WWE: The Cause Of, And Solution To, All Of Life’s Problems
On the aforementioned SmackDown episode, Daniel Bryan was scripted to say "I've got an idea. It's not a good idea..." ahead of challenging The Fiend Bray Wyatt to a strap match at Sunday's supercard. Or he improvised it because he believes it. Either way, a writer or a wrestler considers the creative weak enough that they had to tacitly bury it on air - airtime a major network are paying WWE a billion dollars to fill - before actually delivering the news.
This was swept away in the post-show coverage and was far less criminal than the time Brock Lesnar was asked to act as if watching Monday Night Raw ws beneath him, but it yet again brought into focus the paradox of Wyatt's new gimmick.
Going back to that first question. Why do you watch WWE? Is it for compelling but believable characters? Is it for total escapism? Is it simply because with its mix of noise and colour and other-world stupidity that it's something different to look out beyond the burning world outside your window?
Regardless of which category you might slot in to, does The Fiend Bray Wyatt satisfy the brief? His defenders lean on things such as merch sales and giving the gimmick more time, but his detractors have been freaked out by wrestlers before and think that this ain't it, chief. Either way, he's the Universal Champion and clearly the most pushed project in the last year...yet had his character eviscerated in just his second match, in a pay-per-view main event that was one of the worst in company history.
Many complained online that they couldn't put up with such sh*t. AEW representatives were canny enough to spot a promotional opportunity along the lines of "Look how a f*cking sh*t they are. Watch us instead". WWE themselves bottled out of claiming responsibility for the finish by pathetically placing the blame on the referee.
Almost nobody defended it. Yet The Fiend built on that anti-momentum and won the belt the next month. All wasn't totally forgiven, but it was definitely forgotten. It was a year for that elsewhere too.
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