What's next for AEW?

Fresh off of the Double or Nothing pay-per-view and this week's episode of Dynamite, it appears that All Elite Wrestling is taking steps forward as a promotion. While it remains to be seen how effective the booking direction is, there are certainly several discussion points surrounding the organization. Keep in mind, Double or Nothing was the official launch of the company last year so the event itself was a milestone for the group. The foundation for the start of All Elite Wrestling was the popularity of The Elite and the concept of an alternative option for the sports entertainment industry. Ultimately, the ability to keep that momentum will be key for the company to continue to expanded. Granted, AEW isn't perfect, but the group has to continue to move forward if they are going continue to have an impact in the industry. It's often been said that AEW has to learn from the mistakes of WCW and TNA if they really want to capitalize on the momentum they had to start the promotion. Obviously, they have to invest wisely, even if they have a billionaire funding the project, as both of the previous companies showed that a billion dollar bankroll doesn't automatically translate to success or stability. Secondly, the product must progress to avoid being stalled or stale, which is basically what happened to TNA over a decade ago.

The Dark Order storming the ring to attack The Elite was probably a low point late last year. The segment was tacky and looked like something from WCW in 2000.

Thankfully, many of the flaws from the first two months of TV have been fixed and most of the time, there's a logical build for angles on television. One of the many aspects of this year is that with AEW's new TV deal, it's known that they will be an option for talent for at least the next few years, which saw the debut of Matt Hardy, Brodie Lee, and others. One of the debuts at Double or Nothing was Brain Cage, a former Impact heavyweight champion and an independent standout prior to that. The majority of Cage's run in Impact was at a time when the group had less exposure than someone in the witness protection program so a move to AEW puts him on a platform with better distribution, especially with the TNT championship as an indication that the network will push the wrestling venture across its programming. That being said, I just don't see what the big deal is about Brian Cage and I don't think it's quite as big of an acquisition as others might say about it. Don't get me wrong, it's not a personal jab toward him, if he can get an offer to work on a national TV platform than good for him. But, I've always thought his work was sloppy and that his matches were more or less just high spots without any pace to his matches. Plus, he doesn't have much of a character, he's more or less a generic bodybuilder that happens to do some flips with less precision than the rest on the roster that work a similar style. The other aspect is that Cage has been injury prone throughout his career, including his run in Impact so it remains to be see if this investment for AEW will payoff. That being said, pairing Cage with Taz makes sense and if it's done right then this angle could be what his original run as Samoa Joe's manage should've been in TNA several years ago. While neck injuries ended Taz's in-ring career, his commentary and radio career prove that he does well on the mic and he can still cut intense promos so it was a good choice to give him the spot to cut promos as Cage's manager.

Hikaru Shida beat Nyla Rose for the AEW Women's championship at the pay-per-view, which was a good decision because Nyla is still lacking some aspects as far as in the ring, and it was a nice tribute for Shida to win the title in honor of Hana Kimura, who passed away last week. While the division is improving, I think it's fair to say that the Joshi athletes are far ahead of the rest of the roster, probably because the training in Japan is much stricter than usual seen in the United States. Nyla has the presence of a monster during her ring entrance, but doesn't have that same aura bell to bell. She sells too much and takes too many bumps to protect that monster image during matches. Sometimes too much selling comes across as clumsy and her character isn't as impactful as it could be otherwise. I also thought that the No DQ aspect of the women's title bout was more to camouflage some of Nyla's weaknesses and it was somewhat overbooking the card because there was already the ladder match and the Stadium Stampede on the same show. Nyla has the potential to be a star for the company, but her character has to be protected going forward if they want to maximize her ability. Speaking of Nyla, Britt Baker was injured during a spot with her on the previous week's Dynamite and while it's unfortunate that she will be out of action for 6-8 weeks, the heel work she's done recently has probably been the best of her career. I mentioned it in an article a while ago, one of the downsides of the NXT system is that very talented athletes could spent a considerable amount of time on the third brand under the WWE banner when they already have the skills to be in front of the biggest audience possible on Raw or Smackdown. The main example of that is Adam Cole, who was the subject of speculation this week that he could exit NXT when his contract expires in a few months. That is another article for another time, but the point being, Britt Baker has learned and found herself with the heel role the past few months. She didn't have to spend two years on the smaller brand, she took her game to the next level on national television and is arguably able to get the more from this part of her career than she would've working the NXT house show circuit. Again, it's disappointing that she suffered an injury, but she can use this opportunity on the mic to continue to develop her heel character.

The former Revival debuted after months of speculation, which makes the dream match with the Young Bucks possible. As great as it is to see FTR in All Elite Wrestling, and I think they will be extremely successful there, I have to be honest, their debut was rather underwhelming. They made their way into the venue in a truck, just weeks after Cody did a similar entrance before a confrontation with Lance Archer. The in-ring confrontation wasn't much of a confrontation because FTR and The Bucks disposed of The Butcher and the Blade before the debuting team left the ring. I don't think there's really a point to try to question if there's tension between the team or not and when there might be a conflict between them because the foundation for that was already set up on social media years ago. Something more impactful would've been more effective, especially if FTR attacked the Bucks to put them on notice and kick start the feud. I guess, I just think there should've been more sizzle for something that has been building for several years.

A segment that didn't lack any sizzle was The Inner Circle's confrontation with Mike Tyson. While you can't realistically expect Tyson to have the same effect on a wrestling organization now than he did in his prime in 1998, the timing worked out well for AEW because Tyson recently made headlines when a series of training videos prompted speculation that he could make a comeback to boxing. Obviously, Tyson isn't polished at promos and his over enthusiasm doesn't necessarily lead to the smoothest segment, but Jericho kept it on track. The visual of the scuffle and Tyson being restrained with a cast of UFC fighters could be very useful for AEW. Does this mean Dynamite will set record ratings next week? No, but it could get some of the causal wrestling fans to sample the product, which is key to build the fan base for the company.

The career of Owen Hart

Today marks 21 years since the tragic death of Owen Hart, who passed away after an accident saw him fall from the ceiling of the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, MI. Similar to many genres of the entertainment business, there have been senseless deaths in professional wrestling of talented individuals that left far too soon. Sadly, most of those early deaths were caused by specific choices those people made and the unintended consequences of them. Owen Hart was not one of those statistics. Other than the despicable murder of Frank "Bruiser Brody" Goodish in Puerto Rico by Jose Gonzalez, the scenario that saw Owen pass away at just 34 remains the other example of two deaths that could've been completely avoidable. Earlier this week, Vice TV's Dark Side of The Ring season finale examined the circumstances around his fall and provided a different view point on the whole scenario that many fans hadn't heard before, including specific details about the aftermath of the incident that were explained by Owen's widow, Martha.

In truth, the episode was absolutely heart-breaking and was very tough to watch. I found myself getting emotional as I watched the scenes where his family explained how it affected them, the same way I'm emotional now as I write this. For the past two decades, many have wondered why Martha chose to keep the former King of the Ring winner away from the spotlight that the WWE's global machine provides. This documentary series answers the questions. First and most importantly, nobody, even someone with the best intentions to want to honor Owen's memory and accomplishments, should attempt to tell Martha Hart how she should honor his legacy. Owen Hart died for no reason on WWE's watch, and if Martha Hart doesn't want that same company to promote and then be able to profit off of his legacy then it's clearly within her right to do so. Others simply don't have the right to lobby for her to do otherwise because they didn't lose a member of their family in a totally illogical accident. The fact of the matter, which was highlighted very directly in the documentary, is that Martha lost her husband and her kids grew up without their father because of a stunt that should've never been suggested.

On the flip side, I sincerely believe that if Vince McMahon could go back and change the circumstances that he would. Surely, if anyone truly knew how dangerous the stunt would've been, Owen would've never been on the catwalk of an arena. The WWE was responsible for Owen Hart's death, which is why they rightfully paid Martha $18 million, but to say the WWE is to "blame" for his death would be too harsh of a criticism because it was an accident. Obviously, nobody wanted Owen to pass away that night and it must be recognized that it was an accident. Martha, who the documentary revealed is a doctor, said in a recent interview with The Sun in the UK that she forgives the WWE so while she holds them responsible, even she knows it was a tragic accident that claimed his life.

