5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (Jan 19)
3. The Gratitude Era
Never one to shy from the pernickety, there is something really quite questionable about the above picture, even though the signatures of Ricochet, War Machine and Candice LaRae promise, at least, a year's worth of pure TakeOver awesomeness. There's the subsequent demotion to 205 Live and the like to consider - but one problem at a time.
This problem centres on the sheer ownage on display - literally. Look at the t-shirts they're all wearing. 'PROPERTY OF THE PERFORMANCE CENTER,' is emblazoned across them - a not at all unlikely premonition of WWE owning and toning down Ricochet's stupidly exciting repertoire. The pictured tag team go by the name of War Machine, and wrestle and dress like warlords. Looking at them like this, all smiles, somewhat ruins the mystique. They don't look like stars in their own right. They look like the ensemble cast of WWE: The New Class; interchangeable, identikit disciples of a brand.
Besides which, this is framed in the so-happy-to-be-here mentality of Triple H's equally irksome shakey-hands routine. You'd never have caught Curt Hennig donning neutral colours like this when he debuted. He was Mr. F*cking Perfect. Pictures like this, ostensibly designed to celebrate the new signees, really just serve to remind everybody that the machine has won - and will win forevermore. Ricochet in particular is almost supernatural in his acceleration and herculean in his ability to lift opponents almost double his weight. He is something truly, truly special. Normalising him in this way is as depressing as it is weird.
When a prospective new talent is first spotted front row at TakeOver, it creates the impression that the boat was pushed out hard. Like NXT officials provided the full V.I.P. treatment to convince these stars, with options, to sign for them.
This...this looks like a Tough Enough promo still.