WWE WrestleMania 31 review

WrestleMania 31. The main event of the WWE pay-per-view calendar. It would be stretching things to say that the company has been diligently building all of its major storylines towards this for the last year but it's certainly the culmination of several months of work. Sting and Triple H's feud started in November. Miz and Mizdow have been together since around then. Orton got wiped out by The Authority, setting up his grudge match with Rollins, as long ago as October. There were clearly plans in pieces for this show a long time ago.

Of course, one of the key pieces was the WWE's new chosen one. The man chosen to lead the company into the future as one of the stars of the current generation of wrestlers. For the first time in quite a while someone was positioned to experience their first world title victory in the main event of the show. Someone was positioned to be anointed as the company's new lead star.

It just wasn't the man we were expecting.

Including the pre-show WrestleMania was six hours long. Six hours. That's a lot of WrestleMania. The first hour mostly consisted of hype videos for the show's matches and natter from the panel of Booker T, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton and host Renee Young. The highlight was a backstage meeting between Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury and The Stooges in which Noble searched for sugar and Brisco revaled he'd used it all getting coffee for Mr MackMan.

The pre-show's second hour, exclusive to the WWE Network even though the idea of a pre-show is to get some last minute buys (and, in this case, Network subscriptions), featured two matches. The first was a very good tag team title match which saw champions Cesaro and Tyson Kidd retain against, Los Matadores, the New Day combo of Big E and Kofi Kingston, and, technically, the Usos. I say technically because Jey took an early spill to the outside at the hands of Cesaro (to write him out of the match due to a pre-existing injury) which left Jimmy to fight alone.

What a pair. And the tag champs.

It was a well-constructed succession of spots, the ideal opener for a show like this as it gave people chance to cheer and cheer and cheer. Each team hit at least doubles move and there was a sequence where all the seconds fought one another, ending with Natalya taking a Rear View form Naomi. The match ended when everyone except Jimmy was involved in a double superple off the shoulders spot. Everyone but Jimmy was wiped out by it and he took the opportunity to splash Big E. Cesaro appeared from nowhere to lob Rikishi's lad out of the ring and steal the pin.

The second match was the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. It was not such a roaring success. Curtis Axel, who'd managed to become genuinely popular in the weeks leading up to the show based on being a guy creative overlooks, found himself overlooked by creative and eliminate first. This was likely done to stop him overshadowing the match's designated stars. This left me feeling that WWE still has no idea how to embrace organic popularity. When Hidoe Itami was KO punched off the apron by Big Show I felt the same, although he at least got to get in some kicks and eliminate Bo Dallas before he went.

My feelings changed slightly when Cesaro got to eliminate Kane with a scoop slam, the same thing he'd done to Big Show to win the previous year's battle royal. He attempted the same thing with 'The Giant' but his back gave out and he was sent over the top rope by Show. This didn't bother me as much as the treatment of Itami and Axel. There was a logical sequence which led to 'The Swiss Superman's' elimination.

Ryback fired himself up and got tossed out by Big Show befoe the match came down to Miz, Mizdow and Show. Miz pleaded with Mizdow to work with him against Big Show so the match could come down to the two of them. Mizdow didn't allow himself to be fooled. He threw 'The Awesome One' over the top rope and took his chances with 'The World's Largest Athlete'. It didn't work out well for him. He managed to survive for a minute or two but the match eventually went to Show after he simply dunked Mizdow over the top rope.

"Pull my finger."

I don't have a problem with Big Show winning. There was nothing on the line besides a trophy that looks like it's made from chocolate and tinfoil. The creative team deserve credit for embracing the Miz and Mizdow rivalry and having it come to a head here. Although I can't help but feel the crowd would have gone wild had the match come down to Mizdow and Curtis Axel. The two underdog favourites getting to close out the match could have been really suspenseful. And the Miz and Mizdow split still could have worked.

The Intercontinental championship ladder match opened the official WrestleMania show. It was preceded by a really good video that started out highlighting the importance of the championship before switching to focus on the legacy of ladder matches at WretleMania. This allowed it to cleverly gloss over how the IC title has been pretty much meaninglessness for the last fifteen years.

While the match didn't feature as many crazy bumps as I'd expected it still had plenty to choose from. A series of dives to the outside at the start of the match culminated with Ziggler getting back dropped over the top rope and Luke Harper diving onto everyone, before Dean Ambrose scaled a ladder to hit his cross body elbow. Stardust introduced a diamanté ladder, only for Barrett to kick a step off it and smack people with it. Harper did the Terry Funk ladder spot before dropping it and getting scissor kicked onto it by R-Truth. Barrett suplexed Stardust off the top of a ladder. Ambrose was Awesome bombed from the ring through a ladder by Harper. Barrett went on a Bullhammer rampage, pulling Ziggler off a ladder into the move, battering Stardust with it as he leapt off the top rope into the ring, and then smashing Truth off the ladder.

I didn't want this but I'm willing to give it a try.

Daniel Bryan nearly got the belt during this but was pulled off the ladder by Barrett. He avoided the Bullhammer and felled the defending champion with the running knee. Bryan scaled the ladder again only for Ziggler to sprint up and offer some last minute resistance at the top. They traded forearms and headbutts, D-Bry getting the last word when he knocked Ziggler to the mat with a head butt and reached up to pull down the title belt and win his first Intercontinenta championship. I'd been against Bryan winning but it went down well with the 'Mania crowd. They were happy to see Bryan triumph.

Orton v Rollins was match number two. Orton dominated the first several minutes, smacking Rollins about and no-selling buckle bomb before flooring 'The Future' with a clothesline. J&J interfered and were dropped off the apron with a double draping DDT. But that was enough of a distraction for Rollins to get in a suicide dive and take over the pace of the match. After a brief rest hold Orton comes back with clotheslines and turned a Curb Stomp attempt into a power slam.

'The Viper' hit a rough-looking T-bone suplex. Rollins escaped a draping DDT and got in an enziguri then an Asai moonsault to the outside. Back in the ring Orton got his draping DDT. Orton went for the RKO but Rollins countered into a schoolboy roll-up. Orty kicked out and then took an super kick but managed to stay on his feet to hit Rollins with an RKO.

Orton reacted to the kick out that followed with absolute shock. That seemed a bit much. Yes it normally wins him a match but people have kicked out of the move before, and this was WrestleMania, where we told that everyone goes that little bit further to make an impression. Anyway, he went for his back-up finish, the Deadly Punt™. Noble got in way and took an RKO. Mercury tried a cross body and took an RKO in mid-air. This allowed provided enough of a distraction for Rollins to recover and this time he hit Orton with a Curb Stomp.

