10 Reasons Why People Who Hate WWE Hate WWE

"If WWE Superstar X and WWE Superstar Y wrestled in the Tokyo Dome, Dave Meltzer would award the match five stars."

So goes the coldest take on all of wrestling Twitter, posted by those who you can educatedly guess have never watched New Japan Pro Wrestling - nor heard of the legendary Budokan Hall, the site of the most accumulated ***** bouts in the history of the Wrestling Observer. The irony (other than the fact that Meltzer is actually far kinder than most, your writer included) is that he is accused of bias by those gripped by WWE monomania. You can watch both WWE and NJPW, and prefer the former - but it's rare. The latter yields so much more goodwill in every conceivable department.

Hate is a strong and not entirely fitting word - but WWE's product frequently invites it. Critics and commentators don't hate WWE because they are jealous, intentionally contrarian, or wish to appear cool and or different: they hate WWE because the feeling is mutual.

Writing this article will feel like a chore, in both its coverage of known ground and the negative focus. The people who hate WWE don't want to hate WWE. The institution has consumed so much of their brief time on this planet - as much if not more so than family, education, friends and work. The product is draining, and thus so is the reception.

They just make it so f*cking easy.

When Shane McMahon announced that he and Kevin Owens would fight in Hell In A Cell under a further Falls Count Anywhere stipulation, two harsh, clogging truths surfaced once more.

1) WWE no longer cares for the old-school logic of the cage match, nor remotely credible gimmick match psychology.

2) WWE perceives its audience as a sea of morons who would suffocate in six pack rings, were it not for their constant exposition.

For the love of Mankind, we all knew Shane was going to perform his trademark insane bump. It's his trademark. Allusions to it were made all over SmackDown in the preceding weeks. Announcing the bump ahead of time didn't detract from the drama on the night - but it did undo the mystique. This practise is alienating, and it destroys intrigue and conversations - so it's almost just as well that the company lurches from one controversial misstep from one day to the next. Michael Cole's constant repetition and exposition on RAW, and the constant, ceaseless replays polluting the programme reinforce this idea that we cannot follow what, really, is an incredibly simplistic programme. The Hype Bros are in the midst of a split. We know this because the lingering backstage segments are blocked like a daytime soap opera - and because the commentary team points out the tense body language. Imagine if Days Of Our Lives was narrated. We're a few short years removed from an actual clap-o-meter.

The principal rule of writing is "show, don't tell". WWE shatters it, and the goodwill of the fanbase, on a weekly basis.