Nuclear Heat?
According to sources, there is another intangible in this zany Brock Lesnar situation. Lesnar is profoundly scorned offstage by a galore of people for negotiating with Dana White while he’s under declaration with the WWE. Now, there’s actually more drama going on backstage than there’s on the air. If you ask me, the Lesnar situation has been bungled so far. Whether or not Lesnar is challenging to put up with is disputable, but what isn’t disputable is the WWE has one of the blistering figures in the world and they’re ruining a prodigious situation.
Undoubtedly, Lesnar’s contract situation is exceedingly flawed. WWE decided to give Lesnar 5 million dollars for an absurdly limited amount of dates, and to make matters worse, they untimely over-utilized Lesnar to hype up a B-show main event when they could’ve used him two or even three less times and still delivered the message and the match’s purpose thoroughly, and then they believe it’s a brilliant idea to put John Cena, who has already distinguished himself as a straw-man, over Brock Lesnar to seek to concrete Cena’s notoriety as a figurehead.
Even if it was illogical, it seemed as if Cena was to depart due to being injured because of Lesnar’s beating and that would subsequently lead to a rematch….but John Cena never took time off because we all needed a heel authority vs. top babyface angle and match, plus word around the campfire is they aren’t even doing a rematch between the two again, which makes Brock Lesnar appear as if he’s inferior to WWE’s top wrestler. That’s all fine and dandy if and only if this was distinguished at the end of Lesnar’s run, but it was instead distinguished at the beginning.If Lesnar doesn’t go over Triple H, he might as well pack up his bags and leave because his reign of being a credible threat towards the company is null. But still, even if he does defeat Triple H, he’s still failed to defeat the figurehead of the company and beat Triple H, the guy who couldn’t get the job done against Undertaker two years in a row.
In other words, Lesnar will never reach the domination level rate he reached from his return all the way until Cena struck him with the chain and hit the FU because there’s not much time left as the only PPV he’ll be on besides Summerslam is Wrestlemania. Brock Lesnar went from dominant to being just another guy on the roster, and WWE has paid 5 million dollars thus far just to put over their main-guy. Pfft, give me a break.
Worked-Shoots!
I’ve awaited to tackle this topic for a while now ever since both companies have injected it into their product. Sometimes, when done to a very small limit, a worked-shoot can be effective if done properly. I believe CM Punk’s worked-shoot was done trenchantly as a nonchalant viewer who was watching would be able to recognize what CM Punk’s point was—his frustration with the WWE—even if they weren’t cognizant of what goes on behind the curtain.
Meanwhile, the Rock and John Cena feud is how you don’t do worked-shoots, as they turned the feud into a complete shoot fest, perplexing every casual fan who was trying to watch the product. Hell, some of the things they were saying were so inside that they befuddled me.
Besides, if they want us to be deceived that Rock and Cena have genuine heat, why are they having a fake wrestling match when they should be having a legitimate parking lot brawl? It’s foolish to build up a fake wrestling match by using real-life tactics and its a cheap way to avoid having to try to write something compelling and something that suspends our disbelief. After all, I never saw a Seinfeld episode where they hyped up that Jerry and Kramer had personal beef and they may legit explode and fight each other on the next episode. It’s such a cheap, cheesy thing to do.
In addition, it makes every match that isn’t “real” look inferior….because why should we care about stupid fake wrestling matches and fake storylines when something else on the show is real? TNA is doing the same thing with this gut-check challenge. So yeah, Taz and Joey Ryan’s heated argument was supposedly real, but how are we supposed to believe that when everything else on the show isn’t? I just find it idiotic and pointless to make-believe that something is real, because it degrades everything else the product does.
How Can I Relate To This Shit?
Now, I don’t have a problem with Brodus Clay’s gimmick. In fact, I believe it’s a good mid-card comedic relief gimmick, but he’s limited to just that because of his gimmick. What made Hulk Hogan so popular was because he was someone to relate to. Maybe they didn’t know this person, but he resembled Superman—a man who’s noble and fights for good-will (or for the rights of every man), while Stone Cold was the complete opposite of that (although he had some babyface characteristics). What made Austin so popular was because he did what almost every working man wanted to do: kick his boss’ ass and to not take shit from anybody. Both Austin and Hogan were so diverse but yet so similar. What made them alike was people could relate to them, which made it easier for people to become fans of them.
Now, although it maybe amusing and to some cute, can anyone relate to Brodus Clay—an overweight 80s disco dancer? And he’s not the only one either. Can anyone relate to Kofi Kingston? What’s there to relate to? There’s no substance behind his gimmick. I’m no Sheamus hater, but can the core of wrestling fans relate to someone who was born in Ireland and tells Irish fables? The WWE needs wrestlers that we can relate to and, yes, if we can relate to them and care about them, their matches will feel more important and we’ll enjoy them more as well.
Are You That Stupid?
Okay, so I caught a replay of TNA’s PPV and watched some of the matches I wanted to see. The one I wanted to see the most delivered on enormous level. If you haven’t figured it out, it was Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries. Despite Joe being immensely overweight and despite them acquiring little build for their match, they put on easily the best match of the night. Both played their roles phenomenally and they both had the fans on the edge of their seats in this balls-to-the-walls, action-packed match.
Even though the PPV was said to be pretty good, this match seemingly was the only one that showcased the good of TNA’s past. Sometimes certain things happen to a company that neglects them from doing what made them popular, i.e Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock no longer working for WWE full-time or Paul Heyman leaving the Smackdown creative team. TNA, however, is capable of doing what made them successful, which is putting on compelling matches, whenever they feel like it but just don’t.
Listening to the audience is something a company should always do, especially one that’s in peril from a financial standpoint. For some reason, however, TNA doesn’t listen to their audience, which is astonishing because TNA could save a lot of money if they focused more on what brought them to the table instead of squandering it on superannuated wrestlers who can’t draw a dime anymore.
