The Vision, the stable that started with Paul Heyman as its verbal guidance, and Seth Rollins as its in-ring leader, is snake bitten.
As we know, Seth Rollins was set for the biggest push of his accomplished WWE career after he cashed in the Money in The Bank contract at Summer Slam last year to beat CM Punk for the World Heavyweight championship. Seth was a work horse from the time that he was brought to the main roster as a a part of The Shield in 2012, but for a portion of his WWE tenure, he played second fiddle to either Roman Reigns or Jon Moxley. His character had to overcome some absolutely drek in terms of the way he was booked as a baby face champion years ago against The Fiend, or the original goofiness of the visionary persona. Seth was finally being booked in the lead role, with a faction around him to showcase his status as a top guy. Less than two months after all of the pieces of the puzzle were put together for him to have the biggest run of his career, he suffered a shoulder injury in a match against Cody Rhodes that required surgery, putting him on the shelf for nearly six months before he was able to return in time for Wrestlemania this year.
However, the entire direction of the stable had to change, as The Vision attacked Rollins to be able to write him off of television. A few months later, during a brawl segment on Raw, Bron Breakker suffered a hernia that required surgery, which also put him on the injured list. A few weeks after Breakker was out of action, Bronson Reed suffered a shoulder injury that needed surgery to repair it. Austin Theory was added to the group, a move that has been mildly successful at best, to keep the stable afloat until Breakker made his return at Wrestlemania to interfere in Rollins’ match against Gunther. Earlier this week, Bronson Reed posted a picture of social media as he trains to get ready for his comeback.
Just when it looked as though the stable that started as if it was going to be a major force on the Raw brand was actually going to be able to be used in that role, at least for the rest of the year, Logan Paul suffered a triceps tear during a match against The Street Profits at last weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event, sending him into surgery to fix it.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the original premise of the faction, and even the objective of the shifts that were made after various injuries, but at this point, this might be a sign for the wrestling Gods to disband the group.
Austin Theory, ironically the member of the stable that was added to it in an attempt to save his career rather than progress it based on potential, should be extra careful with everything that he does since he’s literally the only stablemates that hasn’t ended up hurt yet. The reason that I think it’s time to pull the plug on the group isn’t that it’s intended mission isn’t viable, but rather to put a fresh coat of paint on it as somewhat of a new chapter for those involved. Furthermore, as those within the group have progressed, specifically through their returns from injury, the argument could be made that the pieces of the puzzle might not fit together quite as well as they did initially, or at least with the goals of those performers now.
For example, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed made a solid tag team, but obviously, the plan is to put Breakker in a main event singles role at some point in the future, which becomes even more important as more of the current top guys retire going forward. Given that Randy Orton was rumored to be penciled in to win the WWE championship at Wrestlemania, but lingering back issues caused that plan to be scrapped, I’d say that he will hang up his boots sooner rather than later. We thought that Brock Lesnar was retired, but apparently, it looks like despite the lack of logic since he was said to be “retired” on Raw, he will stretch out his career long enough for it to be used as a major selling point for Summer Slam this year in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was originally expected to have his final match.
The point is, Bron Breakker is theoretically going to be one of the guys that replenishes the main event scene over the next few years. Breakker and Reed would still be good stablemates to occasionally work tag team matches, but it remains to be seen how their roles would be adjusted as a group if the bigger plan will be for Breakker to move up the ranks.
Paul Heyman is still the best talker in the business and should undoubtedly be used to push top prospects and top angles. If he does that for an entire stable going forward and if that would be the best presentation of those performers remains to be seen. Heyman promoting Breakker with Reed in a supporting role as the monster sidekick might be the best compromise to make now, taking into account that Logan Paul will be out of action for several months. All things considered, while I understand why Paul was paired with The Vision, he doesn’t necessarily need the association to find what works for him in the WWE. Between the Prime sponsorship and the fact that he checks a lot of the boxes for TKO in terms of social media, management will find something for Logan Paul to do on WWE programming.
While Paul has done well for someone of his experience level, it’s important to put the situation into context. Yes, he has a social media following that the WWE can use to bring clips to those outside of the WWE audience, but as we’ve discussed before, it’s not as though his online following has translated into a major increase in viewership for the product. The bottom line is, the vast majority of Logan Paul’s audience isn’t going to follow his ventures into pro wrestling if they aren’t fans of the product already. Don’t get me wrong, from a corporate perspective, it makes sense to have Logan Paul on the roster, but it’s not as though he should have priority over performers like Breakker or Reed.
Of course, new members could always be added to The Vision stable if the office is set on continuing the group in some fashion of its current form, but that might dilute the original concept. It goes without saying that injuries are a part of the sport and can often be unavoidable, but when nearly every member of a group is sent into surgery in less than a calendar year, it’s probably time to throw in the towel on the project. The problem is, with the number of retirements mentioned prior and the current status of the WWE landscape, the Raw brand needs the tent pole that Heyman, Breakker, etc. provide as far as an anchor for storylines. A lot can be done with angles based on Heyman’s ability to sell them, and the remaining members of the stable to work those feuds in the ring. As of right now, Austin Theory and Bron Breakker will continue to defend the tag team titles that Theory held with Paul previously, but I’d guess that there’s something bigger on the horizon for the stable, specifically if they have some type of role in the Brock Lesnar/Oba Femi match at the pay-per-view.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