An unspectacular photo from a really very good match.

Randy kicked out of that and Seth pulled him into position for the phoenix splash. Orton slipped out of the way as Rollins left the top rope. Rollins landed on his feet and rolled across the ring. Orton went for an RKO, got pushed off and stumbled to his knees. The match ended on a beuatifully performed exchange as Rollins went for the Curb Stomp and Orton slipped out from under him to catch him coming down with an RKO. The match could not have been better.

In a bold (or possibly stupid) move Sting and Triple H followed. They even went without the benefit of a pop song or a filler match. They did get the grand entrance treatment though. Sting came out to a Stomp-style group playing metal drums and wearing his face paint. Triple H had something themed around the Terminator. There was a headpiece themed around his tried and tested skull and crown motifs along with a red "laser" eye, four classic Terminator robots stood motionless on the stage, extras dressed up as less spectacular robots, a target-acquiring POV shot, and a cameo from Arnold Schwarzenegger in which he said "It's time to play the game!". It was weird but also nicely done. Triple H's cosplay fantasies are the closest thing to The Streak we have left at WrestleMania.

The opening few minutes were all about making Sting look like a top guy. He overpowered Trips. Then he outwrestled him. He no-sold the knee buster and went for the Scorpion deathlock. Trips wriggled out of the ring, returning to get whipped back outside via Sting's immense power. Sting followed him out and went for a splash against the barricade. Triple H moved and threw him into the steel steps.

Paul versus Steve: The Epic Collision.

Back in the ring H3 muscled Sting up for a stalling suplex then worked Sting over with knees and powerful whips into the corner before slapping on a sleeper so that 'The Vigilante' could loudly call some spots. Sting fought back and applied the deathlock. Billy Gunn, Road and X Pac ran to the DX music. Sting made short work of them with chops. The he threw Tripper out of the ring onto them for good measure. That set up a nice human crash mat for Sting to leap off the top rope onto. It looked like 'The Stinger' was finally going to put 'The Game' but a distraction from Billy Gunn allowed Trips to get in a Pedigree.

Sting kicked out so Triple H grabbed his sledgehammer. Before he could use it he was distracted by the music of the nWo and Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan swaggering down to the ring. Had he thought about it the so-called 'Cerebral Assassin' could have lamped Sting with the hammer and won the match before the nWo fellas had arrived at ringside. He was clearly awed by their shock tactics.

When they arrived the nWo dispatched DX and Sting recovered to hit a Scorpion Death Drop on Tripper. When Trips kicked out Sting put him in the deathlock. Triple H went for the sledgehammer that lay tantalisingly close. Luckily for Sting that bastion of fairness Hulk Hogan was on hand to grab it from the evil COO's clutches. That triggered a flurry of activity on the outside and DX and the nWo wiped each other. Trips sat in the hold as this went on, only managing to make it to the ropes after everything had simmered down and the camera was back on him. Funny that. It was almost like the match was staged.

Sting went to reapply the Scorpion deathlock but got lamped with Sweet Chin Music (outta nowhere!) by Shawn Michaels. Helmsley crawled into a cover and Sting kicked out. Billy handed Trips the sledgehammer. Hall handed Sting the bat. Sting dropped Triple H with a tap to the midsection then broke the hammer's staff in half. 'The Game' backed into a corner and got pummelled with fists and a Stinger Splash. 'The Vigilante' got greedy and went for a second, which gave Triple H the chance to grab hold of the top half of the sledgehammer and lamp him with it. That was enough to finally put 'The Stinger' down for three.

After the match Triple H pushed DX off and offered a handshake to Sting. Sting accepted. The entire match was far, far better than I'd expected it to be. Sting was protected, Triple H didn't try anything too fancy, and they made excellent use of run-ins. It's probably a bit odd that Sting was saved by the nWo, a group he experienced the biggest match of his career fighting against, but we can take that as the four having put aside their differences since WCW went under. Or you could go really wild and see it as acknowledgment that Sting really was with the nWo all along as they claimed in the nineties.

Backstage Maria Menounos interviewed new IC champ Daniel Bryan, asking how he felt about his win. He tried to answer and was interrupted by Pat Patterson, Roddy Piper, Ricky Stramboat, Ric Flair, and Bret Hart. They all but Bryan over (Flair got himself over too, naturally) and did a "Yes!" chant. Then Ron Simmons showed up and said "Damn!". I presume this was hilarious for those into that sort of thing.

Following a musical performance so uninspiring I can't even be bothered to look up who it was by Paige and AJ Lee teamed up to tangle with the Bellas. Paige was isolated by the twins for a while before finally managing to tag out to AJ. She worked over Nikki, Paige eliminated Brie, and then AJ made Nikki submit to the Black Widow. This was the most time I can remember Divas getting at 'Mania in years. They made the most of it and told a story in a good match.

After the audience had been given the chance to gape at the Hall of Famers it was time for Cena v Rusev II: The Russian Federation Strikes Back. Rusev entered on a tank. An actual, honest to goodness tank. There was other stuff going on with a Russian flag and troops and Lana but it was nowhere near as impressive as RUSEV RIDING A TANK. John Cena got a video of American symbolism intercut with Reagan jingoism. His actual entrance was the standard Cena entrance.

Flag-related taunts set to become wrestling's next craze.

They had another surprisingly energetic, enjoyable match. The match they gave us at Fast Lane had raised my expectations for the quality of this match. They again surpassed them. Cena pulled out his top rope leg drop, multiple AAs and the STF. Rusev busted out his regular assortment of big lad moves and  athletic kicks. He was on top of his game with his selling, ring placement, and facial expressions, perfectly getting across his increasing desperation with wild eyes and an uncharacteristic trip to the top rope.

Not to be outdone with new material Cena hit a springboard Ace crusher. Then he powered to his feet and almost casually become the first man to break out of the Accolade. Lana tried a distraction from the apron and got knocked off by Rusev. Cena then scooped him up and hit him with an AA. Just like that Cena won. It felt like Rusev should've been able to withstand more with a year-long winning streak to his name. Going down to the second AA of the night seemed very anti-climactic.

