4 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Chronicle: Samoa Joe

2. Odd Mix Of Reality & Kayfabe

To that point, a bizarre decision to blend elements of reality and pure fantasy badly hamper Chronicle's ability to weave through Joe's WrestleMania-SummerSlam rise.

When discussing his Backlash main event against Roman Reigns, there's no attention paid to the bored fans who booed and chanted random things during the match. Perhaps it was foolish to expect that WWE might broach the subject, but they had to say something without pretending all was rosy in the garden.

One minute, Joe is shown relaxing before episodes of SmackDown and fraternising with Paige, Tom Phillips and others. The next, he's an intense individual who speaks of putting Daniel Bryan in his place, doing anything he can to upset AJ Styles and acting as though Money in the Bank is a legit competition.

Some of the storytelling would have worked better on SmackDown. Here, on the Network where 'real talk' is what fans tuning into this stuff want to see, a convoluted mix of kayfabe and reality takes one out of the moment and makes the doc feel more like a Kickoff show hype package.