10 Times WWE Didn't Deserve To Be Unpopular
The world isn't watching.
WWE's popularity woes are genuinely cathartic.
It's as if karma actually exists, contrary to relentlessly grim evidence beyond this bag, daft, meaningless wrestling bubble. WWE sucks sh*t right now, and it is reflected in the ratings and Network subscriber count. And this isn't noble failure stuff, in which long-term ideas haven't panned out. WWE genuinely resents you and, what's more, is placing the blame at your feet, and not the 74 year-old lunatic doing wacky whoa-oh! noises at the swerving, jewel-encrusted wheel.
They don't think of you as a discerning audience. They don't think of you as a valued audience.
On this week's RAW, they on multiple occasions described you as a "finicky" audience. "Finicky," for f*ck's f*cking sake. This was clearly a directive muttered under Vince McMahon's breath, as he sat there like the dog between flames in that meme he'll discover in about 40 years.
You're just fussy, did you know that? You are finicky. You're just aloof and spoiled and unwilling to engage with the hilarious comedy being served to you. It's a goddamn dog's head and it's barkin' like a bitch, pal, don't you get it? Lighten up, Francis!
WWE deserves this. It sh*t on your face, and it's too dumb to wipe its own ass.
Other times, though...
10. 1993
Amid scandal of its own making - a reckoning, to put it more accurately - the WWF bloomed creatively. This is the company's M.O., in talking head retrospectives and, at times, in reality.
Bret Hart transformed from main event bust to storytelling wizard by constructing several clinics and re-shaping the company as an in-ring force. Doink The Clown's legitimately unsettling presence on Monday Night RAW showed a willingness to subvert the company's kid-friendly image and experiment with a new strain of antagonist. The show itself was a revelation; for perhaps the very first time in its history, the WWF felt cool, dangerous, a tone developed perfectly by the head-splattering squash matches served up by the Steiner Brothers, Yokozuna's gruesome Bonzai drop, and Jerry Lawler's pricelessly cruel take-downs of the family Hart. All of this played out under a blood-red aesthetic as the WWF flashed its creative teeth, ripping to shreds its old perception as the goofy cartoon company.
The 1-2-3 Kid rose to stardom through an inspired twist on the enhancement talent arc, several energetic, physical midcard bangers spotlighted a roster starving to succeed in a post-Hogan world, and while Lex Luger proved a total failure, the WWF didn't proceed. They couldn't.
The stakes were too high.