#5mod

The Blame

Honestly speaking, if the marquee reads CENA, which real hardcore wrestling fan would be interested? Better yet, who wants to buy into something as predictable as we know when and how someone would cash in?? I am in the crowd who ordered SummerSlam this year and quite frankly aside from the Lesnar/Punk match and the actual back and forth of the Main Event was a lackluster event. Once it was announced that Triple H would be the special guest referee who did the WWE think they were fooling?

The only surprising thing about Randy cashing in was the fact it was on Bryan and not Cena. Why would I personally prefer it on Cena? Maybe it would’ve refreshed Cena. The still could’ve played off the injury, had Triple H used his Sledgehammer, on the golden boy of the pg era. And have Orton go against a couple of impromptu challengers for the belt until Cena healed. Where Cena can continue the Superman act that we’ve come to know, where all he does is play the Underdog, who is coming close to a record he has no business being around, at 14 championships. Define the odds one more time, and have the pay per view buy rate go down without having a superstar taking blame for the pay per view struggles.

But instead you go with the most logical decision. Put the belt on the hottest thing in wrestling. But only for a few seconds because, he’s “not best for business”. Something even a causal fan could realize would happen as soon as the final card was announced for the WWE’s showcase of the summer. But somehow the Hottest thing creative could’ve had hit their flash pan is at fault. But then again what blame can go to the direction of which creative took the storyline. NONE, because it’s apparent that being the best performer on the card, the most over in the arena, means you don’t draw. I was personally at the Raw that Cena announced he was facing Daniel Bryan for the belt. When you hear any venue erupt the way The Barclay's Center did on July 15th 2013, you can tell what draws. And for every show since, it’s been the same reaction. The Crowd tells you who they want in the spotlight. And it is indisputably not John Cena, but the blame goes to the one who no arena can contain the crowds’ volume for. The one the Fans really want.

To Be the Man, Wooo!, You have to Beat the Man!” 

In today’s WWE, there has been an absolute obsession with the Man, The Face of the Company. It has dominated WWE Creative teams main story lines for the last couple months; and the truth is, it doesn’t work. I know, My opinion is exactly that, “MY” opinion and for most readers, your attention was drawn because I quoted one of the greatest men to lace up their boots and entertain the masses, but stick with me and see why I chose to quote Ric Flair.  

   When Dinosaurs roamed the Hall of Madison Square Garden, and Bruno Sammartino was reigning champion for over four-thousand days, wrestling drew crowds and people from all over the east coast crammed to stadiums to see the name of the Marquee. Everyone knows, “The Man” is the guy who puts fans in the stands just by putting his name up in lights, and no name was bigger than Sammartino. Not to take anything away from Mr. Thesz, who contributed to wrestling by inventing the Power bomb, the STF and the Lou Thesz Press, and who was the Longest reigning Champion in NWA History at 3,749 days, but many casual wrestling fans have no idea who he is anymore. Today WWE is struggling to find the guy, the one who will replace John Cena, or arguably someone to pick up the mantle left by Stone Cold Steve Austin, and thus the search for the next “Face” has commenced.  

   What I believe to be the right path is away from One Guy mentality to a group of guys running the show. I get that simplicity is key in today’s WWE, which is indeed geared towards younger viewers, and they won’t over complicate the storyline for the sake of keeping their young viewers interested. For this reason, John Cena is Superman, on the verge of breaking Ric Flair’s record and has a gimmick as stale as these old Girl Scout cookies I just accidentally opened. The Undeniable truth is, most of the Hardcore fans wish the Attitude Era returned, but not for the reasons you would think. Its not the Puppies, or lingerie pillow fight matches, hell its not the Mic Foley Hell in the Cells and Vicious Chair shots to the head; hell its not even the edgy pop-culture references or the indulging of our personal demons and vices, like stomping a mud hole in our boss or drinking on the job. Simply put it’s the wrestling and the storytelling. 

