By Phantom Troublemaker
I’ve been wanting to write about wrestling (WWE) for a
while now and since WrestleMania is
fast approaching I think it’s a good time to, as Stone Cold says, “Spew the
bullshit in muh brain”. Hopefully I’ll be able to schedule our pal Stephen
Platinum for the podcast soon, but until then my solo written words will have
to do.
I’m writing as I think, so bear with me.
There is recent evidence that WWE is figuring us (the
fans) out and starting to use our cynicism against us (in a good way).
You’d think that this wouldn’t be a particularly exciting
or recent development, as they’ve been doing essentially the same job for thirty-seven
years, plus about twenty-eight, give or take, prior to the Vince McMahon, Jr.
takeover. They should know what they’re
doing. But quite often it seems to us that they don’t. Some of this is due to
the fact that we’re ignorant to a huge number of aspects of the business and
could never fully comprehend what are the best decisions for a company that is unique
in the world to make.
Some of it is due to the fact that WWE is run by a single
person with a strong will and tastes that are occasionally… odd.
RAW featured
top talents Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho claiming to be the WWE Universal
Champion, ultimate BFFs, and generally being huge goofballs. Entertaining
goofballs, but definitely not heels that anyone should be taking seriously.
Meanwhile, on Smackdown
Live WWE Champion AJ Styles was doing his best to be a serious heel who was
the Best in the World (a legitimate claim), all while consistently losing
matches to a guy that had about as much credibility as my dentist (whose name
is not Isaac Yankem, DDS). There was plenty of chicanery involved in the
multiple losses that AJ (who could legitimately claim to be the best
professional wrestler in the world today) suffered at the hands of James
Ellsworth, but the point remains that AJ, as Champion, was involved in a Clown
Show.
I have two issues with the Dueling Clown Shows scenario.
First is that I prefer to keep comedy away from the Main Event. There’s a
longer point to be made here discussing the various types of “comedy” and how
characters like The Rock can get away with being funny without being clowns, but
that’s not my point today. In general, your Main Event players need to be taken
seriously and for several months neither top Champion had any real gravitas.
The second issue is that if WWE insists upon running a
comedy program in either Main Event, they shouldn’t be doing it on both shows
at the same time. But they did, so now
I want to look at each program and what I perceived as faulty.
I want to look at each program and what I perceived as faulty.
Kevin Owens debuted on RAW (and NXT before that)
as a true dastardly heel (bad guy). He had a mean streak, he was possessed of
no agenda other than getting himself over so that he could make the most money,
and he did not play to the fans at all. He would immediately shut down any
approving reactions that he got. This sort of heel is in sadly short supply
these days. I’d go so far as to say that Miz and Alexa Bliss are the only committed
(and over) heels working in WWE right now.
Well, them and Stephanie McMahon.
Over time Owens developed a relationship with Chris
Jericho. It could be argued that for the most part there has been more good
than bad that resulted from this angle. Jericho has been the best he’s been in
years. He has transformed from a part-timer who relied on tired shtick and
whose appearances I dreaded into one of the best and most entertaining talents
in the company. And I say this about a guy that is one of my favorite wrestlers
of all time.
Management recognized the crowd reaction to this
relationship and went with it.
Unfortunately, while allowing Owens plenty of latitude
to retain his Championship via nefarious means, it also softened his hard-edged
heel character. No longer was he the monster who gave no fucks and might at any
given time put your favorite babyface (good guy) on the shelf. Now he was
affable Kev, who not only put up with but participated in the antics of Jericho
the (highly entertaining) clown.
In my opinion the loss of the vicious, remorseless Kevin
Owens was not worth the trade-off for the highly entertaining Kevin and Chris
Clown Show. Because the Clown Show could have still happened without Owens’
involvement.
Clown Shows happen in wrestling all the time and if they’re
good they can be fun and entertaining and can really get the audience invested
in a character. And the Kevin and Chris show was among the best.
But genuine heels barely ever happen anymore. In an age where
the audience is “smart” and spends the entire show waiting for an opportunity
to get themselves over with some asinine chant or song, a character that shuts
them up and makes them suspend their disbelief is the rarest of commodities.