It should also be mentioned that Martha is very well spoken and at least from what we saw in the documentary, she represents Owen's legacy well. One of the interesting aspects of Dark Side of The Ring was the details behind the Hart family dissension, including those that didn't want her to file a lawsuit against WWE. Very similar to many families, it appears that The Hart family had some tension and as sad as it sounds, this might've been a situation where certain members of the Hart family didn't want a lawsuit because they were expecting another run in the WWE at some point after that. Who knows? Bruce Hart, who seemed to ooze jealously because of his brothers' success, seemed to want to latch onto them for any type of relevance he could get, a prime example being when he legitimately punched Steve Austin during the famous Calgary Stampede pay-per-view to attempt to take the spotlight away from Owen at the finish. Bruce also published a book about a decade ago with outlandish claims that criticized Bret. However, I'm not sure there was a big market for the mediocre career of Bruce Hart. Bret wrote in his best-selling autobiography that he didn't particularly trust Smith Hart, who was known as a rather odd character. Diana Hart published her own book, which resulted in a lawsuit from Martha because of slanderous claims and that particular book was taken off of shelves. The point being, the squabbles of the Hart family of complex to say the least so again, Martha is probably right in her decision to want to protect Owen's legacy. Plus, we all have a few family members we would like to hit with a steel chair, right?

On a better note, as a fan of professional wrestling, I've always enjoyed Owen's work and had a deeper appreciation for it as I got older, especially since five-year-old Jim cheered fanatically for Bret Hart as he faced off with Owen at Wrestlemania 10, where I originally watched the show on pay-per-view during a family party for the event. As time went on, I cheered for Owen as the "Black Hart" in his short feud with Shawn Michaels in an attempt to get revenge for Bret because of the Montreal incident. In elementary school, I thought the "Enough is a Enough" theme was great and would recite "It's time for a change!" in front of the TV on Monday nights. As I got older and knew and could appreciate what work rate was, I became even more of a fan of Owen because the guy could go with anyone. You simply won't find a subpar Owen match, which shows how much of a polished pro he was in the squared circle. The previously mentioned WM 10 bout is one of the my favorite matches because the pace and the work was absolutely seamless while the psychology of the contest told a great narrative. Their feud in 1994 and the cage match at Summer Slam are also memorable. Let's not forget his tremendous run as a two-time Slammy Award winner in 1997, and the legendary run the Hart Foundation had the same year.

The year following Owen's death, the settlement that was reached in the lawsuit surrounding his passing was used to launch the Owen Hart Foundation, a non-profit organization that has helped underprivileged families and provided scholarship opportunities for students. Owen was known as one of the kindest people in his profession and perhaps his legacy is that a tribute to his memory has been able to set up an organization that has helped people for the past twenty years. The memory of Owen Hart was immortalized in the ring and also through the work of the foundation that has helped people. It goes without saying that Owen shouldn't have been on the catwalk 21 years ago. He was simply too talented for a tacky super hero gimmick. He was too special of a talent to be limited to an outlandish costume. However, his legacy will always continue from his skills in the ring and the efforts of the Owen Hart foundation because he will be remembered as a legend of the sport.

Double or Nothing

The past few months for the entire world have been unstable and unsettling, as the health concerns of the public are debated against economic concerns. Many people are stuck on the sidelines while they wait to resume their jobs and a general uncertainty hangs over society like a cautious rain cloud. The orange villain refused to wear a mask and rambles on so incoherently about disinfectant that Vince Russo booking almost seems logical by comparison. Sadly, there's just not much to look forward to currently, especially because the majority of sports leagues are still trying to find an answer to if or when it would be safe to run scaled-down events. The lack of live sports has led me to looking forward to tuning into the Korean Baseball League around 5 AM before switching over to Golic and Wingo on ESPN to listen to a discussion about the sports that aren't happening. For those wondering, the KC Dinos are officially the team I'm cheering for in the Korean league, simply because there were the team playing when ESPN started to air the games a few weeks ago. Huzzah.

Although not nearly as important as the debate about the health concerns of the public, the genre of sports entertainment has continued to run during the pandemic under specific limitations, yielding mixed results. Since all of this was uncharted territory, it took a few weeks for each national TV group to find a formula that attempted to make the best of the situation. An empty arena match went from being a rarely used gimmick match to the current standard for television. One of the biggest criticisms I had about Wrestlemania and really the WWE product in general with its current presentation is the lack of any reaction in the building is such a flat atmosphere that you just can't build a match. As I've written before, the stripped down version of the product has put a spotlight on some of the flaws of the programming. Without the smoke and mirrors of the state-of-the-art production of the sports entertainment empire, it exposes the lack of quality in the details of the publicly-traded company. This is another example of something that I've discussed several times before, when the WWE became the undisputed leader of sports entertainment and landed major money for its TV deals, including the current contract that will see them get paid nearly $2.5 billion during a five-year span, there was a level of complacency and mediocrity that developed within the product. The corporate agenda, not fan demand determined the direction of programming since WWE remains the most easily accessible pro wrestling product in the United States. However, that generic paint-by-numbers approach is geared toward churning out as many hours of content as possible so there's a priority of quantity over quality. In truth, much of the discontent with WWE is moot because they have guaranteed money that will already see them generate record-setting profits this year, which will boost the stock price. From a business perspective, the WWE is very successful, but are they trading the short-end money now at the expense to build for the future? The point here is, the corporate machine has been running the same playbook for years that it can't adapt to any other scenario. Without the slick production to add some glamour to the show, Raw is reduced to the fact that there just aren't as many compelling characters now and the scripted promos show through even more than usually because of the flat deliver.

From an in-ring perspective, the argument could be made that the WWE roster has more talent now than any other point in history, but the presentation of the talent appears to hinder, not help their ability to get over as legitimate money-drawing stars, which is the result of the brand being promoted as the draw while the individual wrestlers are mostly used as interchangeable parts.

As mentioned earlier, the empty arena environment has yielded mixed results, including the rather lackluster MITB pay-per-view earlier this month. Maybe the $10 price tag associated for the WWE Network subscription takes away the iniative for the writing team to have to book a compelling card because much of the selling point of the Network is the vast library of classic footage, not just an individual show.

On the flip side, All Elite Wrestling's Double or Nothing pay-per-view, originally scheduled for a return to the MGM, will be held at Daily's place at the Jaguar complex. I've discussed it before that the $10 for a WWE Network subscription makes it that much more difficult to sell a pay-per-view for $50, but so far, AEW has done relatively well on PPV. That being said, trying to build and deliver on a show like that is a completely new challenge. I can't emphasize enough how much of a difference it makes to have some members of the roster in the crowd because their reaction creates a much better atmosphere for the show. It also utilizes a traditional aspect of the industry because in years past, baby faces have generally cheered for other baby faces or made the save during a heel attack so it makes sense that there would be some cheering during matches.

However, has AEW really sold the fans on the Double or Nothing pay-per-view?

Generally, yes, the card is intriguing despite the limited roster and the limited options with the booking the past few months. I don't want to over analysis the event with an in-depth look at each match on the card, but rather make a few broad points about why those specific aspects seemed to work under the circumstances. There were a slew of debuts since the pandemic started, including Matt Hardy, Lance Archer, and Brodie Lee. Granted, their initial appearances would've been much better with a crowd reaction, but all things considered, the presentation has given them momentum under the AEW banner. Lance Archer was paired with Jake Roberts, which almost immediately puts a spotlight on him, and he has the intensity to portray the character, as well as being able to go in the ring. The segment with Brandi put a personal spin on the feud to give it a grudge match vibe. The segment this past week on Dynamite added another layer because even at his age, Arn Anderson can cut a money promo. The addition of Mike Tyson worked out well with the recent headlines that he made with a possible return to boxing, and while it's doubtful it will have the same impact it did twenty years ago, his appearance is undoubtedly good publicity for the company. The dynamic of a TNT championship is something unique too because it's obviously a spin on the concept of the TV title because the network name is a cool detail to make it stand out.

The casino ladder match is going to be a spot fest and in small doses, really risky matches like this can be used to propel a competitor to the next level. This should be a memorable match with some crazy bumps, but hopefully it's used for more than that and will ultimately be an angle that can be used to make someone a bigger star.

The Stadium Stampede is basically using the fact that there can't be an audience to their advantage and taking the empty arena concept a step further. This is the first-ever empty stadium match and that alone is an intriguing aspect to the card. The only downside of a 10-man match is that a lot of talent is booked for one segment instead of throughout the card. Despite the segment this past week on Dynamite, the Jon Moxley/Brodie Lee match seems to lack the hype of a usual title match. Perhaps, it's because Brodie is being rushed to a title match and this just doesn't have the build up of the prior AEW titles matches on pay-per-view. That being said, if the match delivers in the ring then it's mission accomplished. Most of the under card is fine and all things considered AEW probably did the best they could to sell the show with all the restrictions, but it will be very interesting to see if the event draws a solid buy rate for the company.

