Does WWE Care about Us?
We're about a month away from the biggest event in wrestling, WrestleMania 28 and I'm more than disappointed at the current WWE product. In years past, this was the time that WWE begins to kick it into gear with extra captivating storylines and solid in-ring wrestling. In this year 2012 however, the reverse has seemed to happen. Instead of getting better at storylines and wrestling, for the most part the product has decreased significantly. The best example for me is the way in which Daniel Bryan and Sheamus' match for the World Heavyweight Championship has been all but forgotten in the shuffle of shows.
Sheamus, the Royal Rumble winner, has been reduced to quick and pointless job matches while Daniel Bryan has been relegated to an overdone series of matches with CM Punk billed as "Champion vs Champion" bouts. The problem isn't that Bryan and Punk don't have good matches, in fact the match they had last on the February 21st Live edition of SmackDown was one of the better WWE matches of the year in my opinion. The problem lies in the fact that the focus of both champions should be on their opponents for WrestleMania and not on each other, which in and of itself should be promoted much better. Call me old fashioned but a "Champion vs Champion" match should be a rarity, not a weekly occurance. Regardless, moreso than the poor booking of this situation it doesn't build to the ultimate WrestleMania result which is Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan. I'm aware that most likely the World Heavyweight Championship match will be the opening match and also fairly short however, this should be much more important than it is being portrayed.
The WWE Championship match isn't any better in this department. The angle used for the upcoming Chris Jericho vs CM Punk title match at WrestleMania is completely backwards and confusing. Unlike the days before where a heel would consistently beat down a babyface until that babyface rose up is now reversed with this storyline. At Elimination Chamber, in and of itself one of the most god awful shows I've seen WWE put on, Jericho is "injured" by a kick from Punk but never official eliminated from the Chamber match. Thus, Jericho has a legitimate and clear reason to have hate for Punk, furthermore Punk looks like the asshole here. So, Jericho wins a lackluster battle royal and overcomes adversity, something a heel should never do. All in all, this story is folding out into a way that makes Jericho look like the one overcoming adversity despite his heelish tactics while Punk looks like the dick rubbing his title in Jericho's face. Honestly, WWE's writers must be on some strong hallucinogenics to think this works and as you can see the only response that is given to this by the fans is the generic "OMG I LUV PUNK, BOO JERICHO" simplicity only found in stupid people and children. No surprise that WWE has shifted their audience to cater to both of these demographics.
This of course leads me to the overly contrived and over saturated match between John Cena and The Rock. Month after month, this match is thrown in WWE viewers' faces virtually after every segment of every show. We get it, we really do. WWE wants to make it painfully obvious this is the "most important match in wrestling history" despite it getting much less fanfare than some of the lesser matches from shows prior. Also, whatever happened to the legendary Andre the Giant vs Hulk Hogan 'Mania 3 match? Wasn't that the most important match in WWE history all the way up until a year or two ago? Or how about the famous Steve Austin vs The Rock feud from the Attitude Era? I can guarantee you that much more importance was given to those WrestleMania main events in 1999 and 2001 respectively than this upcoming Cena/Rock match, not to mention they were fighting for THE championship. None the less, WWE wants to change that. This is a chance for them to have their two darlings, The Rock who has become not only a wrestling icon but an overall entertainment mogul against the force fed cross over John Cena. This is a match that has been rumored for years, that is very true and I don't doubt there will be a huge amount of electricity in the Sun Life Stadium however, the promos have been overdone. Especially since the last few times The Rock has done live promos on RAW they have been awful. You can say the same thing about John Cena as well and don't even get me started on the horrendous Kane feud that lasted far too long. My point being that this match, albeit important and big, is given far too much importance in my view. Call me crazy but to me, Triple H vs The Undertaker trumps this match by leaps and bounds.
Ah yes, the epic rematch from WrestleMania 27, WrestleMania 17, King of the Ring 2002, various RAWS from 1999 to 2001 and so on. Of course I'm being douchy on that but honestly, this is the best storyline going into WrestleMania and why is that? It's logical and simple. Last year, there's no doubt these two men put on a phenomenal match and captivated an audience. A year later, both men have clearly decreased in health as well as profile. Only until February did Undertaker return and even then, he has been sporadic at best. Triple H spent the fall in a half-assed feud with CM Punk that ended in an even less impressive feud with Kevin Nash that ended in a TNA-riffic gimmick match at the December TLC pay-per-view. In all intents and purposes, Triple H is not who he once was. Now in the role of on air "Chief-Operating Officer" he's not in the ring and he's calling the shots. Undertaker has made it a point to goad Triple H into a rematch, which at first was rejected until a heated ultimatum by Shawn Michaels which was manipulated by 'Taker when the words "You can't do what Shawn Michaels couldn't do because he's better than you." That lead Triple H to make this rematch a Hell In A Cell match.
Honestly, a one on one Hell in a Cell match between Undertaker and Triple H has been a wrestling fan of my age's wet dream for about a decade now. Both men have been considered the masters of the Hell In a Cell match with winning percentages that are astronomical compared to many others. Not to mention they've been in more Hell In a Cell matches combined than anyone in history. It's a perfect cap on a feud that has been over a decade in the making and honestly, this match alone is worth the price of the show. I have no doubts that these men are going to put on a brutal and amazing match, perhaps their last in either case. Part of me wants Undertaker to lose and hang it up but a larger part of me wants to see Undertaker win and send Triple H off with a nice legacy before he is allowed to tarnish it. In the end, the result will be one I believe that will be likeable and fun. Then again however, as is always the case with WWE logic, any and everything can happen. Sometimes we're given Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 12 and other times we're given Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice, only time will tell how this WrestleMania will go.
