It's a new era and I'm digging it.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the Work/Shoot blog is back! Okay, I'm probably the only one that excited about it . . .

We're a few weeks into a new era for the WWE, thanks to the brand extension and roster split. In my opinion, both Raw and Smackdown have really put their best foot forward, establishing new feuds and storylines that will carry us on through the summer and into the fall, when the NFL emerges from the sea like a mighty kaiju to destroy the prime time sports-entertainment landscape for yet another season.

But who cares about football when you have Finn Balor and Seth Rollins main event-ing the Raw brand? With apologies to Kevin Owens and Cesaro, the two best workers in the 'E are going to square off later this month at Summerslam to crown a new champion with a new belt.

How does everyone feel about the "Universal Championship"? Is it too intergalactic for the WWE, or is it par for the course?

Silly new title names aside, this is going to be a barn burner, folks. No other way to phrase it. If you missed Balor's spectacular debut on Raw a few weeks ago or you haven't seen him do his thing on NXT, you've been missing out. With or without the demonic face paint, Balor is a demon in the ring, with a lithe form and a flashy style that will force Rollins into the strongman role. Even their promo exchanges, which were lackluster at first, have gradually gotten more heated, although I don't feel the tension brewing quite as thick as with the Dean Ambrose/Dolph Ziggler stuff over on Smackdown.

Raw viewers have also been gifted a great, if only slightly too-comedic tag team feud between Enzo Amore/Big Cass and Cheris Jericho/Kevin Owens. The Jericho/Owens team sees two of the best pure wrestling villains pairing up to give a hot new tag team the rub. Regardless of who goes over at Summerslam, this should be a good one.

I want to like the Charlotte/Sasha title feud, but the issues between them haven't reached that boiling point that really gets me excited yet. Their in-ring work is always incredible, as any viewer of their NXT matches can tell you, so the grappling will be the redeeming factor for this disappointing* feud.

Let's stay positive here: it's nice to see Roman Reigns in a new role, challenging Rusev for his United States title. I like the physicality between these two, and there's a great "hoss fight" to be had, but I wish Reigns (and the writing staff) would lay off the comedy bits. Roman should come out every week, destroy someone, cock an eyebrow to the crowd, smile at your girlfriend, and walk triumphantly to the back. If you're listening WWE, let's put the monster back in Roman Reigns. Remember when he was the muscle for The Shield? No one was laughing at that Roman.

The title matches are hot on both brands, but I feel like they will still play second fiddle to a pair of other big matchups I haven't mentioned yet: Cena vs. Styles and Orton vs. Lesnar.

AJ Style's issues with John Cena echo a lot of fan sentiment, but he's not as striking on the mic as C.M. Punk or Kevin Owens, both of whom filled the "outlier" role previously. Where AJ really shines, naturally, is in the ring. He can bounce off of beefy John like a ping pong ball, as well as force Cena to step up his game and keep the pace up. This match up interests me because normally the heel will try to slow the pace and isolate one of the other wrestler's limbs, but considering their styles, I think Cena might benefit from trying to keep AJ grounded. It'll be interesting to see unfold, and I can't wait to see how the crowd reacts, since John Cena matches are really about the audience reaction as this point.

Brock Lesnar is walking into Summerslam virtually unfazed by the UFC doping scandal, and Randy Orton is fresh off another injury, so the main draw here is we get two guys who not only don't wrestle a whole lot anymore, but also haven't been paired against one another. The back and forth surprise attacks on Smackdown, along with a little of that Paul Heyman magic, have made this the true main event of Summerslam, no matter where it falls on the card.

That's just a brief overview of the big stuff coming out of Raw and Smackdown as we head toward Summerslam and whatever lies beyond. There's a lot more to talk about, but I'll save it for the future. Look forward to future ramblings about NXT, the Cruiserweight Classic, Ring of Honor, and all kinds of grappling goodness. Thanks for reading, and follow me on Twitter if you like! (@ChrisBComics)

*I don't even know why I consider it "disappointing", it's just that something isn't clicking for me. Oh well, who cares--the match will kick ass and that's what matters.