How WWE Could Get Much Better (By Removing One DISASTROUS Flaw)
The automatic title rematch clause depicts its babyface performers as morons. Asuka, at both Money In The Bank and Extreme Rules, was too preoccupied by James Ellsworth to put Carmella away, even when he was rendered literally helpless dangling from the titular shark cage. At the same event, Dolph Ziggler retained his Intercontinental Championship in an Iron Man match versus Seth Rollins. Really, it didn’t matter how many falls Ziggler won by on the night, though the number was already preposterous enough in itself. There is always another fall to come.
Why didn’t AJ Styles simply do what everybody on Reddit and Twitter told him to, and wear a cup?
If a heel interferes in a title match, either intentionally disqualifying their charge or costing the babyface the win, the babyface is awarded a further opportunity. There is but one end, theoretically, to the repetition: a wrestler, having initially lost a title, cleanly pins their opponent on two consecutive occasions.
All performers, irrespective of alignment, are portrayed as indistinguishable. They might lose one week, and win the next. There is no consistency. They are just there, all of them, including Roman Reigns.
It strips the onscreen governing structure of any purpose. What is Kurt Angle even doing? Why is he retconning all of his match results? Isn’t he, as a babyface, meant to fairly gauge those results and determine which of his performers has earned the “opportunity” to progress further up the card? A godd*mn algorithm could book fresher, more purposeful matches than him.
The WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules was borderline shocking, in that AJ Styles cleanly defeated Rusev at the first attempt. A heel earned contendership, and lost in an intelligently laid-out bout in which he succumbed to clever strategy. Styles didn’t lose because he had the attention span of a goldfish. Reinforced by the definitive win, he looked ahead to his next challenge while Rusev, having lost a match that mattered, is in the midst of character development. He has processed the loss, and seeks to change himself as a result.
This should be the new norm. The old one fosters an infuriating, reciprocal relationship: when WWE presents the same content, over and over again, the only response is to level the same old complaints, over and over again.
End the clause, repair the relationship.