As a weekly watcher of WWE television, a lot of my brain capacity is earmarked for WWE storylines. Unfortunately, a lot of these storylines mysteriously disappear, even when the talent remains on the roster.
Here are some recent examples of storylines that WWE has seemingly moved on from:
– Titus O’Neil Blames Darren Young – Right after Summerslam, Titus O’Neil called out Darren Young on Raw with regards to him being dead weight that kept him from being at top of the card. Not the first time that the two have feuded. Bob Backlund got involved with this feud and took some bumps on D-Young’s behalf. There was no blow-off match for this feud, and last night on Raw, Titus started a new gimmick about “the Titus brand” being ready to dominate all areas of entertainment.
– Make Darren Young Great Again – Speaking of Mr. No Days Off and Bob Backlund, this vignette of making Darren “great again” went on for months. It transitioned to wrestling with Darren Young getting a pay-per-view title match against The Miz. Then it nosedived to the aforementioned feud with Titus O’Neil. Did they already make Darren great again and we missed it?
– Samoan Families – The Usos and Roman Reigns came together as “family” earlier in the year. Naomi and Tamina also played up the “family” thing, even though they are distant cousins — by marriage — at best. However, none of those alliances led to notable pay-per-view matches. Now that some of those characters have changed sides and brand splits have come about, I guess they are no longer related? Roman did talk about his lineage in his show-opening Raw promo last night, although maybe that was to get the crowd’s respect?
– Social Outcasts – The Social Outcasts collective disappeared without explanation, which may have been due to Adam Rose’s firing — although a member of The Ascension once filled in for him on a house show — or the brand split pushing Heath Slater over to Smackdown. Curtis Axel’s angle after the brand split was that he was the last superstar drafted and that he was out to prove everyone wrong. That has not been mentioned recently. It has also not been clarified as to why Bo Dallas is running solo, as he and Axel did tag together after the brand split.
– Baron Corbin & Kalisto – Speaking of Baron Corbin, he attacked Kalisto a few times in backstage segments. He also mocked him a bunch on social media. Alas, no feud there.
– Braun Strowman Vs. Lucha – Speaking of luchadores, remember why Braun Strowman attempted to de-mask the masked luchador Americo a month or so back? And then Sin Cara called out Strowman for being disrespectful? Well, Strowman is back to beating small unmasked jobbers again.
– Brock Lesnar Post-Summerslam – After winning his match at Summerslam against Randy Orton, Shane McMahon got in Brock’s way and was F5’ed by Brock. Paul Heyman pleaded with Stephanie McMahon — who (storyline) does not get along with her brother — to not suspend him. Ultimately, Shane fined Brock $500. Even though Brock is signed to the Raw brand. And then Randy Orton fought on a Raw house show to have his rematch against Brock. Why even have a brand split in that case?
– Mark Henry – Prior to Summerslam, Mark Henry pleaded for a match against Rusev because he “had a lot left in him.” He lost the match and we have not seen Mark Henry wrestle on one of the major weekly programs since then.
– Charles Robinson As The Evil Referee – Back in May at Payback, Charles Robinson forced a screwy finish on the match between Charlotte and Natayla, likely as an homage to Bret Hart being ringside. While Robinson has long held the nickname “Little Naitch,” a proper explanation for his aligning with Charlotte for this match was not properly explained. Meanwhile, Charles Robinson continues to call matches without the announcers questioning his intentions.
Sure, it’s professional wrestling — or sports entertainment, if you want to be technical — but sometimes some more continuity wouldn’t be such a bad thing…
