Mission STILL in Waiting: Waiting for the Next Step

A Mission STILL in Waiting – The Seventh Era Finishes Summer 2024

I wanted to provide my thoughts a couple of days ago, but I fell into a bout with heat sickness combined with a stomach bug. That, and I am still behind on whatever AEW is doing. Additionally, the ratings have still not been released for this past Monday’s battle between WWE Raw and ULW Aggression (which is important for reasons that I will get into shortly).

So, to say the least, there is a building backlog, and it is not entirely my fault, but I didn’t want you all to wait any longer for me to discuss what I thought WWE was doing right in the past few weeks. Let’s get to it.

First and foremost, a quick look at the ratings will show you that all three companies sort of quietly destroyed the previous ratings records over the past two weeks en route to a new normal, and that has apparently been brought about by a general consensus by the audience that the business is better than it has ever been.

A key part of that success has been WWE’s tweaks where they desperately needed them. Before their recent ratings surge, WWE was falling victim to an encroaching plague of complacency with a lot of basic (almost soulless) approaches to promos and matches. It was still enjoyable enough to tune in, but it was lacking in what made Murrey Entertainment so fearsome for the competition in the previous months.

All along, though, WWE programming was planting certain seeds for things which would begin to blossom in these recent weeks; namely this developing drama between Pete and Murrey. The hilarious and unpredictable story being told with Pete trying to find out for sure whether he emanated from the Murrster’s family jewels has been pure ratings gold week in and week out. Alongside the continued descent of Murrey into madness, this has been a match made in heaven for viewers everywhere. In many ways, this was keeping WWE afloat during its tough times recently, and it could lead them straight to the top!

Another bright spot which has only grown brighter has been the always insane Doc Brown and all of his crazy misadventures. I was a little bummed for a couple weeks at the outset of the era when we were seeing very little of the aging actor, but the powers that be have listened to the pleas for more and have continuously delivered more and more. Now, Brown is the prize of three stars competing for his loyalty: the United States Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura, Diamond Dallas Page, and his original ride-or-die, Flex Fuller. I would be lying if I said I was neutral here, because I desperately want to see Flex pull off the victory, but what makes the most sense may be that Flex loses to DDP, and that he loses his mind afterwards. It’s been good either way, and I can’t wait to see what is coming!

Now let’s get to WWE’s title picture beyond the U.S. Title. Asuka is still eating everyone’s lunch for the foreseeable future with the Women’s Division, and the tag division seems to belong to Jimmy Uso and his younger brother Solo Sikoa (I don’t buy that the Awesome Truth or any other team will beat them just yet). Drew McIntyre may actually be on the verge of dropping the Intercontinental Title to Tommaso Ciampa in Berlin, but that is (in my opinion) likely en route to his returning to the world title picture.

The NXT Championship program has been an absolute high point for NXT and for Karrion Kross overall. This is the most important he has felt since his Ascendant Title reign and feud with Slammu during those days. Additionally, this can be King’s ticket into prominence. I foresee Kross capturing the gold here, honestly.

AJ Styles are set to steal the show in their battle over the World Heavyweight Championship, but after Finn received the last laugh on Raw, I am inclined to think that Styles ends the night as champion all the same.

Finally, we have The Rock defending his WWE Title (a title he has held since late-January) against his cousin Jey Uso. Jey inexplicably separated from his twin brother in their joint defection from Roman’s incarnation of the Bloodline to WWE, but I see this story as only just beginning. Jey isn’t likely to win here, but he is definitely going to give the Rock a heart attack or two in the process.

All of this tells me that WWE has rediscovered the magic which made them formidable to begin with, and that is both great news for the audience and bad news for the competition. Autumn 2024 promises to be the greatest season ever in the history of the business!

Even so, ULW’s next step hangs in the balance because we do not yet know which league will host Aggression this Monday. This is because hosting Aggression for each seven week period is determined by whichever league achieves the highest average rating during the course of the summer warm-up period. I have been told that Ted Dibiase will be convening the Board for an emergency tomorrow morning – conveniently on the day that he assumes the position as our First Head of the Triad – if we do not have the ratings available by then to determine the course that we should take heading into the first seven weeks of ULW’s Main Season.

A quick look at where the ratings stand as of right now has the Premier League with a slight lead in the average rate race, but a great ratings performance by the Extreme League this past Monday will officially give them the victory for the rights to host Aggression until after Hallow-O-Travaganza.

I have been told that the card for the next week will remain unknown until we know for sure which league wins the race. If “Plan B” is forced, then it could force the Board to consider an alternate route to deciding which league plays host as well as keeping secret each card for the week (or weeks) ahead!

If we find out the final ratings by tomorrow morning, then I will be able to break down the upcoming cards for you all, as well as provide a condensed mission reviewing what we saw with AEW, but all of that remains to be seen.

Here’s to hoping!

Until our next Quest (whenever that is), this has been Johnny with yet another mission!