Then the stalling kicked in. You see, WWE likes to present certain wrestlers in certain ways. One such wrestler is Undertaker. He always enters to darkness because he's a spooky character and darkness is spooky. At this point it was about quarter to seven. They needed to kill time so that it was as dark as possible for 'The Dead Man's' entrance. They also needed to give the crowd time to cool down and hit the toilets before the final two matches of the card.

The expert panel and the commentary split the task of recapping the show up until that point. Then Triple H (now wearing a suit) and Stephanie  were introduced. They announced that a new attendance record of 76,976 had been set for the stadium. Steph put herself and Tripper over as the reason for this and WWE's success in general. Trips took over and said they owned everyone there and everyone watching. I thought this was leading to an appearance from Vince McMahon but instead we got The Rock. He goaded Triple H into taking his jacket off before Steph stepped in and told Rock her family had made his family then gave him a slap. She teased The Rock about ot being able to hit her because she's a woman and ordered him to the back.

Luckily Rock avoided inappropriate talk of pies.

Rock left the ring but he didn't go to the back. Instead he went over to Ronda Rousey (sporting a memetastic "It's over 9000!" T-shirt) in the front row and brought her into the ring. Steph said she and Ronda were pals. When Ronda didn't exactly go along with this Steph demanded she leave. Rock and Tripe H ended up getting into it, with Ronda giving Triple H a hip toss and then grabbing Steph. She released her and the heels hobbled backstage as Rock's music played and he declared the sequence the greatest WrestleMania moment of the night. It was good but this self-aggrandizement put me off it a bit.

With all the time that could be killed killed it was time for Undertaker versus Bray Wyatt. 'The New Face of Fear' entered first, accompanied by a gang of scarecrows, some of whom he brought to life as he walked past. This could not compare with Rusev's tank entrance. Nor, for that matter, could Undertaker's entrance. There was still plenty of light in the sky and, for the first time in a few years, there were no special props on the stage. It was just 'Taker, his jacket and hat, and the funereal music. Very much a back to basics approach.

The match was fine but not the special attraction I think many expected. The crowd didn't seemed as invested in Undertaker as they have been at recent WrestleManias and I suspect this was because of the lack of The Streak. Not having that to fight for and defend makes 'The Phenom' a bit pointless, drifting character. The Streak was tied strongly to his legacy. Without it there's very little point in him sticking around unless he's going to have a stronger presence on TV across the year, which he's obviously not.

Who'd have guessed Sting v Triple H would be more enjoyable
than Wyatt v Undertaker?

They did most, but not all, of the spots that could have been asked of them. Wyatt did his flying forearm and threw out a handful of Sister Abigails. 'Taker gave us Old School, choke slams, and Tombstone piledrivers but omitted the Hell's Gate and the Last Ride. It seemed peculiar. When a guy who only wrestles once a year has this many recognisable moves to call on you expect him to pul them all out, especially in what was possibly his penultimate match. Wyatt survived one Tombstone but fell to a second just after the fifteen minute mark.

That just left the main event: Roman Reigns challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE world heavyweight championship.

Reigns' entrance was heavy on boos. Lesnar got a thunderous initial pop and extended cheers once he was in the ring. He also received a personal ring introduction from his advocate, Paul Heyman. I liked that. It was a good use of Heyman on a show that didn't really have any other opportunity for him to talk.

Within thirty seconds of the match starting Lesnar had hit Reigns with a German suplex and an F5. He didn't go for a cover. Instead he started with the throws and suplexes. Reigns made sporadic attempts to fight back, clotheslining and pie-facing the champion as well as chuckling, to show us that he can take a beating, but he was quickly shut down each time.

The scene before the match.

After a while Reigns was punched off the apron down to the ringside mats. He got a brief moment of hope as he headed back into the ring, kneeing Lesnar in the face as he tried to grab him. 'The Pain' shrugged that off and sent Reigns off the apron back down to the mats with a lariat. When he returned to the ring he was given more suplexes, Heyman counting along with each one. The eighth was a particularly impressive belly-to-belly from the apron, over the top rope, back into the ring. 

'The Conqueror' hit an F5 and went for the first cover of the match. Reigns kicked out. Lesnar punched away at Reigns. Reigns laughed, earning himself two more German suplexes and a third F5. Reigns kicked out again, technically breaking WWE's unwritten rule that people don't kick out of more than three finishers in a match.

Lesnar tried to shove Reigns into a ring post outside the ring but Reigns managed to reverse the attempt. Lesnar would roll back into the ring bleeding heavily. Reigns hit him with a Superman punch but the champ stayed on his feet. A second Superman punch sent 'The Beast', briefly, down to a knee. Reigns went for the move a third time but Lesnar sidestepped it and went for a German suplex. Reigns fought out and blasted Lesnar with a third Superman punch and two spears. Lesnar managed to kick out. Reigns went for another Superman punch but Lesnar caught him in mid-air and F5ed him.

With both men down Seth Rollins sprinted out to the ring and cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, sending the crowd crazy (in a positive way, obvs). The match was restarted as a triple threat and Rollins immediately booted 'The Big Dog' out of the ring and Curb Stomped Lesnar. He went for the move a second time but Lesnar snatched him up into position for the F5. Reigns thrust himself back into the action with a spear. Lesnar rolled out of the ring. Rollins hit Reigns with a Curb Stomp and pinned him to become the new WWE world heavyweight champion.

The scene  after the match.

The main event was superb. Reigns stood up to a vicious beating from Lesnar and kept coming back for more. Lesnar delivered the suplexes and F5s he's adored for. The finish was designed to accomplish several things and did so. Lesnar was kept strong by not being pinned. Reigns was presented as the wronged victim who had his moment stolen away by someone else's selfishness. Rollins was presented as an opportunistic chancer who selected the perfect moment, making a name for himself at the expense of someone who'd earned their way to the top. Which, in kayfabe terms, Reigns had with his Rumble victory and win over Daniel Bryan at Fast Lane.

WrestleMania 31 was a far better show than I'd thought. I hadn't really expected much from many of the matches. Too many of them seemed like odd choices for a big show. But there wasn't a bad match on the card. The main event was everything I wanted it to be.

What's nice is that it feels like WWE has a plan coming out of this show. I don't like Bryan and Cena having the mid-card titles but it's clearly been done for a purpose. The world title picture has Rollins on top with Lesnar, Reigns and Orton in a position to argue they deserve a championship match against him. On the night the show was a surprising success. I think it will prove to have been a success in the long term too.

