10 Things WWE Regrets About Fastlane
1. This Year's Muddied WWE Title Picture
WWE trades in broad, easy-to-follow narrative, the foundation of which is intrigue. Confusion is markedly different to that, and any sense of it is warped into cynicism by the company's dire brand value.
The overwhelming confusion surrounding the return of Kevin Owens has created such cynicism. The end is something remarkable in its approach - WWE has seemingly acknowledged the heartfelt buzz generated by Kofi Kingston's mini-arc to an extent that something major is materialising on his horizon - but where does this leave Owens? Is he the means to that end? Is he the fall guy that sets up the match, and if so, is the man actually cursed?
Is Kevin Owens a babyface, or a heel? The vignettes seemed to confirm the former, not that a vignette is canon hello Mojo Rawley, but he was framed as a man who hadn't yet earned trust during last SmackDown's main event. And then, after that main event, he cut an impassioned, teary promo in a dot com/YouTube 'Exclusive'.
If Owens loses, and is promptly removed from the title picture, does that make this the worst comeback in recent memory? If he wins, and enters a Triple Threat match, does this indicate a lack of trust in Kingston? And how many jobs has WWE Champion Bryan done now? Is this leading to the huge ousting of Vince McMahon and his meta last-minute rewrites? One last follow-up question to that: Why do we do this to ourselves?
These aren't the questions a good storyline should invite; a good storyline makes you question the motives of the characters, not the writer.
This tends to happen at WWE's serial offender of a pay-per-view.
Enjoy Sunday!