The Disconnect between Main Event and Mid Card

[IrishCanadian25]

Last night's sickening and infuriating match between John Cena and The Miz at The Bash, coupled with my wrestling intellectual near-equal Mighty NorCal (who prompty and futiley attempted to convince me that the match made perfect sense) got me thinking.

If nothing else, Cena's "glorified squash" over The Miz simply solidified the fact that there is a gap between the Main Event and the Mid Card of frightening proportions. And I wasn't expecting Miz to get thrust into being a perrenial Main Eventer from last night's match. I DID, however, expect a fair amount of Mid Card advancement. Miz is a Mid Carder right now, which is just fine. The problem is that the gap is SO HUGE that I wonder how the WWE will be able to create believable Main Event talent after Michaels, Taker, and HHH retire and if Edge, Orton, or Jericho go down with an injury.

Think about it - in the early and mid-1990's, Bret Hart was the usual world champion. In his first PPV Title defense (Survivor Series) he faced the Intercontinental Champion, Shawn Michaels. The match went on for 30 minutes and made us believe that Michaels was a viable threat to the World Title, even as the IC Champ.

During his second run, Hart defended against another Mid Carder, albeit his brother, Owen. Between their match at Wrestlemania 10 and their match at SummerSlam in the cage, Owen looked like a star. He never grabbed the World Title, but he was a terrific Mid Card and Tag Team Champion for many years, and people believed him.

Hart sold for Hakushi. Hart sold for Jean-Pierre LaFitte. There was less of a disconnect between the Main Event and the Mid Card in those times.

The only guy in the WWE Mid-Card with now who could transition to the Main Event is Chris Jericho, and that's because he's a 5-time champion who gets called up to the big time when someone gets hurt. MVP wasn't even on the PPV or on the commercial-free Raw last week. Kofi Kingston puts on solid, albeit short, matches.

What are YOUR thoughts on the fissure between the Main Event and the Mid Card in WWE right now?

 

[The Todd]

If nothing else, Cena's "glorified squash" over The Miz simply solidified the fact that there is a gap between the Main Event and the Mid Card of frightening proportions. And I wasn't expecting Miz to get thrust into being a perrenial Main Eventer from last night's match. I DID, however, expect a fair amount of Mid Card advancement

I think using the top babyface and a guy who has only recently joined even the mid card is a bit unfair to compare the enitre main event with the mid card. Before this feud Miz was a tag team wrestler without a partner.SInce then he hasn't even wrestled a proper match before being placed with the top man.

Cena elevated Miz by just being involved with him. The feud may not even be over. There is still room for Miz to explode with anger and take a chair to Cena. Miz isn't ready for a win over Cena, not many in the company are. The feud has elevated him from nothing to the US title division, and that is fine for now. He has more credibility now then when he joined Raw.

Miz is a Mid Carder right now, which is just fine. The problem is that the gap is SO HUGE that I wonder how the WWE will be able to create believable Main Event talent after Michaels, Taker, and HHH retire and if Edge, Orton, or Jericho go down with an injury.

If you discount yesterdays match, in the past few months we have had the Hart Dynasty go over Christian, John Morrison go over CM Punk, who himself has gone over Jericho and Edge. There has also been matches where MVP has looked competitive with Orton, Swagger with Cena, Morrison with Jericho and Edge, R-Truth with Jericho. Each one of these has shown the midcard is full of talent.

Another example is Matt Hardy. If it wasn't for the injury he may well have made more of a noise on Raw. He came to Raw on the back of winning two out of three matches against the most popular wrestler in the company.

Think about it - in the early and mid-1990's, Bret Hart was the usual world champion. In his first PPV Title defense (Survivor Series) he faced the Intercontinental Champion, Shawn Michaels. The match went on for 30 minutes and made us believe that Michaels was a viable threat to the World Title, even as the IC Champ.

This isn't exactly your point, but if you placed todays IC champion against today's World Heavyweight Champion, the IC champion would probably be the favourite to win the match. Though I get you are on about the mid card being seen as almost as good as the main event. Again, if you forget about The Miz, most midcarders have been elevated lately.

What are YOUR thoughts on the fissure between the Main Event and the Mid Card in WWE right now?

I really don't see the need for panic yet. As I have stated I believe the upper mid carders are seen on a level playing field with the main eventers. Miz losing to Cena doesn't mean otherwise, again he has gone from not getting ECW title shots to being in a ring with Cena on a PPV.

People like John Morrison are still in the starting stages of a main event push and so far he is doing really well in my eyes. Ted Dibiase shows signs of turning on Orton which will put him up there in the mid card. R-Truth has been in the ring and hung with Jericho, and whilst Jericho may currently be in the mid card on PPVs he is still one of the top two heels in the business. Miz's time will come, he has years ahead of him but at the moment he isn't at the head of the queue to break out of the midcard and rightly so.

 

[Motor City Mayhem]

Look the John Cena vs The Miz match at The Bash meant nothing. That match waws to just simply show that The Miz can only run his mouth and that John Cena shut him up. I think, As much as I hate it, The Miz will one day be a Main Eventer.

The problem isnt the Huge Gap between Main Eventers and Mid Carders its the fact that WWE Creative and Vince just dont want to put on those great M.E vs M.C matches that they used to.

Just wait and see and you will see that the Mid Carders will be better shown once the whole Triple H vs Orton thing is over because then Vince can focus on other things.