The Attitude Era had a host of characters that were top level performers who each could talk, carry a storyline and had story lines build around them, the Attitude era was the LOST of wrestling. It had elite stables like Degeneration X, The Corporation and Corporate Ministry, it had alliances form and crumble and it had WRESTLING. Maybe some could say that because the Attitude Era was so violent that it needed multiple stars because at any given time someone had a neck injury, tore a quad or broke a major bone in their body. Different Men ran the show for periods at a time, Shawn Michaels and Triple H started the Attitude Era, Hell the whole thing kicked off after the Montreal Screw job, then stars like The Undertaker, Kane, Stone Cold, The Rock, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Big Show and Mankind, all had their own back stories, all had intertwining story lines that work and all held the belt and were the MAN. Without a second thought I can say that After Michaels left, Stone cold was the “face” of the WWE until the Rock emerged, and for a time they shared that honor until Austin Retired.  

     The WWE doesn’t need the Attitude of the Attitude Era to rekindle the flame they lost, they need to develop their talent and allow them to have broad stories. Right at this moment, The Authority is the main focus, and as they did with John Cena, they are trying to shove Randy Orton down our throats. I believe they should develop good strong stories for each of their top level stars, stars like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Damien Sandow, Big E Langston, the Wyatts, instead of them having them relegated to the Midcard or forgotten about. Give your talent a chance to flourish instead of shoving garbage wrestlers like Ryback, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus. I know most of you will say, “most of the people you mentioned are involved in a storyline”, I would ask you “really?”. Punk and Bryan are involved in a story line with the Wyatts and Cody Rhodes is feuding with the Real Americans and the SHIELD is part of the Authority Angle, but the question is WHY? There is no story. The SHIELD works are hired muscle for the Authority okay, but why did Punk and Bryan get attacked? Why did the Rhodes v. McMahon’s angle just die? And where the hell is Dolph Ziggler? These feuds don’t have substance, they lack direction and finesse. And what is WWE’s obsession with pushing people to the moon and then burying them?  

    I don’t believe Orton is best for WWE, he doesn’t connect with the child filled audience, and he isn’t solid on the Mic like a face should be. I think he could be the Triple H of this generation, a great Heel who has awesome matches but was never THE guy. I think Punk is a modern day Piper/Austin, Bryan is Modern Day Flair/Bret Hart, Ziggler is a modern day Michaels and so on and so forth, all able to be champions with strong stories and great matches. And for those who believe that Punk, Bryan and Ziggler aren’t WWE Champion material because they are 6’5” 275lbs, remember this Ric Flair was 6’1”, 243lbs; Shawn Michaels was 6’1” 225lbs, Bret Hart was 6ft 234lbs, Owen Hart was 5’10” 227lbs, Stone Cold Steve Austin was 6’2” 252lbs and Bruno Sammartino was 5’10” 265lbs, and all of them are legendary Superstars who for a time, no matter how brief, were the “Man”.  

    WWE needs to get away from the Single Face of the WWE and go with the FACES. Switch up the PPV booking, instead of having the same PPV Main Event 4 months in a row like Randy Orton V. Bryan or Punk V. Ryback and mix it up! In 2001 WWE had 11 PPVs, The WWF Championship was defended at 9 of those PPVs and contended/defended by 7 different superstars, in the midst of the WCW/ECW invasion which dominated about 6 months of storytelling and was the main event focus of 2 PPVs. It was also the first time an Undisputed Champion was crowned in Chris Jericho. This compared to 2012 when the title was defended 11 times out of 12 PPV against 5 different opponents, Punk faced Ryback in two straight PPVs and the Raw after TLC because he had to have knee surgery and didn’t defend the title at TLC, Punk also faced Jericho in Three straight PPVs, Bryan in three straight PPVs and Cena and Ziggler in 2 straight PPVs (would have been four but Cena gave his HITC title shot to Ryback due to injury).