I think the Rollins injury/cash in was much more than one in a thousand different theories though. The fact that WWE didn’t do any of the usual things they typically do when someone is injured long-term gave the theory real credence, to the point it became half-expected.
I think in regards to that, people need to take a step back and realise who WWE's real target audience is.
I love wrestling, but I love it cause I loved it as a kid, its core target audience is kids. I expect adults to be able to work out what story may or may not happen, kids won't, unless they're very savvy or read it online.
That's the magic. There will be some kid devastated that Punk won the belt and lost it so soon afterwards in a twist. There will be another kid who is delighted that Seth cashed in as they're a Seth fan.
Those same kids will remember that moment forever and grow up loving wrestling and playing with their figures. They're what keeps wrestling alive.
Sorry if that sounds harsh but it's the truth. Adults should just appreciate the art and the planning, not looking to be surprised at every PPV imo.
I think the Rollins injury/cash in was much more than one in a thousand different theories though. The fact that WWE didn’t do any of the usual things they typically do when someone is injured long-term gave the theory real credence, to the point it became half-expected.
I think in regards to that, people need to take a step back and realise who WWE's real target audience is.
I love wrestling, but I love it cause I loved it as a kid, its core target audience is kids. I expect adults to be able to work out what story may or may not happen, kids won't, unless they're very savvy or read it online.
That's the magic. There will be some kid devastated that Punk won the belt and lost it so soon afterwards in a twist. There will be another kid who is delighted that Seth cashed in as they're a Seth fan.
Those same kids will remember that moment forever and grow up loving wrestling and playing with their figures. They're what keeps wrestling alive.
Sorry if that sounds harsh but it's the truth. Adults should just appreciate the art and the planning, not looking to be surprised at every PPV imo.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said. But all it would have taken was a little more attention to detail for them to take it up a level and shock everyone - not just kids.
There’s no downside to doing that. If you can do everything possible to protect one of your biggest surprise plot twists of the year, then why not do it?
I think the Rollins injury/cash in was much more than one in a thousand different theories though. The fact that WWE didn’t do any of the usual things they typically do when someone is injured long-term gave the theory real credence, to the point it became half-expected.
I think in regards to that, people need to take a step back and realise who WWE's real target audience is.
I love wrestling, but I love it cause I loved it as a kid, its core target audience is kids. I expect adults to be able to work out what story may or may not happen, kids won't, unless they're very savvy or read it online.
That's the magic. There will be some kid devastated that Punk won the belt and lost it so soon afterwards in a twist. There will be another kid who is delighted that Seth cashed in as they're a Seth fan.
Those same kids will remember that moment forever and grow up loving wrestling and playing with their figures. They're what keeps wrestling alive.
Sorry if that sounds harsh but it's the truth. Adults should just appreciate the art and the planning, not looking to be surprised at every PPV imo.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said. But all it would have taken was a little more attention to detail for them to take it up a level and shock everyone - not just kids.
There’s no downside to doing that. If you can do everything possible to protect one of your biggest surprise plot twists of the year, then why not do it?
Fair enough, I just don't think they could have done much more. How much further do they take it to make it believable.
Some fans deeply care about these athletes, and saying they're injured for a year etc could make people worry. Even if they did that, there would still be people pushing the theories which would subconsciously make you believe it could be a work.
I was suspicious he would come back (about 90% sure), but when you break it down
- Knee 'injury' actually looked legit. Good acting and LA Knight played his part to make it look like a freak accident.
- Roman came back 'early' and made out as a promo he was disappointed not to get Seth himself
- They amped up Bron and Bronson to make it look like Seth was out of the main picture
- However many promos excluding Seth
- Seth walking on crutches on social media and with his daughter
I might be missing some stuff. They did all this stuff to try and hide the magic but we are in an era now where people want to be right and predict everything on social media. I saw this all over twitter last night. People were more happy they appeared to guess a storyline right than the actual story itself.
Maybe they could have done more, but imo, fans will always be making up theories now compared to when we were younger and information wasn't so readily available to us.
I personally enjoyed it and it made me like Seth more as someone who thought Seth was getting stale last year.