Owens is now taking steps to regain his gravitas, but it’s a shame he ever lost
it.
Side Note: I don’t blame Kevin Owens and
Chris Jericho for any of this. Heck, I don’t even completely blame WWE
management. All too often we clueless fans criticize WWE for not listening to
us and doing things like forcing babyface Roman Reigns down our throats for
three years when we obviously don’t want him. In this instance, they recognized
the audience’s positive response to Team JeriKO and went with it. But there
should have been someone in place on
WWE’s creative team that recognized Owens’ value as a true villain and said, “Hey,
guys – maybe there’s another way we can do this without undermining a valuable
and unique commodity”.
Other Side Note: From a certain point of
view, Team JeriKO does play into Owen’s past with Sami Zayn and Zayn’s warnings
that Owens is not to be trusted. WWE even thought to mention that on RAW last Monday. I can go with that because
in general I want to enjoy wrestling and suspending disbelief and going along
for the ride are things I want to do.
But I still don’t think that the last few months were the best way to do
business.
AJ Styles is an entirely different kind of heel from
Kevin Owens, but is no less valuable.
Rather than simply
being a complete bastard, AJ is respected enough that we as an audience
want to give him the kind of response he is going for. Well, mostly. The guy is
a legitimate working legend and future Hall of Famer, so he’s going to get
cheered sometimes, but whether he is working face or heel, he knows how to get
reactions and we want to give them to
him.
WWE has a history of booking non-home-grown Champions to
look weak. WWE has a history of booking “smaller” Champions to look weak. WWE
has a history of booking Indie Wanker Fan Favorites to look weak.
WWE also has a history of not doing any of that. But when
we’re discussing something like AJ Styles’ first run with the WWE Championship,
I tend to notice examples like Rey Mysterio’s time as Champ more than CM Punk’s.
Side Note: There are so many variables here like the fact that Punk did get booked
terribly at times and that Rey’s painful run was with the World Heavyweight
Championship, which was no more home grown than he was. But from the “average fan”
perspective, I daresay that the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE
Championship were essentially equal, just as the WWE Championship and Universal
Championship are now. I understand that legacy-wise they are not, but if you
want to enjoy wrestling at all you have to accept that those titles are equal,
booking-wise.
Rey Mysterio’s run as World Heavyweight Champion mostly
involved him getting beaten up and then retaining the title with fluke wins.
What should have been an inspirational Championship reign – dedicated, as it
was, to the recently deceased Eddie Guerrero – seemed to be WWE affirming that
little guys didn’t belong in the Main Event, no matter how talented and over
they were.
I’m not saying that’s the case with AJ Styles, as since 2005 we’ve had top talent of all shapes and sizes with the full force of WWE Creative behind them, but his initial run mostly consisted of losses to James Ellsworth:
AJ’s real opponent was former Champion Dean Ambrose, who
was using Ellsworth to get under AJ’s skin, but that really didn’t help matters
because Ambrose didn’t exactly have a stunning time as Champ. For whatever
reason his character never really clicked as a title holder and the fans seemed
to be losing interest. Prolonging his involvement with the Championship didn’t seem
to do AJ any favors, especially when contenders like Mojo Rawley and Jack
Swagger were available for programs.
Shit. I see the problem.
But my point remains that the nine week feud with Ellsworth that ended with Styles defeating Ellsworth
easily in under a minute in their first untainted competition will always have
the stink of those Ellsworth victories on it, and so will AJ. For a while,
anyway.
What’s even more odd is that AJ spent the months prior to
the Ellsworth nonsense not only Beating Up John Cena, but racking up consecutive, mostly clean
victories against Cena. You know John Cena – the WWE’s biggest asset and most
consistent strongly-booked babyface of all time? The guy that has spent the
last two years putting others over while somehow maintaining his name value? So
AJ Styles – who has more definitive victories over Cena than anyone in recent
memory – just can’t get the job done against the formidable power combo of
James Ellsworth and Dean Ambrose. After only recently dominating the man that
once beat the entire roster of RAW in a
single match.
