For the WWE right now, the unfortunate reality is that perhaps their most compelling storyline is “how is the WWE Network doing”, a question that certainly has shareholders on tenterhooks.  While the next subscriber number will be out shortly, the rather desperate tone of the on-air promotion gives the distinct impression that it’s not going to be spectacular.  It could yet turn out that effectively dumping PPV in favour of a subscription streaming service is a great move that was simply ahead of its time; but right now, it’s looking increasingly as if the WWE is learning the hard way what happens to early adopters who were a little too early.

In the meantime, we have a show this weekend, which will be somewhat of a time filler, because the next two shows are rather higher priorities – August is Summerslam, which is traditionally one of the biggest shows of the year, and September has to hook the people who subscribed for Wrestlemania and will be coming up for their six month renewal.  That said, the card is not without its interest; while there may not be much going on in story terms, it has plenty of potential to be a strong show in the ring.  You’ll note the near-total lack of gimmickry on this show, which tends to suggest that they’re saving all that stuff for Summerslam.

1.  WWE World Heavyweight Title: John Cena © v Kane v Randy Orton v Roman Reigns.  A somewhat odd match, in storyline terms.  One gets the distinct impression that they started off with the match and worked back from there, but didn’t work back very thoroughly.  Cena won the title in last month’s ladder match and instantly made clear that he did not intend to be particularly co-operative with the Authority (the evil owners).  This match is supposed to be their response.

Kane and Orton are both Authority associates; the strong implication is that the marching orders are for Kane to help Orton win, but whether he can be relied upon to do this is another matter.  Reigns’ inclusion makes rather less sense; he’s supposed to be on the outs with the Authority too, and only got into last month’s title match by persuading Vickie Guerrero to add him just before she was fired.

It’s increasingly clear that the company sees him as their potential next big star and is determined to push him accordingly, which presumably explains why they want him in high profile matches; and thus far he’s been doing well in that role.  But it’s also surely too early for him to win the title here, so the best that can be hoped for is to keep him out of the decision.  Of course, there is another possibility: the company could go into panic mode over the Network subscriptions, and decide to give him the title so that they can tell people how important it is to subscribe to the Network and see major plot developments.  But if they’ve got any sense, they’ll resist that temptation.

Cena will win, the match should be decent, and the main storyline question is really how effectively the Authority duo work as a team.

2.  Dean Ambrose v Seth Rollins.  This is the break-up angle for the other two members of the Shield.  Although it was Rollins who broke up the group by turning heel and joining the Authority, Reigns is the one who has marched straight into the main event, leaving these two to feud with one another for now.  Mind you, last month Rollins picked up the Money in the Bank title shot, which allows him to challenge for the WWE World Title whenever he wants, and usually results in the winner becoming champion – so he seems to be in line for a stint in the main event as well.  (Though we said that when Damien Sandow got it last year, and he’s a opening match comedy act now.)  Naturally, Rollins claims that he would never cash in his title shot against Randy Orton if he became champion, what with them both being Authority wrestlers.  Orton doesn’t seem terribly convinced, and the Authority themselves give the alarming (to Orton) impression of not being terribly bothered as long as the title stays in their stable.

Ambrose, the psycho brawler of the group, is arguably a more natural heel, but Rollins’ heel turn leaves him cast in the role of babyface for now.  Fortunately, his character turns out to work pretty well as a Stone Cold-style loose cannon.  He wants revenge on Rollins for betraying the group; as part of that, he’s vowed to interfere every time Rollins tries to cash in his title shot, which is a fun potential long-term angle.  Even so, it’s pretty clear that the booking is not protecting him to the same extent as Rollins and Reigns, and he could use the win here.  Since Rollins would retain his title shot, that win wouldn’t put an end to the story, but simply shore up Ambrose’s credibility.

Both guys frequently have excellent matches, and I have high hopes for this.

3.  Chris Jericho v Bray Wyatt.  Jericho is back for another short-term run, and as usual, he’s feuding with a new guy – the idea, of course, ultimately being to elevate them.  While the WWE has some odd ideas about how to book this kind of thing, it seems to make sense that he ought to win the first match, since Wyatt is presumably winning the feud in the end, and it makes more sense for Jericho to re-establish his reputation in his first match back in.  (Yes, I know he beat the Miz on television, but that’s really not enough.)  Again, it’s a good match on paper, presumably intended to build to a rematch at Summerslam.

4.  Jack Swagger v Rusev.  Rusev, the Russian monster heel, remains undefeated and continues to work his way up the card.  Attentive readers will recall that Rusev was originally established as Bulgarian, something which has been quietly ignored while his Russian manager does her anti-US, pro-Putin spiel on recent shows.  Somewhat surprisingly, his bio on the WWE web site does actually attempt to reconcile this, by claiming that he’s a Bulgarian who lives in Russia, although this begs the question of precisely when he finds time to live in Russia, given that he’s working the USA.

Anyhow, the obvious foil for a Russian heel is an all-American hero.  Enter Jack Swagger… except that his “Real American” schtick was also a heel act, intended originally as a Tea Party gimmick.  While it’s perfectly in character for him to stand up for his country against Rusev, it also results in a rather awkward face turn, and it’s very hard to see where he and his manager Zeb Colter go after this feud if they remain as babyfaces.  Of course, the idea could be that the gimmick has run its course and that this is a sensible way of getting some more use out of it before calling it a day.