 

[HBK-aholic]

I disagree. For a start, The Miz is hardly upper mid-card. While it's unclear as to who is in the 'upper' and 'lower' stages of the mid-card I think it's pretty clear The Miz is not one of the bigger stars. There's supposed to be a big gap between someone of Miz's calibre - a tag team competitor more than anything, and the WWE's star boy John Cena. You're putting way too much focus on The Miz being great. And while I agree he has potential, he's got a couple of years before he's a real main eventer, and you have to take that into consideration.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I disagree. For a start, The Miz is hardly upper mid-card. While it's unclear as to who is in the 'upper' and 'lower' stages of the mid-card I think it's pretty clear The Miz is not one of the bigger stars. There's supposed to be a big gap between someone of Miz's calibre - a tag team competitor more than anything, and the WWE's star boy John Cena. You're putting way too much focus on The Miz being great. And while I agree he has potential, he's got a couple of years before he's a real main eventer, and you have to take that into consideration.

Oh lord, I love the fact that it is summer and Becca is here to play. Make no mistake folks, when she's on her game, she's one of the best we have.

So you're claiming Miz isn't upper-mid card, right? Okay, fair enough. I'll gladly concede that he is not an established upper-midcard singles competitor.

But is MVP? People seem to think so. And if so, where's he been on Raw lately? Where was he on the PPV? How come he hasn't been opening RAW and basically been handed time week in, week out to build a feud?

As far as being "basically a tag team competitor," I point to exhibit B, Ted DiBiase Jr. People are calling for him to break away from Legacy and feud with Orton for the title. Excuse me, WHAT? He hasn't even been outside of the tag team ranks yet, and HE gets that type of credit? Ridiculous.

I also want to make clear - Miz didn't need to WIN last night. He needed to get over a bit. Tell me - what is the major difference between The Miz and Jack Swagger that Cena made Swagger look like a million bucks on Raw a few weeks ago and couldn't do the same for Miz last night at The Bash?

And are we forgetting that Miz, as a single competitor, beat CM Punk CLEAN on ECW, just weeks after Punk's first MITB win?

 

[HBK-aholic]

Oh lord, I love the fact that it is summer and Becca is here to play. Make no mistake folks, when she's on her game, she's one of the best we have.

Sweet talking me so I won't own you too badly I see . Joking, thanks hon.

So you're claiming Miz isn't upper-mid card, right? Okay, fair enough. I'll gladly concede that he is not an established upper-midcard singles competitor.

But is MVP? People seem to think so. And if so, where's he been on Raw lately? Where was he on the PPV? How come he hasn't been opening RAW and basically been handed time week in, week out to build a feud?

MVP is arguable. When he's being built up and given matches and feuds he's a great star, I've thought that ever since he debuted. However, he doesn't seem to be given that lately.

As far as being "basically a tag team competitor," I point to exhibit B, Ted DiBiase Jr. People are calling for him to break away from Legacy and feud with Orton for the title. Excuse me, WHAT? He hasn't even been outside of the tag team ranks yet, and HE gets that type of credit? Ridiculous.

The Miz, taking everything into consideration, is a tag team competitor. It's how he's been booked and seen for a majority of his WWE career (Nearly 2 years in the team, I believe). He's really only just starting on the ladder to the Main Event, with the tag team division rarely being an automatic huge step.

That credit is ridiculous - Legacy are great tigether and I LOVE Ted DiBiase Jr. in it. But for someone to even say he's near the Main Event is ludicrous.

I also want to make clear - Miz didn't need to WIN last night. He needed to get over a bit. Tell me - what is the major difference between The Miz and Jack Swagger that Cena made Swagger look like a million bucks on Raw a few weeks ago and couldn't do the same for Miz last night at The Bash?

Jack Swagger is arguably better than The Miz, having already been a World champion. Granted, that was the ECW brand, but that alone is reason enough for Swagger to look great losing to Cena. I don't think Cena made The Miz look anywhere near as bad as people are trying to make out after watching aspects of the match again, either.

And are we forgetting that Miz, as a single competitor, beat CM Punk CLEAN on ECW, just weeks after Punk's first MITB win?

But hon, that's CM Punk we're talking about.

 

[Coco]

IC, one loss and the state of MVP's push are not enough to justify this kind of reaction. Pebble's post brought up a lot of good examples that you would gladly overlook to present the view that WWE's not good at building new stars. While I don't think things are perfect, I do think that your logic on this matter is quite selective. Yes, MVP's push has come to a halt once again (rumors are running about that he's gone and pissed the boss off again). Yes, the Miz got squashed, but he may not be the hot prospect he's been made out to be. The man can annoy people with his mere existence, but it's not like he's done anything in the ring worth getting excited about. He was riding Morrison's athleticism for most their tag run and had a passable grasp of tag team psychology and now he's just being used for what he is as a singles wrestler. But most importantly, those are only two examples.

Other men are being pushed at different rates and coming up with different levels of success. John Morrison has taken Jericho and Edge to their limits recently, just pinned the World Champion, and has pinned Shawn Michaels in the past. Kofi Kingston was put over Chris Jericho as soon as he arrived on Raw and has gone toe-to-toe and looked good against Edge. Jack Swagger has beaten Matt Hardy and Christian and looked like a star against John Cena. MVP, before his problems with higher ups, beat Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, and Jeff Hardy and came close several times to beating Batista. Matt Hardy got a great run with the ECW Championship before defeated his brother (a former world champion) twice. Any of these men, at a moment's notice, could be ready to contend for the World Championship as an upper-midcarder ready to break through. Also, be sure not to overlook the fact that fans would accept Mysterio and Christian has main eventers in a heartbeat.

Things could be better. Midcard feuds could be given more tender loving care. Legacy could look better. Kendrick shouldn't be floundering. But to say that the disconnect is alarming by using MVP and Miz as the focal points of your argument isn't fair.