An American Big Guy in Liverpoo

Jack Swagger on Team Cena was a bit of inspired idiocy. Sure, Swagger has finally gotten over with what appears to be a reformed xenophobe-turned-generic-patriot gimmick, but considering that the Authority and he really have no beef, even mentioning him as being on the team — especially without having him be the one who introduces the idea to Cena — almost immediately fitted him for a red shirt. And Jack Swagger, All-American American, deserves better than sacrificial lamb.

It’s good to see that the WWE has finally figured out that, while assume, the one thing that hurt Randy Orton’s wonderful Kill-Kill-Destroy-Punt was how almost hilariously long it took to set up. And it’s even better to see that, instead of just making Randy do his faster, they gave the magic powers of the Punt to Seth Rollins with the Curb Stomp. With it, they’ve managed to turn a 6’1″, 220 lb acrobat into a monster heel capable of decapitating his opponents in one fell swoop.

The level to which the Stooges 2.0 have been mixed into this storyline has really added a lot of flavor to the Authority. They — meaning the performers and the writers — have managed to make the Authority feel much more structured and permanent than the “fly-by-night” vibe organization it gave before Seth Rollins turned, and having honest-to-God henchmen amplifies that without beating anyone over the head.

Any time you can blowoff a meaningless feud between two talented performers in front of the heel’s homecrowd, with the heel winning essentially cleanly, you should totally do that. It won’t have an adverse effect on either performer going forward.

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