The career of RJ City

"So give me a stage where this bull here can rage, and though I can fight, I’d much rather recite. That’s entertainment!"

That line was uttered on-screen by the legendary Robert De Niro in the Scorsese classic, "Raging Bull," the brooding portrayal of troubled middleweight, Jake LaMotta. The boxing champion developed a gritty reputation throughout the 1950s for his smash-mouth style and the ability to take tremendous punishment inside the ring ropes. As wild outside of the boxing arena as he was when he laced up his gloves, "The Bronx Bull" led a wild life with a combination of charm and outrageous decisions that was immortalized on film upon the movie's 1980 release. Jake was a natural showman and spent a portion of his post-boxing career as a stand-up comedian and even made film cameos himself, including a spot in "The Hustler," Paul Newman's tremendous role as pool shark "Fast" Eddie Felson. Thankfully, most of the twilight of his life, "The Raging Bull" slowed down a little, embracing his role as an elder statesman of sports and toured the autograph circuit to entertain audiences with his tales of brutal bouts against "Sugar" Ray Robinson. From the courtroom to the ten-count, Jake LaMotta put his life to the public to thrill them, through the positive of the negative. That's entertainment.

For De Niro, he fully embraced the role with a dedication to his craft and a goal to truly capture the turbulent life of the boxing champion. After sporting a lean and toned frame in "Taxi Driver" just a few years earlier, De Niro gorged himself on a high-calorie diet to gain nearly sixty pounds to accurately portray the downfall of the boxing star after his retirement from the ring. The extreme weight gain and then a relatively quick weight loss was physically taxing for De Niro. However, his efforts were rewarded, as he won Best Actor for the role at that year's Academy Awards. That's entertainment.

While Raging Bull blended the physicality of sports with the drama of intensive acting, the sport of professional wrestling is based on much of the same premise. The glitz and the glamor meet the in-ring maneuvers to create a diverse atmosphere that allows the narrative to take many forms, which can be seen throughout the history of the sports entertainment business. Bruiser Brody sent audiences scattering around the globe, his brand of violence was an international language. Underrated legend, William Regal could make an audience laugh with his outlandish facial expression or draw jeers from the crowd as his sneered through gritted-teeth before he pummeled an opponent.

With as much divisiveness as we see in the modern era of social media, too often a cloud of negativity rains down on almost any subject. Within the world of professional wrestling, a genre that has some of the most passionate, but equally as jaded fans, very few seem to be able to maintain a focus on the primary objective, entertainment.

RJ City, a Canadian athlete with a flare for the arts, brings together the world of grappling and acting to generate his own brand of comic relief to the often harsh reality of society. Based in Toronto, RJ wrestled his way around Canada and became a mainstay of the independent scene in the United States, but always set his sights on the biggest platforms possible, he wanted to reach anyone around the globe so a slew of social media content became just as important to him as his in-ring repertoire. But, how did RJ learn the ropes before he burst through the curtain and onto the canvas nearly 15 years ago?

"I was trained to wrestle by Jerry Lewis in the Catskills. He saw me waiting tables, I served him the best Cobb salad he ever had. He never forgot it and saw something in me. Training in the Catskills helped my cardio not only because of the altitude, but Jerry also smoked a cigarette the entire time we chained," RJ enthusiastically said.

These claims of his mat lessons with the singer can't be confirmed by The Wrestling Observer or anyone else, but RJ stands by the account that chain wrestling with Lewis while Jerry chain-smoked menthols was a valuable learning experience for him. When RJ wasn't learning counters to Lewis' famed hammerlock, the two discussed the other craft they shared, acting. Multiple sources were able to confirm that RJ did indeed study acting in his youth and eventually landed a role on Nickelodeon's Spatalot, a wacky game show that saw contests attempt to complete a wild obstacle course. When he wasn't pelting civilians with slime, RJ had other TV roles and work on the stage, an aspect of his career that he sees useful within the acting field, as well as in the squared circle.

"It's the same thing, I'd like to think wrestling has made me a better actor and acting has made me a better wrestler. I'm able to change in very tight spaces now, but my promos have better words than anyone else's. No matter what the role is, there is a common thread of absolute idiocy in everything I do. At least my incompetence is consistent," RJ explained.

As much as his sometimes villainous persona inside the ropes can be designed to antagonize fans, RJ knows the bottom line is to provide an audience with entertainment and uses a myriad of avenues to deliver content to connect with an audience. His Youtube channel features of potpourri of concepts, such as "RJ Reads Wrestling books," an occasional nod to the golden era of film, and the popular series "RJ Makes Coffee in his Underwear." With a premium roast in hand and clad in colorful briefs, RJ invites viewers and guest stars alike along for caffeine consumption and a casual chat. The other side of these projects is that even though the audience can see the finished product of the conversation with the social media star in his polka dot undergarments, there's a structured process behind the editing and production of this content. In an example of something that could only happen in the unique sport of professional wrestling, the encouragement for RJ to brew beverages on the internet without wearing pants was offered to him by a certain ECW legend that made a career through violence and wild brawls.

"The entertainment industry keeps me constantly motivated yet chronically unsatisfied, until I become so successful that I lose all grasp of quality. I would like to pretend I develop concepts, but I usually just do them and adjust along the way. Coffee and underwear started out as a joke, then Tommy Dreamer said I might as well do it and I've done it every Sunday ever since. The biggest challenge of doing your own work is that you have to become everything. Writer, cameraman, sound, set, editor, producer and PR," RJ said.

With the blessing of the former ECW champion that once pile drove his nemesis on a cherry pie, RJ bravely continued his coffee exploits, prompting that series to become his most popular venture among his nearly 20,000 Twitter followers. His popularity steadily climbed over time, both within the acting world and in the ring. Naturally, he developed a friend and foe rivalry with David Arquette. The exact origins of this feud are a subject of debate, but the rumor mill suggest some type of heat between the two stemming from the casting of Ready to Rumble, a film not exactly as revered as the others mentioned so far. Arquette, who famously played the role of Dewey Riley in the "Scream" franchise and infamously won the WCW championship, is well-known as a legitimately diehard wrestling fan, prompting him to work select independent matches in recent years, some of which involved his ongoing saga with RJ City. Despite nearly three decades as an actor, Arquette might not be the biggest star to take notice of RJ's unique social media brand. Just a few months ago, RJ found himself standing at the Broken Skull Bar in his underwear next the biggest star in the history of the wrestling business, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Stone Cold opted to keep his camouflage hunting attire for the segment and didn't offer his guest a Broken Skull IPA.

"I was jogging in his neighborhood and he was pruning his hedges. One thing led to another and now we play bocci ball on the weekends," RJ claimed.

The coffee expert's suggestion that he met the former WWF champion while the Hall of Famer was landscaping is unconfirmed, but many fans and peers take notice of RJ's thoughtfulness put into his work and his acknowledgement of support for his projects.
 
"RJ is, unironically and legitimately, the most talented man I know. I don't mean this to disparage one of my professions, but RJ is too talented for wrestling. He is on a higher level of understanding than makes sense for that business. I don't mean that in a mean way toward wrestling, but it's like a chess master playing in a rec center checker league. And what he doesn't want you to know, is that he's a thoughtful, well-mannered sweetheart on top of it; a true friend in a world of good brothers," said Magnum CK, a now-retired pro wrestler that also has an extensive background in theater and production.

So, did a combination of training in the Catskills and cigarettes really provide RJ City an introduction to professional wrestling? Did he spar with Mike Tyson while he was there? Is he really as silly and carefree as he appears? Will he an David Arquette feud longer than Dusty Rhodes and Terry Funk? Who knows? But, one thing is for sure, RJ City takes meticulous time and effort to develop the product that he offers to the public. There's undoubtedly a level of study and talent that goes into the content that he serves the crowd. But not knowing how much of this wackiness is based in reality or simply by design is part of the fun. Regardless of if it's on-screen, on stage, or on the canvas, RJ City makes giving the audience a chance to enjoy his performance the top priority. That's entertainment.

