10 Recent WWE Burials We Just Can't Explain
Raw and SmackDown Live stars finding new depths of despair...
"Burial" is a somewhat subjective term here, of course.
Burials, like many of wrestling's old traditions, have changed beyond recognition from how they used to be. Triple H was sent six feet deep as a result of The Kliq's 1996 Curtain Call, losing on every house show and television taping until his punishment was seen as served. Ricky Steamboat p*ssed Vince McMahon off when he asked for time off after winning the Intercontinental Title in a historic clash with Randy Savage at WrestleMania III. He got the time alright, but he served it in McMahon's doghouse, losing the strap to comedy heel Honky Tonk Man before barely featuring until another high profile job at the following year's 'Show Of Shows'.
Such sentences were considered a suffering because wins and losses actually mattered. The audience didn't need Road Dogg on Twitter to confirm it, but they f*cking don't anymore, and a burial has become altogether more cynical in the modern age.
Wrestlers can feel the wrath of the shovel in all sorts of weirdly myopic ways, making it even harder for talent to tiptoe through WWE's traps. He might be getting too old to get through one of his promos without a botch, but WWE is still Vince McMahon's "Universe" - they just have to try and Sports Entertain in it.
10. Asuka
A small peak behind the curtain here.
Your writer previously had Dolph Ziggler earmarked for this entry before recalling the rank indifference Asuka had received from the creative team from the Royal Rumble onwards.
In truth, even her feud with Becky Lynch felt like a roadblock for both. 'The Man' was destined to win the Royal Rumble or work her way into a programme with Ronda Rousey through alternate means, whilst 'The Empress Of Tomorrow' stood no chance of becoming the blu brand's next top babyface when she was in there with the company's outright biggest one.
It failed both performers, but one of Asuka's biggest wins that night may as well have been her last considering the state of her push in the aftermath. Forgotten entirely as the company went full steam ahead with the Lynch/Ronda Rousey/Charlotte Flair main event, SmackDown Live's limp undercard spat out Mandy Rose as a one-month opponent as fans awaited a bonafide WrestleMania challenger that never came.
The hallmarks of the modern burial were apparent when she lost to Charlotte Flair just two weeks out. Virtually everybody that popped half to death to see her rebuilt at December's Tables, Ladders and Chairs weren't remotely bothered about her prospects at the 'Show Of Shows'. As weren't WWE - she wasn't even given a token gesture win in the Women's Battle Royal.