working
Network Still Working After Unsubbing
Working the Crowd
A Very Special “The Postgame.” (Alternate working title: Did They Break Us For Good?)
Writing about Raw on a weekly basis became tiresome within a couple of months because after a few weeks of awesomeness of Daniel Bryan fighting the machine, it stopped being interesting enough to give me an angle from which to approach it. (That, and I prefer to drink with my friends while watching wrestling. It’s not only more fun, but ensures I’ll fall asleep at a decent time when I have to work the next day. But that’s another story.)
Having the sportswriting background that I do, one of the first things you’re taught is that there’s no cheering in the press box. I try to apply that ethos to whatever I write, unless you count my silly-ass Facebook rantings. It isn’t that I think it’s wrong to show favoritism in writing about professional wrestling; I don’t even think it’s inherently wrong in some forms of sports journalism, with pundits like Bill Simmons proving impartiality to be unnecessary. I just think it makes for more interesting writing.
The plights of the character of Daniel Bryan, and moreso of Bryan Danielson the performer, have made even intimating any form of impartiality a difficult task in recent months.
This isn’t the first time a crowd has responded in a manner far different from how they’re “asked” to respond. While it has become the norm in the last 15 years and has possibly reached critical mass with the story arc of Daniel Bryan over the last eight months, it’s nothing new for a crowd to be very vocal about hating who they’re supposed to love, loving who they’re supposed to hate, treating a supposed midcarder like the biggest thing in the world and outright rejecting what they present to us as the supposed biggest thing in the world.
Last night’s Royal Rumble certainly seems like it’s going to prove to be a tipping point, I just don’t know of what. Maybe it will prove to be the latest example of the WWE relenting to an overwhelming demand for something, and they give in and give us Daniel Bryan, Top Guy. (They have listened before, every now and then.) Maybe this was the plan all along, and this will prove to show just how hard they can troll us in what’s necessary to get us to emotionally invest in someone this fervently in this era.
Or maybe it will be the moment for many of us that our cognitive dissonance breaks for good, and we fully accept that they truly do not care what we want. I call it cognitive dissonance because deep down, I think most of us know that who we want pushed isn’t the WWE’s priority, yet we still bring ourselves to care so much.
I don’t even know if Vince McMahon, Triple H or anyone else with a say-so necessarily disagrees with us regarding Bryan. All we hear is that Vince loves the guy, after all, and I don’t see why he wouldn’t.
Even accounting for the possibility of a reversal of course tonight, it’s clear that building up a new star to Rock or Austin-like levels is not in their interest. And maybe it shouldn’t be. As much as Bryan has galvanized an existing fanbase, has he expanded it? (Counterpoint: much like Punk in 2011, was he really given that chance?)
To the WWE, the story arc of Daniel Bryan has been a rousing success simply because they elevated him to that rarified air of made men who can be plugged into anything from a program with a part-time star like HHH, Brock or Undertaker to a midcard feud with Bray Wyatt. Making him THE guy was never a consideration, nor is changing course to do so even if the fans ask for it.
John Cena came along and became the top guy, and stayed there for two reasons. The first is that he’s remarkably, shockingly reliable. I’ve said before that if Hogan, Rock and Austin are the Ruth, Aaron, Griffey, etc. of pro wrestling, then Cena is Cal Ripken: shockingly durable and reliable, in the lineup every day to do what’s asked of him. (Not a perfect analogy because Cena has had a few serious injuries, but I think it still works.)
The second reason is that, as such a company man, he’s the perfect top guy for a business that has long since decided the brand is the star. Really, it’s surprising it took them this long to figure it out: wrestlers come and go, but your brand needs to keep growing.
But at the same time, Daniel Bryan has become a cultural flashpoint to the extent that, as pointed out on this blog earlier in the day, some so-called mainstream media has even commented today on how little the WWE is listening to their audience.
“Fallen Angel” on Working in Hell
Best working wounded match
Now that we know the extent of Cena’s elbow injury, would you consider that the best match ever where one guy goes into the match with a greatly disabling injury?
Other candidates off the top of my head:Wrestlemania XIV: Michaels vs Austin (Michaels with career-ending back inury)
King of the Ring: Undertaker vs Mankind (Taker jumping off Cell with broken angle)
Wrestlemania XIX: Angle vs Lesnar (Angle neck injury)
Taboo Tuesday: Michaels vs HHH (Michaels with torn meniscus)
Working?
Hey Scott,
Quick question … apparently Jerry Lawler had a heart attack last night on an episode of Raw. Has the WWE gotten so bad at faking injury angles (or wrestling in general for the matter) that when serious things like this happen the first instinct is to be cynical about the carnies on Raw?
New shirts, Macho Man shirt on sale, and working with Mick Foley
Hey Scott, your previous plug for our site was awesome in helping us move some Macho Man shirts. Wanted to see if I could trouble you for another, since yesterday we added a few new shirts to the site and have dropped the price of the Macho Man shirt down to only $10 bucks, for 3 days only. But more importantly, we also designed a sufficiently bad ass Mick Foley shirt that is only gonna be available from the man himself. He'll be selling them on his comedy tour this summer and at the shows he's doing in Edinburgh UK. Later this year, we'll be selling them on our site with some of the profits going to benefit http://www.RAINN.org, which is a charity Mick is heavily involved in. But for now, buying them direct from Foley on tour is the way to get them. His tour dates are here: http://www.realmickfoley.com/events-3/
ALL of the shirts we sell can be seen here: http://doomsdayattire.storenvy.com/
But the 2 wrestling related shirts are right here:
http://i.imgur.com/ppoOL.jpg
Macho Man/Kool-Aid "Oh Yeah!" shirt – ON SALE FOR $10
http://i.imgur.com/Se37S.jpg
Mick Foley's Cheap Pop
Thanks for helping us spread the word, and I'm sure Mick is thankful as well!
Sheamus and Daniel Bryan working out the kinks before Extreme Rules