10 Really Strange Modern Wrestling Phenomenons
9. Purposefully Boring Matches
WWE Backlash was a particularly rancid example of a trend developed in belated response to the death of the true wrestling heel.
With perhaps three inspiring exceptions - The Miz, the 2015 version of Sasha Banks and most prominently Tommaso Ciampa - we no longer loathe those who perform well in the heel role, but those deemed irredeemable between the ropes. WWE has grasped this mentality and used it to devastatingly - purposefully - tedious effect.
Big Cass - shudder - maintained wrist control over Daniel Bryan in an attempt to draw heat through his lack of dynamism. Carmella applied tiresome hold after tiresome hold, with the baiting, smarmy grin plastered over her face supplanting genuinely effective and absorbing heel work. This isn't a 2018 development; last year, Enzo Amore was instructed to play a similarly antagonistic role as Cruiserweight Champion. The heat didn't result from the work, but became the unexciting central premise of the laboured, antagonistic work itself - the in-ring equivalent of sustained prodding to the chest. This boring approach yields nought but boredom.
Wrestling isn't necessarily about moves - but using the space between them almost exclusively is a complete non-starter of a narrative that is especially stark in contrast to a relentlessly superb international standard.