SkitZ’ State of WWE Address — Vision Blurred, Eh-limination Chamber, Shoddy WrestleMania Plans & More Mudslinging

There’s no need for routine greetings or trivial punchlines today ladies and gentlemen. Let’s just jump right into it, because there are countless issues across the board begging to be addressed.

I haven’t posted a column in over a month now for a variety of reasons, but mainly because there hasn’t been any incentive to do so. Plus, Twitter is filled with so much overwhelming negativity that X gon’ give it to ya alright. That being the ick to write or add anything to the pile of mounting hate spread across the app. It managed to seep into my bloodstream nonetheless, and this felt like the quickest and most efficient way to get the venom out. Your boy SkitZ didn’t wanna be overly critical until we were several steps into this WrestleMania build. I’m a lifelong WWE fan who will continue to watch no matter how much my personal enjoyment fluctuates each week, but lord have mercy. Sometimes it feels like these shows are being written with kid gloves and shit stained crayons.

It shouldn’t be this messy. Aside from Punk versus Reigns, you get a looming sense that the company hasn’t had fuck else nailed down for the WrestleMania card, and they’re just coming up with this nonsense on the fly. If the intention is to keep us guessing at the expense of cohesive storytelling, then job well done WWE (piped in applause). You’ve hit a homerun. Hunter’s people have knocked it out the park while completely losing sight of the plot, and I highly doubt the pitches going on in those Creative meetings are anything deep enough to go over all of our heads.

Tonight’s PLE feels as ho-hum as The Godfather’s escorts back in the day. Good for an obligatory pop or two, but nothing much going on there beneath the surface. CM Punk doesn’t lose in Chicago, especially when he’s World Champion. The company only booked him for battle because it’s a home game against an inferior opponent, and otherwise Punk would be going almost three months without a title defense. And I mean no disrespect to Finn Balor. He’s just become the unlucky fall guy in these types of high stakes scenarios.

And in keeping with that theme, WWE is giving us AJ versus Becky two months early because Lee wrestling her first singles match since returning in front of the hometown crowd is apparently too perfect to pass up on. Even if booking their first fight this far out from WrestleMania is sure to take some of the steam out of the blowoff in Vegas. AJ Lee has been a step ahead of Lynch for 90% of this feud, and therefore Becky will escape Chicago with the Intercontinental Championship via nefarious means before ultimately dropping the belt to Punk’s wife in late April.

Then there’s the men and women’s Elimination Chamber matches. Iyo and Charlotte failing to qualify for theirs sprinkles in a little uncertainty given that many fans expected Flair to win and challenge Jade for the Women’s Championship at WM42. Rhea qualifying however – whereas her partner and old rival did not – seems to suggest that management has settled on Ripley being the one to challenge Cargill instead. Mami could use a change of scenery with a move to SmackDown, but then where does that leave Iyo Sky heading into WrestleMania?

As much as I’d love to see a guy like LA Knight win tonight and punch his ticket to a date with Drew in Vegas, we all know how this is gonna shake out. The creative direction for McIntyre’s precious championship has been obvious since he won it in early January. Drew, Cody and Jacob are heading for a three-way in Sin City. And with Fatu being screwed out of a spot in the Chamber for a second time, it just makes the outcome that much clearer: Rhodes prevails. I have little faith in Orton winning and the Mania match turning into a rumored four-way. Randy will land in another no-stakes singles match at the event against someone like Aleister Black or Trick Williams. Yes, he deserves better. I’m well aware.

Part of me can’t believe the company is still trying to squeeze more out of the Drew/Cody feud when that well ran dry seven weeks ago. It’s kinda unjust though to crucify Rhodes for forcing his way into another WrestleMania World Title bout when we collectively championed the dude into dethroning Roman Reigns two years ago. This is what comes with it. John Cena level booking, which means you better buckle in for several more years of Cody beating most of your favorites, and rarely being seen without a World Title around his waist. The IWC plays hot potato with their flavor of the week so recklessly, it’s no wonder our reputation as a fanbase is in worse shape than Artie Lange’s nose.

Whoever thought it was a grand idea to push Mania back towards the other end of April is clearly an auteur of slowform torture. The Road to WrestleMania was painfully long enough already, so why are we adding extra weeks to the build when WWE can’t even get the Brock and Roman types to show up until March? It makes for a very boring and uneventful February each year. A filler month stuffed with inconsequential crowd pleasures like this Saturday’s World Heavyweight Title bout. A rematch that’s bound to be of high quality, but one steeped in illogical booking because Balor can’t win. Finn will fall to 0 and a hundred over the past decade when the big gold belt is up for grabs, and then what? He maybe reverts to a babyface and dethrones Dominik? How does that benefit the Irishman longterm? Because comparatively speaking in terms of accolades, Balor isn’t even on Sheamus’ level. Feels like Finn is stuck in a time warp from 2018 for which there’s no escape. One that not even the long overdue implosion of the Judgment Day can free him from.

Dom versus Finn for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 42 not only comes off as a lazy rehash of their conflict at last year’s show, it also illustrates how ridiculously long this impending breakup storyline has been dragged out. Hell, we’re still nowhere near the finish line! The whole thing reeks of the Seth/Roman/Punk triple threat, and how this beef between the three of them seems to have no expiration date to speak of. Is Reigns versus Punk better than Reigns versus Rollins? Yeah, but not by much. Their banger in Vegas a year ago was an absolute show stealer, and the glue that held it together was Seth. You take him out of the equation in 2026, and we’re in for a much more plodding, slow-paced bout between Roman and the reigning World Champion. The promo battles will indeed be epic, but I’d temper my expectations on the payoff if I were tuning in.

