So in a surprise to absolutely no one, Evolution has reformed. It’s not a surprise because the three men, HHH, Randy Orton and Batista, were all working alongside each other since Wrestlemania. Also, HHH is also one-half of the most frequently-reformed-group in the history of professional wrestling, DX. I’m not sure if that’s factually correct but it feels like it should be correct and that tends to be good enough for most news organizations so why not adapt that mindset here?
Recently, Jim Ross went all cranky old-schooler on twitter over the current state of heels in WWE today, specifically pertaining to antics of most heels and how they’re not really doing enough to deserve the comeuppance that is usually served by the face that is involved. He made the point that there aren’t enough heels that bend the rules or have as many despicable character qualities and probably the only one that comes to mind these days would be HHH and the Authority and perhaps Randy Orton. Batista is more of an arrogant heel than a cheating one. Ross also goes on to say about the Wyatts that they cannot be allowed to become too cool.
Personally, I disagree with JR because the days of absolute good vs evil are so boring at times and yes, I realize how closely this resembles Vince’s introduction to the Attitude Era. I get so annoyed with heels that have to cheat or find some sort of loophole to win their matches, that’s what annoyed me most about the 2nd half of CM Punk’s 434 reign. The guy was unbeatable as a face for the first 8 months of the reign against guys like Del Rio, Miz, Ziggler, everyone in the elimination chamber, Jericho, Daniel Bryan and Kane and then by October, 3 months after turned heel, he was cowering and sneaking his way out of matches against Ryback and Cena. If every heel or even just a larger number of them did that then be prepared for the most boring television WWE has ever produced, especially in this day and age. And who cares if people start to find heels like the Wyatts cool? They’re still menacing and despicable characters to the fans that matter (Cena’s fans). And yes, the Shield became far too cool and fun to watch to be able to keep them heel, same goes for Cesaro BUT that will lend to their success as faces.
Everything works in cycles and I feel like we’re reaching a different form of the Attitude Era. Like an Attitude Era that wants to keep their younger audience, be socially conscious and tolerant and have a great farm system with a seemingly endless amount of talent. The Reality Era, so far, seems to be a mixture of pulling back the curtain and continuing what CM Punk started in 2011 while still having kayfabe-ridden colorful characters while also being a time where being an absolute good or bad guy is less of a requirement. The most annoying thing about all this is that we have all these characters doing things that are clearly opposite of what their morality standing currently is and the commentators (Lawler) are still sticking to their black and white mentality. Last year (or the year before, I wasn’t paying THAT much attention) Sheamus stole another man’s car and went on a messy joyride and was looked at as just a rascally good guy that just gave Del Rio what he deserved. Fairly certain Sheamus engaged in an illegal activity and as much as he talks about pubs and pints, he was probably drunk too but it’s okay because an eye-for-an-eye will leave the whole world blind except for the last guy doing the eye-plucking.
This entire debate might be nitpicking and be utterly meaningless and could all be chalked up to me being desperate to find a subject to write about this week but I really do disagree with what JR was saying and I just don’t think a clear-cut definition of what is what works as well anymore and it all depends on what is being accomplished by the individual character. The method JR refers to makes it far too easy for WWE to put themselves in a creative box which leads to the complete boredom that was exemplified during the height of the PG Era. Of course, JR doesn’t speak for WWE anymore and, quite frankly, comes off a bit bitter about everything these days and it’s merely one man’s opinion against mine. Honestly, WWE wanting to stick to certain ratings make it really difficult to really create a true despicable heel BUT it’s not impossible and it forces them to either be more creative about it or be completely lazy and they’ve done enough lazy.
Be sure to follow Classy Ring Attire on twitter @CRAttire and we started a new thing where yours truly quickly covers this week’s WWE news.
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do twice,
Chris
