How Vince McMahon's Most Famous WWE Words Will Come Back To Haunt Him

Riddle Jeff Hardy
WWE.com

It's not just the format, which relies on contrived situational bullsh*t to drive events that just to happen to be captured by an invisible camera, and wouldn't you just know it, nothing else is planned, so let's go ahead and make the match!

The execution of that format is despairing, it really is.

Vince also of course believed we were tired of watching "good guys versus bad guys". He still holds that belief in 2021, but has misinterpreted it. "We also think that you're tired of the same old simplistic theory of halfway likeable people not being awful," is how Vince would open his show this year. And perhaps he will, the next time RAW posts a record-low rating.

The company is no longer capable of recognising likeable characteristics, much less maximising them.

It's no real shame nor surprise that WWE has botched Matt Riddle, but WWE has botched the living sh*t out of Matt Riddle. Before 2020 happened, he was an amiable dude who'd happily get on with anybody, and he fist-bumped every front row fan to prove it. He was an incredible and convincing talent, and while he wasn't dumb, he was, crucially, endearing with it. The easygoing stoner with a killer instinct was almost the perfect pro wrestling babyface act, and his demo segments proved it; infamously, Dave Meltzer tweeted that he was "huge for teenage boys" at the onset of the Wednesday Night War. This was very impressive, considering the extent to which AEW dominated the youth market and the sheer fossilised make-up of the NXT diehards.

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Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!