I agree with the above, yes there's ways to keep things new and (kind of) fresh but ultimately there's only so many stories to tell and ways to tell them. You can't expect everything to surprise everyone, especially after all this time.
Pretty sure they did say that Seth was out for a while? LA Knight did a promo saying he hopes Seth returns soon. Knee injuries, and i'm currently recovering from a minor MCL injury myself, take a while to fully heal. They only mentioned Seth in passing when Bron and Bronson were tagging and I was surprised to see him at Summerslam. The dropping of the crutches and pulling up the brace was superb.
I do think that you can over analysis things like wrestling and take a lot of the fun out of it. Rumours sites and what not can spoil things.
In the Netflix era I would have preferred to have the surprise cash in on a different night, makes it feel more of a surprise, do the entire thing with Seth coming out, but he just warns Punk and nothing happens with the cash in.
Punk holds onto the belt for one night, pops up on night 2 in a promo saying he came back and did it all for the fans blah blah blah, then gets beaten down by Bron², and Seth's music hits again, but this time he comes out, with the brace and the crutches, flings them down, sprints down the ramp and cashes in.
Same outcome, but the bait and switch is a day later and fools more people into believing the injury etc
Was surprised at first that they didn't have Breakker and Bronson initiate the attack on Punk - but then saw that Breakker had a lot of bandaging on his leg when they closed out the show. Hope he isn't injured.
I saw a clip of Lesnar coming back but wasn't sure if it was the usual social media crap where they take a clip of a previous return and edit it into a current episode.
Not sure I'm happy about it tbh. The man is accused of some fairly nasty stuff, albeit in a civil rather than criminal case. WWE bringing him back whilst that is still ongoing could backfire, although large parts of their audience either don't care about or don't believe the accusations.
I'm not too keen on Brock coming back right now as much as I loved him with everything going on.
I think Cena Vs. Brock just makes the Rock involvement at Mania even more bizarre. Have to be honest, Cena's heel run was poor.
I didn't like the finish. Cena kicked out of 3 crossrhodes which kind of diminishes the finish on Reigns at Mania? He then gets pinned by a cody cutter through a table and a single crossrhodes?
Feel it would have made more sense if Codes decked him with the belt (going back to mania) and doing the 3 crossrhodes on top of the title? Feel like that finish looks a bit better.
Final note piledrivers, I kind of want them to stop, Cena sold it so well I actually thought he was hurt, and Cody's face 😂
I saw a clip of Lesnar coming back but wasn't sure if it was the usual social media crap where they take a clip of a previous return and edit it into a current episode.
Not sure I'm happy about it tbh. The man is accused of some fairly nasty stuff, albeit in a civil rather than criminal case. WWE bringing him back whilst that is still ongoing could backfire, although large parts of their audience either don't care about or don't believe the accusations.
Quite apart from this (which I agree with), Brock is just not a wrestler I find particularly entertaining. The only thing he really brings outside of being another big muscly monster is his personal history with Cena. It got a great crowd reaction on the night but I'm not convinced there's a lot they can do with him.
Now the rushed Cena face turn makes more sense. It did feel like that came a bit out of nowhere with odd timing one day before a PPV.
I've always been a Lesnar fan for his in-ring work. He brings a legitimacy that very few can get close to.
A match with Cena is a bit shoehorned in....Why go after him when you could just go after the Champion who was just in the same ring? But I get it. It will be a big deal considering its Brock's return / Cena's retirement run, and its a case of playing the greatest hits one last time.
Not watched Wrestling since i was a kid, Summerslam 92 at Wembley was tremendous. Really enjoying the documentary on netflix which must has gone live in the last few days.
I think there will be a lot of comps! Anyone else going? I thought this would be a AEW v NJPW show but there's only 3 matches with NJPW wrestlers and Tanahashi's last UK match is going to be in a horrific multiple man indy cage match. 😕
Raw is also at the O2 on Monday which i've only just found out about.
I think there will be a lot of comps! Anyone else going? I thought this would be a AEW v NJPW show but there's only 3 matches with NJPW wrestlers and Tanahashi's last UK match is going to be in a horrific multiple man indy cage match. 😕
Raw is also at the O2 on Monday which i've only just found out about.
