Official Wrasslin' Thread (renamed to reflect the discussion)

cpg said
Sami has been a victim of his booking in every run he's ever had as a singles champion. In NXT, he lost his first non-rematch defense in a swift, humiliating manner. The bloodline feud stagnated because no one cared if he beat the Usos, the crowd wanted him to beat Roman and when they neglected to pull the trigger anything after was doomed before it started. Now they have him entangled in this mess of a program with Alpha Academy that only hurts the IC championship, while they tease out this Otis turn that will go nowhere. Sami is still massively over with the crowd, so it's difficult for me to blame him when it's abundantly clear this is a booking problem. Him winning the IC title has felt like a consolation prize for not beating Roman the year before, and it's obvious they didn't have much of a plan after.

If I'm being honest, I've been pretty lukewarm on all post-Mania booking.

Eh, the booking has been ok. They do miss in some spots. You've also got a few injuries and some performers having to get juggled.

That said, it's a combination of both imo. Sami not always getting great booking, but also he's actually kinda been boring as a champ. Damien is having the same issue. He's a solid heel and has a lot going for him, but I thought him having the belt him has been a bit underwhelming. When JD all held the belts at the same time, that was pretty fun.

I think all the good booking in the world isn't going to fix Sami/Damien with the belts.

I do think they missed the mark by not putting the belt on Sami when he faced Roman, but I do think the reason being they wanted to save Roman for Cody was understandable.