***

Results summary:

Cesaro and Tyson Kidd retain the tag team championship
Big Show won the Andre Battle Royal, last eliminating Damien Mizdow
Daniel Bryan won the Intercontinental championship in a ladder match
Randy Orton defeated Seth Rollins
Triple H defeated Sting
AJ Lee and Paige defeated the Bellas
John Cena defeated Rusev to win the United States championship
Undertaker defeated Bray Wyatt
Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar to win the WWE championship

Vengeance 2006 review

The trouble with wrestling shows nowadays is that out and out stinkers are so rare. Most current shows from any company not named TNA are either acceptable with few or no standout performances or very good affairs with a number of memorable matches and storyline developments. And sometimes, when writing about a wrestling show, you don’t want that. You want something that pushes you to the limits of endurance and shows you just how bad wrestling can get.

There are two answers to this. The first is to review TNA shows. I imagine that in years to come a lot of people will enjoy looking back and analysing the nonsense TNA currently puts out. But to do it as the company’s still in existence isn’t something I want to do. Because it’s depressing that a major company can exist and be as poor as TNA in 2014. Not paying much attention to it is about the only defence I have against it.

The other answer is to look back at old shows that are notoriously bad. I decided to go for this one, but I wanted to watch something and be surprised by the matches that were taking place and the results that cropped up in them. That could have made picking something pretty tricky, because can you can’t gauge a show’s likely quality until you know what’s on it.

Thankfully WWE produced a lengthy run of dismal pay-per-views in the mid-00s. You can pick out pretty much anything at random from around 2003 until 2008 or so and be pretty much guaranteed a rock solid unenjoyable experience.

That’s what I decided to do, and I selected Vengeance. For no other reason that it was readily available to watch. It will differ from my reviews of current events only slightly, in that I’ll take a break after each match to discuss where the guys involved are now. So, let’s get to it.

We start, as always, with a video package. This one focused on John Cena's problems with the concept of ECW, Rob Van Dam's feud with Edge, and DX's war with Vince McMahon and his troupe of male cheerleaders. I'll discuss all of that as we get to it. All you need to know here is that in June 2006 Rob Van Dam was the WWE champion, Edge was coming into his own as a dickish heel who would do anything to stay on top, John Cena had been the most pushed top act for over a year and resentment over that was beginning to bubble away with more vocal crowds, and Triple H and Shawn Michaels were frequently involved in "hilarious" skits featuring spray paint, slime, midgets, bare buttocks, and Jonathan Coachman.

On commentary in Charlotte, North Carolina were Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. Immediately noticeable is how JR can make a show prominently featuring the Spirit Squad seem exciting.

The first guy to enter the arena was a pre-sleeves Randy Orton with his old Burn in My Light music and gold curtain pyro entrance pose. Fans of his in-ring turnbuckle pose needn't worry. That was an integral part of his act by this point. He was representing RAW against ECW's Kurt Angle. This was during the period where Angle's music was remixed so people didn't get the chance to chant "You suck!" (although they still gave it a shot). I thought that was a stupid decision at the time and I still think so now. That kind of audience chant should be embraced.

This makes the match look far more lively than it was.

At this point you're probably thinking "Wow! Angle versus Orton opening a pay-per-view, that's pretty promising!" And you're not wrong. It should be incredible. But it wasn't. It quickly became obvious that both men had entered the match as heels and neither seemed particularly liked by the fans. That meant that the match took a while to warm up, something not helped by a focus on slow mat wrestling for the first few minutes. With nobody knowing who to cheer for and neither wrestler willing to embrace the good guy role the match didn't come anywhere close to meeting its potential. I'm not especially knowledgeable about Orton v Angle matches but I wouldn't be surprised if this was their worst encounter. And just to top things off Lawler seemed dead set on making anti-ECW gags every thirty seconds.

Despite all of this the crowd were loud throughout the entire thing. And things came together for the closing sequence, which helped. Orton was trapped in an ankle lock for a bit before reversing out of it, driving Kurt into an exposed turnbuckle (ah, the exposed turnbuckle, it's a classic) and giving him an RKO for the win.

***

What they did next:

Randy Orton: He’s been up and down the card but he’s never been too far away from the top. Other than a few tattoos, taunt variations, and entrance rejigs Orton has remained unchanged.

Kurt Angle: 2006 is the year Angle went spectacularly off the rails. WWE released him on August 2006 because they were concerned over his physical well-being and didn’t think Angle was willing to take things easy for his own safety. Angle has claimed he asked for a release because he was unwilling to work hurt. So both sides agree on the reason, just not on the topic of whether Kurt jumped or was pushed.

We all know the basic Angle story from there. He joined TNA and immediately had a stellar feud with Samoa Joe. He spent several years flipping between good guy and bad guy as his body continued to deteriorate. Like, really badly deteriorate. To the point where he looked like a frail old man. He’s currently making noises about leaving TNA when his contract expires and returning to WWE for one final, glorious run. It’s currently unknown whether or not WWE would have any interest in him as a performer.

***

Backstage Vince McMahon was having one of those one-sided recap conversations that used to be so popular with WWE heels (and that have recently started to go out of style with behind the times TNA heels). He was telling someone about how the Spirit Squad would never forget DX dumping green slime on them on RAW. I'd like to imagine it was Linda and that it's how she and Vince communicate. Someone knocked on the door so Vince wrapped up his convo. You'd assume the person knocking would be a wrestler. Perhaps the Spirit Squad seeking advice before their match or a mid-carder like Charlie Haas asking for an ill-defined "opportunity". Or maybe DX, come to play more "hilarious" pranks on the boss.

It was none of them. It was a young lad in a wheelchair. Vince assumed it was a DX prank and referenced some of their comedy gold (including roosters, space aliens and corporate genitalia). Then he got angry and heeled the kid out of his office. A crash was heard, the implication being the kid was harmed. He wouldn't appear on the show again so we'll never know his fate.

Coach wandered in to make a poor segment worse. In 2006 Coach was regularly paired up with Vince for comedy segments like this one. Despite being routinely bad they held a certain appeal thanks to Coach's willingness to do and say pretty much anything and Vince's ability to perform funny facial expressions. Here Coach handed over a penis pump he'd found lying outside and revealed that the young kid in the wheelchair was a close family friend he'd invited to the show who considered Vince his idol. Sadly they didn't explain why a kid of about eight considered Vince McMahon his idol. That could have been excellent.

