I feel that I must once again apologize for the inconsistency of my columns. I am finishing up my first quarter of grad school, working toward an MFA in Stage Management. I am also getting married in two weeks. Both of these things are extremely time consuming. Also, just as a warning, I will be gone for the last two weeks of the year, since I will be on my honeymoon. However, that is enough about my personal life, onto the wrestling.
Sometimes I wonder if wrestling fans remember the 1990s. No, I am not talking about the “Attitude†era, but before that. Those days when “In Your House†Pay Per Views were numbered. Those glorious days when a pay per view was advertised with Savio Vega in the main event. They may have come and gone, but as wrestling fans, we now must look back to those days.
Many fans (mostly on the internet) like to complain about the lack of dream matches today. Yes, we have seen almost every combination of the current WWE roster in action against each other. The last genuine dream match was burnt off at Wrestlemania 25 with Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels. This was the perfect match on the perfect stage. The WWE does not even seem to hold off to create dream matches at this time. They gave away CM Punk vs John Cena on Raw two weeks ago. That was a match that could easily be a dream match a few years from now.
Many factors could be considered in the overt absence of the dream match. The biggest cause that I can spot is the over-inflation of Pay Per View main events. We have become accustomed to a dream match being offered every month, thus burning off all of the imaginable dream matches and creating the Re-match-a-mania situation that this year has been plagued with.
If the WWE would have shown patience in booking John Cena vs Randy Orton and built up the upper-mid-card to be able to main event Pay Per Views with these two men, then we would still be waiting for them to main event Wrestlemania. This is the match that could have defined an era that was instead used to sell a bunch of off brand Pay Per Views.
It appears that the WWE is already learning this lesson. They have booked Orton into a strong rivalry with Kofi Kingston that seems to be the constant highlight of Raw. They have also elevated Sheamus to fight John Cena in the Raw main event at TLC. What if this had been done before the monotony of four straight Cena-Orton main events.
The WWE used to do this on a consistent basis. Shawn Michaels’ first World Title run in 1996 was filled with upper-mid-card challengers. First there was Diesel, who has just lost to The Undertaker at Wrestlemania XII. Then came two months in a row of The British Bulldog facing HBK. The Bulldog, although a fine performer, was never World Title material. Next up was a six man tag match featuring the world champion. That in itself just does not happen today, unless the title is illogically on the line in that six man tag. Next up were matches with Vader and Mankind, who were both credible heels, but were never seen as men that could win the big one by the WWE audience. Do you see a trend here?
A Wrestlemania main event was never used in a situation where an In Your House main event would do. The WWE could stand to get back to this formula. The added benefit of which would be the elevation of the mid card.
The WWE is starting to exercise this option to mixed reviews. Sheamus is getting pushed to the moon, and many people believe that he does not deserve. Some say that his fresh blood is not the right fresh blood for the main event scene. This is the wrong way to think. The point is that there is fresh blood. As fans, we must get used to IYH main events and enjoy them. Unexpectedly great matches can come out of them and the fans just get to sit back and watch.
