History has a way of repeating itself. Especially in professional wrestling. Legendary manager Jim Cornette has said that in the world of sports entertainment, there exists a seven year rule. This means that as long as a character or story hasn’t been done or told in seven years, it is fair game for use. For an industry that has been active for well over a century, it is quite impressive that it takes that long to recycle ideas. By this point, everything has been done, so similarities are bound to come up in crafted angles. It’s when real life drama repeats itself that things become fascinating.
The landscape of World Wrestling Entertainment feels like it is in a period of change. The process has been slow and they have taken their time to build new stars, an important process that the WWE has not always managed to perform well in. The last mega star to transcend genres and become a household name was John Cena, though it hasn’t been for a lack of trying. They just haven’t managed to find that one talent with all the attributes of a mega star that also found a lasting connection with their audience.
Their latest attempt at building new stars has been The Shield, a group of up and coming talent with unique personalities that have been carefully protected and positioned to become the torch bearers for the next generation of WWE fans. Their meteoric rise has been a smart strategy, as all three members are seen as legitimate stars for the company, the most successful being current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins. Of course, the WWE wasn’t out to create just one new star. In a best case scenario, all three members of the Shield – Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns, would all become huge stars, with the intent being a star surplus, like WWE experienced in the late 90’s.
Thus far, the experiment has worked well, and assumingly according to plan, with the exception of one major hiccup: the rise of Roman Reigns as the chosen one. I’m not a Roman Reigns hater, in fact, I’m a big fan of his, and it’s easy to see why they want him to be the new face of the WWE. He is young, marketable, and comes from a wrestling dynasty. Sadly, for reasons that could be debated upon endlessly, a large portion of the WWE Universe have vocally rejected Reigns just months after it seemed as though he could do no wrong. That in itself is an interesting case study, but what makes things even more intriguing is the fact that fans have decided to embrace Dean Ambrose instead.
Dean Ambrose is a man that one can assume was not headed for mega stardom in the WWE, at least not the way he has been portrayed as on WWE television in the last year. He certainly has found success, and hasn’t been positioned poorly, but if the WWE was getting him ready for a main event spot, they were hiding it very well. Despite this, the intense charisma and talent of Ambrose has been embraced by the WWE Universe to the point that his cheers eclipse those of Reigns by a large margin, and the WWE has taken notice. Some would even speculate that their recent offering of Payback was a test to see who the crowd was firmly behind, as both Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns were involved in a four man main event that also featured Seth Rollins and Randy Orton. When it came to crowd reactions, it wasn’t even close, Ambrose was the clear-cut favorite.
So, why is this important to WWE history? Because if you happened to be watching WWE programming in 2004/2005, this sequence of events seems oddly familiar. During that time period, the WWE was trying to create new stars with members of their developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling. At the time, there were three stand-outs who were being groomed for greatness: John Cena, Randy Orton, and Batista. While Cena was the first to reach star status (and soon enough, superstar status), Orton and Batista were paired up as part of a WWE super group known as Evolution.
Teaming Orton and Batista with then-current top star Triple H and legend Ric Flair, one of the ideas behind Evolution was to elevate their young members into main event talent. It was a smart strategy and it didn’t take long for both men to start making waves with the audience. After giving them time to develop, it was clear to the WWE that between the two, Randy Orton was the clear-cut chosen one. He was young, marketable, and came from a wrestling dynasty. Any of this starting to sound familiar?
Randy was getting tremendous reactions from the crowd and was clearly on his way to becoming the next face of the WWE. He was even given the World Heavyweight Championship at the age of 24, becoming the youngest world champion in the company’s history. Sadly, his reign was short lived, as one month later, Triple H would defeat his former protégé, using less than sportsmanlike conduct to recapture the title. Of course, this was all part of the plan. With Randy Orton now a good guy and getting huge reactions, the WWE audience would cheer Randy on every step of his new journey back to the top of the mountain. At least, that was how it was supposed to go.
Instead, Randy Orton started receiving a backlash from fans. All of those cheers began going away, and in their place, were resentful jeers. The fans could see the writing on the wall. Randy Orton would spend the next few months chasing Triple H, win the Royal Rumble, then defeat The Game at Wrestlemania 21. Fans weren’t ready to accept Randy Orton as a top guy unless they made him one. With fans deciding that Orton wouldn’t be the successor to the throne, they needed to anoint a new people’s champion, one they would find not standing in front of Triple H, but behind him.
Before the fall of 2004, there was no question that Batista was headed for stardom, while Randy Orton was headed for superstardom. Fans begun singing a different tune just a few months later, as the cheers for Batista began getting louder and louder. Soon, any signs of dissension between Triple H and Batista were met with cheers, and Batista’s name could be heard chanted in arenas throughout the country. Cheers that the WWE heard loud and clear, and could no longer ignore.
With the writing on the wall, plans changed, and instead of Randy Orton winning the Royal Rumble match, he was defeated by Triple H for a second time, effectively closing the book on his push to the top. As for Batista, amid controversy, he last eliminated John Cena to win the Royal Rumble match. He would follow it up by defeating Triple H at Wrestlemania 21 and becoming a main event star. Randy Orton may have been the WWE’s chosen one, but the fans chose someone else, and in doing so, allowed Batista to flip the script and take Randy’s place in history.
It is impossible not to see the strong similarities between the story of Evolution and that of The Shield. As 2014 turned into 2015, there was no question that Roman Reigns was headed towards being the top fan favorite. A scant six months later, Reigns is just beginning to regain his momentum, while his Shield brethren Dean Ambrose is getting the loudest reaction on the roster. Much like Batista ten years ago, did Ambrose steal Reigns’ place in history? It certainly seems that way. The good news is, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for either man.
Ironically, by stalling the push of one man, the WWE ended up getting two stars. Batista may have gotten to the top before Randy Orton, but eventually, the Viper found his way into the main event, where he has stayed firmly for years. In the end, the fans made the right call. Batista was ready for the spotlight, and Orton wasn’t. With the luxury of hindsight, we can look back and say that the set back allowed Randy to mature and become one of the best performers the company had to offer, and when he finally made his transition into a main event player, both the office and the fans were ready to accept him.
Conversely, I still believe that Roman Reigns will one day have his time on top. He has slowly been building his following back, trying to show them that he can be the leader they want, if they just give him a chance. As for Dean Ambrose, if the Attitude Era taught us anything, it’s that competition breeds production. Having more than one superstar you can put in a main event spot is never a bad thing, and if the fans want to make Dean Ambrose into the next Steve Austin, as some are saying, then surely Roman Reigns would be happy to be the next Rock. Of course, that is a comparison for another time.