Match two featured another surprise mid-00s highlight: the combo of Umaga and Armando Alejandro Estrada. Umaga, a savage-inspired character who could only be controlled by Estrada, had debuted a few months earlier. The man behind the gimmick had previously been best known as Jamal, half of the sloppy but still underrated 3 Minute Warning tag team. He'd mostly been winning squash matches until this point. It was the Alexander Rusev push for 2006.

Umaga was facing Eugene. That's not a sentence anyone ever wants to read. Ever. Under any circumstances.

The monster that is Eugene, finally slain.

Because Umaga was unstoppable at this point and Eugene, well, was not unstoppable, Eugene had found himself some backup. While that was a sound idea all he'd been able to drum up was Jim Duggan, Doink the Clown (yeah really, Doink the clown in 2006) and Kamala (sadly without Kim Chee or Harvey Wippleman). And then a match happened. It was not pleasant. But it was quick. Umaga squashed Eugene with the Samoan spike (a thumb to the throat which, against all the odds, became an over finish). Just to illustrate how dangerous Umaga was he obliterated Duggan and Doink after the match. Estrada made him walk away from Kamala though. Which was absolutely the right call. A young upstart 33-year-old shouldn't be facing a legend like Kamala unless it's been advertised beforehand. You don't give a quality meeting like that away unannounced.

***

What they did next:

Eugene: By this point the Eugene character was on a downhill slide. As an adult with special needs he had been introduced as the nephew of Eric Bischoff in 2004 and quickly become insanely popular. He’d managed to stay relevant into 2005 but by this point crowds had become tired of him and it’s hard not to see why. He was a one note, exploitative character that had a limited shelf life. His future held an ill-conceived heel turn and contract termination.

Umaga: To this surprise of anyone who remembered his time as a member of 3 Minute Warning Umaga became a very reliable upper mid-card singles act. His undefeated streak would continue until the end of the year, at which point he would enter into a feud with Cena, which included a Last Man Standing meeting at the ’07 Royal Rumble which still stands as one of Cena’s greatest matches.

Umaga would also go on to win the Intercontinental championship and enjoy feuds with names such as Jeff Hardy, Batista and Triple H. Not bad for a guy who had been released in 2003 for being involved in a bar fight and generally not being very good. Umaga was granted a contract release in 2008 following a disputed Wellness Policy violation.

He died of a heart attack in December 2009.

***

Backstage Mick Foley spoke to Todd Grisham. This was during Foley’s infamous feud with Ric Flair. Basically, Fley and Flair didn’t like one another. As in they really didn’t like one another and had gotten into screaming matches backstage over things that they’d written about each other in their biographies. Foley had criticised Flair for being a poor boss and booker in WCW. Flair had labelled Foley a “glorified stunt man”, almost certainly as revenge for the cracks Foley had made about him. Both men had large egos and were not willing to back down.

For some reason somebody in WWE thought it would be a good idea to turn the real life hatred into a storyline. It’s a logic that had worked in wrestling many times before (I’ll give the lazy examples of Hart and Michaels’ feud and the fact that Austin and Rock really didn’t like each other when they started working together). The trouble was that Flair and Foley were both physically knackered. They both relied heavily on shortcuts and their opponents making them look good. Plus Foley had turned heel a few months before and had been doing his best work as a face for years at this point. And, y’know, Flair was pretty much one of the most natural heels ever. It was obvious from the start that match quality was going to be poor. Things only got worse when Foley and Flair started cutting insider promos on each other that only people who follow the inner workings of pro wrestling (which is a minority in WWE’s fan base) and things that had happened around a decade earlier. That this got televised shows you what sort of company WWE was during this period. Everything about it was a spectacular mess. But it remains incredibly watchable stuff because of just how low things got.

At Vengeance they were booked in a two-out-of-three falls match because Foley wanted to prove he was a wrestler and not a stunt artiste. Being held in Charlotte meant that Mick was going to definitely be playing the bad guy, a role I’ve already said he was ill-suited for at this point. Because North Carolina is Flair country. Woooooo!

First the factual stuff. Flair won two falls to none. He got the first fall off an inside cradle as Foley went for a figure four. Then Foley got disqualified when he used a trash can (or, if you will, a rubbish bin) while trapped in the hold himself.

Mr Sockoooooo... Nah doesn't work. Sorry.

The match was a mess. The promise that Foley would outwrestle Flair, which had been a significant part of the build-up was gleefully ignored. Which was disappointing because it could have been an interesting story: Foley actually managing to surprise 'Naitch' and push him to his limit, forcing him to pull out every cheat in his arsenal (which in Charlotte would have gotten a great reaction) would have been an interesting story that’s wasn’t (and isn’t) seen much in WWE. It's not actually that surprising though. I’ve already said both guys were passed their respective peaks and incapable of working a match without shortcuts (which here included a special Mr Socko designed to look like Flair). What we got was what both men were capable of in 2006.

Foley smashed 'The Nature Boy' with a barbed wire baseball bat after the decision. Flair bled. A lot. He was helped to the back but didn't really make out he was in any particular pain despite being drenched in his own blood. It came across as Flair wanting to prove he could play the hardcore hero better than Foley.

***

What they did next:

Mick Foley: He jumped to TNA and filled a variety of roles, including on-air authority figure and champion. He returned to WWE when he realised how terrible TNA was. He dressed up as Santa a few Christmases ago and acted as the GM of Saturday Morning Slam before it was unceremoniously cancelled. He spent the rest of his time making special appearances on RAWs and pay-per-views before letting his contract expire, opting not to re-sign because he felt he wasn’t being paid fairly for video game licensing.

Ric Flair: He joined Foley in TNA. He mostly worked as a manager there, representing guys as far apart on the quality scale as Gunner and AJ Styles. He wrestled a few times but the less said about that the better. The most noteworthy part of Flair’s TNA run, at least for the purposes of the show we’re talking about here, was that he resumed his rivalry with Foley. They were getting on better by then but both were older, so the match quality balanced out at around the same level.

Since his return to WWE last year Flair has made various appearances on pay-per-view expert panels, episodes of RAW and at the SummerSlam Axxess event. He was hammered at pretty much all of them. In fact he was so out of control at SummerSlam that Jim Ross was fired for failing to control him (yes, you read that correctly). Oh, and he also pulled the classic Flair trick of burying someone he disliked. In this case it was Daniel Bryan, the day before he was due to defeat John Cena for the WWE championship.

Basically, Ric Flair has continued to be Ric Flair. Woooooooooooo!!

***

This got pay-per-view time.