And that dynamite Styles/Ellsworth feud was competing
against the Kevin and Chris Clown Show, which brings me back to my original
points:
Side Note: I don't blame Ellsworth for this one bit. As a matter of fact, he played his role spectacularly and if I was in his position I would've done exactly the same thing. Styles played his role to perfection as well. In this case, I blame WWE creative entirely.
I prefer to keep comedy out of the Main Events and definitely don’t think WWE should taint
both shows with it, leaving me with nothing to get truly invested in.
To close this thing out, I have the observation that
started me on this tangent.
Twice since the end of January WWE has used our
smarkiness against us. Or against me, anyway. I can’t speak for how well these
swerves worked for anyone else or for their enjoyment of said developments.
I mentioned above the audience’s resistance to babyface
Roman Reigns and how Dean Ambrose’s “Loose Cannon” act seemed to get as stale
and predictable as his ridiculous rebound clothesline. As tone deaf as WWE
appears to be at times, I feel like they were very aware of these two situations and used them to surprise us
and, in one instance, persuade us to accept and even enthusiastically receive outcomes
that we might not have otherwise accepted or enjoyed as much.
The first came at the end of the Royal Rumble when Roman
Reigns entered at #30.
This pleased no one
and seemed to telegraph a victory for the big mook. Nobody wanted Reigns to be
the last entrant and nobody wanted him to win the Rumble. Almost literally anything would be better than that.
That “anything” turned out to be Randy Orton. Shocking
everyone, Orton eliminated Reigns to get the win. Without the booking that put
Reigns in at 30, Orton’s victory would have gotten a lukewarm reception at
best. But high off of Roman’s elimination, the audience – live and at home in
the Phantom Zone – gave Orton a decent reaction.
I am not addressing whether or not Orton should have won
the Rumble. That’s a separate issue. My point is that WWE recognized our
disdain for Reigns and used it to book things the way they wanted and get the
reaction they wanted. That is some next-level shit compared to how they
normally operate. Some Master Persuasion, if you will. I’m not saying Orton’s
win was ideal, but as far as live reaction goes, an “At least it wasn’t that
guy we hate” pop is better than no pop at all.
The second and most recent instance – spoiler alert –
came in the Main Event of last Tuesday’s episode of Smackdown Live. There was a 6 possible winners + 4 warm bodies = 10
man battle royal to determine the #1 contender for Bray Wyatt’s WWE
Championship. Dean Ambrose got laid out – but not eliminated – around the
halfway mark. Your “smart” fan saw this as telegraphing an Ambrose win because obviously
he was going to come back at the end when everyone had forgotten about him and
eliminate whoever was left. We’ve seen it plenty of times and WWE does not
avoid predictability.
Sure enough, once it was down to Luke Harper and AJ
Styles, Ambrose returned to the ring and I almost sprained my eyeballs doing a
Liz Lemon-esque eyeroll of impending stupidity.
But
then Harper and Styles didn’t get eliminated. Not only that,
Ambrose was cleanly and definitively eliminated himself, removing him from the picture
if any shenanigans should ensue. And ensue they did, as Harper and Styles
managed to hit the floor at the same time, leaving us with more compelling drama
to hook us for next week’s show.
Now, I’m not saying that Ambrose is anywhere near the
drag that Reigns is, but he was a distinct possibility to win that match
without being anywhere near the most compelling. Watching that, I felt that WWE
had once again used my expectations – the very ones that they have trained me
to have over the past decade of mostly predictable storytelling – against me to
provide a more exciting viewing experience. And I am good with that. I’d love
to see more self-aware booking in the future.
And less Clown Shows.
Phantom Troublemaker has drawn money without ever being listed
on a card, taken bumps without ever being booked in a match, and has worked in
the business without ever receiving a check. He was the announcer for
Monstrosity Championship Wrestling, Platinum Championship Wrestling, and is the
current Voice of Dragon Con Wrestling. None of that makes him right, but it is
nice to see at the bottom of a post about wrestling.
You can follow Phantom Troublemaker
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If you enjoy wrestling, stupid chants,
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