“Triple H buries the youth again!”
“The oldest man in the roster derails the youth movement!”
“The son of the boss uses his family influence to recapture the company’s top title!”
The resounding battle cries and complaints of the entire Internet Wrestling Community seemed unanimous following Sunday’s Royal Rumble, where the Main Event ended with a 46-year old Triple H won his 9th WWE World Championship title, dethroning and apparently derailing the push of it’s latest wunderkind, the 16-years his junior Roman Reigns.
But is there really fire behind the smoke or is it just a case of fans of inserting opinion as fact and pre-emptive fantasy booking at absolutes who are simply sour that their preconveived ideas of what should happen dictate what makes a good show, thereby making them impossible to please if things don’t occur as they’d prefer?
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But if anything, it probably more solidifies the notion that the internet has destroyed the archetype of what professional wrestling is and is supposed to be, and how both sides are actually aiding and abeting it’s downfall, while claiming to be trying to save it.
Wrestling has long been about the storylines. Up until the 1980’s, these storylines were a lot more simplistic than they became of course. There was no Higher Powers or beer trucks or Screwjobs or invasion angles. There was the very black and white of good and bad, of two different philosophies of character who went out to prove which was better in the ring. The storylines played out in the ring, the psychology of the performers between the ropes telling the majority of the plot, with a few narratives highlighted in pre- and post match comments.
But with the rise of cable television, Pay Per View and episodic programming, the black and white simplicity of the NWA, AWA and even the WWWF was in danger. Up until then, people only saw about four or five full cards a year if they were lucky, most of them when a company came to town. You had months to think about feuds in your head (and read about in indusrty magazines) that our imaginations filled in the blanks with how these two were probably thinking and feeling in-between matches.
The 80’s saw WWE actively embracing the new widespread social reach of television technology – ultimately the one thing that pushed it ahead of its territorial peers more than anything. This lead to more programming and expanding on attracting – and keeping – the MTV generation that was coming in for more than just seeing a few half naked men grapple for 20 minutes. It was out of this generation that the characters began to supercede the work rate. Characters like the Road Warriors, Ultimate Warrior and Undertaker showed new directions that were being utilized to attract non-traditional wrestling fans.
The Beginning of the End was the coinciding of both Scott Hall‘s return to WCW in 1996 and the rise of the internet. Before 1996, the internet was hardly a thing – scholars and students used it for homework, but it was clunky and exhausting to get on, so it involved only the serious and hardcore of ANYTHING to spend the time and hours to log on and stay on. But by 1996 it was moving marginally faster and wrestling fans – one of the world’s most devout and passionate fans of anything – were one of the first communities to emerge online. Before the web arrived, we all found our information from magazines like Pro Wrestling Illustrated, The Wrestler, Wrestling USA and whatever rags we could find. But those were all written in kayfabe. They merely added a journalistic twist of “reality” into storylines that were just as preconveived and fictional as the ones that are run know. We just all chose to go along with it. And many of us, in our heart of hearts, wanted to believe in those feuds. They seemed more genuine and came off easier to believe.
When Scott Hall appeared on Nitro just weeks after being Razor Ramon on RAW, the wrestling fans flocked to the internet. Dirt sheets saw new opportunity here. No longer where these fans looking for storyline reasons for the exodus, they wanted to know the real dirt. The wanted to know what was going on backstage. In the 80’s, we never knew that Hulk Hogan was holding people back, or that Ultimate Warrior was resented for his push. We just saw them as characters in a bigger story, each character playing their part in the ongoing soap opera of the WWF. But that night when Scott Hall crossed the barrier at Nitro, the landscape changed. Suddenly the bigger soap opera was what was going on behind the curtain instead of in front of it. The battles in the Creative room were more interesting than the battles in the ring. And a huge part of wrestling’s attraction died.
Now that people have unlimited access to wrestling’s inner workings, from leaked documents to hear say conversations to Instagram and shoot videos, people are finding out more about the industry than ever before. But instead of using that accumulated knowledge to better understand and follow the storylines as they unfold, people are now criticizing each chapter as they’re being written rather than waiting for the final chapter of the book to be presented. They’re living in a virtual world that makes any surprise a literal impossibility then criticizing the powers that be for following through on spoilers they’ve read about. Would the appearance of Scott Hall have been as effective if everyone saw photos of him backstage at Nitro hours before on Twitter? Would the reaction have been differerent if people saw the Vegas odds favouring Ultimate Warrior over Hulk Hogan for the WWE World title?
Which leads to last night’s victory by Triple H to become the new WWE World Champion at the age of 46, seven years after his last WWE World title reign (when he dethroned another young champion, Edge, in an Elimination Chamber) and seemingly nearly four years since his “retirement” speech on RAW. If every story from behind the scenes is to be believed, Triple H used his family influence to derail a young Superstar from being the top guy and taking a belt that shouldn’t mean anything to his character anymore. But like most things that come out of WWE, the truth is only half true. Much of what is “believed” is actually because of bitter resentment from past employees and the McMahon’s ability to use internet rumours as fodder for storylines. If people think badly of the McMahons online, they will use that to create characters like Mr. McMahon and Stephanie McMahon, and factions like the Corporation and the Authority. They’ll even let characters like CM Punk speak their outrage in pre-approved “pipe bombs” to further blur the lines of reality and add creedance to the IWC’s shouts.
