What is the downside exactly?
For years, and possibly even decades, I’ve listened to the so-called conventional wisdom that the internet audience, or the IWC that I’ve been at the forefront of for over 15 years, is not representative of the full WWE audience.
Apparently me, my friends, everyone I know that watches wrestling, and the bulk of the PPV buying audience is wrong, and that there is some audience that exists that likes the 180 degrees polar opposite of what I like.
I made the mistake of reading the tea leaves of WWE booking and seeing Daniel Bryan winning the Rumble despite the WWE brass clearly favoring Roman Reigns.
I argued in that Roundtable and to myself – why even bring back Daniel Bryan in time for the Rumble if he wasn’t going to win the whole thing? He was out since May/June 2014 and most fans were wondering if he was EVER coming back, based on the latest injury reports. They put him back on TV in time for the Royal Rumble and built to a major storyline about the Authority preventing him from getting into the match. It HAD to be this year, right?
Then the actual Royal Rumble 2015 happened, and not only did Daniel Bryan not win, they treated him as a complete forgettable jobber. The match was not even halfway over, but the crowd knew what was going to happen and completely turned on the match. They booed almost everything – except Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose – and spared The Rock a bit as well.
I don’t know what is happened in WWE HQ tonight, but they should be panicking. They might tout fake numbers about how many millions of people love WWE, but the WWE Network audience of about 700,000, which is coincidentally approximately the TNA Ratings – a.k.a the core wrestling audience – is in almost full revolt. Vince McMahon, in looking to crown a babyface heir apparent at Wrestlemania, is looking at a stadium booing Roman Reigns mercilessly, possibly cheering Brock Lesnar or just turning on the whole thing. These are the fans, by the way, that spend $1000s to travel to the biggest WWE event of the year.
Here are some realities for WWE and all fans based on what happened at the 2015 Royal Rumble.
Roman Reigns is done as a babyface. This isn’t up for debate. There is no way to salvage Roman as a babyface at this point. When the crowd turned on John Cena, primarily in his feud with Kurt Angle in 2005, he was already on top as World Champ. Having the crowd turn on you ON THE WAY UP is irrevocable. The Royal Rumble is the #2 show of the year. All WWE Universe fans saw what happened. Batista never recovered in 2014 and Roman Reigns is not even close to Batista.
WWE doesn’t know what they are doing – this might be harsh, but they WANT Roman Reigns to get over. Everything they have been doing, from 1940’s Superman promos to Sufferin’ Succotash has been a legit effort by Vince McMahon and the braintrust, and instead it hasn’t worked at all. It seemed like they were burying people on purpose, but if they can’t promote Roman Reigns, then maybe they just have lost sense of how to book wrestling effectively.
Hard work gets you no where – You would think someone like Dolph Ziggler, a loyal company man who tweets all day to promote the brand, survived multiple career-killing gimmicks and continues to show an incredible interest in “grabbing the brass ring” would be someone WWE would want to push, but no. Zack Ryder. etc, etc. We have come to accept the burial of these wrestlers because it is the reality, but why are they doing it? At least with CM Punk, you can see a personality that they would want to spite on purpose, but what’s the excuse with these other guys?
I’ve never seen a business that acts with complete contempt for their most loyal customers. They knew that everyone would be mad at the Royal Rumble so they had The Rock come to town to try to salvage the reaction.
If there is someone who knows EXACTLY what it’s like to be pushed by WWE just to have the fans turn on you, it’s Die Rocky Die. He heard the reaction.
WWE has been choosing the wrong guy for decades. It was only through sheer force of will that Bret Hart beat out Lex Luger in 1994. That is now 21 years ago. Vince McMahon has learned nothing. Starting with John Cena, he stopped listening to the fans entirely and just did whatever he wanted. This time, it seems like it will work out much worse.
Philadelphia was the site of the 2015 Royal Rumble. This isn’t some fringe town. This isn’t “bizarre world” Canada. Toronto and Montreal. New York City reacts the same as Philly, as does Chicago. That is five of the biggest cities in North America – New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal. Is Cena over in Boston? What about Houston? Where ISNT bizarro world for 2015 booking?
The hardcores don’t support hacks. The current group, as I can ascertain would be Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose, three guys who can all work in the ring and cut good promos.
Vince McMahon has shown he cannot choose someone who can satisfy his most loyal and lucrative customers. What if he DID listen to the fans for 1 year? or even six months? The ratings are at 15 year lows and can’t possibly go lower.
It’s time to listen to the WWE hardcores. Push the ones that the fans are choosing. See what happens. The Royal Rumble has been ruined two years in a row. Wrestlemania 31 is looking to be a trainwreck if something doesn’t change.
