Wrestling Is OBSESSED With Corruption (...And It's Got To Stop)

Ahead of - and this is always the pattern but not the point - another potentially incredible match pitting the Trios Champions against former titleholders The Elite and a JAS group headed up by Chris Jericho, The House Of Black teleported in-between their challengers as they verbally sparred, accepted the match and disappeared as fast as they'd arrived.

This is who they are. This, is what they do. They're not really athletes? Try lacing their boots. Nobody can when the bell rings.

Providing the polar opposite to Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thomson's gag about great gimmick guys that simply couldn't go, these are cheesy gimmick guys that can go better than 95% of one of the best rosters in wrestling history. The action is as unbelievable as the gimmick, which is sort of the problem when you're trying to tell stories.

There wasn't one going into the aforementioned classic at Revolution and it didn't impact the quality of the contest one iota. This isn't just a personal taste thing - the ghoulish, grisly and gooey bells and whistles actively get in the way of the ability to tell coherent stories. Characters have to exist after they've been placed under spells, spewed up (or been covered in) viscous acidic liquid, and fans are forced to remember the times they sold for inhuman magic powers.

The heat in an angle is supposed to come from the reaction of the crowd, not the flames of a boat being set on fire and used as a funeral pyre. And so this doesn't scan as a House Of Black hit-piece, consider when WWE promised exactly that for a segment featuring newly-turned heels Erik and Ivar during a story with The New Day. This was the long road to Sarah Logan's rebadging as Valhalla, and sure enough, she's now got some sort of spooky laser eyes that are strong enough to stop Ricochet in his tracks.

WWE are guiltier than ever with this stuff, and it's showing itself three times a week.

CONT'D...