#WWE Doesn't Understand How To Rehash Storylines Properly.

 I really don't know what's going through the minds over in Connecticut.  It's like they want to rehash stories from old times but just don't do it right for some reason.  I don't get why they do things this way.

On RAW, The Authority vs. Bella storyline was advanced in anticipation of the rather doomed match between Stephanie and Brie Bella at SummerSlam.  While I'm never a fan of having a PPV match between two Divas who arguably aren't that good in the ring, it's at least putting Divas in the front and center of attention again.  There will be two Diva matches, which we haven't seen in many years if my memory serves me.

My problem hinges around the storyline itself.  I get what they're doing at a basic level, I just don't know why, because they're missing a much larger payoff - and possibly more satisfied long term fans.  The key?  John Cena.




First, some history.  The Authority wants Randy Orton to be champion.  In summary, that's what we're consistently getting shoved down our throats.  Unfortunately he's got his hands full with Roman Reigns, who went from being a top tier competitor to just being inexplicably angry with Orton, and who has responded with equal inexplicable anger.  So they're just beating the crap out of each other with no real back story; the only hint of a story we've heard is that Roman "stole" the WWE Championship from Randy.  Since there were four guys in that match and since Cena is the one who won the title, that's not it.  No...it's because when HHH announced Orton as the #1 contender to face Cena after he won the title, Reigns attacked Orton.  That's it.

So we've got Roman, who attacks Orton for no reason, and Orton angry at Roman for "stealing" a championship that Cena won, and both of them blatantly ignoring the real target: John Cena.

That's my problem with this whole story.  Everyone - EVERYONE - is ignoring Cena.  That's not how it should be.  That's not how it was when Orton was champion.

So instead of HHH banning Reigns or suspending Reigns or doing something else to get Orton freed up and protect his "face", HHH turns to Brock Lesnar.  Brock Lesnar, who came back out of the clear blue because he wants to face the champion.  Didn't earn it, mind you.  He walked away with a victory over the Undertaker, sure (which is another problem that I'll get to in another post).  But he never beat Orton, the-then #1 contender.  He never beat Reigns, the dark horse.  He never beat Kane, who was next in line behind Orton.  Hell, he hasn't beaten Cena, who pinned him clean after a punch at Extreme Rules; a finish that would forever tarnish Lesnar's credibility as an indestructible force (more on that in the other post I mentioned).

What's all this have to do with the Bellas?  If Total Divas is to be believed (being a reality show and all), John Cena and Nikki Bella are dating.  WWE has gone to great lengths, thanks to the brutal attack by Kane on Daniel Bryan, to actually showcase the fact that Bryan and Brie are married; even going so far as to use that relationship to coerce Bryan to give up the WWE Championship due to injury.  That in itself was a silly storyline, since Bryan had to be stripped non-kayfabe anyway due to the real injury he sustained.  It's like Vince getting blown up in the limo all over again.

This incident, and the slap that followed, would then create a feud between the Authority and Mr. and Mrs. Danielson, with the focus being on Brie and Stephanie.  The key though is that HHH and Bryan were still at odds, and even Bryan and Steph had words ("You hit like a GIRL!!!"); we also can't forget Steph's continual mention of Bryan being a "B+ Player", an insult that not only hints at reality, but is just damn funny.

Fast forward to RAW.  We know Bryan is out injured, so he's likely not at RAW (if he was at RAW, that's a storyline gap for real, but maybe his injury is bad enough that he shouldn't take bumps, which is what happened to Edge).  We don't know if Cena is there; we only saw him on a pre-taped promo about Brock Lesnar.  But he should have been.  So should Brock.  No, not so they could face off...but so that the Authority could use him to enhance BOTH storylines at the same time.  Let me run this down.

Cena's focus is on Brock Lesnar.  Cena claims Lesnar is the most dangerous opponent he's faced; however, we have the win over Lesnar at Extreme Rules, and Cena says he "knows what it takes to win".  The Authority claims they don't want Cena to keep the title.  What better way to ensure he doesn't, than to actually distract him from his focus with the one person who SHOULD be the key to that distraction?

Nikki Bella.

As seen on RAW, Nikki was planted with a Pedigree; not by HHH, but by Steph. (Some side facts: Steph's outfit is the same one she wore during her promo work with Scott Steiner, where he had her leaned back on the table saying that his "freaks were watching...they like watching."  Kudos to Steph for still being able to wear that outfit so many years later.)

HHH had Brie locked in the corner, so now it's effectively two-on-one and his girlfriend is being abused.  At this point I would have expected Cena to at least come out and confront HHH if nothing else. This hints back to when Orton, then in the Legacy stable, planted Steph with a picture-perfect RKO and set off the fury of HHH, which is when we first ("kayfabe") learned of the relationship between HHH and Steph (obviously, we all knew they were an item, but it hadn't been made clear on TV until that key moment).  The anger HHH showed, not saying a single word, set the stage for what would be a monster feud between the two.

In the image above, we really should have had Michael Cole in the place of Mike Chioda, Cena in the place of HHH, and Nikki Bella in the place of Steph.  We should have had Cena showing uncharacteristic anger at the treatment of his girlfriend by the Authority.  Even if there wasn't any tangle between him and HHH, it just doesn't make sense that despite all of the mistreatment that Nikki has endured at the hands of the Authority, and given the fact the Authority is doing everything possible to get the title off of him, we should have long since seen him snap and do something about it.  Instead, we're treated to him and Brock doing the same thing they did before Extreme Rules; cut meaningless (nice, but meaningless) promos on each other with absolutely no care in the world about anything since there was no build-up to Cena/Lesnar whatsoever.

The net effect would have been a key distraction of Cena.  His girlfriend has now become his Achilles Heel, and the Authority should exploit it in their quest to rid Cena of the title.  As long as they target Nikki, Cena should not be able to fully focus on Lesnar.  Then, have Lesnar come out and destroy Cena constantly, at every turn.  Have the Authority stand tall over Nikki, Brie, and Cena.  For better effect, show Bryan at home angry about what's happening and powerless to stop it.  You'd push a powerful evolution (no pun intended) of the storyline between HHH and Orton and the storyline between Vince and Austin, while at the same time getting more fans behind Cena, since we'd now see a different side of him than we'd seen before: one that connects to his character on Total Divas (which, by the way, feels like an OCD robot).  You'd also get Divas back involved in the "male storylines" which is exactly why former Divas like Trish and Lita were able to get over.

Culminate that with a Nikki heel turn at the PPV.  Then have her justify herself to Cena on Total Divas.  Show them fighting on that show.  Extend the storyline OUTSIDE of the ring but keep continuity.

WWE feels like they're afraid to pull that trigger.  Instead they're giving us a spot story that hints at something greater, but all it really is doing is burying Reigns, Kane, Orton and yes, Lesnar.