meantime will go a long long way.

 

[BlakeFerris458]

Your idea of how a show should be put together is completely wrong. Heels need to come up on the winning end every show, until the blowoff. Trading victories is for babyfaces to do with other babyfaces. A good program should only have the babyface go over once - the last match.

Also, cheapening the US champ is dumb. Justin Gabriel can't be a star, Claudio can. Why tarnish that? So the marks can get a kick out of it? Who cares about the marks? They'll be back every Monday one way or another.

 

[Isaac Kaye]

Your idea of how a show should be put together is completely wrong. Heels need to come up on the winning end every show, until the blowoff. Trading victories is for babyfaces to do with other babyfaces. A good program should only have the babyface go over once - the last match.

Also, cheapening the US champ is dumb. Justin Gabriel can't be a star, Claudio can. Why tarnish that? So the marks can get a kick out of it? Who cares about the marks? They'll be back every Monday one way or another.

At no stage did I say how a show should be put together, in fact you miss my point almost entirely. I was saying that the current RAW product is failing to get mid card babyfaces over. At the moment it's not happening nearly enough, and Gabriel going over Cesaro goes to show how powerful it can be to surprise fans from time to time. It doesn't cheapen Cesaro at all, he still looked strong in defeat.

Besides, babyfaces are supposed to win more often! If we apply your logic to booking a show then every episode would be exactly the same! If heels keep winning every week throughout the show, fans lose interest because they can't get behind the good guys. Just look at WCW for an example of what happens if heels become too dominant over a long period of time.

Who cares about the marks?? Erm, you mean the casual fan, who makes up a massive percentage of the RAW viewership? And no, they don't come back every week, quite the opposite if they're not happy with what they're seeing. They'll switch the damn channel! Ok, some of the IWC might not care about Justin Gabriel, but I can assure you that there are plenty of women and children that do. You should have seen the look on my girlfriends face when she saw Gabriel hit the 450 splash for the first time. She was goddam impressed (and she thought he was hot). She wanted to see him again!! What do you think these casual fans will start to do if Gabriel keeps losing?

 

[MTL722]

I'll guess that the only reason they did this was to give Cesaro something to do at Hell in a Cell. Gabriel is a guy that has the exact opposite arsenal of moves as Cesaro which led to a good match on Raw. I wouldn't read anything into it other than Cesaro Vs Gabriel at HIAC.

I'll disagree with your "feel good" theory for one reason. Have you watched Smackdown lately? I personally can't take it anymore because its nothing but faces winning tag matches. I'll take the side of BlakeFerris in the a face should lose in feuds. That builds up the heat and antimosity towards the heel. All that heat builds to a PPV where, if the face wins, the crowd reaction will be bigger for having not seen the face win before

In my opinion, Cesaro shouldn't be losing. For one, hes the champion. Losing in random matches almost devalues the title. Luckily for him, the US title hasn't had value in years. The Gabriel win, however, was a good move by WWE. It wont hurt Cesaro because he'll probably get his revenge at HIAC or RAW and everybody will forget all about it. I'd rather see Cesaro face an American (paging Jack Swagger) rather than a South African wrestler the fans think is American and JR seems to think is South American.

 

[The_Vigilante]

I'll take the side of BlakeFerris in the a face should lose in feuds. That builds up the heat and antimosity towards the heel. All that heat builds to a PPV where, if the face wins, the crowd reaction will be bigger for having not seen the face win before

I disagree, in this case we got to see Cesaro react to Gabriel getting a shock victory over him, and act even more like a heel. This did nothing do damage his character or slow his momentum down, if anything it makes his character stronger. As a champion he EXPECTS to win every match because that's what champions do right? So what happens when he's not beating everybody in his path? He gets angry, starts to pull of dirty moves in matches in order to win (For example, just as William Regal did with the brass knuckles), this generates more heat for him as a heel. They may not 'need' to do this with Cesaro because he's a good athlete, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't.

This particular 'mini-feud' if you like, would have a point to it. Sure to some extent they just want to get Cesaro on the card for HIAC, but you can guarantee that the WWE knows about Garbiels draw power for kids and women alike and it's clearly going to be the PPV opener, as it will be a fast paced match with some good spots and strong offence. But imagine if Gabriel does pull off another shock and win the strap? This will anger Cesaro more and give him the room to build up more heat by showing the side he did after losing on Monday. In the long run he'd generate more heat by not having the title and getting it back by any means necessary. Basically he feud is to achieve 2 things: 1 - Generate for hatred for a heel that has potential to get huge amounts of heat and 2 -Invest in Gabriel and give him some T.V/PPV time, build up some interest in him and give the portion of the fans that love him exactly what they want.

This theory that Cesaro needs to squash guys like Gabriel week in week out is not only boring, but does nothing for Cesaro's character, and certainly does nothing for Justin Gabriel.