Well, Vince did it. At Hell in a Cell last week, WWE basically told fans like you and I that we don’t matter.
Oh, they still want our money. But WWE proved last Sunday that think we’re sheep, and will come along no matter what, despite lower TV ratings that struggle to make a 3.0, and buyrates down.
But we really don’t matter.
Who are “we”?
We’re the fans who put up with the cartoon gimmicks (and even like one or two…see the Wyatt Family) and look for one really good match on a TV show or PPV.
We’re the fans who actually appreciate a good character, but one who can actually deliver a wrestling match in the ring.
We’re the fans who would “read the sheets”, then get snickered at in Stamford for doing it (while the locker room reads them and WWE management does too). We’re the ones who years ago used to search wrestling newsletters and, then, this brand-new thing called the Internet to find matches in Japan, Mexico, and in a new promotion called ECW to get quality matches that didn’t insult their intelligence.
We’re the fans that, when we don’t behave like sheep, we’re referred to as Bizarro World.
We’re the fans who went to Ring of Honor if we were lucky, or to independent shows, traveling God knows how far, to see one or two names we’d heard about who could really work a good, skilled match…
We’re the fans who buy the Wrestling Observer, read blogs, websites, and anything they could get their hands on that had wrestling in the name….the ones who get made fun of in Stamford.
Well, WWE thinks we don’t matter. Not unless we download the WWE app, or buy a WWE DVD collection and hope it hasn’t been edited to death.
Why this rant? It ought to be obvious.
A week ago, Bryan “Daniel Bryan” Danielson the very character who is the favorite of most of these fans I speak about (including me) along with a lot more of the traditional “WWE Universe”, got his legs cut out from under him.
A long WWE storyline showing Bryan Danielson against “The Authority” of HHH and Stephanie McMahon (they now even have a gimmick name, guess the “McMahon-Helmsley Era” v. 2.0 didn’t work), getting screwed out of the with only one logical conclusion, a storyline that went on month after month, leading to a blow-off in the Hell in a Cell with Bryan Danielson overcoming all odds and finally getting his Title.
WWE can’t blow that, right? Wrong. Instead for the feel good moment, we have John Cena making a SuperCena comeback far too soon for anything other than modern chemistry.
We now have (again) Randy Orton as Champion. Bryan Danielson is pparently being scaled back to working a tag against the Wyatt Family with The Miz.
Randy Orton will work the Big Show, who we’re supposed to believe has been “fired” (anyone remember that “iron-clad contract”?, and his house repossessed by “The Authority”, despite the fact he’s working each and every show he’s scheduled to work under the guise of “contractual obligations”.
Wonder if Stephanie and Vince figured out this one: If Big Show’s destitute, how’s he traveling throughout the US and on tours in foreign countries. Look, I don’t mind suspending my disbelief. But don’t ask me to throw it in the shredder.
http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/2013/11/05/see-matter/
Oh, they still want our money. But WWE proved last Sunday that think we’re sheep, and will come along no matter what, despite lower TV ratings that struggle to make a 3.0, and buyrates down.
But we really don’t matter.
Who are “we”?
We’re the fans who put up with the cartoon gimmicks (and even like one or two…see the Wyatt Family) and look for one really good match on a TV show or PPV.
We’re the fans who actually appreciate a good character, but one who can actually deliver a wrestling match in the ring.
We’re the fans who would “read the sheets”, then get snickered at in Stamford for doing it (while the locker room reads them and WWE management does too). We’re the ones who years ago used to search wrestling newsletters and, then, this brand-new thing called the Internet to find matches in Japan, Mexico, and in a new promotion called ECW to get quality matches that didn’t insult their intelligence.
We’re the fans that, when we don’t behave like sheep, we’re referred to as Bizarro World.
We’re the fans who went to Ring of Honor if we were lucky, or to independent shows, traveling God knows how far, to see one or two names we’d heard about who could really work a good, skilled match…
We’re the fans who buy the Wrestling Observer, read blogs, websites, and anything they could get their hands on that had wrestling in the name….the ones who get made fun of in Stamford.
Well, WWE thinks we don’t matter. Not unless we download the WWE app, or buy a WWE DVD collection and hope it hasn’t been edited to death.
Why this rant? It ought to be obvious.
A week ago, Bryan “Daniel Bryan” Danielson the very character who is the favorite of most of these fans I speak about (including me) along with a lot more of the traditional “WWE Universe”, got his legs cut out from under him.
A long WWE storyline showing Bryan Danielson against “The Authority” of HHH and Stephanie McMahon (they now even have a gimmick name, guess the “McMahon-Helmsley Era” v. 2.0 didn’t work), getting screwed out of the with only one logical conclusion, a storyline that went on month after month, leading to a blow-off in the Hell in a Cell with Bryan Danielson overcoming all odds and finally getting his Title.
WWE can’t blow that, right? Wrong. Instead for the feel good moment, we have John Cena making a SuperCena comeback far too soon for anything other than modern chemistry.
We now have (again) Randy Orton as Champion. Bryan Danielson is pparently being scaled back to working a tag against the Wyatt Family with The Miz.
Randy Orton will work the Big Show, who we’re supposed to believe has been “fired” (anyone remember that “iron-clad contract”?, and his house repossessed by “The Authority”, despite the fact he’s working each and every show he’s scheduled to work under the guise of “contractual obligations”.
Wonder if Stephanie and Vince figured out this one: If Big Show’s destitute, how’s he traveling throughout the US and on tours in foreign countries. Look, I don’t mind suspending my disbelief. But don’t ask me to throw it in the shredder.
http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/2013/11/05/see-matter/