The State of the WWE, part 1

For frequenters of this site, I am now going to start a series in which I talk about professional wrestling. Yes, as far fetched as it may sound, a person can be both a nonbeliever, be into philosophy and all that and still be a professional wrestling fan. Just ask CM Punk and one of my favorite YouTube users Steve Shives. In any case, if you are intrigued, by all means stick around. If this is not your thing, that’s OK too. I’m sure I’ll be ranting about religion again shortly.

In the mean time and to quote CM Punk, I’ve got a lot of things to get off my chest, especially after the apparent departure of the Second City Saint from WWE, the constant barrage of dinosaurs that get reintroduced each year during Wrestlemania season and the continued misuse of Daniel Bryan as the most over wrestler in the business at least since Stone Cold Steve Austin.

If you haven’t heard — If you’re a wrestling fan, who hasn’t by now? — CM Punk walked out of WWE this past Monday night after a prolonged period of being frustrated with the direction of the company, along with generally being banged up and probably overworked. The plan was for CM Punk to face Triple H at Wrestlemania to continue his long standing resistance to WWE leadership and The Authority. I, for one, liked that direction, at least as a way to give Punk a high-profile role on Wrestlemania because it harnessed some of the energy from the Summer of Punk when he was defiantly railing against Vince McMahon and the corporate suits back in Connecticut. Of course, CM Punk, in my view, deserves to be in one of the two big main events at Wrestlemania, but I was at least willing to get invested in a Triple H match if that’s the inevitable direction Vince and the Triple H, the shovel master himself, were going to go. CM Punk, after challenging “the streak” last year against The Undertaker, however, seems to have felt that wrestling Triple H was a downgrade for him, and I can’t say that I disagree.

Some of Punk’s decision, no doubt, had to do with the return of Batista, his subsequent win at Royal Rumble and the company’s plan to put the WWE World Heavyweight Title on him in the main event of Wrestlemania, even though he has been gone for four years and guys like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and even Dolph Ziggler have been busting their asses every night for years now, only to take a back seat to a part-timer.

WWE has continued this trend for several years now, most notably when The Rock returned and was instantly inserted into the main event picture after a long hiatus making B-reel movies and eventually won the WWE title belt from Punk. Unfortunately for Punk, Bryan, Ziggler, Roman Reigns or anyone else who is hoping for their breakout moment at Wrestlemania, guys like Batista, John Cena and Randy Orton are apparently still selling the most merchandise and popping the biggest ratings on RAW, so until that changes, don’t expect any kind of new direction because it’s all about the money for WWE, in spite of whatever the fans might want, and apparently in spite of a completely hijacked PPV. The message at this point: WWE just doesn’t care about what the fans want.

And that was never more evident this past week on Raw when Triple H mocked the whole arena as fans cheered for Daniel Bryan after the no-show during the Royal Rumble match. In fact, WWE officials almost seem to be displaying a kind of neurosis regarding fan support of Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. In the segment on RAW this week, Triple H again mocked Daniel Bryan for being too small, and reports online indicate that WWE has been confiscating CM Punk signs at recent NXT tapings.

It’s almost childish the way Triple H and the gang have insisted on pushing the jacked up wrestlers like Brock Lesnar, Batista, Ryback, Cena and yes, Triple H himself, over smaller guys like Bryan, Punk and Ziggler who clearly have the fans in the palm of their hands, almost as if to say, “Get over on your own and you will get buried. We the WWE decide who will gets over.” This is just petty booking, and in the end, if WWE continues to go against the fans, I hope they are ready for their precious main event at Wrestlemania featuring the Randy Orton and Batista snooze fest to be crapped on just like Batista’s anti-climactic win at the Royal Rumble.