Management played it REAL safe with The OTC winning the Royal Rumble. Trips & Co. totally took the safe route this year, and nobody can convince me otherwise. I get that Roman is the biggest star they currently have, but he doesn’t need to be anywhere near the WHC to sell tickets or make an impact. Was The Rock competing for the WWE Title at WrestleMania in 2002 or ‘03 or ‘04 when he was working the same kind of limited schedule as Reigns? Nope. When the Royal Rumble match came down to Gunther and Roman last month, I assumed it was a perfect setup for them to clash at Mania. I mean what better way to build on The Ring General “killing the careers” of Goldberg, John Cena and AJ Styles than by putting him on a collision course with The Tribal Chief?

Why not is the better question. Is it because the company can’t possibly have Reigns lose a third consecutive WrestleMania match after winning all but two of them over the previous decade? Yeah, I think he’ll survive. Not that it matters now. Odds are we’re heading towards Roman becoming World Champion again, and then disappearing for two and a half months. Oh joy.

Meanwhile, Gunther is somehow on the outside of the main event picture looking in, despite being the company’s top heel at the moment. This mini feud with Dragon Lee serves its purpose, but these rumors of it leading to Rey Mysterio putting his career on the line against The Ring General at WrestleMania? No disrespect to the lucha legend, but doesn’t that seem like a bit of a letdown as Gunther’s opponent after the caliber of names he’s put to rest in recent months? If the career killer is in fact set to retire Lesnar at SummerSlam, then his slaughter of Rey will pale in comparison by every conceivable metric. Hmmm maybe AJ Styles was right about how WrestleMania has lost some of its luster, especially with booking decisions such as this. Can we even trust Mysterio to make it to the big dance without breaking another leg??? I hate to even say it, but Gunther deserves bigger and better competition at WM42. More power to Rey though if he can prove me wrong over these next two months.

Not sure the same can be said for this Brock Lesnar open challenge storyline. Or LA Knight’s WrestleMania opponent, which was rumored to be The Beast himself after what took place in the men’s Royal Rumble match. While it would be an upgrade from The Megastar’s card placement a year ago, a 1-on-1 contest with Lesnar still falls short of what many fans want, which is Knight competing for a World Championship, and Oba Femi combating The Beast. A standalone match with Brock also screams lose/lose situation for The Unchosen One, who we can’t trust management to put over no matter how vital a victory is for him. Why does LA Knight appear destined to die on the hill that he’s yet to get over?

There’s not enough healthy Vision members left for The Megastar to work with at Mania, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If history is any indication, Seth Rollins spearheading a stable has bad luck written all over it. I’m not even sure the term snakebitten covers it. The Vision has been poisoned by toxic ineptitude and a series of unfortunate events that no booker could possibly account for. Paul Heyman’s group has crashed out worse than Vince McMahon in recent times. So much in fact that WWE’s gone from setting the wheels in motion for a Bron/Seth clash at WrestleMania to wondering who the hell Rollins will face once he’s physically cleared to compete. I’m half expecting Seth and the masked man versus Logan Paul & Austin Theory in Vegas, which sounds like the fucking Andre the Giant trophy of consolation prizes compared to what we were originally advertised. At this rate, don’t be surprised when they just add Rollins to Reigns/Punk and rehash more from 2025.

From there on down, it only gets worse. Hunter has stretched Sami Zayn’s story out for so long that newcomers like Trick Williams and Oba Femi are bound to win the big one before he does. And they’ve burned through so much of Sami’s goodwill with the fans that now the only way to keep Zayn’s character lukewarm until then is to toy with a heel turn. Literally no one is booing The Viper at this stage of his career, which means Randy’s not winning #15 until Triple H gives in to evil Cody, so prepare to wait a good while longer. Management lost allllll confidence in Lyra due to that SummerSlam match with Becky apparently, which is unreal considering her upside. They continue to crap on Bayley and give her the Natalya treatment, ala “go train all these talented up and comers to take your place sooner than later”.

WWE’s genius concept to book Jade Cargill as strong as possible is by having her defend the Women’s Title twice in six months. Nattie has proven in record time that no gimmick change can make up for her lack of charisma or intangibles, all while killing Maxxine’s momentum in the process. The downfall of Damian Priest has been so swift, he’ll be teaming indefinitely with Truth on Main Event any day now. Tiffany Stratton can’t land a storyline worth sinking her teeth into unless she goes offscript like that shoot promo on Charlotte. SmackDown’s once great tag division is in shambles, Bianca Belair is never coming back, and Zelina Vega is the Jey Uso of Botchmania highlight reels. Not everything is the drizzling shits though. We do have the promising futures of Oba Femi, Trick Williams, Je’Von Evans and Carmelo Hayes to look forward to. Right after they all job to Gunther and Cody of course, but hey, that’s just the law of the jungle!

You have a couple weeks to steer this overpriced ship towards a brighter horizon, WWE. Please give me something remotely uplifting to write about the next time I pull out this dusty laptop. I’m depending on a creatively bankrupt company that’s more concerned with slashing prices like a dying empire going out of business, so excuse me if my hopes aren’t particularly high.