10 Ways WWE Was Made Worse By Being Lazy
2. Cheap Heat
Imagine being a WWE Superstar and suffering a bereavement.
Something horrible to endure in itself, a WWE independent contractor doesn't receive the usual condolences, nor bouquet of flowers.
"Madam, to help you cope with your recent loss, this...wooden table has been sent to you, care of Vince McMahon. It has your deceased father's face on it, perhaps to remind you of the good times. It comes also with a despicable heel, who is going to get on your case for tearing up. But - but - you'll get to win a predetermined professional wrestling match."
WWE's lazy, default insistence on using death or serious illness for heat isn't just ugly. It isn't just insensitive. It isn't just so unbelievably crass that it becomes darkly hilarious. It's also completely ineffective: when Sasha Banks beat up Natalya on the anniversary of Jim Neidhart's death, the f*cking fans cheered.
"She was boring me bloody senseless with all that searingly authentic grief, Jesus. Hopefully, that concussion she's just suffered with that painful skull-on-metal contact will make her forget he was even alive!"
This trope also helped drive Jon Moxley out of WWE. His turn on Seth Rollins wrote itself, until Roman Reigns was diagnosed with leukaemia, at which point he became even more hard to believe in than he was squirting ketchup. Fake, ugly carny awfulness.
Let's do it every time!