10 Awesome Things Happening In WWE Right Now
Daring not to be sour.
Full disclosure: this article was pitched for the sole purpose of preserving my sanity. As a result, some entries might be a stretch. Some of the insights might ring hollow.
WWE is such a hot mess creatively that it triggers an existential crisis and endless, all too often rhetorical questions every time I watch it. What am I doing with my life? Why can't WWE firmly commit to more than one push at a time? Why do I have to sit through endless TV matches - which I'm then expected to receive as worthy of pay-per-view months later - when nobody really benefits from winning or losing? Why is virtually every act a midcarder? Why does WWE think the imminent return of Stephanie McMahon is a good idea? Why does every promo have to contain the same verbiage? Why does WWE continue to ignore the fanbase and push whomever they please, and not us?
Watching wrestling with this mindset is so toxic that cynicism permeates every pore. Nihilism comes easily. Small solace is taken in the fact that I'm not alone; gauging by recent ratings, the malaise is widespread.
This is an attempt to enjoy WWE before the company actually starts trying again in the build towards SummerSlam. Bear with me.
10. The UK Stars Are Slowly Emerging
The molten lava-heated Tyler Bate Vs. Pete Dunne United Kingdom Title match at NXT TakeOver: Chicago was the best thing on the show. It was also very possibly the best match WWE has presented all year.
It was crammed full of content, but none of it felt contrived nor formulaic. You could buy that Tyler Bate was the stronger man, and that Dunne had to prise him apart just to get an advantage. You could buy that Bate had to resort to aerials assaults not to pop the crowd but to win a wrestling match. The whole match was as realistic as it was spectacular. In the modern age, that is a rare feat.
Some wrestling fans dreaded WWE's attempt to monopolise and make the UK scene their own. The transition from the Cruiserweight Classic to 205 Live suggested that WWE's supposed expansion of style is an insidious (and cynical) attempt to attract outside/lapsed fans before (re)conditioning them to the slower, safer WWE norm. A weekly UK show isn't immune from that. There's also the fact that there is so much current WWE content to sift through. With further apologies to Ariya Daivari, 205 Live indicates that the super-serving model is failing. The show is less popular than archived WCW pay-per-views. What chance does a localised show in a bloated landscape stand?
Dunne and Bate smashed those concerns by wrestling a phenomenal match with no constraints placed on it whatsoever. The future is very bright - if Chicago is the benchmark.