Wrestlemania 34

Despite a myriad of openings at some level in various states, the shutdown mostly continues, especially here in Pittsburgh, as a color-coded system more complicated than WCW booking goes into effect today. If the red phase is a "mayday! mayday!" situation, the yellow phase appears to be a "seek shelter before the tornado" scenario because through the political jargon and people spending an unhealthy amount of time posting memes on facebook, the basic aspects of the shutdown are still in place. Truthfully, I'm more frustrated with all of the nonsense than Cornette in a Jim Herd booking meeting in WCW circa 1990. Some yo-yo named Billy Bob has a political theory about the illuminati being behind it all on social media while the orange villain wants to chug Windex, and maybe he should? Either way, I really hope this is over soon and the world can get back to some level of normal, mostly because I've reviewed almost every WM event for this series, and despite the suggestions from some readers, I'd rather watch 24-hour marathons of CSPAN with the workers on both sides in Washington than attempt to review the early TNA pay-per-views. On the bright side, we might live in a world with a pandemic and economic disaster, but we also live in a time where Tony Schiavone, who read plugs for Playstation 1 and Nintendo 64 on Nitro, tweets about Red Dead Redemption 2.

Anyway, Wrestlemania 34 returned to New Orleans just four years after "the miracle on Bourbon St." that saw Daniel Bryan hoist two championship belts in triumph. As I wrote a few days ago, I think WM 30 stands as the last great WM of the modern era, mostly because the freedom of the WWE Network has allowed management to run ridiculously long shows and in many ways, they are sacrificing quality for quantity. A longer show doesn't automatically translate to a better show, nor does it really add to the spectacle. I can't emphasize enough how tedious of a viewing experience the last few shows were because they were just too lengthy to properly enjoy with so much content jammed onto the broadcast. As I've mentioned before, with these nearly six-hour shows, I'm going to summarize as much as possible to attempt to avoid articles that are too lengthy for someone to realistically want to read. The show opened with the IC title triple threat match that saw Seth Rollins claim the championship against The Miz and Finn Balor. The takeaway from the bout at the time still holds up today, it was a good match that would've been better if it was just Rollins vs. Balor instead of the triple threat match.

Charlotte Flair beat Asuka to retain the Women's title, ending Asuka's extended winning streak in the process. The argument could be made that these two stole the show and this was the match of the night, despite several more hours of wrestling scheduled for the pay-per-view. This bout had a big fight atmosphere, which is something that doesn't happen too often in the modern era of WWE because the sports entertainment machine seems more focused on churning out countless hours of content than maximizing the impact of it. The match was seamless and built very well with back and fourth action toward the conclusion of the contest. As much as some people complain that Charlotte got her spot because of her dad, which is probably true to some extent, this is really a breakout performance for her in some ways. Early on, even after she was a focal point of the women's division, I thought some of her inexperience showed through with clumsy selling and spots that looked blatantly staged, but this showcase at WM really showed that she grew into the role of a star in the WWE. As far as her getting a contract because of her dad, that has been done for several generations in the business, why else would anyone hire Erik Watts or George Gulas?

Jinder Mahal won the US title in a four-way match, and this is already an example of how overbooked this show was and would continue to be because it was one of several multiple wrestler matches. The contest went roughly seven minutes so there's not too much to say about it. This was a four way and there was already a triple threat earlier in the show. Speaking of triple threat matches, there was a triple threat tag team match that similar to the US contest, The Bludgeon Brothers won the Smackdown tag team titles, but it went less than five minutes so it was another situation where everything was rushed. I don't know how management thought either of those matches could logically even have a chance to be quality matches with such limited time given for them.

A match that did get enough time and rightfully so was Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. On paper, especially considering Ronda's inexperience in pro wrestling, this might look like it was going to be a clunky bout that only included flashes of brilliance. However, all things considered, it was a very entertaining segment and it was structured in such a way that it allowed Ronda to shine with some of her potential and skills in the squared circle without exposing any major weaknesses either. Granted, Stephanie being able to defend an arm bar is almost as ridiculous as Vince Russo winning the WCW championship, but aside from that, this bout was a success, particularly because it was a major launching point for Ronda Rousey and gave her a good start in front of the WWE audience.

The Undertaker beat John Cena in about two minutes, and while this quick exhibition gave the fans The Undertaker's signature spots, I'm not necessarily sure that's what the audience wanted to see from him. That's not meant as a jab at The Undertaker either, I completely respect everything he's done and he absolutely has the right to do whatever he wants at this point in his career, he's earned it, but a segment like this is more of a reminder that he can't physically be the performer that he was in the past than anything. Unfortunately, the results for lengthy matches he had later in the year against Triple H at Super Showdown and then a tag match at Crown Jewel were disastrous.

After a few years on the shelf, Daniel Bryan returned to action in a tag match with Shane McMahon against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Ironically, it was reported that Shane went into this match with legitimate injuries and appeared somewhat limited throughout it. The match was fine for what it was, but it really wasn't anything too spectacular or memorable, despite the talented athletes booked for it. Bryan and Shane won, but it should be noted that this angle was the start of about a two-year period where Shane was on TV way too often and had too much of the focus of the Smackdown brand put on himself. While I don't think Shane was politicing for more television time during writing meetings, it certainly looks like a level of nepotism within the company when he was being featured more often than most of the roster. Plus, Shane was near 50 around this time so it wasn't as though it was an attempt to build for the future.

Nia Jax beat Alexa Bliss to win the Raw wins title in a decent match. More than the in-ring action, this contest and this angle really allowed Nia to showcase the different aspects and depth of her character. It's disappointing that Nia seems to have plateaued at a mostly subpar level in the ring because as a character, she has done well in a variety of roles. She can portray the monster heel or in this scenario, the baby face that fans rallied around to win the championship.

AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura was a really solid match, but I have to be honest, I thought it was a little underwhelming. I know it's not a fair comparison, but after watching their epic contest at Wrestle Kingdom 10 a few years earlier, I thought it was possible that this might be one of those very memorable WM matches on par with something like Shawn Micheals vs. Kurt Angle from WM 21, but it just didn't reach that level. However, the bigger point was I think WWE management completely missed the boat on Nakamura, who appears to be content to coast and collect the big money on the contract, and you can't really blame him because he was casts as a secondary figure in recent years. Nakamura has the charisma and the in-ring skill that transcends any perceived language barrier and he was more than capable of being the first Japanese WWE champion. The heel turn after the contest provided a shocking moment, but there wasn't any major follow up and it basically halted his momentum after he won the Royal Rumble earlier in the year.

Braun Strowman, who was over enough to be in the main event, won the tag team titles with a 10-year-old kid. Watching this again was almost as ridiculous as typing it for this review. No wonder The Revival turned down six figures and left the company.

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns would've been a really good match if the same narrative hadn't been put on repeat for the previous three years. This was a carbon copy of the generic Brock match at the time and the same stale move set that had the fans reject Roman Reigns, Countless German surplexes, too many super man punches, and an illogical amount of F5 moves made this bout the exact same match that the audience saw before. It offered nothing new, other than it was a different location for the same bout with the same plan to try to get Roman over again. Brock cut him with an elbow, which would've been a visual that could've been used to get him over if this was an original match in an original scenario. The main event of the biggest show of the year had fans chanting "boring" and that more or less sums up the success of the Roman Reigns/Brock Lesnar feud. Don't get me wrong, Roman Reign the real-life person always puts in the effort, but the way he was cast was completely counterproductive. Eventually, Brock won, but it was a lackluster conclusion to the event.

Wrestlemania 33

Wrestlemania found itself back in Orlando in 2017, the place where the company has put some of its foundation because while the offices are still located in Titan Tower in Stanford, the Performance Center in the sunshine state is the hub of its developmental program that aims at building the future. As I mentioned yesterday, re-watching these events for this article series has been a fun project, specifically to see the evolution of not only the event, but also the business as a whole and certain stars. That being said, another point I made was how tedious some of the viewing experience became as we get to the modern era of WM events. Keep in mind, I'm watching these a few days ahead and writing them before they are posted online to be able to provide some continuity throughout these articles. All things considered, watching these again, taking notes on matches and then writing the actual articles have been a good way to keep busy and avoid the barrage of depressing news on TV. However, I think it's fair to see that in some respects, WM has gotten too big for its own good because six hour marathon shows hinder the overall presentation more than help it. I only discuss the main card because to attempt to cover the preshow matches would become too lengthy for anyone to want to realistically read. Furthermore, I found that even with watching these again, most of the action in the middle of the show simply gets lost in the shuffle. After six hours of wrestling, does the audience really recall the specific details of what happened in the second hour? A longer show doesn't automatically translate to a better show and this is a prime example of that.

The AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon opener was a solid match and probably better than it should've been considering that Shane isn't a full-time wrestler, but at the same time, this seemed like it was booked more because Shane just wanted a match with AJ Styles because he's an incredible athlete than anything else. The only criticism I can offer here is that the contest went a little too long as the bell-to-bell action went almost twenty minutes and extended bouts like that are ultimately what made this show such a tedious viewing experience later on.

Chirs Jericho dropped the US title to Kevin Owens in a really good match, but this is a textbook example of what I mentioned earlier with matches basically getting lost in the shuffle over the course of such a long show. It wasn't the opener so it didn't get a chance to hit the ring when the audience was completely fresh and almost by definition, the second bout on the card doesn't have as much of a chance to standout based on the match position alone. I say this because the Jericho/Owens angle, especially the memorable heel turn during the festival of friendship segment was some of the best TV the company had at the time, but the angle was more or less discarded as somewhat of an afterthought on the biggest show of the year. If this bout was given a prime spot on the card or had some level of major importance placed on it as a grudge match then perhaps it would've established Kevin Owens as one of the top heels in the organization, something the office still hasn't done yet, but Owens undoubtedly has the skills for on Raw. Don't get me wrong, Owens is a tremendously talented worker, but it still seems like WWE brass haven't given him the chance to truly run as a vicious heel on the main roster yet. In truth, he hasn't had a chance to show that side of his character since his feud with Sami Zayn in NXT. Considering that the current WWE roster has some of the best in-ring talent in the history of the company, but lacks star power, you would think management would give competitors the opportunity to try to become the biggest star possible.

Bayley retained the Raw Women's title in a four-way match, which wasn't terrible, but nothing great either. This appeared to be more of a way to shoehorn more wrestlers on the card than anything that was designed to provide a platform to showcase the championship. In an example of how overbooked this show became, later in the card, the Smackdown Women's belt was scheduled for a six way match that went less than five minutes. Naomi, who is a great athlete, won the title, but similar to the Raw women's match, the SD bout was decent, but nothing spectacular because of the limitations with the type of match that was booked for it.

The tag team title ladder match probably should've had more time and appeared to be a little rushed, but the argument could be made that it stole the show because the Hardy Boys return was one of the most memorable reactions in the history of the company. Granted, this event was known as too long and too tedious, but as far as memorable moments, this one will be known as the night that Hardy Boys made an epic return to the company. One of the reasons this segment was so special is because in an era when nearly everything is leaked online, their return was kept a surprise, and they were even booked in a ladder match the previous night against the Young Bucks for Ring Of Honor so nobody thought WWE brass would allow their returning stars to risk injury in a match for another promotion the night before WM. The match itself was entertaining with some really cool spots and The Hardys winning the belts was a fitting conclusion for their return.

The John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse match was a total gimmick and that was fine. This was booked for purely a sports entertainment spot so there's nothing to really say about the in-ring action because that wasn't the point for this angle. The match was only used as a way to get to the conclusion of the storyline. Purists might use this contest for a bathroom break or to get another mountain dew and some pizza from the kitchen, but this angle isn't marketed to them. As far as drawing the general public, a potential proposal from Cena to Nikki was more important than the wrestling clinic Pac and Aries put on during the preshow. The demographic for this segment was the audience that probably watches Total Bellas more often than they watch Raw. Cena and Nikki won and there was an in-ring proposal, but the two split before the ceremony.

The second half of the card is where this became a very tedious match. Seth Rollins beat Triple H despite going into the match with a knee injury and it was clear he was a step behind here. The bout had no momentum and went way too long. Sure, Triple H always seemed to get these nearly 30-minute contests on the big stage, but Seth selling the knee for several minutes on several different occasions just grinds the show to a halt. Maybe Rollins' injury was too much, but this just wasn't a good match at all.

On the flip side, the WWE championship bout was only given eight minutes, but managed to seem like it was much longer. This was the infamous contest that had images projected on the canvas mid-match. There's a fine line between sports entertainment and hokey tactics. The Undertaker has the greatest character in the history of the industry and managed to make gimmicks work that stretched the logic of sports entertainment, but still impressed the audience. Bray only had the title for a month and was basically a transitional champion. Orton won the title, but the bigger takeaway here is the track record that management has for completely derailed Wyatt's progress throughout his career. The defeat against John Cena at WM 30, the goofy projector used here, the eventual tag team with Matt Hardy that ultimately went nowhere, and the infamous HIAC match last year that was universally panned by everyone that watched it. It goes without saying, but Bray hasn't been given the opportunities he deserves and he has much for to offer than what he's been booked for in the company.

 For as much as WWE management mishandled and completely botched Bill Goldberg's initial run in 2003, they did the same amount right with this surprise 2017 title run. As I've written about before, the former WCW champion wasn't known for his ability to work extended matches, and ultimately that's what led to his downfall in the latter stages of WCW. Perhaps it was by designed or the fact that he only signed a one-year deal, but the office didn't do him any favors during that 2003 stint. He wasn't able to carry matches in his heyday, but was booked in those type of scenarios throughout the year he had a WWE contract. It wasn't so much that Goldberg was set up to fail, but rather the booking wasn't going to do anything to hide any of his weaknesses. When Goldberg made a shocking return to the company, many expected his title match with Brock Lesnar at the Survivor Series to be a one-off appearance, and reportedly, that was the original plan, but it was extended after he received such a tremendous reaction from the crowd. His shocking title win was one of the few legitimate surprises of the modern era and he was booked correctly for this particular run since there wasn't a longer match until the conclusion of the series. Brock won the belt in a shorter, but physical match that showcased both athletes within the right time frame before it lost any steam. This was a basic, but very entertaining title match and it was good to see Goldberg get a better run in the WWE.

The main event was another chance to Roman Reigns to get the spotlight after a chorus of boos were heard after he won the championship in the main event the previous year. Ironically, the new documentary series about The Undertaker that recently started offered some very unique insight into this bout, as camera followed his prior to the bout. With the legendary Jim Ross on the call, who was resigned to the company just weeks after his wife Jan passed away, this probably should've been The Undertaker's last match. I'm not exactly sure how management thought that beating a respected icon would get the fans to embrace Roman, especially when they audience knows that the office wanted to force the narrative to the crowd, but from the clips in the documentary, it looked like this was supposed to be the final match of The Undertaker's stellar career. As we saw in the documentary, he had mobility problems before the match and it unquestionably affected his performance as this match didn't really find a solid pace and didn't build any major momentum throughout it. The match wasn't terrible, but it's fair to say that it was below the standard of the usual Wrestlemania main event for the show.

Wrestlemania 32

The world is still in the midst of a pandemic and the majority of the country is still shut down so the Wrestlemania challenge series continues, as the McMahon signature event went to Cowboy Stadium in Dallas, Texas. As we know, Dallas has such an extensive pro wrestling history with Fritz Von Erich's World Class promotion and all the classic moments that went along with it. David, Kerry, and Kevin battled Hayes, Gordy, and Roberts as a packed house at the legendary Sportatorium frantically cheered for the heroes. Accordingly, The Fabulous Freebirds were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame that year with Michael Hayes singing, "Bad Street USA" during the ceremony. Sting, who did the job to Triple H the previous year, was the headliner for the Hall of Fame in 2016. Something that I noticed when re-watching this show is that it became a very tedious task because the broadcast was nearly five and a half hours so I'm going to attempt to summarize as much as possible here to avoid an article that would be too lengthy for anyone to realistically want to read. That being said, if you've followed along since the start of this series or just checked in occasionally, I sincerely appreciate anyone that takes the time to read the articles I've posted online.

The opener was a ladder match for the IC championship and this more or less was the same type of spot fest that the MITB match was on the WM card before the gimmick got its own pay-per-view. There were a lot of risky bumps during this bout and it was very entertaining. However, as I've said throughout this series, professional wrestling is more about the moments than the matches and this is a prime example of that. When Pac broke his ankle in a match with Chris Jericho on Raw, Zack Ryder was a last-minute replacement for him in the match. Since he wasn't originally scheduled for the contest, the odds appeared slim that he would be more than just a replacement on the card. In a very wise booking move, that perception was used to make it an even bigger surprise when Ryder won the title. I've already detailed how his progress was squashed in the WM 28 article, but again, he got over on his own so the office halted it. This was a nice moment for a competitor that the audience always rallied around, even when he wasn't portrayed as a star on television. Zack posing on the top of the ladder with the championship was his WM moment and it was great to see him get a chance to share it with his dad, who was so excited that he tried to put a WM 32 cowboy hat on the new IC champion's head before Zack sent it flying into the crowd. Sadly, it wasn't surprising at all when he lost the title the next night on Raw to The Miz, but at least he had the chance to get a legitimate WM moment.

