Pointing at the WrestleMania sign--Enough already!

[HeenanGorilla]

Though I am not a full-time wrestling fan anymore and do not watch most PPVs, I rarely miss a Royal Rumble. It's a unique match, plus there is the chance for some nostalgia. My personal opinion is that the "Winner gets a title shot at Mania" stipulation is played out and limits the number of viable winners to a handful at best. (Even in my part-time following of WWE, I know that both winners last night were expected by many people) But the staleness of the Rumble itself is not the point of this post. I'm talking about a certain peeve here.

Not the predictable winners, or predictable spots of Kofi saving himself from elimination (temporarily and needlessly, as he never has a shot at winning), or Michael Cole's AWFUL presentation of irrelevant Rumble statistics as a new participant enters (Would it kill him to at least pretend he doesn't know who is coming out when? Act surprised before giving us a stat that no one cares about), or the fact that the interval between entrants varies from anything between 1 and 2 minutes...none of that. The thing that bugs me is the pointing to the WrestleMania sign at the Rumble.

I'm sorry, it's laughable. EVERYONE--wrestlers, commentators, fans--smarks and casuals--EVERYONE knows the winner is going to WrestleMania. By the way, everyone knows most of the losers are also going to WrestleMania. I can kind of understand that they may want a photograph of the winner pointing to the sign for the website or some marketing purpose...maybe. But holy hell, it is so predictable and cliché and corny, it does nothing to add excitement to the moment. No one sees the winner and then forgets what that means, only to be reminded by a "dramatic" point to the sign.

Go back and watch Asuka last night...it was like she was stuck in that position. Ok, you pointed, you can put your arm down now--we all get it. We knew it was coming, so now that you've done it for 3 minutes, you can stop.

The worst was Rousey. On paper, I can see how her coming in, confronting the ladies in the ring and then stepping back to point at the sign COULD be a cool moment, for someone who didn't already assume she was setting up a Mania appearance. So, for those people, I could understand this woman, who was showing up for the first time, pointing to the sign to let everyone know why she was there. Perfectly understandable. But the first time she pointed, the lame Philly crowd had just started one of their dumb chants, ruining that moment and costing Rousey the applause she was looking for. She then pointed again, trying to capture the moment..to no avail. Finally, she pointed AGAIN from the top of the ramp. If at first you don't succeed, keep trying until you kill any chance of it having an effect on the crowd. Like I said, the crowd, trying to be part of the show with their cliché "you still got it" and "this is awesome" chants, stepped on the moment. And maybe she was trying her best to get a good soundbite--I guess they'll have to edit it now, much like they try to portray the YES chant during the women's Rumble announcement was genuine and not asked for by Stephanie.

I understand I am probably in the minority here. In fact, George Steele's Barber, on another Rumble thread, said that Rousey's pointing to the sign was "scary good". She had to do it 3 separate times because she couldn't get the response she was sent out to get and this guy sees that not only as good, but as scary good. Holy hell...

Maybe if the crowd wants to chant and not just repeat what they've heard other crowds chant on TV, they could come up with something new like "No shit" when the winner points to the Mania sign.

...one more thing. Renee coming in the ring and asking Nakamura if he had decided which champ he will challenge, WHEN THE RAW CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH--OF WHICH 3 DIFFERENT PEOPLE COULD HAVE WON--HADN'T HAPPENED YET, made absolutely no sense. Surprising, since so many of her one-question, backstage "interviews"--followed by a dramatic, off-camera stare as the wrestler walks away--are usually such wonderful TV.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Intentional or not, Rousey pointing at the logo was a clever subversion of a wrestling trope. She didn't win anything. She wasn't in the match. But she quickly got the point across that she is with WWE now and there's no mystery about it anymore. Sure, she did it a couple of times, each time as impactful as the last, but that's not on Rousey if a crowd wants to chant because they're excited. Wrestlers face that problem constantly.

It was good. If it means watching someone else point at the damn thing instead of the winners, I am comfortable with it. There are a lot of cliches in wrestling we just have to overlook, like how every title feud has to have the champion raise their belt in the air with one hand. Just a quirk of wrestling.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I think to be honest, time was a factor last night... they seemed to run VERY long compared to normal shows, that's despite clearly cutting down Benjamin/Gable v The Uso's and the Rumbles to 90 seconds for time reasons. I am sure the plan was perhaps for Ronda to speak, but time prevented it and they had to call the audible and came up with the pointing... Indeed the cut to her music/entrance also seemed a little botched, like it was "on the fly", no way WWE normally botches those unless they REALLY are up against time on the PPV providers.

Did her debut work? Sure it did, even if she came across a little bi-polar (smiley one minute and serious the next) and she did what she was told to do...

It would be really unfair to judge Ronda on anything in that segment, it's a lifechanging "dream moment" on a show that is well past the expected run-time so she is likely being hurried.

As for Renee and Nakamura, it did seem to defeat the object of the stip somewhat, as like MITB you'd hope for him at least to show up on RAW and SD this week to tease both sets of champs...

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I understand I am probably in the minority here. In fact, George Steele's Barber, on another Rumble thread, said that Rousey's pointing to the sign was "scary good". She had to do it 3 separate times because she couldn't get the response she was sent out to get and this guy sees that not only as good, but as scary good. Holy hell...

It was a joke. It's pointing, you can train a monkey to do it.

That being said, I see the relevance of Rousey pointing. It tells fans that she will be there without wasting her first time of the mic. Media will report that she will be at Mania. People may take the plunge and buy a ticket from this. She has that level of reach.

But ignoring Rousey and all the other petty points, the pointing is so overdone that it annoys me. It feels lazy, it makes the event the story as opposed to actually putting together a story. I also don't see how it generally helps sell the event.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Its almost as played out as people making these threads every year.


Has it run its course, sure.

Is it the ruin of the world, no.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Man, I respect your opinion and what you said holds truth in it.

But you just wasted so much energy and wrote a full-on essay for a finger pointing somewhere.

Yeah, it's played out and it doesn't really make sense, but it's a tradition and has a nice vibe when you see it. That's all that is needed sometimes.

 

[OYDK]

Ranting will not change the fact that it's going to continue to happen every year probably until the end of time. I'm pretty sure the one thing the Rumble winners are told before they go out there is, "now don't forget, you POINT AT THE SIGN. Look up and POINT. AT. THE. SIGN." Yeah it's played out and it's cliche and it seems laughably overproduced for a wrestling product, but there are other things more worthy of complaining about. Like why the fuck Heath Slater didn't go all the way last night.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

It’s really not a big deal. There are better things to complain about.

Actually instead of complaining, how about we praise WWE for once? We’re getting Nakamura vs Styles, Ronda debuted, and overall the PPV was awesome.

Yet people overlook all that and focus on someone pointing at a logo. That makes no sense.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

But the staleness of the Rumble itself is not the point of this post

Goes on to talk about how stale the Rumble is anyway.

I'm talking about a certain peeve here.

Goes on to talk about many pet peeves.

Yeah, no reason for this to exist.