In the back Maria and Carlito discussed coolness and paradoxes. Then Torrie Wilson showed up in a bikini. Carlito held her puppies as she and Maria went off to rub baby oil on one another, something that was actually shown and given time on a pay-per-view. Carlito provided some commentary on that before his music hit. Things like this used to happen all the time. We didn't even question why Torrie was prepping for a photo shoot in the middle of a pay-per-view. It was a more naive time.

'Caribbean Cool's' match was a triple threat for the Intercontinental championship. His opponents were Johnny Nitro and champ Shelton Benjamin. Carlito was by this point a bland babyface. Nitro was still doing his red carpet entrance with Melina and was just starting out on the cheap heat route of blocking particularly revealing shots of his scantily clad girlfriend. Shelton Benjamin was probably even more bland than Carlito but was trying to hide it by wearing sunglasses and loud shirts to the ring.

What's most striking looking back at this match now is that the three all seemed like they were going to be something significant for WWE at one point or another and yet none of them managed it. They were victims of the mid-00s lax approach to star building. If these guys, as they were back then, debuted in today's system they'd stand a far better chance of being helped to the top, because while the current system is far from perfect it is at least structured to give new guys a chance at getting over. The quality of the match demonstrated they all could have achieved far more during this period had they been allowed to just go to the ring and wrestle their metaphorical socks off more frequently. They put on a great match and the crowd were into it. That sounds like an ideal second tier championship match to me.

Nitro won the championship (his first reign) off a Carlito back cracker on Shelton. The two losers looked upset while Nitro spent an she standing around grinning and posing at the top of the entrance ramp.

***

What they did next:

Shelton Benjamin: Independent circuit, Ring of Honor, and New Japan.

Carlito: Independent circuit and the WWC.

Johnny Nitro: Became John Morrison. Independent circuit, stand-up comedy, film directing, and continued dating Melina (which makes him the winner).

***

Backstage we found the Spirit Squad screaming at one another about destroying DX. Then Vince entered and joined in, because no young pups are out-hollering the boss. The Squad left so Vince had a look at the penis pump box Coach had handed him earlier. In a toile, which was probably for the best. Nobody needs to see that much of Vinnie Mac. An explosion was heard and then he came out with some green paint lightly dabbed on his face.

"That damned DX!" said Vince, like a character from a rubbish 70s sitcom. What would those crazy DX kids do next?!

Out at ringside Jerry Lawler said we'd just witnessed a booby-trapped penis pump. His laughter indicated that this was one of the most spectacular things that had ever happened to him.

A video package reminded us of RVD's Money in the Bank win and cash-in on Cena at the One Night Stand show. Van Dam won that match after interference from Edge. 'The Rated R Superstar' made an appearance on ECW's TV show to say he respected RVD and looked forward to tearing the house down with him. But then he speared him, because mid-00s Edge was full of dick moves like that. He also had boob job Lita at his side. There was a lot to like about him.

Edge cut a pre-match promo about how the Stanley Cup (a hockey award of some prestige) was won for North Carolina by Canadians, comparable to how he'd beaten Cena for 'Mr Monday Night'. Then he claimed he'd win the gold and have a live sex celebration afterwards. RVD didn't get to respond, but he was introduced simply as "the champion" by Lilian Garcia, which was something.

A rare excuse to put up a picture of RVD as WWE champion.

This match is not as well remembered as it deserves because of the reasons Van Dam would end up losing the title. It's famous for the reason why he lost it. A few weeks after the match RVD would test positive for a substance banned by WWE's Wellness Policy. If you're familiar with Van Dam's past you can probably hazard a guess as to what that substance was. That violation meant Rob had to be written off TV for thirty days. His reign as a double champion was cut short. The decision was made that he'd lose the WWE belt to Edge on the July 3 RAW. The next night he dropped the ECW strap to Big Show.

But we're concerned with Vengeance. The match the two men had here was excellent and showed that Edge had been sincere when he'd said he wanted to steal the show. They packed an incredible amount into their eighteen minutes: tonnes of counter wrestling, plenty of moonsaults, and a satisfying number of big bump spots. Particularly impressive moments included a sunset bomb to the floor from Edge to Van Dam, a cross body over the top rope down to the floor from RVD, an Edge power bomb onto the crowd barrier, and Edge countering the tumbling senton into a power slam. Plus all the usual spots you'd get from both, which is a fair few. The match stands as an example of why RVD originally became popular and why Edge made it as far as he did. Van Dam won a cracker of a match with the Five Star frog splash. Edge had speared a chair and knocked himself out seconds before.

***

What they did next:

Rob Van Dam: RVD was another guy who made a jump over to TNA. He was booked fairly well for a year or two, capturing the TNA world championship in decent storyline which quickly became a mess. Inevitably TNA lost interest in him and he drifted down into the mid-card. He left last year, after being given the X Division championship for literally no reason at all, and returned to WWE at Money in the Bank. He’s not done anything major yet and I don’t think he will. But at least he’s getting pay now. That’s nice for him.

Edge: Between 2006 and his unexpected in retirement in 2011 Edge became one of WWE’s premier talents. His list of accomplishments include multiple WWE and World Heavyweight championship reigns, being the de facto lead figure on SmackDown for years on end, and giving Undertaker one of his finest Streak matches ever. 2006 was the breakout year for ‘The Rated R Superstar’ and he would go from strength to strength.

***

Backstage ECW wrestlers such as Roadkill, Stevie Richards and Little Guido celebrated their boy's victory with alternating chants of ECW and RVD. Then Paul Heyman sauntered in and told the locker room that they'd be joined as lumberjacks by some RAW wrestlers. He acknowledged nobody liked the decision but said it was happening anyway. Why, if nobody liked it?

At this point I was beginning to get worried that the show hadn't been as comedically bad as I'd hoped. Then, as if to prove me wrong, Kane's music played. And this wasn't just any Kane match. This was the Kane versus imposter Kane match. This is the sort of storyline that has routinely been thrust at Glenn Jacobs throughout his fifteen plus years as Kane. Basically Kane's gimmick had by this point become that anything too lunatic to be done to the Undertaker could be done to him. At this point that list included the famed Katie Vick necrophilia angle, a feud with Matt Hardy over who to marry Lita, and a feud with Snitsky over an aborted child .