Comments
I love wrestling, but I love it cause I loved it as a kid, its core target audience is kids. I expect adults to be able to work out what story may or may not happen, kids won't, unless they're very savvy or read it online.
That's the magic. There will be some kid devastated that Punk won the belt and lost it so soon afterwards in a twist. There will be another kid who is delighted that Seth cashed in as they're a Seth fan.
Those same kids will remember that moment forever and grow up loving wrestling and playing with their figures. They're what keeps wrestling alive.
Sorry if that sounds harsh but it's the truth. Adults should just appreciate the art and the planning, not looking to be surprised at every PPV imo.
Some fans deeply care about these athletes, and saying they're injured for a year etc could make people worry. Even if they did that, there would still be people pushing the theories which would subconsciously make you believe it could be a work.
I was suspicious he would come back (about 90% sure), but when you break it down
- Knee 'injury' actually looked legit. Good acting and LA Knight played his part to make it look like a freak accident.
- Roman came back 'early' and made out as a promo he was disappointed not to get Seth himself
- They amped up Bron and Bronson to make it look like Seth was out of the main picture
- However many promos excluding Seth
- Seth walking on crutches on social media and with his daughter
I might be missing some stuff. They did all this stuff to try and hide the magic but we are in an era now where people want to be right and predict everything on social media. I saw this all over twitter last night. People were more happy they appeared to guess a storyline right than the actual story itself.
Maybe they could have done more, but imo, fans will always be making up theories now compared to when we were younger and information wasn't so readily available to us.
I personally enjoyed it and it made me like Seth more as someone who thought Seth was getting stale last year.
I do think that you can over analysis things like wrestling and take a lot of the fun out of it. Rumours sites and what not can spoil things.
Punk holds onto the belt for one night, pops up on night 2 in a promo saying he came back and did it all for the fans blah blah blah, then gets beaten down by Bron², and Seth's music hits again, but this time he comes out, with the brace and the crutches, flings them down, sprints down the ramp and cashes in.
Same outcome, but the bait and switch is a day later and fools more people into believing the injury etc
He keeps sobbing and being overly dramatic.
He's better as a heel or an anti hero who doesn't care about anything.
The crowd didn't appear to care much when he won last night.
WWE bringing back Lesnar 3 weeks after WWE Evolution whilst the lawsuit is ongoing is a huge yikes. No wonder HHH cancelled the presser. Coward.
I think HHH just tries to give the fans what they want and he's good at it.
I think the Netflix reality show was a mistake on his part though.
Everyone knows it's fake but it's still an illusion of an act.
Not sure I'm happy about it tbh. The man is accused of some fairly nasty stuff, albeit in a civil rather than criminal case. WWE bringing him back whilst that is still ongoing could backfire, although large parts of their audience either don't care about or don't believe the accusations.
Cody Rhodes is boring. He's only entertaining when the Rock tries to belittle him
I'm not too keen on Brock coming back right now as much as I loved him with everything going on.
I think Cena Vs. Brock just makes the Rock involvement at Mania even more bizarre. Have to be honest, Cena's heel run was poor.
I didn't like the finish. Cena kicked out of 3 crossrhodes which kind of diminishes the finish on Reigns at Mania? He then gets pinned by a cody cutter through a table and a single crossrhodes?
Feel it would have made more sense if Codes decked him with the belt (going back to mania) and doing the 3 crossrhodes on top of the title? Feel like that finish looks a bit better.
Final note piledrivers, I kind of want them to stop, Cena sold it so well I actually thought he was hurt, and Cody's face 😂
I've always been a Lesnar fan for his in-ring work. He brings a legitimacy that very few can get close to.
A match with Cena is a bit shoehorned in....Why go after him when you could just go after the Champion who was just in the same ring? But I get it. It will be a big deal considering its Brock's return / Cena's retirement run, and its a case of playing the greatest hits one last time.
Lesnar vs Gunther at Wrestlemania, please.
So many finisher kick outs in the main event, including a piledriver kick out after they built the move up to be a career ender. Wank.
Raw is also at the O2 on Monday which i've only just found out about.