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| Krystal Bogner, flickr.com/people/snerkie/ |
Samoa Joe has a worse record than Sarah Logan? Five tag teams have the same winning percentage as Curt Hawkins? Dean Ambrose is just a guy already? Silly wins and losses! If you only mattered!
by Sam Everett, @readsameverett
Note: All records mentioned below pertain to the period since WrestleMania 34.
What do you know, these win/loss records aren't completely detached from reality! For example, now that Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey has dispatched with Alexa Bliss, it appears she's the target of Ruby Riott, who happens to be, by record (11-4), the rightful number one contender. Indeed, Riott and her whole Squad have some of the more respectable records on Raw. We can assume those will suffer as all three women will likely be fed to Rousey one-by-one in the coming weeks, but if they can step up their extracurricular chaos-making, they'll pose believable threats to the champ. After Riott, the standings don't offer many challengers to Rousey. Perhaps Nia Jax will demand some reciprocity for the title shot she offered Rousey earlier this year. Sasha Banks and Bayley have the popularity to cut in line and make Rousey back up her claim of being a fighting champion, and fans would probably ignore the fact that they are a combined 13-24.
The records below spark plenty more questions about the state of WWE a week after its Hell in a Cell event. . . .
ODD MAN OUT
Roman Reigns is the Universal Champion, poised to carry the belt over one shoulder and WWE's flagship show on both. Seth Rollins is a weekly highlight with the workhorse title, the Intercontinental Championship. Meanwhile, fellow Shield member Dean Ambrose is newly returned from nearly a year on the DL, and at 2-2 hasn't exactly enjoyed any comeback momentum. Even if he does manage to pick up some wins soon, is he likely to set his sights on his brothers' championships? A better use of the Lunatic Fringe might be matching him up against Braun Strowman once The Monster Among Men and Reigns take a break from the dance they're destined to do forever. If WWE's recent attempt to make a villain of Becky Lynch has only fortified her fanbase, its similar shot at making Braun a bad guy has left the WWE Universe confused. Somehow the company's biggest brute has produced the heel turn equivalent of a limp handshake. Months of Ambrose absorbing Strowman's superhuman beatdowns could be just the thing to turn the fans against him. His various attempts to murder Reigns over the last year and a half only made the crowd fall in love with him because they generally wouldn't mind seeing Reigns crushed in an ambulance. But they mostly like Ambrose.
SOLITARY
The Usos are 1-6 in the tag team division, but 6-2 outside of it. Time for an amicable break-up to pursue singles glory? Or for Jimmy Uso to sharpen his announcing, and pencil, skills?
FALL FROM GRACE
Sixteen active current or former world champions are sitting at .500 or better, but 12 have sub-.500 success. Of course, pointing out that statistic risks burying the lede; on a roster of about ninety active competitors, 28 can say they've been a world champ. That's just world titles. And most of those reigns occurred this decade. And, obviously, that number doesn't include former roster members, and former champions, like CM Punk or AJ Lee or Alberto Del Rio or the returning Rey Mysterio, who have also captured world championship gold in recent years before leaving WWE. What's worse, that so many people have been tested out in the top spot over the years, or that so many are portrayed as losers now?
NO WINS SITUATION
Five active tag teams have yet to win a two-on-two tag match since WrestleMania. Toss in the Good Brothers and the Usos, and that number rises to . . . two. If we've been paying attention, the takeaway is this: If you're a singles wrestler, there's a decent chance you'll climb to the mountaintop; if you're in the tag team division, there's a decent chance you'll be stabbed to death by your sherpa over a poker dispute before you ever get to the mountain.
KO-MIZ-ERATING
Former world champions Kevin Owens and The Miz are a combined 10-28. You're literally better off picking Lana to win a match.
Finally, Would You Believe . . . ?
. . . New Day are downright dominant as a tag team (6-1), but no better than .500 in matches outside the tag division?
. . . Rollins and Finn Balor have combined for fifty matches on WWE television since WrestleMania? And Owens has been part of 22 (and, yes, has only won five)?
. . . Jinder Mahal has the same record as Liv Morgan?
. . . Sheamus has just one more win than R-Truth, including singles and tag team matches? And even though he's wrestled in five more matches? What's up with that, fella?
The records below spark plenty more questions about the state of WWE a week after its Hell in a Cell event. . . .
ODD MAN OUT
Roman Reigns is the Universal Champion, poised to carry the belt over one shoulder and WWE's flagship show on both. Seth Rollins is a weekly highlight with the workhorse title, the Intercontinental Championship. Meanwhile, fellow Shield member Dean Ambrose is newly returned from nearly a year on the DL, and at 2-2 hasn't exactly enjoyed any comeback momentum. Even if he does manage to pick up some wins soon, is he likely to set his sights on his brothers' championships? A better use of the Lunatic Fringe might be matching him up against Braun Strowman once The Monster Among Men and Reigns take a break from the dance they're destined to do forever. If WWE's recent attempt to make a villain of Becky Lynch has only fortified her fanbase, its similar shot at making Braun a bad guy has left the WWE Universe confused. Somehow the company's biggest brute has produced the heel turn equivalent of a limp handshake. Months of Ambrose absorbing Strowman's superhuman beatdowns could be just the thing to turn the fans against him. His various attempts to murder Reigns over the last year and a half only made the crowd fall in love with him because they generally wouldn't mind seeing Reigns crushed in an ambulance. But they mostly like Ambrose.
SOLITARY
The Usos are 1-6 in the tag team division, but 6-2 outside of it. Time for an amicable break-up to pursue singles glory? Or for Jimmy Uso to sharpen his announcing, and pencil, skills?
FALL FROM GRACE
Sixteen active current or former world champions are sitting at .500 or better, but 12 have sub-.500 success. Of course, pointing out that statistic risks burying the lede; on a roster of about ninety active competitors, 28 can say they've been a world champ. That's just world titles. And most of those reigns occurred this decade. And, obviously, that number doesn't include former roster members, and former champions, like CM Punk or AJ Lee or Alberto Del Rio or the returning Rey Mysterio, who have also captured world championship gold in recent years before leaving WWE. What's worse, that so many people have been tested out in the top spot over the years, or that so many are portrayed as losers now?
NO WINS SITUATION
Five active tag teams have yet to win a two-on-two tag match since WrestleMania. Toss in the Good Brothers and the Usos, and that number rises to . . . two. If we've been paying attention, the takeaway is this: If you're a singles wrestler, there's a decent chance you'll climb to the mountaintop; if you're in the tag team division, there's a decent chance you'll be stabbed to death by your sherpa over a poker dispute before you ever get to the mountain.
KO-MIZ-ERATING
Former world champions Kevin Owens and The Miz are a combined 10-28. You're literally better off picking Lana to win a match.
Finally, Would You Believe . . . ?
. . . New Day are downright dominant as a tag team (6-1), but no better than .500 in matches outside the tag division?
. . . Rollins and Finn Balor have combined for fifty matches on WWE television since WrestleMania? And Owens has been part of 22 (and, yes, has only won five)?
. . . Jinder Mahal has the same record as Liv Morgan?
. . . Sheamus has just one more win than R-Truth, including singles and tag team matches? And even though he's wrestled in five more matches? What's up with that, fella?
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