It’s not a surprise the WWE eliminated the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match. In fact, it was expected. Everyone watching knew Roman Reigns would win that match and go on to WrestleMania 36 to challenge the Universal Champion. We didn’t need spoilers over the last couple of months saying that, but us knowing is why the match was eliminated and Reigns was officially given his title shot last week.
The WWE continues to trip over themselves and create their own problems from top to bottom, yet the fact the news of Reigns and the Fiend’s title match is the excuse?
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It’s not about the leaks
Let’s be honest, in previous years, the WWE has “leaked” the official WrestleMania card as early as October. Meaning, we already knew who was going to face who six months ahead of time. It gave us a feeling of excitement as we anticipated the storylines leading to the top pay-per-view of the year.
It created a buzz.
So, what changed?
In my opinion, it’s a combination of things, but the biggest is AEW came onto the scene.
It makes sense given how the WWE has been imploding lately with bad storylines, bad matches, and a listlessness direction-wise because we (the fans) aren’t blindly buying into what Vince McMahon wants to do.
King Kong Bundy did an interview in 2017 where he talked about the Ultimate Warrior and Andre the Giant feud. During it, the Warrior would body slam Andre every night. Bundy pointed out the fans were booing them and it was killing both wrestlers. But the gentleman he spoke to said Vince didn’t care and to “Ram it down their throats.”
They did that, and Bundy admitted (with a “What do I know?) that a couple of weeks later, fans were cheering Warrior for body slamming Andre.
Times have changed
With social media and the internet, fans record and upload house show matches and other information spreads like wildfire. Because of this, we have more access than ever before and “ramming it down our throats” doesn’t work anymore. That’s why we turned on Seth Rollins when his character became a poor man’s Ward Cleaver. It’s why we turned on Roman Reigns previously, and why we will again. Chants of “You both suck!” on last week’s Smackdown (Feb 28) are just the beginning.
Those that do cheer are mainly diehard WWE fans that enjoy the product, and more power to them. But they don’t represent many of us.
With AEW providing a legitimate alternative, the WWE knows their iron-fisted hold on the professional world is weakening and have been trying to has tried to change by attempting more surprises instead of higher quality matches and storylines (reminiscent of WCW?).
The result is creating matches and feuds that make no sense simply to make a buck. While it was always a business, the WWE at least tried to tell an interesting story previously. Now, they’re using gimmicks like changing expected outcomes without a care or thought to what we think because we’ll still tow the line and come back.
The fact that Paul Heyman has been named as the one responsible for the Reigns-Goldberg feud means either he’s expected to fix it, or he’s being thrown onto the sword.
This brings back memories during the Monday Night Wars where Vince McMahon and others said (paraphrasing) to let your product do the talking.
Well, the WWE product is talking and it seems more gibberish than not. When their top championship pay-per-view matches as squash matches, there’s nothing coherent about it.
When a regular match is removed from a pay-per-view because “the fans knew the outcome” maybe it’s more about the storytelling. We also know Reigns will win at WrestleMania and will then feud with the Fiend over the summer. Will both of those change to suit McMahon’s sense of spontaneity?
Hopefully, they fix things before it’s too late and we can enjoy a plethora of wrestling. Maybe it’s time for new blood like Triple H or Shane McMahon. At the moment, it appears Vince is lost.
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