The match was not a pleasant experience, for a number of reasons. Drew Hankinson, the man now known as Doc Gallows in New Japan, was not very good at this point. Neither was Kane, although he was at least a known quantity audiences were willing to react to. The biggest problem was that fans were not interested in the Kane v Kane angle, amusing themselves with chants of "Boring!" and "Take the mask off!" instead of reacting to things as WWE wanted. It's hard to blame them. It was never clear what Fake Kane wanted, what Real Kane stood to lose, why anyone should care who won and who lost, or where the story was heading. As it turned out the fake won with a choke slam and the cover Real Kane used to do after performing a Tombstone.

***

What they did next:

Real Kane: Any insane wrestling idea you can think of. And a bunch you can’t.

Fake Kane: Became Festus, then Luke Gallows, then DOC, then Doc Gallows.

***

At this point you might be wondering what the official theme song of Vengeance 2006 was. Well I'll tell you, because it was plugged at this point of the show. It was Victim by Eighteen Visions. Jerry Lawlerp loved it, so you know it was good.

The Cena v Sabu video package reminded us of Cena's hard night at the second One Night Stand event and subsequent feud with ECW at large. That's a feud, just so you know, that included Cena decking Heyman, wrestling a match on RAW with Balls Mahoney and getting put through the announce desk by Sabu. There were loads of shots of all the ECW guys hanging around together during the video. That included Tommy Dreamer and Sandman: who had once had a lengthy feud that included Sandman pretending he was blind so that he could attack Dreamer with a cane. But they're BFFs now LOL!

JR put over how tough and dangerous Sabu is not by pointing out the scars that crisscross his body or discussing the ridiculous death matches he'd been a part of but by saying he "allegedly" glued his wounds up after matches. It didn't destroy the myth of Sabu or anything as melodramatic as that but it didn't do the match any favours. Most people watching wouldn't have had a clue who Sabu was or why he was a tougher opponent for Cena than, say, Tommy Dreamer. It would've been nice if Ross had done everything he could to put him over as a madman who'd take himself apart in order to beat Cena. But for whatever reason he couldn't be bothered or was directed not to.

The RAW lumberjacks are a fascinating insight into the roster of the time. Names such as Rob Conway, Trevor Murdoch, Garrison Cade and, perhaps the epitome of this era of the WWE mid-card, Gene Snitsky were on offer here. If that doesn't excite you on a so-bad-it's-good level there's something wrong with you.

'The Homicidal, Suicidal and Genocidal Freak'... and Sabu

The setup was a mess. Cena had been booked as a valiant face taking on an entire company. But this was the beginning of fandom's turn on Cena, which meant people had not rallied behind him as fully as expected. Meanwhile ECW, which had a rep as the underdog fed, had been booked as a bunch of heels against Cena but were also being launched as their own show, meaning many of them had also had thoroughly babyface moments. Just to thoroughly confuse things the RAW lumberjacks stationed at ringside by Vince, to even the odds, were all heels (with the possible exception of Charlie Haas). So Cena, who was becoming firmly established as an unbeatable face, was taking on a roster of underdog misfits and was backed up by bad guys. Or, to put it another way, John Cena was working a Sabu style match with Sabu surrounded by a bunch of jobbers.

As wacky stunt matches go it was pretty satisfying. Cena and Sabu lobbed chairs at each other, the triple jump offence got an airing, Cena took some Sandman cane shots, and Sabu was FUed out of the ring through a table. Cena won with the STF as the RAW guys held back the ECW guys. Yeah, Sabu tapped out, something he's known for disliking. JR did at least emphasise the rarity of a Sabu submission. That was something, but it could have meant slightly more if Sabu had been established we the embodiment of insanity before the match began.

Immediately after the match Cena wandered backstage and ran into RVD. They agreed to a title match on RAW. "Pack all you got, bro," were Cena's sage words of advice to Van Dam. He said stuff like that a fair amount back in 2006.

***

What they did next:

John Cena: For better or for worse he is still John Cena.

Sabu: Somehow managed to stay employed by WWE until May 2007, at which point he was released for unspecified reasons. He returned to working to working for smaller promotions and took some bookings in Mexico. The most significant thing I can remember Sabu doing since 2007 is facing Sami Callihan at a Dragon Gate USA (or possibly EVOLVE) show. Although he also made an appearance or two for TNA in 2010.

***

The pre-match video for DX v SS started out with Shawn Michaels' face being rubbed against Vince McMahon's bare backside. That's a fairly accurate snapshot of what RAW had been for a while at this point. Vince wanted to teach Shawn a lesson about not being disrespectful. So he roped in five cheerleaders and Triple H to rough him up. 'The Game' ended up turning face on his allies, refusing to smash his old pal's skull and instead jobbing out the Squad. Tripper was taken apart in a five-on-one handicap match, then Shawn Michaels returned the favour and made the save. The two officially reunited and embarked on a campaign of hilarity the likes of which WWE had never seen before. Everything was covered: Vince loves cocks gags, male stripograms, penis pumps, and graffitied magazine covers, it was all on offer.

Throw your hands up in the air and wave them around like you just don't care!

A five-on-two handicap match was inevitable. It was also a guaranteed way to bury five new talents. Not that the squad gimmick was destined for the top, but it could have been used to launch one or two guys into singles careers and another two into a tag team. But that wasn't a priority. The priority was relaunching DX as a nostalgia brand that could make periodic returns to WWE and bring in some merch sales.

More than any other PPV main event I can remember this one felt like a dark match that goes on after the end of RAW. The DX lads did their pre-match shtick and the audience went crazy for it. Then the Spirits came out to absolutely zero reaction. It should be noted that the Squad held the tag straps at this point. It gives you an idea of what sort of state the roster was in.

Had this been in the middle of the card it probably would have been fine. Completely forgettable, but inoffensive. Exactly what D-Generation X versus the Spirit Squad should be in other words. But it wasn't in the middle of the card it was the main event and as a main event it was not good. The psychology of the match was all off. Instead of worrying about the significant numbers advantage their opponents had Triple H and Michaels larked about and never seemed to be taking things seriously. That that hurt the Spirits' chances for advancement isn't the point. They weren't getting to the top under that gimmick anyway. The problem was that it made it hard to get into the match: if DX weren't taking a five-on-two situation seriously why should we? The finish saw Kenny take a pedigree and nicky take a sweet chin music for a double pin. Several minutes of posing then ensued before the broadcast finished.

***

What they did next

Triple H: Became Vince McMahon 2.0.

Shawn Michaels: Continued to be one of the best wrestlers ever. Then retired before he lost his touch.

This happened for a while.