But this win not only furthered a storyline that’s been brewing since the run of the Authority versus Daniel Bryan, but will end up pushing Roman Reigns to greater heights in the WWE Universe than if he’d won it back at the Royal Rumble. For years, a “retired” Triple H has insisted on his retirement from the ring and brought in self-appointed heirs and henchmen to do his dirty work for him. He is after all the now corporate Cerebral Assassin. He was now the mentor to these other players – from Sheamus to Seth Rollins – to help them become his new chess piece in controlling the WWE Universe. But time and time again, they’ve fallen flat and failed – and all have done so at the expense of Triple H’s orrchestrations. His main Golden Boy Seth Rollins even questioned Triple H’s abilities and created the seed of doubt in Triple H that he was perhaps not even the Legend he himself thought he was. The small seeds have been there for years.
Triple H’s reluctance to get physical beyond the extreme at his last encounter with Reigns ended in him being “injured” and taken off TV for over a month. The final nail in the coffin that Triple H could no longer rely on anyone but himself to control the top of the heap. Rollins had failed, Sheamus had failed. In an effort to prove to himself that it was the pawns not the King that had failed, Triple H has taken himself off the shelf and re-inserted himself back into the Game. Pun intended.
In the WWE, age is relative. While the IWC may complain constantly, the majority of the WWE Universe still wants to see a 50-year old Undertaker suit up at Wrestlemania. Last year, a large portion of the WWE Universe (and more than expected number of the IWC) actually wanted to see a 56-year old Sting beat Rollins for the title. Characters are always their characters in wrestling, much like Spiderman is still the same Spiderman to young fans today as he was to fans in the 60’s. Triple H is in far better shape than both Taker and Sting, with ring psychology skillsets above and beyond the average worker. Triple H is still a valuable asset in the ring as he has skills to teach that can only be learned from being in the ring with him can gain. One of which, is the rub to the WWE Universe.
Triple H is still a beloved icon to the WWE Universe. Triple H is still a very active heel character to the majority of the WWE Universe (although the largely NXT and TNA audience at the Royal Rumble would dictate otherwise, considering the pop he got on entry as well as upon Roman’s elimination). He holds incredible heat factor in the arena and that heat translates to tangible pop factor for whomever takes him out. It’s the same logic as to why a 54-year old Vince McMahon not only won the 1999 Royal Rumble but beat Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight title. They were done for reactions and characer development.
Ultimately this move is designed to give Roman Reigns a target to direct his attention towards that the WWE Universe is unanimous in wanting him to beat for the title at Wrestlemania, creating the maximum crowd reaction when – not if – he beats him for the WWE title. No other wrestler on the roster right now would have generated the same crowd reaction for Reigns when he wins. Half the crowd (if not more at Wrestlemania) would be cheering for Brock versus Reigns. Bryan, Styles, even Rollins, would all generate more face pop than Reigns. The WWE has finally got the majority of the WWE Universe behind Roman Reigns’ rise, making his story feel more like the rise of Rocky Balboa than the mistarts of Rocky Maivia.
But because we’ve spent the majority of the past few months on every wrestling dirt sheet availabile, reading leaked documents that Triple H was going to beat Reigns at Royal Rumble, those in the know now feel like the ending was too predictable. But I ask you this. Would you read the script for the new Star Wars film ahead of time then complain that Han Solo died as being too predictable? Would you read film boards for your favourite TV shows ahead of time for the year, then complain you knew the ending was coming? No, of course not.
We need to realize that by digging so deeply into the business side of an entertainment product, we have effectively made us all part of the business, instead of just following the entertainment itself. We are too privvy to the details that may or may not have happened and less with the product itself. We’ve become invested in the characters over the stories, put more investment in the matches themselves rather than the narratives their revealing, and put more stock in the characters than their storylines even dictate. We’ve turned Dolph Ziggler into the Boba Fett of the wrestling world – sure he looks cool, but in reality he’s just a supporting character that hasn’t really evolved.
How have I remained a wrestling fan since the late 1970’s, when a small child was sucked into this mythical world of men wrestling men for the glory of the sport? By never forgetting that young boy who first got into wrestling and why I loved it. The characters. The stories. And the never ending battle between them all. Chances are you’d never eat at your favourite restaurant, listen again to your favourite album, or watch your favourite TV show if you knew every political power struggle that went on behind the scenes to create it. Give the power of the entertainment back it’s fantasy and leave the business side to the business side.
You may just enjoy the ride a little bit better.
All hail the King of Kings. Thy Kingdom Come.
