10 Live Observations From Glasgow's WWE TV Tapings
3. Doing Your Home Work
You may or may not have read a piece on WhatCulture at the weekend on times WWE tried (and often failed) to embrace Scottish culture and heritage, but it was pleasing that for such a huge occasion as the first ever TV tapings, they pitched everything just about perfect this time.
As previously mentioned, The New Day tore the house down with their Braveheart antics on Raw, positioned as a direct counter to Sheamus cutting probably one of his best ever promos, hammering the locals with a sense of fun he rarely lets escape. Lana similarly noted that none of the locals from the 'little village' could have her, and Charlotte bashed the accent, which is all tried and tested heel stuff that went down a treat.
Even little things such as the Scottish exterior shots added to the sense of occasion, though they could have righted a small wrong when, after receiving the obvious mixed response for Celtic Park on Raw, evened the odds with a shot of Ibrox on Smackdown Live (which would have been especially neat for the blue brand too). Breezango as Scottish hot-cops were hilarious, and even JBL looked dapper and went down a storm as he trotted down in his traditional Highland formal attire.
It remains encouraging that WWE seems to have steered away somewhat from the sort of stereotyping that would make up a good chunk of any international tour, story or character, or for that matter anything non-American. It adds credence to their claims as a global brand leader, and strictly from a performance point of view, created a wonderful relationship with the audience that, for periods in the previous decade seemed genuinely lost for good.