I am a moderate, often times ashamed, fan of professional wrestling. I think I fell out sometime around 2004? I know I was done with the soap operas before Cena showed up, but whatever. I got back into wrestling around last summer because of CM Punk and being such a fan of his work. Sadly, 2013 was probably the worst year of his career, performance wise, after going back and looking at all his older matches. Coming back I've seen nothing, literally nothing, but missed opportunities and rehashed (also watered down) versions of the story lines from the attitude era: weirdly supernatural stable, militant stable, bosses not being fair, screw jobs, etc. Some of this stuff is par for the course, but I've never seen a business so absolutely dead set on not giving the fans anything that they want.
Lets start with Daniel Bryan. I like the guy, however not as much as most of the WWE universe. I think he should be in the title run for sure. However, the WWE fails to use in any capacity other than "scrappy underdog who can't take a break". Clearly, they do not want him as WWE champion. The only reason the man is put in title matches is to make money, but they don't want to actually give the fans what they want. Vince and Hunter still think that only body builders and buddies make for good champions. What do we get?Fights against "Corporate Kane"! Scheduled fights against HHH! Oh my! They failed to even include him in the Royal Rumble, only mentioning it in the following Raw because of the insane amount of boos that WWE succeeded in creating. They have effectively ensured that both the heel AND the face involved at Wrestlemania's title shot will be booed...loudly. Compare this to the Attitude Era and the few years that followed. They at least used people like The Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, and other fan favorites in roles that were fun and interesting for fans: 2013/2014 WWE doesn't even bother. Bryan would be a member of the Wyatt family had the WWE not quickly ditched the plan, and the feud, like a sack of potatoes at the last minute thanks to the "Yes Movement" bleeding into real sports and the mainstream. Who do they think is the man worthy to go up against Randy Orton for the title at Wrestlemania?
Yes, "Boo-tista", as fans have been referring to him for a while. His initial return on Raw was pretty successful ratings wise. Anyone who has a brain knew that they would have Batista win the Royal Rumble, but the fact that Daniel Bryan wasn't even involved in one of the best events of the year (in WWE :p) made the fans sour on anything that didn't involve Bryan. I watched the Rumble and it was highly entertaining, but not for the reasons it was supposed to be. I have never enjoyed watching a match so much in my life because the slow death of the fan's hopes and dreams are evident at every second. I have literally never seen an entire arena so quickly turn on a match in my life. I legitimately felt bad for entrant 30, Rey Mysterio, when he was met with overwhelming boos and chants.
At this point, WWE booking and management have setup Wrestlemania to be a failure. Will it make money? Absolutely. Why? Because the WWE fans do not understand how to vote with their wallet. They think if they complain and if they chant they will somehow give enough devotion to the wrestling gods that they will alter booking and give them something deserving of their money. That or you have people like Dan Ryckert, God bless him, who will more than likely love whatever he watches. I wish I could be that type of fan, but I cannot.
Elimination Chamber 2014...does the WWE make good on the hopes and wishes of the fans? Well, here's a post I made on Facebook before the final match.
Definitely one of those predictions where you tell yourself, "I know I'm right...but I pray I am wrong." Granted, I didn't pay for the event, and I am very glad that I did not. My prediction was right and all I could do was simply laugh. The night as a whole was pretty underwhelming, and even the match I did want to see (Wyatts vs Bryans) was laughably bad as well. I feel bad for the WWE Universe at times. One of those times was when the Wyatts sent Seth Rollins through a table and the crowd began chanting, "Holy shit! Holy shit!" over and over. This was previously only reserved for when something actually cool happened, not just an obligatory table smash: this is one of the perfect indicators of where the WWE is now.
The WWE doesn't even care about its non-WWE championship titles. The Tag Team titles are, laughably, in the hands of the New Age Outlaws and they will seemingly be defending the titles at Wrestlemania. Dean Ambrose has been US Champion for...ages. Big E Langston has put some blood into the IC champsionship, but its a throwaway match every time. Women's Champion is...well, who cares really.
Lastly, WWE screwed the fans again by pissing off CM Punk. For the last year, at least, he's been sick, injured, and burned out. He had a real rough 2013 and even when he was placed in a high profile match it felt more obligatory than anything else. Still, he was fun to watch on the mic and even when injured was better in the ring than most in the WWE. For anyone who doesn't know, CM Punk basically "took his ball and went home" (as Stone Cold put it) because of a creative dispute with how Vince wanted to use his character, namely fighting HHH at Wrestlemania and more than likely be buried (HHH doesn't like to lose to people he isn't friends with). Was CM Punk right to do so? Only he knows that. His contract was up in July and he has been on record saying he was thinking of retiring in around 2 years. Bad for the fans but good for Punk are two different things. As a fan, I can say his leaving means I have one less thing to look forward to.
So, at the end of this what do we have? After last night's Raw we have the match that everyone knew was coming: Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar. I hate Brock Lesnar: I think he doesn't care about the business, he has no mic skills, and he's boring to watch in the ring. For the title you have Orton vs Batista, Bryan will fight HHH, Cena will fight Bray Wyatt, and I assume we'll have a triple threat match between The Shield setup at some point in the next few weeks. I am sure it will sell well, but are fans going to show up only to boo? Obviously this is just my perspective, but WWE couldn't even setup the Lesnar/Undertaker match in an interesting way.
In the span of 8 months I went from being excited about getting back into wrestling to wondering how it is even still around. I've yet to purchase a sub to the WWE network and don't know if I even will. If you don't vote with you wallet, how else are you supposed to? Chanting, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" does nothing.
TL;DR, I am sure but that's my two cents on the WWE's current position. However, with the fervor to give WWE money in the WWE Network fans apparently have no intention to vote with their dollars.
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