The State of the WWE: Part 2

Immediately after the backlash surrounding Royal Rumble and raucous fans in Pittsburgh who were not happy — and that’s putting it mildly — that Daniel Bryan was excluded from the main event of the show, Randy Orton and Batista, in particularly, were said to have been equally enraged backstage as the WWE Universe largely rejected their matches and booed them six ways to Sunday. This fever more or less developed organically, as the live crowd went nuts when Danial Bryan opened the show, only to lose in a five-star match with Bray Wyatt. Fans then waited with bated anticipation for the better part of 2 1/2 hours for what they really wanted to see, which was Bryan not only getting into the 30-man battle royal, but winning the match to get a shot at the title at Wrestlemania, despite the fact that WWE did not advertise Bryan as a participant.

For what it’s worth, Batista, Orton and bookers backstage were apparently not anticipating the kind of reaction the show would receive, according to online reports. To compound the amount of vitriol WWE is still receiving from fans, CM Punk’s departure, whether he left because of sour grapes or to address real health and stress concerns, leaked online and now bookers are rethinking their approach leading into Wrestlemania because of these two main developments. Vince McMahon has apparently taken negotiation power away from Triple H and company officials regarding Punk and is doing it himself, which I find mildly humorous.

In any case, I can’t imagine why they would be so surprised by any of these outcomes. First take the John Cena and Randy Orton match at Royal Rumble. These have been WWE’s consistent cash cows for the past 10 years. I get that, and I think anyone who takes off the Bryan/Punk blinders will have to admit to this fact. But other simple truth is that fans are burned out on Cena and Orton, no matter how much they might be over with casual audience. Every few months after WWE has busily worked to repair Cena’s image by throwing him in front of the camera with troops or kids with cancer or some other sympathetic figure, and thus guilt-tripping fans into cheering him — After all, who would boo a guy who’s granting wishes to sick kids and supporting the troops? — most adults who aren’t female and especially Internet fans inevitably begin raining down boos on him, and company has to begin the laborious process all over again. So, how many times is the WWE going to fall back on the Orton/Cena program instead focusing on building up fresh talent?

The company will certainly milk Orton/Cena for all their worth, but discounting the fervor over Bryan, the Royal Rumble showed that fans, both in the arena and at home, have had enough of this tired feud and their listless, non-innovative and mediocre matches. We all know and understand that Cena and Orton are nearly ubiquitous and are going to be a significant part of every PPV for as long as they can go, but I don’t think anyone would raise much of a fuss if they were in more high-profile non-title feuds. Does WWE really think that people will only come to see Orton and Cena if they are in the title hunt? Cena and Orton have had 19 title WWE title reigns combined the last 10 years, while Punk and Bryan have had four runs since coming to the company. Bryan’s total days as WWE champ can be counted on two fingers. Granted, WWE threw fans a bone and allowed Punk to have the longest title reign in the modern era, but most of that time he was as a “cowardly heel” and wasn’t main-eventing PPVs (the final match) or winning cleanly.

I also can’t fathom why WWE somehow would have expected the story about CM Punk walking out of the company to remain a secret. We are coming off of one of the “big four” PPV’s of the year and leading in the WWE’s proverbial Super Bowl, with asinine sign-pointing aplenty, and fans would naturally have been wondering why Punk was not appearing on RAW or Smackdown each week.

I think it’s a positive that the writers are considering options for Wrestlemania with and without CM Punk in the mix, and whether or not he comes back, and this could — I stress could — be a sign that WWE is at least feigning interest in listening to the fans at this point. I hope they are keen enough to know that a stadium full of hardcore wrestling fans who traveled far and wide to see the show will be vocal about what they are seeing in the ring, and if Bryan (and Punk if he comes back) aren’t big parts of Wrestlemania, they might as well expect the rain of boos to commence. Lest anyone forget, if the fans gave up on the company tomorrow, there would be no Wrestlemania.

Read the first part of this series here.

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.