Sheamus, the Royal Rumble winner, has been reduced to quick and pointless job matches while Daniel Bryan has been relegated to an overdone series of matches with CM Punk billed as "Champion vs Champion" bouts. The problem isn't that Bryan and Punk don't have good matches, in fact the match they had last on the February 21st Live edition of SmackDown was one of the better WWE matches of the year in my opinion. The problem lies in the fact that the focus of both champions should be on their opponents for WrestleMania and not on each other, which in and of itself should be promoted much better. Call me old fashioned but a "Champion vs Champion" match should be a rarity, not a weekly occurance. Regardless, moreso than the poor booking of this situation it doesn't build to the ultimate WrestleMania result which is Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan. I'm aware that most likely the World Heavyweight Championship match will be the opening match and also fairly short however, this should be much more important than it is being portrayed.
The WWE Championship match isn't any better in this department. The angle used for the upcoming Chris Jericho vs CM Punk title match at WrestleMania is completely backwards and confusing. Unlike the days before where a heel would consistently beat down a babyface until that babyface rose up is now reversed with this storyline. At Elimination Chamber, in and of itself one of the most god awful shows I've seen WWE put on, Jericho is "injured" by a kick from Punk but never official eliminated from the Chamber match. Thus, Jericho has a legitimate and clear reason to have hate for Punk, furthermore Punk looks like the asshole here. So, Jericho wins a lackluster battle royal and overcomes adversity, something a heel should never do. All in all, this story is folding out into a way that makes Jericho look like the one overcoming adversity despite his heelish tactics while Punk looks like the dick rubbing his title in Jericho's face. Honestly, WWE's writers must be on some strong hallucinogenics to think this works and as you can see the only response that is given to this by the fans is the generic "OMG I LUV PUNK, BOO JERICHO" simplicity only found in stupid people and children. No surprise that WWE has shifted their audience to cater to both of these demographics.
This of course leads me to the overly contrived and over saturated match between John Cena and The Rock. Month after month, this match is thrown in WWE viewers' faces virtually after every segment of every show. We get it, we really do. WWE wants to make it painfully obvious this is the "most important match in wrestling history" despite it getting much less fanfare than some of the lesser matches from shows prior. Also, whatever happened to the legendary Andre the Giant vs Hulk Hogan 'Mania 3 match? Wasn't that the most important match in WWE history all the way up until a year or two ago? Or how about the famous Steve Austin vs The Rock feud from the Attitude Era? I can guarantee you that much more importance was given to those WrestleMania main events in 1999 and 2001 respectively than this upcoming Cena/Rock match, not to mention they were fighting for THE championship. None the less, WWE wants to change that. This is a chance for them to have their two darlings, The Rock who has become not only a wrestling icon but an overall entertainment mogul against the force fed cross over John Cena. This is a match that has been rumored for years, that is very true and I don't doubt there will be a huge amount of electricity in the Sun Life Stadium however, the promos have been overdone. Especially since the last few times The Rock has done live promos on RAW they have been awful. You can say the same thing about John Cena as well and don't even get me started on the horrendous Kane feud that lasted far too long. My point being that this match, albeit important and big, is given far too much importance in my view. Call me crazy but to me, Triple H vs The Undertaker trumps this match by leaps and bounds.
Ah yes, the epic rematch from WrestleMania 27, WrestleMania 17, King of the Ring 2002, various RAWS from 1999 to 2001 and so on. Of course I'm being douchy on that but honestly, this is the best storyline going into WrestleMania and why is that? It's logical and simple. Last year, there's no doubt these two men put on a phenomenal match and captivated an audience. A year later, both men have clearly decreased in health as well as profile. Only until February did Undertaker return and even then, he has been sporadic at best. Triple H spent the fall in a half-assed feud with CM Punk that ended in an even less impressive feud with Kevin Nash that ended in a TNA-riffic gimmick match at the December TLC pay-per-view. In all intents and purposes, Triple H is not who he once was. Now in the role of on air "Chief-Operating Officer" he's not in the ring and he's calling the shots. Undertaker has made it a point to goad Triple H into a rematch, which at first was rejected until a heated ultimatum by Shawn Michaels which was manipulated by 'Taker when the words "You can't do what Shawn Michaels couldn't do because he's better than you." That lead Triple H to make this rematch a Hell In A Cell match.
Honestly, a one on one Hell in a Cell match between Undertaker and Triple H has been a wrestling fan of my age's wet dream for about a decade now. Both men have been considered the masters of the Hell In a Cell match with winning percentages that are astronomical compared to many others. Not to mention they've been in more Hell In a Cell matches combined than anyone in history. It's a perfect cap on a feud that has been over a decade in the making and honestly, this match alone is worth the price of the show. I have no doubts that these men are going to put on a brutal and amazing match, perhaps their last in either case. Part of me wants Undertaker to lose and hang it up but a larger part of me wants to see Undertaker win and send Triple H off with a nice legacy before he is allowed to tarnish it. In the end, the result will be one I believe that will be likeable and fun. Then again however, as is always the case with WWE logic, any and everything can happen. Sometimes we're given Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 12 and other times we're given Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice, only time will tell how this WrestleMania will go.
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