This angle has got a surprisingly good reception from live crowds, considering how mid card it is.  Oddly, live shows last weekend had the matches ending with Rusev getting a submission win almost instantly.  But the Friday night house show saw them wrestle for 15 minutes, so heaven only knows what we’re getting.  If they actually have a match, it has potential to be decent; Rusev has generally been solid and Swagger is better than his position on the card would suggest.

5.  WWE Divas Title: AJ Lee © v Paige.  Lee returned from her extended break a few weeks ago and won her title straight back from Paige on Raw.  This is Paige’s automatic rematch.  The angle over the last few weeks has been that they’re both being painfully civil and respectful to one another and at least one of them (most likely Paige) is plainly faking it.  A heel turn for Paige would not be a bad move, since her babyface character hasn’t really worked.  Whoever brought her up to TV evidently failed to appreciate that she got over in NXT doing an anti-diva loner gimmick, not by acting like an overawed rookie.  Again, while the story is at best in its early phases, this is a potentially good match on paper.  AJ presumably wins, but I’d be happy to see them feud for a little longer.

6.  WWE Tag Team Titles – Best of 3 Falls: Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso © v Luke Harper & Erick Rowan.  This feud has been going seemingly forever, and it’s surely time now for it to reach a head with the Wyatt Family duo winning the titles.  They’ve been having great matches, but both teams really, really need to move on to fresh opponents.  I expect it to be good, I expect the Wyatts to win.

Technically this is a gimmick match, but it’s the sort of gimmick that appeals to wrestling purists.  Personally, I tend to feel that the best of three falls schtick only really works if you do it often enough to allow for the genuine possibility of somebody winning in straight falls.  If you do have that possibility established, then the format has lots of potential in terms of possible stories.  But if the audience has been trained to believe that these matches always end 2-1 (and in WWE, it has), it’s trickier to make it work.  Not impossible, though – everyone knows that a WWE main event isn’t ending in the first ten minutes, but it doesn’t follow that the first ten minutes are merely marking time until the finishing sequence.

7.  WWE Intercontinental Title – Battle Royal: Cesaro v Kofi Kingston v Great Khali v Rob Van Dam v Dolph Ziggler v Big E v Ryback v Curtis Axel v Alberto Del Rio v Bo Dallas v Sheamus v Fandango v Sin Cara v Zack Ryder v Miz v Diego v R-Truth v Xavier Woods v Heath Slater v Titus O’Neil. Pretty much everyone else in the company who isn’t otherwise occupied will be in a battle royal for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Title, previously held by Bad News Barrett, who is out of action with a separated shoulder.

Conventional wisdom is that the obvious likely winner is Cesaro, who is supposedly in line for a push at some stage, but not actually doing much at the moment.  I’m not entirely sure the “prestigious” Intercontinental Title is the best way to keep him occupied.  But he shares a manager with Brock Lesnar, who will be returning in a major role at Summerslam, so he could use a storyline to keep him from being overshadowed and forgotten about.

Of the rest of the pack, there’s a bunch of long-serving wrestlers who would merely be running in place if they won the title, and a few more opening match geeks who obviously don’t have a chance in hell.  Sheamus is already the US Champion, and while there’s a lot to be said for unifying the secondary titles, it would be folly to do it out of nowhere in a battle royal.  (Again, that’s unless they’re desperate for ideas for “newsworthy” angles to shill the Network.)  Kingston, Van Dam, Ziggler, Del Rio or Miz would be surprising choices, and don’t obviously go anywhere, but would at least bring some degree of credibility to the title.  Bo Dallas is an outside possibility – he’s a rookie on a highly dubious winning streak, with an obnoxious “inspirational” gimmick, and proud owner of probably the best entrance video the production guys have come up with in years.

It’s probably too early for him to be getting this title, but I can see a case for it, given his gimmick and the fact that he’s ready to move on to some more concrete feuds.

(Sidebar: the reports that the Shield break-up was a last-minute decision are to some extent supported by the fact that an undercard comedy act like Dallas gets this, and Rusev gets something similarly elaborate for his gimmick, while the three members of the Shield all have what look suspiciously like placeholder entrance videos, two of which appear to be using stock music: see here for Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns.  The opening ten seconds of Rollins’ video are particularly wretched, and Reigns’ video would be inexcusable for a priority act were it not for the fact that he enters through the crowd, so it’s hardly ever actually in shot.  But the same could have been said for the Shield as a group, and their entrance video – hacked up footage of riot police – was significantly better than this.)

Cesaro probably wins.  Match probably won’t be any good until the finishing sequence; battle royals rarely are.

8.  Pre-show match: Cameron v Naomi.  This is the break-up angle for the Funkadactyls, with Cameron taking the heel role.  The Funkadactyls’ original role was simply to be the dancers for Brodus Clay’s entrance, and once they spun off from being associated with any other wrestlers (Clay is no longer with the company at all), there was obviously a strong case for breaking them up and moving them on to other gimmicks.  It’s rare for the company to devote this much space to a secondary feud in the women’s division, but then Cameron and Naomi are both on the Total Divas reality show, and one suspects the feud exists in part to generate material for that programme.  As a WWE Network exclusive, this won’t be airing in the UK, and I can’t say that distresses me.  Actually, it’ll probably be okay by WWE women’s standards, but I still don’t care.

Worth getting?  There are no killer stories going into this show, but it is a card with a lot of individually promising singles matches.  It could well be one of those sleeper shows where the plotting isn’t up to much but the actual wrestling delivers for the hardcore fans.