1 Up & 4 Downs From WWE 205 Live (January 17, 2017)
3. The Perils Of Scripted Entertainment
After Fox rolled out her conniption fit routine, Dar provided Alexander’s opponent, Drew Gulak, with an assist. Taking advantage, Gulak floored Alexander with a knee chop block, which instigated the plot of their match. Fighting from underneath, the damage inflicted was too much for him to withstand.
The resulting match was, in terms of storytelling and the content which drove the plot, fairly good. But everything which preceded it compromised it - and we’re not just referring to that abysmal inciting angle, which was just putrid. Plumbing to depths even lower than soap opera, the weeks-long saga was an indictment of WWE’s scripted era, in microcosm.
Cedric Alexander’s selling was believable, and Gulak’s strategy logical. It neutered Alexander’s offensive repertoire, imbuing the match with suspense and (an attempt at) pathos. After Alexander, gripping his injured knee, was unable to make the cover after a sublime springboard split-legged moonsault, Gulak, at least, was positioned as a cerebral tactician.
But nobody cared. Alexander could not generate much in the way of sympathy because he isn’t over enough to do so. To the fans in attendance, he was just the guy who had a girlfriend but doesn’t have a girlfriend anymore. That’s what happens when performers are cast into one-dimensional moulds set by writers who largely don’t grasp - or are told not to grasp - how wrestling works.