AJ Styles shocked the wrestling world when he debuted at the Royal Rumble, an appearance that was the subject of speculation for over a decade. I have to be honest, even though there were rumors of AJ's possible signing with the WWE at the time, I was still really surprised that he was finally in a WWE ring, simply because he was so closely associated with TNA for years. I think it goes without say that when Dixie Carter let AJ walk, that was more or less the end of the original version of TNA. AJ is such a solid pro and one of the greatest athletes in the history of the industry. All things considered, it was good that he finally got a chance to make the best money of his career with a WWE contract because he spent years working a very risky style and with his legacy established, it made sense for him to cash-in for the financial security in the latter stages of his career. While AJ is such a gifted performer and has transitioned very well to the WWE style, much of that was still a question mark, at least for WWE management, in 2016. Make no mistake about it, AJ was booked against Jericho at Wrestlemania as a way to see if he could pass the test of the WWE standard on the big stage. The match itself was solid, but didn't necessarily reach the next gear you would expect when you see these two names on paper. That's not a jab either and might simply be a scenario where the expectations for the match were a little too unrealistic because of the buzz that surrounded AJ's arrival in the company. Jericho countered a spring board with the code breaker to get the victory, which didn't exactly do much for Styles's status in the organization, but he would obviously get pushed later on.

The League of Nations beat The New Day in an average match, and I'm not sure why the League of Nations were booked to get the win because the stable was basically thrown together when the writing team didn't know what to do with any of the members. Post-match, Stone Cold, Mick Foley, and Shawn Michaels made their way to the ring to dispatch the villains. While this was a way to get the Hall of Fame trio on the show, what does it say about the League of Nations when they were dropped by a group of retired wrestlers? I wonder if Mick Foley has a specific pair of sweat pants that he reserves especially for WM appearances?

The Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose match essentially represents the reasons why he was criticized during a portion of his WWE run. With a potential return to the UFC as a bargaining chip at the time, it seemed like WWE brass didn't want to book him for something too high-profile if he intended to leave the company again. Sure, that made business sense, but without another long term deal inked, Brock wasn't going to risk and injury and thus the illusion that he might jump back to the UFC full-time. The build up to the bout was lacking and the in-ring performance was underwhelming. Quite simply, Brock mailed it in with a repetitive move set and looked completely unmotivated for most of the match. Brock won, but this contest won't be on the highlight reel of his current WWE run.

Charlotte Flair won the Women's title via submission in a match with Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. The match itself was fine, but it was booked between the Lesnar/Ambrose bout and the HIAC match so it wasn't necessarily the prime spot on the card to be as memorable as it could be at the time. Although, it's nice to see how the opportunities for female athletes at WM evolved throughout the discussion of this series. For a comparison, the women's bout at WM 2 went less than two minutes, but it was nearly 20 minutes here.

The HIAC match was built around one bump, which was Shane McMahon doing the elbow off the top of the cell and despite the stunt coordinators and the crash pad underneath the announce table, it was still a very risky spot. The match centered around that spot and that was more or less the only takeaway from this entire contest. The nearly 30-minute match dragged on and there were several points in the contest that nearly halted any momentum that it had built. On top of that, the entire angle was booked from lazy booking, as the stipulation stated that either The Undertaker wouldn't be able to compete again at WM or Shane McMahon would become the General Manager of Raw. The Undertaker won, but Shane still became the GM right after Wrestlemania, which made the entire match pointless. Plus, the set up for the angle was more or less that Vince wanted The Undertaker to beat Shane and without any explanation, The Undertaker agreed to it. You can watch the clip of the elbow from the top of the cage because sadly, the rest of this match is skippable.

Baron Corbin won the Andre The Giant battle royal, next. The Rock beat Erick Rowan in five seconds...next.

The main event was an attempt at another coronation for Roman Reigns, the second attempt after the plan the previous year flopped and saw Seth Rollins cash-in a title shot to change the direction of the champion. It's somewhat ironic that an angle with Brock Lesnar, the most pushed star on the roster, couldn't get Reigns over, but management's next choice was that somehow Triple H was going to be the one to be able to get Roman to the next level. There wasn't anything wrong with the match except that it never reached another gear beyond just an average WWE match. There weren't any epic spots or memorable moments because the crowd wasn't emotionally invested in the concept of Roman Reigns as champion. This is one of the new dynamics of the modern era, even the most casual fans can see if the office is trying to force a someone to get over with the audience. The generic cliche of "Hey Roman beat Triple H so he must be a really good wrestler" doesn't work anymore because the viewers know more about the behind-the-scenes aspects off the industry. In some ways, the results of this main event were a way for the office to tell the fans that Roman was their choice and no amount of rejection would change the corporate agenda. As we know, Reigns failed a drug test a few months later and dropped the title at the MITB event.

Wrestlemania 31

We begin the home stretch  of the Wrestlemania Challenge series as the brand traveled to California to host another outdoor stadium event. Overall, this show is considered very solid, but I wasn't necessarily as enthusiastic about it, especially after re-watching it for this article. Obviously, we will discuss the details here, but I think from a general perspective, the broadcast delivered on the in-ring action, but missed the mark just as much, if not more so in terms of the booking. More than anything, this show was the official start of the Roman Reigns marathon push, as he started a recurring role in the main event, despite being completely rejected by the audience. More on that later. A side note, I have to say that this was also the start of the marathon era of WM shows that we currently have from the product, and it's just as exhausting watching this shows again to review. Keep in mind, I stay a few days ahead so that I can write a fresh review and then watch the next show while being able to post these regularly throughout the pandemic. When these events get to 5-6 hours, it become more like a chore to watch them than something fans would want to watch again for pure entertainment. I've discussed it often in recent years about how such an extended show can affect the viewing experience, but beyond that it also hinders the viewing to watch these events again.

The show opened with a ladder match for the IC championship and it delivered the entertaining spot that are usually booked for a ladder match at WM. Daniel Bryan won, which was great, but this was basically a consolation prize since he wasn't in the main event. As a reminder, Bryan had to relinquish the WWE championship because of an injury shortly after he won the title the previous year so many fans wanted to see him reclaim the belt this year, but management had other plans. We all know how the crowd in Pittsburgh famously let the office know they weren't happy with the decision to keep Bryan out of the Royal Rumble match in 2014, but the argument could be made that WWE brass made an even bigger mistake the following year when they had him in the match, but eliminated half way through the Rumble. His appearance got the fans' hopes up and his elimination was a total disappointment so they would've been better off not to book him in the match at all if he wasn't going to win it. This was one of the critical mistakes they made that did Roman Reigns no favors from the start of his mega push. Very similar to how Batista was seen as the guy that took Bryan's spot in 2014, Roman was cast in that light the next year.

Randy Orton beat Seth Rollins in a really solid match after he countered the curb spot into a tremendous RKO. As I've discussed throughout this series, there appear to be times that Orton looks to be unmotivated and mailed-in his performance, but that wasn't what we saw him. Orton put in the work and delivered a quality bout. Rollins' defeat was only used to set up for a bigger surprise when he would cash-in during the main event so it was a wise booking decision, even if the formula has been used before.

When Sting showed up at Survivor Series in 2014, it was a legitimate surprise and I thought we'd never see him in a WWE ring, mostly because there had been rumors of a possible arrival for over a decade, including the hype video that surfaced on Raw that eventually revealed the return of The Undertaker, but nothing panned out. Plus, Sting was one of the highest-paid guys on the WCW roster and made top money in TNA so he didn't have to look for another paycheck. He was on the record about why he didn't sign a WWE deal previously, because of the way former WCW talent was booked under the McMahon banner so all things considered, especially with his age at the time, Sting finally debuting in the WWE looked to be a long shot at best. His arrival was absolutely tremendous and the atmosphere when he stepped into the ring was electric. Unfortunately, when he stepped into a WWE ring again, this time for an actual match, the reality of the 56-year-old star wrestling again was apparent when the bell rang. The effort was there, but Sting showed his age, which isn't meant as a jab at him, but just a realistic observation of the situation. I understand why they added the smoke and mirrors with the run-ins and included some weapons because it could camouflage some of Sting's limitations at that point, but it became too convoluted and the bout should've probably been shorter because it began to drag after the ten-minute mark. It's ironic that Sting's original resistance to a WWE contract was how former WCW talent was booked, but in his first match in the company, he was booked to lose against Triple H. It's important to note that when an older legend returns to the ring, the last thing the audience wants to see is a reminder that they are past their prime. Maybe allowing for a short match that gave Sting a chance to showcase some of his signature spots would've been a better way to present him in his WWE debut then him getting pinned by a member of the McMahon family. That being said, is anyone really surprised that Triple H beat him?

