Comeback Promos/Vignettes - Good or Bad?

[MVA09]

We love to watch wrestlers make a comeback especially when we least expect it...It creates a Holy S#!T moment...

But there is this new trend started by the wwe where we see them showing some promos/vignettes about a superstar making a comeback...My reference is to the '1/2/12' and '2/21/11' promo...

True, it does stir a hype among the wwe universe as to who that person is gonna be...but then we always manage to decipher who it is and the fun is all lost...We were 99% sure that the person behind '2/21' is the Undertaker and the guy behind '1/2' is Jericho...but we dont stop there...we try to think what could be the possible storyline for that person...

So, when that person actually makes a comeback we have a 'like we dint know' sarcastic attitude...further, we see the exact same storyline developing which we had been discussing...THATS IT!!! All the fun lost...No Holy S#!t moment...

I personally think that they should stop showing these vignettes/promos and go the old way of giving surprises...Think about it...I personally prefer a John Cena Royal Rumble 2008 return(love him or hate him, it was awesome) rather than the chris jericho '1/2' return...

I'm not saying that the comeback promos are completely bad...If they used it for somebody, whom the Internet couldnt guess or even if they guessed they dint possibly think its gonna come true, thats when it will work...For instance, if '2/21' was Sting and '1/2' was Brock Lesnar, it would have made much more sense...Because we did discuss there names but we dint expect it to come true...

There might be a few who might say that its our mistake...that the Internet group discuss too much and thats the reason why these comeback promos fail...but hey!!! we live in the Internet age...so its bound to happen...WWE cant ignore the Internet because almost every fan surfs the net to check whats new...We are definitely in the majority...

 

[IHW]

I like them because they cause us, the IWC, to go crazy! We decode them and over analyze everyone.
But i did enjoy Takers return last night more then Jericho's.
I think it is good to have a bit of both.

 

[Pedigree1]

I also like them because at least for me it causes me to think of Wow whos going to return? Who havent we seen in awhile? I totally marked out when undertaker returned last night i heard that Gong and i was estatic! Its good for the video returns causes all of us to go crazy who it might be!

 

[Shotaro]

The problem with the Vignettes as you describe is a double edged sword - make it even possible to decipher whose vignette it is and we in the IWC describe it as too easy, if they go the other way and make it too obscure the less "hardcore" fans will be annoyed by it since the ones who want to find out who the likely candidates are are going to come to sites like this for clues.

You either make it "too easy" and irritate hardcore fans or you make it too hard and alienate casual ones.

I like them, I think Jericho's videos recently were just obtuse enough to mean we weren't 100% certain. The 2/21 videos were less good since the only viable alternative to 'Taker was Sting and that was never going to happen in a million years, if Sting wanted in at WWE he would have done so many, many years ago.

 

[darthrapture]

I like them, but I haven't seen any I have really, really liked in a long time. I take that back, I really liked the Kharma ones even though we knew who it was going to be, as well as Kane's. Jericho's Save Us ones, though were the last "who could it be" ones that I really liked.

However, the 1/2/12 ones had a different set of enjoyment for me. I liked trying to figure out where they were going to go with his character. I was 75% sure after watching the first promo and seeing the crucifix pose in the distance that they led to a Jericho return. But, what wasn't so obvious was what the videos were trying to say. The whole trolling thing since then continues to leave me wondering the true meaning behind it all, and that I like.

So, I guess it comes down to something I stress in almost each of my posts, it comes down to opinions. Personally, I like the use of vignettes for any reason as videos can often tell you a totally different story then an interview. At the end of the day it's about entertainment, and well I'm entertained.

 

[Da Solo]

I like the return vignettes, but they only really work in certain situations.

On the positive side of things, I like the vignettes because they actually make you want to see if the superstar actually lives up to the hype. I especially love the enigmatic ones where we are left trying to guess who it is, like Jericho's Millenium Countdown/Save Us X29/End of the World. I also love when debuting superstars get video packages to hype their debut like they did for R Truth and Cryme Tyme, so it actually gives us something to look forward to.

However, there are some times where the vignettes are overdone. Johnny Curtis's, for example, sucked. Also, Kane had some video packages before he came back, but honestly, he didn't need them. A surprise return would've worked a lot better at the time. The worst part about video packages is when they ditch the program before it could actually happen, which WWE has done many times in the past.

 

[BaconBits]

I've never been a big fan of them. I like the element of surprise when a superstar comes back out of nowhere. It seems like they get much bigger pops when it's unannounced too.

 

[Luthien]

I like a bit of both - it was pretty fun trying to work out whether Kane would come back masked or not based on his promos, even if it was "obvious" to most that it would be Jericho coming back, I'm still pondering who the girly in the video was, particularly after his comments last week,which I wouldn't have been had I not seen the promo's. On the other hand I did enjoy the surprise return of Undertaker, and I did like the fact that Brodus Clay's new persona as the "Funkasaurus" was a complete surprise - that would not have been as funny had I known about it.
Whatever they do it will annoy some of us, I guess. As people said, the video's are either going to be too easy for a lot of fans or too hard for more casual fans which will mean they lose interest, so the videos are in my opinion only really worth using in cases like Kane with his mask and Y2J where it seems there is more to be unveiled over time.

 

[g12solution]

Im in favor of them, I don't like guys just returning or debuting just outta nowhere.

I also like it because it gets everyone buzzin. Like the 2/21 videos.
Unless they get spoiled, I think there good for building anticipation.

 

[MVA09]

The Question is not about how good the promos were...The Question is not about how much hype is created...The Question is-were you ecstatic when they actually made there return...???Nope...All the fun was lost by then...And in the coming weeks you see the same stuff we have been discussing here...I'm sure most people loved the return of the Undertaker than that of Jericho...For a simple reason...it created a Holy S#!T moment...

They should show these promos for people the IWC isnt expecting to make a return...For guys whom we cant guess...like Lesnar or someone out of the box...because we'll enjoy deciphering the promos...then, when the IWC fails and we see someone like Lesnar making a comeback...a Holy S#!T moment is created...

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Some are good some aren't.

Like when Rey comes back, probably before Mania, he is a guy that will probably just come back with little to no buildup because he has been a face nearly his entire WWE career and we know what to expect with him.

With Jericho, who had been gone roughly 2 years, they created this sense of intrigue for a while.

When Kane was coming back it made you wonder, are they putting the mask back on Kane, will he be coming back as the Big Red Monster or Big Red Machine?

 

[M]

Personally I prefer the "HOLY SHIT ITS @#!$!!!!!" - *head explosion*... type of comeback, but I'll try to say what I think of the promo approach anyway.

Promo returns are a hard thing to get right, because if they are done wrong or come off as cheesy or too random, they are too irritating to watch, and nobody wants that. Most of the "good" return promos all serve another purpose asides from the actual return, they do a good job of furthering storylines and can even create their own ones simply by being placed during a match, as it can create the mystery surrounding the return necessary for people to want to see what the returning guy actually DOES, and not just HIM.

that's saying that the promo's good, but what about a shitty one?
Remember the Kizarny promos? (keeping in mind the character idea was crap anyhow) the ones where the guy just talked in a badly put on voice over a carnival theme? where there was no reason to actually anticipate seeing the guy since he had just told you everything about himself, and made no relevance to what he was coming here to do....

short version; when they're good, they're an alright break from the action, but when they're bad, they're atrocious