12 Bad Wrestling Stories That Wasted Great SWERVE Ideas
The classic wrestling twists you never saw coming, then didn't really want to see at all...
Have you ever considered where the term "angle" actually comes from?
Consider it at its most literal and the simplicity reveals itself. A character is walking down a straight path, or a storyline is progressing in the expected fashion, before an angle - a twist, a turn, a development in the route ahead - occurs that changes the trajectory.
A promo exchange isn't an angle unless a development happens within it that drives change. A post-match beatdown isn't an angle unless the actions have consequences that transform the future. An entire feud isn't an angle, but should be furnished with angles in order to keep itself interesting.
The aforementioned twist, the turn, or even the swerve, bro, is there to keep people guessing, keep everything from going stale, and to that point ideally keep a story from hitting a wall or a dead end before it can be financially milked for all its worth. In contrast to a standard angle though, the swerve historically reflects an air of desperation.
The swerve takes the angle and diverts it yet again, creating a whiplash effect so shocking that it feels as much like a distraction from something gone wrong as a dramatic storyline gone right. Vince Russo loved them because confounding expectations was his bread and butter even when adopting the mindset proved bad for business. He helped craft a couple of incredible ones before it all went wrong, but more often than not...
12. The Shoot Becomes The Work Becomes...The Greater Power?
In the summer of 1998, The Undertaker rather gradually (well, gradually for the lightning quick times) turned heel over the summer, first (worked) shooting on how he'd been overlooked for opportunities to justify linking up with his estranged brother Kane before offering their services to Vince McMahon to take down WWE Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin.
For 'The Deadman', it was "just business" until that didn't work, and he made it personal. When Plan A (simply beating Austin fair and square) failed, and Plan B stuttered (the deadly duo won a Triple Threat, but McMahon himself held on to the belt), Plan C brought about an unlikely reunion between The Undertaker and Paul Bearer that existed to get the gold and remove Kane from the picture too. It almost worked, but when the belt remained out of his reach, 'Taker went off the reservation with a power-mad turn as the leader of the Ministry Of Darkness and decided to go for the whole organisation rather than the title itself.
He spoke of a higher/greater power acting as his guiding force in all of this, and that becomes important later.
In the meant though, he targeted McMahon's family, stealing Stephanie McMahon's childhood teddy bear and setting it on fire to illustrate that he was prepared to colour outside the lines to get what he wanted. The bizarre side effect of this was a face turn for Vince, who looked sympathetic trying to protect his daughter over worrying about whatever hell-raising Stone Cold Steve Austin was up to.
And then.
After months of Undertaker's cryptic comments, the overlord figure driving his plan for domination over McMahon was...Vince McMahon, who wanted to keep screwing with Stone Cold Steve Austin because he'd won the World Title back at WrestleMania XV. The swerve resulted not just in half the characters' last three months not making any sense, but also in a genuine lack of faith in the future of the McMahon/Austin programme. McMahon was the perfect heel in 1998, but was simply a relied-upon-one in the absence of anybody better one year year later.