AJ and Paige beat The Bellas, but it was only five minutes and more of a Raw match than a WM contest. This was another example of the divas being used to pace the card. Thankfully, they would get more of a chance in the years that followed.

John Cena beat Rusev for the US title. The most memorable aspect here was Rusev's entrance on the tank. The match itself was fine, but the booking was very similar to the previous year when Cena pinned Wyatt and there was essentially no benefit to anyone involved. As I've said before, Cena could lose every match for the rest of his career and he will still be just as over as he is now because he's that over with the audience. Maybe defeating Cena on the big stage would've done more to establish Rusev at the time, but that wasn't the direction of the angle. Furthermore, the argument could be made that management missed the boat on him multiple times, including in the months before his release.

The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt match was lackluster and The Undertaker showed his age here. I've said it before throughout this series, but once the streak was broken, The Undertaker's matches at WM just haven't had the same atmosphere. The angle made sense because the Bray Wyatt persona worked well with The Undertaker and the promo work ahead of it was solid, but there was a decline with the bell-to-bell action. The Undertaker won, but the bloom was off the rose so to speak because it didn't have that big time environment that is usually associated with The Undertaker at Wrestlemania.

The main event was a physical and entertaining bout. Brock's sporadic remark about suplex city paved the way for t-shirts, chants, and promo references. The Seth Rollins cash-in was his WM moment, but the argument could be made that a combination of whiny scripted promos from the writing team and the continued push of Roman Reigns has more or less kept Rollins at the same level he was here. This goes back to the discussion point that very few on the WWE roster are a draw and move the needle, while most are used as interchangeable parts. For example, Seth wrestled Brock in the opening match at WM a few years after this, but would it really have made a difference in the number of tickets sold or the number of WWE Network subscriptions if Finn Balor was booked against Lesnar instead of Rollins? As mentioned earlier, management didn't do Reigns any favors with the promos that were scripted for him or how he was presented to the audience. His forced push was too obvious and it became more about the office trying to tell the people who they should cheer than the task of Reigns getting over with the crowd. The bottom line is, the Roman Reigns mega push was ultimately the result of the lack of competition in the industry because the corporate agenda, not fan demand determined the direction of the product.

MITB review

Cinematic wrestling sucks.

When the corona virus pandemic stopped the flow of the entire world, including the shutdown of every major sports league, Vince McMahon was determined to stage his signature event, Wrestlemania. As you may have seen, I have written a series of articles to review the trademark event with the benefit of hindsight and historical context. Even a global shutdown wasn't going to prevent the baron of sports entertainment the chance to present his annual spectacular, even if the circumstances were anything but a spectacle. Obviously, matches worked in front of no audience led to a rather flat broadcast that was really Wrestlemania only in name. With so many obstacles for a live in-ring presentation, the show used "cimematic wrestling" elements to attempt to provide some type of variety on the pay-per-view. I will discuss why I completely disagree with this approach shortly, but it should be noted that the boneyard match from night one and the firefly fun house from night two were staples of the overall WM 36 presentation.

With the world still shutdown, the Money in The Bank pay-per-view aired a combination of live matches from the WWE performance center, where WWE TV has been filmed the past few months, and a taped segment from the WWE headquarters in Stanford, CT. The premise of the MITB matches was that the wrestlers would have to fight to the roof of the building, where a ring was set up with the briefcase and secure it to win the usual contract for a title shot. Again, WWE brass took the cinematic approach and it displayed everything that is flawed about the concept.

First of all, the entire point of professional wrestling is that it's a reality-based competition, which is exactly why much of the measure of success of an angle is reflected in the heat it gets because ultimately, the heat is where the money is. There are good guys and villains in real life. The way to get an audience to invest their money into tickets and pay-per-views is to be able to get them emotional invested in the characters. Theoretically, the live audience could help rally their favorite star to a victory against the dastardly heel with their cheers of encouragement. The heat that the heel gets is the reason that the crowd has to cheer for the baby face. If there's no heat then the hero isn't in jeopardy, therefore he doesn't necessarily need the assistance from the audience to cheer him on to get the win. I understand that this probably sounds too basic, but the point I'm trying to make is that there was a point in time that the potential reality of a pro wrestling scenario was the draw for fans, and quite frankly that remains the same today, even if there was a shift in the dynamic about the perception of how much of the industry is purely entertainment. The examples throughout history are numerous, even if the peek behind the curtain is occasional incorporated in the narrative. Bruno Sammartino was a real-life superhero for a  few generations of fans as he battled foreign villains based on the events of the WWII era. The narrative evolved when Hulk Hogan squared off with Roddy Piper because the vicious heel antagonized the audience that followed Hogan. Stone Cold Steve Austin became the biggest star in the history of the sport because he was rebelling against his boss, at a time when it was well-known that professional wrestling wasn't a legitimate competition. The point is, even the most jaded fans didn't know if Vince McMahon was actually a tyrant of sports entertainment because of the infamous Montreal incident so perhaps Vince was getting what he deserved  in some fashion when Stone Cold stunned him on a regular basis during the Attitude era.

The biggest key even in the modern era isn't getting the fans to believe everything they watch on a wrestling show is legitimate, but rather the ability to keep them guessing about what or who is based on reality. For example, is Brock Lesnar really an anti-social person that wanted to exploit sports entertainment to make top money? Is MJF really as rude as he appears to be on TV?

The entire structure of "cinematic wrestling" goes against the fundamentals of what draws money in the business. Using the MITB match as an example, the unexplained background music that randomly started and stopped at different points is so hokey that it lets the audience know that there's no reason to be emotionally invested because it's all phony anyway. The sound effects are lame and cringe worthy. I know the counter argument to this is that these elements are used in movies all the time, but that's the biggest difference in the entire scenario. Sports entertainment isn't a movie and pro wrestlers aren't actors. First of all, the role of an actor in a movie or on a television series is cast for a specific amount of time and when the film or show concludes, the actor that portrayed the role can get a completely fresh start with a new project. Plus, when Al Pacino goes on a television show to promote a film, nobody is expecting to talk to Michael Corleone. On the flip side, the role of sports entertainers is a continuous body of work that evolves over time, which makes how their characters are booked extremely important. Furthermore, because the draw of professional wrestling is based on the fans' investment into a character, when Roman Reigns does an autograph signing, those in attendance wouldn't have a response to a Joe Anoaʻi signature because the role of a professional wrestler extends beyond just their time on-screen.

Granted, the over-the-top aspect of cinematic wrestling isn't my cup of tea because I think it's too ridiculous and too far outside of usual parameters of professional wrestling to actually be considered professional wrestling, but if it draws then nearly everything else is irrelevant. However, if you look at any of the past examples of anything that goofy or something that was intended to be some type of lame comedy, there's a track record that shows "movie wrestling" so to speak doesn't draw. Sure, Matt Hardy got over the broken gimmick with wacky stunts in TNA, but let's keep in mind that he did all of that while a minimized audience was watching because of the limited distribution of the TNA TV show at the time. So, how much of the buzz around the broken gimmick was based around the reaction to the hype instead of the response to the content? I say this because clearly the WWE audience was familiar with the "delete" chant when he returned to the WWE, but the TNA ratings during that era showed that it wasn't possible that the majority of the WWE audience watched Impact to know about the delete gimmick. So yes, the broken gimmick got over with a niche audience, which is fine because that was the TNA demographic, but attempting to market that type of a product to the general public is an entirely different scenario.

Remember, the WWE markets toward the causal audience because that allows for the biggest draw possible. The ironic "the fans know it's a show so let's do something silly" is geared toward the most diehard demographic because that portion of the audience already knows most of the inside aspects of the industry. In short, the hokey aspects of cinematic wrestling are too "inside baseball" to be a draw for the general public. If a casual fan tunes into a show that has obviously fake sound effects and random background music, it's cringe worthy and they will change the channel because it's so over-the-top phony that it insults the viewers. In many ways, cinematic wrestling is basically a parody of what makes wrestling successful.