Kenny: Finished up his feud with DX, returned to developmental and then returned to the main roster as Kenny Dykstra. Everyone thought he would be the member of the Spirit Squad that became a somebody. Everyone was wrong. Dykstra proved to be an athletic dude but didn’t have a good enough understanding of the character work pro wrestlers need to make it to the top to advance beyond the mid-card. He was outshone by…

Nicky: He became a caddy to Kerwin White then disappeared before returning as Dolph Ziggler. Maybe you’ve heard of him?

Mikey: He never received another crack at becoming a somebody in WWE. He was released in 2008. In 2010 he wangled himself a spot in Ring of Honor thanks to the reign of error instigated by Jim Cornette. He held onto his spot until 2013 before getting released. He now works mostly for Ohio Valley Wrestling. Presumably his work is enjoyed there.

Johnny: Um…

Mitch: … I’ve got nothing.

***

Final thoughts:

As mid-00s pay-per-views go this was nowhere near as bad as it could have been, or as bad as I was hoping for. Kane versus Kane and Foley versus Flair were bad but that was about it. The triple threat match and Edge v Van Dam were both great. The main event was more a peculiarity than an out and out failure. The Umaga v Eugene match avoided the bad bin by being about a minute and a half long and having Umaga destroy two other guys afterwards. Vengeance 2006 could have been a far worse affair than it was.

Next time I’ll try a SmackDown show. Those are the real stinkers.

The State of WWE: The Heel-Face Divide

Consider this a third part of the sort-of series I've done over the last two days regarding how WWE books their product. It will probably help if you've read them (check them here and here). I'm not intending to refer to specific stuff from them. It’s the general theme that will carry over.

Today's subject is, as you may have guessed from the title, the booking of heels and faces in modern wrestling (specifically WWE). Twenty five years ago a wrestler could devise a character or gimmick and be practically certain of what sort of reaction they'd get from fans. The latter half of the nineties changed that. First the nWo introduced the world of wrestling to the cool heel fad. Then 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin became the hottest thing since ever doing things that would traditionally would have been considered heelish but with such charismatic glee that fans backed him.

The Attitude Era is packed with examples of faces taking on heelish attributes. The Rock is the most obvious additional example, although once he became a force of good following his bad guy run in the Corporation his heelish traits were not as overt as the likes of Austin and D-Generation X.

Morally grey

It cut both ways. Kurt Angle was introduced as a clean cut American hero, draped in the red, white and blue of the nation’s flag and appearing in vignettes talking about being a national treasure. It was the sort of character that would have been adored a decade earlier. By 1999 fans saw this sort of act as dated and booed 'The Olympic Hero'. That was, of course, the response WWE desired. Angle had been introduced in that fashion to turn audiences against him.

Basically the nineties blurred the lines as to what made a heel and what made a face. The language of television changed and took wrestling it.

WWE spent a significant portion of the last decade seemingly trying to reverse this. They recreated the Four Horsemen, Angle became more generic as a heel but über-patriotic as a face, and feuds settled down into rhythmic exchanges of good versus bad, something the Fed had moved away from during the late nineties. It was an exercise in futility. But then so was a lot of WWE's output from that time.

What's noteworthy is that on the December 15^th 1997 episode of Monday Night RAW Vince McMahon opened the broadcast with a segment referred to on-screen as “the cure for the common show”. In that he announced to viewers that the promotion was going to begin moving in a new direction, heading away from good versus evil battles and offering characters with their own sets of morals to provide unique and interesting stories. Some of McMahon's comments were obviously digs at opponent WCW although the entire exercise was a retaliatory manoeuvre in the first place (because WCW had been hammering the Fed in the ratings).

That announcement was a signal to viewers that things were changing with the WWF product. Those changes to Austin and the various other morally grey personas of the era, freshened up the product and created a wealth of booking opportuities. Each guy, no matter their standing or spot, was distinguishable from his peers, having characteristics completely his (or her) own.

That's a far cry from where WWE was three years ago, a little over a decade after Vince’s speech was made. Every non-headline heel on the roster sounded and acted the same. They would hold the audience in contempt, cheat to win matches, and back down from fights. Meanwhile the babyfaces loved the fans, upheld the rules, and would routinely challenge whatever bad guy they were feuding with to square off outside of sanctioned matches "like men".

Okay, fair enough these are good basics to adhere to. It's difficult to imagine a babyface who insults fans for example (although Eddie Guerrero did pretty well for himself breaking rules). But these attributes don't add up to make a personality and they certainly don't create compelling television when they're the only things on offer.

What wrestling fans want are characters with their own opinions and ways of doing things. CM Punk turned heel last year but still received scattered cheers because people recognised that he was staying true to his overall character. All ‘The Second City Saint’ has ever cared about has been the WWE championship. When he went heel his approach to promos changed, as did the people he feuded with, but he was still adhering to the same set of goals he always had.
 

Another surprisingly good example in recent times has Big Show. Since aligning himself with John Laurinaitis and officially going bad last summer Show has been booked according to a set of principles whilst at the same time flirting with becoming a babyface again. The obvious example was his union with Randy Orton and Sheamus to combat The Shield. It felt a little strange but it could be accepted because he didn’t become a completely different character.

Look at a company like Ring of Honor. They routinely book face versus face battles and occasionally even go in for heel versus heel battles. They’re comfortable with doing so because they trust their audience to pick a favourite and back them, which creates a pretty interesting dynamic when bigger name matches occur.

They’ve also moved away from having everyone have a defining moment for a heel or face turn. At the end of last year Roderick Strong was most definitely a heel. Over the course of the year so far he has stayed playing the same character but has heard a growing number of cheers during his matches. ROH haven’t responded by putting him in an angle to say he is definitively a face again, they’ve simply booked him against a wider variety of guys and Strong himself has reacted to audiences in a less antagonistic manner.

Characters on non-wrestling TV shows are rarely black and white. People want more from television than that in this day and age. It no longer works to present someone as a good guy with no foibles anymore, especially when the likelihood is that they’ve played a reprehensible charlatan at some point in the not too distant past. Moral absolutes are not interesting to watch. Characters with moral grey areas should be embraced by wrestling as they have been with other types of television.

The way forward regarding wrestling personas is to let wrestlers develop something themselves. They’ll not only feel more comfortable but they’ll also be able to rationalise face and heel turns more easily when they have to perform them. The key is not to say that someone’s a good guy and then expect the audience to cheer them, it’s to present a character and see how the audience responds. Book them accordingly from there.