10 Ways Wrestling Is Ruining WWE
'The name on the marquee is Professional Entertainment'
Labelled as the 'Biggest Party Of The Summer' and earning the moniker a little too literally with an insane six hour runtime, SummerSlam 2017 presented just about every aspect of WWE's current offering, for better and occasionally worse.
However, when the event finally came to a close, fans were not left reeling at the technical wizardry from the likes of AJ Styles, Finn Bálor or Seth Rollins. But they were left aghast at the utter carnage on show in the gripping big-man fatal four-way showdown between Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman. The match may have ended with 'The Beast' retaining his title, but the real victor was Vince McMahon.
Almost entirely by accident, it is his favourite version of Sports Entertainment (that is, big bloody fellas knocking seven shades out each other) that has taken back the collective hearts and minds of the crowds at large. From inception through to delivery, the Universal Title match served not just as a blockbuster main event, but also a tonic to a product paradoxically homogenised by its own supposed quality.
Being the 'Excellence of Execution' was a catchphrase once reserved for one and a description only shared with few others. Now it could be extended to a large percentage of the roster. And not a single one of them will trouble the main event whilst Lesnar, Strowman et al are stewarding the scene. How has this happened? What could WWE do to address it? Or, do they even want to?
10. Career Suicide
Wrestling hurts. Wrestling really bloody hurts. It kills.
Literally. In June 2009, legendary Japanese performer Mitsuharu Misawa infamously passed away shortly after taking a backdrop suplex. He'd not had the easiest of landings from the move, and the move didn't end his life there and then, but as he died in the hospital an hour later, doctors confirmed it had been a cervical spinal cord fracture that had triggered his cardiac arrest.
Considered to be one of the finest wrestlers of all time and certainly a generationally transcendent star, Misawa's style called for him to take untold damage to his frame for almost the entire duration of his career. His personal doctor had advised him to retire entirely, or at least adjust his style to deal with his internal physical fragility. If it wasn't that suplex, it would have been another one that got him. Wrestling had left his days numbered.
Yet, since that date, WWE's in-ring style has only intensified. Devastating suplexes merely act as a transition between flashy finishers, moonsaults require extra height or rotation, and dives to the arena floor are merely a cue to go to the ad break on Raw, regardless of how much peril Sasha Banks, Big E or Cesaro put themselves in doing the move.
The hit comedy 'Seinfeld' had an internal mantra of 'No Hugging, No Learning'. As evidenced by the woeful comedic skits, wrestling is no Seinfeld. Hug. Learn. And stop trying to kill yourself.