Considering that Raw has generated record low ratings recently, if anyone wants to claim that cinematic wrestling is going to garner a number, let's consider the results of these type of tactics in the past. Remember when James Storm appeared to murder Mickie James on Impact? The entire scenario was ridiculous and too outlandish because again, pro wrestling is supposed to at least be based on reality. Even when The Undertaker disappeared from the ring, it was done when the lights went out so it was technically possible that he could've left. Using special effects on screen to make someone teleport jumps the shark because it blatantly tells the audience that the show is phony. Did the ratings go through the roof for TNA because of the Mickie James/James Storm segment? As far as lame special effects on the screen, it was a trademark of Wrestling Society X and that project made it two weeks before MTV cancelled the entire series. Sure, the limits of logic can be stretched with professional wrestling, but there's a difference between that and something completely ridiculous. For example, there was a physical street fight on AEW Dynamite last week and sure, perhaps Sammy Guevara had time to move out of the way of the golf cart, but at least there wasn't a cartoonish sound effect to make it seem phony instead of impactful.

The MITB match was completely illogical and did more to hinder the entire product then anything else. Both Rey Mysterio and Aleister Black were thrown off the roof of Titan Tower. How exactly does any of that make sense within a professional wrestling show? Other than telling the audience everything is phony, including the legitimate risks the athletes take in the ring, how will their eventual return be explained? Furthermore, how can the audience emotionally invest in any of the other characters in the company when something so blatantly phony is booked on the same show? How is Brock Lesnar supposed to be taken seriously as a legitimate monster when he's involved on the same brand that does an obviously fake stunt? It can't be understated how important it is for the audience to be able to believe in a competitor for that performer to became a major draw. Stone Cold Steve Austin became the biggest draw in the history of the business because it was believable that he was a gruff Texan that had to claw his way to the top of the industry. There's nothing believable or realistic about cinematic wrestling and it's not something that will draw the general public for the industry.

Wrestlemania 30

When nearly 75,000 fans flocked to the Super Dome, it created an atmosphere that allowed for arguably the best WM event of the modern era. Despite management's best efforts, Daniel Bryan's popularity wouldn't be denied and it took a few months of relentless chants from live audiences to get Bryan the spot he deserved at WM, a position that was justified by the fact that he was the most over athlete on the roster and he undoubtedly has the ability to be a main event talent. Bryan got over because the audience could see a sense of sincerity in him, the same way they could see that Stone Cold Steve Austin was the gruff Texan that sustained a lot of physical punishment and injuries to claw his way to the top of sports entertainment. Granted, Stone Cold wasn't going to give the mailman a stunner for walking on his porch, but the premise of who he was in real life was amplified for sports entertainment. In a world where everything is based on a work, the fans could see that Stone Cold was genuine, the same way they could see that someone like Mick Foley was genuine. Daniel Bryan's passion for pro wrestling was genuine. Bryan got over organically, which by definition, is something that management can't plan or manufacture. Since Bryan wasn't a part of the  corporate agenda, the office, despite the theoretically goal to draw as much money as possible, did nearly everything it could to hinder Daniel Bryan's progress to the title. As I've written several times before, the lack of competition in the industry allowed for the corporate agenda, not the fan demand to dictate the direction of the product. When Nitro was winning the ratings war, the WWF ran with Steve Austin because he gave them the best chance to compete against the Ted Turner organization. The opening promo involved Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock. Hogan must've been so busy before the show trying to politic for another comeback run that he forget where he was since he called the venue the Silver Dome, the building that saw him slam Andre The Giant at Wrestlemania 3.

That being said, the fact that WWE brass appeared to legitimately want to squash Bryan's popularity, it actually created a tense atmosphere for the opening match on this show that he had against Triple H because it seemed very possible that Triple H would beat him to keep him away from the main event match. This was a really great bout and the back and fourth action translated to incredible drama. Triple H has at least a perceived reputation of burying talent that might get more over than him and there was thought to be at least a chance that he would be the one to pin Bryan at WM. After 20 minutes of a stellar bout, thankfully Daniel Bryan won to get a spot in the main event.

There's not much to say about The Shield vs. The New Age Outlaws and Kane because it was only about two minutes and similar to the six man tag from last year, this was just a way to showcase The Shield, which was a wise decision. Another bout that there's not necessarily much to say about is the Andre Battle Royal just because of the nature of the match. As far as the concept, it's one of those scenarios that was really good in theory, but was lackluster in application. On the surface, the Andre name can be used to place a spotlight on the match and thus a platform for someone to be noticed, but the fact that none of the winners of the battle royal were propelled to another level from it, there wasn't any level importance placed on the match. Cesaro won this particular battle royal, but despite all of his ability, it looks like nothing will get the office behind him. Considering he's one of the greatest pure athletes in WWE history, it's very disappointing that he won't get the chance to be a bigger star. That being said, maybe Cesaro is making good money and will have financial security after he retires, which is the most important aspect from a business perspective for his career.

The John Cena/Bray Wyatt bout was a really good angle that had the wrong conclusion. In a trend that would continue until Bray was repackaged as The Fiend, the majority of his career was based on the ability to make other people look good in the ring. Bell-to-bell the action here was fine, but even years later, there's no logical explanation for John Cena to beat Bray Wyatt on this stage. Wyatt, especially at this point in his career, could've been pushed to the next level if he defeated Cena at WM. This is meant as a compliment to Cena, he's over to the point that he could lose every match for the rest of his career and he would still be just as over. A win here did nothing for Cena because he was already a top guy and it was a missed opportunity to push Wyatt to the next level.

The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar match became one of the most infamous matches in WWE history because it ultimately delivered something that the fans didn't want to see on the show. As we know, The Undertaker suffered a concussion from a German suplex very earlier in the bout than went over 20 minutes and because of that, this isn't a quality contest at all. The pace never flowed because The Undertaker looked unsteady throughout the entire match. As far as the decision for Brock to break the streak after an F5, it was theoretically a way to solidify him as the top monster in the promotion, but that thought process was flawed. Brock, who was a former UFC Heavyweight champion, was already promoted as the "legitimate" fighter in the WWE and I honestly don't think breaking the streak did anything to get him more over than he already was before the match. Lesnar was already known as a top guy so the end of the streak was basically just a major disappointment for the audience. As I mentioned in a prior article, The Undertaker's matches at WM since the end of the streak just don't have the same draw because so much of his spot on the show was built around the undefeated streak. The whole scenario seemed like a completely misguided decision because who else will have the longevity to get close to a record like that? As far as what The Undertaker has done since or what he should do going forward, I think it should be completely his decision. Granted, I would rather that he retired a few years about, but that's because I have a lot of respect for everything he's contributed to the industry and I don't want to see him get injured, but he has earned the right to decide when to hang up the boots. For Brock, I've written about it several times in the past few years, but I don't think his continuous mega push is justified and I don't think the results yielded from it are exactly a good return on investment for the organization. Sure, Brock makes top money for a limited schedule, good for him, that's capitalism. However, his monster push started to yield diminishing returns more than three years ago, but he remained a mainstay of the main event scene. The narrative was stale and most of his matches were extremely repetitive. Overall, I think the totality of his stint over the past eight years has done more to hinder than help the WWE landscape. The main example for that is, how many competitors have become bigger stars after they've worked with him? That being said, Lesnar being under contract has essentially given management and excuse to use lazy booking because instead of building new stars through compelling storylines, it's much easier for them to attempt to garner the short end money with part-timers. The bottom line is, how many wrestlers currently on the roster are legitimate money-drawing stars? How many competitors could really move the needle right now? The argument could be made that John Cena is still the biggest star the company has and he hasn't been a full-time wrestler for the past few years.

The Divas championship match wasn't much of a contest because there were a dozen competitors that were given roughly five minutes and it was more to pace the card before the main event than anything. One of the few major positives of the modern product is that talented female athletes were given more of a platform to truly showcase their skills.

The main event was great and told a tremendous story, especially because the circumstances of the triple threat aspect really emphasized the underdog scenario of Daniel Bryan. The power bomb spot through the table is memorable here, as well as the celebration after Bryan's submission victory. In another example of professional wrestling being about the moments, the visual of Bryan celebrating with both titles as confetti fell around him is as good as it gets in the sport. The audience genuinely wanted to see him succeed because they knew that he genuinely appreciated their support. It's puzzling that this bout was originally penciled in to be Batista vs. Orton, simply because Batista had a movie to promote, and the office assumed that would translate to viewers for WM. Again, it's lazy booking to rely on a part-timer to bring hype to the product. Doesn't the WWE have dozen of writers that have the job to create a buzz for major events? To be fair, Batista was put in an impossible situation here and nobody could've gotten over as a baby face when he was booked as the guy that won the Royal Rumble instead of Daniel Bryan. Thankfully, Daniel Bryan won and the celebration of his victory is one of the most memorable moments in WM history.