10 Wrestling Clichés You Can't Ignore
7. Changing The Rules Of The Universe
A favoured trait of Vince Russo until bastardised the living f*ck out of it, expedited the bankruptcy of a major wrestling organisation and failed to learn any major lessons for the next decade or so, the whole "everything you're watching is fake but this is real" philosophy was barely good when it was good.
There are nothing but fond recollections of Steve Austin's home invasion angle with Brian Pillman, and while it might have retrospectively reflected a wider tonal shift for the World Wrestling Federation, it didn't push back WCW's incredible Monday Night dominance.
Taking for granted the dedication of its audience, wrestling will occasionally ask a little too much. With less than two years on television, AEW have yet to make too many critical errors in this regard, but Matt Hardy's teleportation outside of his own personal cinematic universe was a lot to manage. It looked stupid, as did Chris Jericho, who was forced to sell it.
But note the caveat - fans accustomed to Hardy's antics in his own back garden would tolerate it just fine there. Just not in Daily's Place, eh?
And while we're on the subject of that particular segment...