I'm 27 years old and I've been a wrestling fan my whole life. Since as early as I can remember. I love wrestling. I love WWE. I've followed it through everything, even though I've been frustrated at certain times with the product. I'm also a long time member of the "IWC". Since about 2000 I've been online talking about wrestling. I'm a proud member of the IWC. I dont try and act like I'm not. I see some people on the internet talking about other members of the IWC and wonder to myself...do these people not realize that THEY too are members of the IWC?
I'm one of these fans that respects all wrestlers. Yes, I love CM Punk and Daniel Bryan and I'm not the biggest John Cena fan, but I do respect John Cena. Unlike some people, I do realize that it takes more than 1 person to have a good match. We may not like John Cena, but he's part of the reason he has a lot of great matches. You may love CM Punk, but even he doesnt have classics with everyone.
With all that said, I've not posted on a discussion board about wrestling in a while. I've lurked sites and forums, but my frustration has come to a boiling point, where I just cant hold in my feelings anymore. I've given chance after chance after chance, but the lazy booking and constant not listening to the fans is enough. Its gone too far and this past mondays episode of Raw did it for me. I'll go through the things that bugged me...
Hogan Arrives...And does nothing?
I'm not a Hulk Hogan fan, but I was looking forward to this Raw and I was actually looking forward to him. I dont want to see Hogan in a match. I dont even want to see him throw a single punch really, but to come out and simply announce what MOST people already knew and thats it? It was a joke and a bad start to the night. You didnt have to be an IWC member, to know that Hogan was going to be the host of Wrestlemania. I'm not a Jack Swagger fan, but I would have even taken the rumored Swagger/Hogan segment. Hell, even a couple second backstage segment with Hogan/Cena. Just SOMETHING to get a little rub on someone, but no. Just lazy all around.
Cesaro/Swagger & The Shield mirror images
Yes, The Shield split has been brewing longer, but now is where we are getting down to the nitty gritty as they say. What happens in both matches? Swagger interferes and costs Cesaro. Ambrose interferes and costs Reigns. ITS THE SAME DAMN THING! I can kind of ignore the fact that a lot of wrestlers are booked with no motivation. They are booked as if they are robots with no minds of their own. Like, why is Cesaro wrestling in the World Title match at the PPV and then bothering with Big E the night after? It makes no sense. Even if Big E & Swagger wrestled, that has nothing to do with Cesaro. He's supposed to be a World Title contender now. Why is he not going after someone in the Chamber? It makes no sense, but I can look past that.
I know it is simple booking. I get that the way the storylines are going, it makes sense for what happened in each match, to have happened. It just feels lazy again. It feels like they didnt want to bother with something different, so just do the same thing.
John Cena "Injury"?
What? What the hell is even the point of this? I do love this feud. It is something fresh and something I want to see. Why the need for the fake injury though? We all know about John Cena. We all know he's booked to overcome all the odds. We all know how the whole feud will more than likely be played out....
Cena vs Harper
Cena vs Rowan
Cena vs Harper & Rowan
Cena vs Harper, Rowan & Bray
That is WWE's usual style. Its not going out on a limb. Its the usual laziness. I'll be surprised if it differs much from that, but why the fake injury? If you want John Cena to be taken out on a stretcher, why not have the Wyatts just beat the hell out of him and take him out? Why an "accidental injury"? Its not as if the Wyatts are some kind of submission specialists or something, where they will capitalize on it. They wont. It makes no sense.
Brock vs Taker
I have less problem with this than most of the other stuff, but why the laziness here too? We all knew about this match. It was bound to be predictable. I dont mind predictable. Sometimes predictable is ok. This was TOO predictable. We all knew once the end came, with the table there, what would happen. Heymans promo was very predictable. What I would have liked to see was...
