The shared universe model has proven so successful that it's a given in the world of comics, and Marvel has translated it so phenomenally well to cinema that every other franchise is looking to do likewise. Thats not just Marvels main comics competitor DC - Universal is seeking to do so with their classic monsters franchise, there are shared Godzilla/King Kong movies in development, and Star Wars is expanding its remit to different stories in the same world. In shared universes, continuity means consequence. Marvels Captain America: Civil War, arriving next May, is the culmination of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers spending two Avengers movies (and, presumably, time inbetween) trying and failing to reconcile their friendship with a history of constantly clashing personalities. WWE needs to keep in mind that we see all their shows, and we remember what happens and whos done what. We know that Dolph Ziggler has a history of being terrible with women, babyface or not, so we never trusted him with Lana. A large part of why their burgeoning relationship this year felt wrong was because everyone knows Zigglers a player: everything he did with Lana, Rusev and Summer Rae felt like a heel move. Similarly, we know why Randy Orton has no friends, even as a babyface: hes a human reptile with anger management issues and a history of hospitalising the friends and family of people who get on his bad side. When we see him in a tag match , celebrating a win with his partners, its a weird disconnect: his partners should be worried about turning their back on him for more than a split second, not hugging him and raising his arm. When we have superstars interacting with one another and involved in storylines without regard for the history they share or the continuity they follow, the story the audience sees isn't necessarily the story they're trying to tell.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
