Crockerinho

Wrestling Moderator

According to Mike Johnson on PWInsider.com, Paul London was told on his return from his broken nose that his feud with Billy Kidman had been cancelled because they simply didn't see money in it. He has now returned to Velocity, 'main eventing' it this week in a match with Akio, that according to most reports was the best match of the entire TV taping. I am a huge Paul London fan so this has gotten me confused. Am I biased by my admiration of his work? Am I clinging on to those 5 stars matches he had in ROH too much and expecting WWE to give him that kind of freedom or am I, like so many others, justified in reading that comment and wondering what the hell is going on in WWE management that they can think like that?! OK, so it's not Rock vs. Austin, but London and Kidman had the match of the night at No Mercy after a strong build up and I was all set to buy Armageddon on the sole premise that London would be returning from his injury and probably facing Kidman, or at least continuing the momentum that he had begun to develop after his tag team reign. Although this is not going to big money going into the WWE pot, but I am sure I am not alone in thinking this. At a time when business is down, surely WWE should be going all out to offer as much variety in it's product as possible and guys like London offer that - or am I misguided? Not to mention, this is yet another angle involving the cruiserweights that have begun and gone nowhere. Is it any wonder that the cruiserweights aren't percieved as being able to draw money when any angle they are involved in instantly gets binned when it doesn't take off straight away. And if not then what was the point in dedicating so much TV time to the angle in the first place if they are going to cancel it straight away?! With a roster which is in desperate need of personailites and stars, for WWE to under utlise so many of it's a workers and instead bring in personality devoid bimbos and green as grass talent show wannabes to occupy the TV time is it any wonder WWE's TV rating are fluctuating so much and that their pay per view buyrates are dropping on a monthly basis. Now I am not saying that Paul London is the answer to this, neither am I saying that the cruiserwights will instantly add 100,000 buys, but surely the current thinking is not working so why not at least give them a go and give them a consistent run. Look at an example of something which no-one in the world thought would work at first - JBL as champ. Despite a rocky first few moenths, WWE's persitence in pushing this guy has develeopd a character people connect with and actuyally give a damn about (even if most of it is negative!). If they don't start doing this with the smaller guys that comprise the majpority of the Smackdown roster then how the hell do they expect to fill the extra pay per views they keep announcing. They can't keep chucking these matches on the shows with 3 days to go, give them 5 minutes and expect people to care about guys who have only ever appeared on Velocity before. And if they no intention of pushing them then why have them there in the first place? WWE should either sack these guys and release them back to the promotions who care about them or should actually start utillising the kind of employees who can put on good matches and get wrestling fans enjoying wrestling again by allowing them to put on good matches on a month on month basis. After all, the cruiserweights only had the best matches of the night at Survivor Series and No Mercy!

Tommy 2 Slow

Formerly Narc

Great post Crock and i dont think youre alone in your thinking. I would have liked for Kidman and London to be a tag team a little while longer and then go their separate ways. This way their split would have meant something, like when The Rockers broke up. But the truth is, no1 cared and thats why Paul London is now stuck on Velocity.

Bouchie

I watched that match with Paul London on Velocity. It was really the first time I got to see a full match of his, and I was impressed. I was reminded of a young Shawn Michaels as I watched his style. If he was a few pounds heavier he could potentially be the next HBK (with a lot of charisma work, obviously).

Y2J The King Of The World

I've liked London's ring work since he started with WWE, and I'm disappointed that he's getting ditched by the writers. WWE may feel there's no money in this feud, which there probably isn't (meaning that this angle won't draw on its own merits), but that has been WWE's fallacy for the last 3 years: they think that there can be two storylines per show and the rest can be filler, and that will draw ratings/PPV buys. WWE had its biggest success in the late 90's not only because of McMahon-Austin, but also because of the incredibly strong undercard feuds that were booked. Sure, nobody would buy a $34.95 PPV to see a London/Kidman rematch, but if that was part of a PPV of other well-booked bouts, I think that the buys would make a rebound.

I bet that London goes the way of many others before him (including his former tag partner, Spanky), and jumps ship. He'd be better utilized in TNA, in my opinion. Can you imagine Styles vs. London? Amazing!

Bad Joke

Paul London is the new Shannon Moore / Brian Kendrick / Billy Kidman / Tazz / Lnce Storm

by this i mean that the WWE are wasting a potentionally great talent.