Lesnar comes out various times throughout the night, during random matches and destroys people. He attacks people in the back and destroys them. End of the night comes and Heyman cuts a similar promo. Talking about how Lesnar wasnt gonna get a title shot, but he wants to make history at Wrestlemania. He talks about everything Lesnar did that night and says its a sign to come for Wrestlemania, because that night, he is going to destroy the legacy of the Undertaker and take what WWE fans cherish so much about Wrestlemania, the streak.
Usos & The Brotherhood
You have The Brotherhood, who were hot in the later half of 2013 and you put them on the preshow at the PPV and then they arent even on Raw? The fans were on fire for these guys last year. Things were looking good for them and now what? They are basically irrelevent now. Cody Rhodes doesnt need to be stuck in a tag team anymore. Its time he starts branching out. He's been around for years now. Have the Rhodes face off at Wrestlemania and if you arent? At least they should have kept the titles on them until Wrestlemania.
Which brings us to The Usos who are also one of the hottest teams in WWE right now. They've been building them up well, but now what? They got their match and they lost. I still think they will win the titles at Wrestlemania, but how are things gonna be entertaining until then? We've seen every combination of Usos/NAO. Are they gonna add in more teams and give us more of the usual, 8 man tags or whatever? Just continued laziness. That Usos/Outlaws match should not have happened at Elimination Chamber.
Yes Movement
All of this brings me to what I am most frustrated about. The whole Bryan/World Title drama. As I said earlier, I have no problem with predictable. Its neccessary sometimes. I thought the way Summerslam went down was predictable and it was great to me. I loved it. I said...they should hold off on Bryan winning the title back until Wrestlemania. Since then, they've done nothing but make dumb decisions. Bryan didnt need to win the title and then be stripped of it. It was stupid. But I lived with it. I thought everything will be alright in the end. Then they had Big Show stealing the Yes chant, which was dumb. Ok, not enough to get me going.
It was Royal Rumble when I really almost lost it. I knew Bryan wasnt gonna be in it. But they heard the fans. We can sit here as members of the IWC and run our mouths about what we love and dont love all we want, but its the fans in the building and the way they react and their voices that the WWE should follow. The fans are the ones who help make stars. Bryan should have been in the Rumble. They could have called an audible, even though he wasnt booked to be in it. He didnt even have to win, just give the fans something. Nope. Not only do they not do that, but they let Rey Mysterio go out there. They dont even capitalize on what would have been gold in BNB going out there.
Then Batista wins. Like...this is Wrestlemania 30...THIRTY!!! Your biggest Wrestlemania ever possibly and you want it headlined by 2 people who no one has any interest in? I like Randy Orton. I do. I think he's a hard worker and he's good in the ring. Boring at times, but I think he deserves a spot in the main event. NOT against Batista. I enjoy Batista when he is a heel, I dont like this. He doesnt deserve it like others who have worked hard. It wont be the best match. What they are doing with him now seems so forced.
I still held back though. I didnt want Bryan to win the Chamber, but I wanted something interesting to happen. I can accept the way it went down, Bryan getting screwed and Cole going ape shit at the end, I thought they were going in the right direction. Then Raw happened. They have a lame backstage segment, instead of having something in front of the live crowd. Then they force it on us like "the fans want to see HHH vs Bryan." NO! The fans want Bryan to win the belt at Mania. Those fans in the arenas, they want the big pop at the end of the night. It doesnt matter what we sit here and say. This diatribe of a blog doesnt matter. Those fans in the arenas every week want it. Give it to them.
They can still salvage this. I wouldnt mind a HHH vs Bryan match. I think it will be great. But Bryan HAS to win and they should add the stip that if he wins, he gets added to the title match and he wins that. They've had Bryan in multiple matches on Raw & SD for months, so it makes sense. They have waited and waited and waited, pull the trigger when it makes sense. At the biggest PPV of all. You can only wait so long, before people cant take it and get bored.
I'm a WWE fan. I'm a wrestling fan. I will continue watching no matter what, because of my love of it, but if something doesnt change soon, my faith in them will be gone completely. Its already barely hanging by a thread.