Hello. Is this thing still working? And by ‘thing’ I mean ‘the internet.’ After the furious reaction to the Royal Rumble and then the bombshell news that CM Punk had walked out on WWE, I was worried the internet might have fully melted down under the sheer force of wrestling nerd fury. No? It’s still working? You’re all reading this loud and clear? Thank God for that.
I was getting worried I’d have to go outside and meet real people. No internet would mean no more pissing away my life on Facebook, filling in surveys that tell me which TV character I’m most like. Or even worse – no more spending countless hours on Twitter reading about how terrible WWE is and how if they just made Daniel Bryan the WWE Champion, all the woes of every hardcore, smarky fan would vanish in an instant. Yeah right.
When it comes to WWE, there’s a certain section of the fan base that lives to complain. If there’s a fault to be found, no matter how small, it will be highlighted, blown out of all proportion and repeated ad nauseum. If they don’t have something to bitch about, there’s a strong chance their systems will shut down. Like a shark that stops swimming, if they stop moaning about WWE, they’d float to the surface, belly up, eye balls bulging out their sockets. I know this because, despite my best efforts, I tend to get dragged into this group on a semi-regular basis.
So now the dust has settled and the tear stained faces of smarks the world over have dried, can we all agree that leaving Daniel Bryan out of the Royal Rumble match – while being a huge mistake on WWE’s part – wasn’t actually the end of the world as we knew it?
I’m not saying it wasn’t a mistake. It was a massive mistake. It was a dumb move on WWE’s part but if anything, all the Rumble outcry has done is get more people talking about their product and served to strengthen the connection between Bryan and his fans. After this latest travesty of justice, Bryan is even more over than before. So in a way, did WWE’s plan actually work?
The answer to that question is no. They would need to have a plan in the first place for it to work. The Rumble reaction blindsided them and now they’ve FINALLY recognised that they can’t actually keep ignoring or fighting this. They need to embrace what the fans are vocally telling them they want and to a certain extent that’s what they’ve done.
The second Bryan tweeted immediately after the Rumble about ‘the machine’ not letting him in the match and how we had to keep protesting, it was obvious that this scenario had now shifted from WWE ignoring the fans, to WWE actively encouraging the fans to keep protesting and coining the Brie Bella created ‘yes movement’ phrase. A lovely little phrase that WWE’s marketing bods will no doubt be putting on as much merch as they possibly can in the run-up to Wrestlemania.
It’s such a weird and fascinating time to be a Daniel Bryan fan. We’re now feuding with the WWE creative team over their decision not to push our favourite wrestler as hard or as far as we’d like. And it appears WWE are going to embrace this feud and use it to try and turn the fans around and get them back on side. If that’s actually going to happen is a whole other story.
Some people believe the Royal Rumble was a watershed moment for WWE’s long suffering fan base. Like some sort of WWE Arab Spring. Oh yeah, that’s right – I’m comparing the historic, world altering rise of people throughout the Arab world against the oppressive dictators that rule their lives, with some wrestling fans being upset about Daniel Bryan not being in the Royal Rumble match.
I admit, even for me and my love of over the top imagery, that’s a bit of a stretch. As far as comparisons go, it’s like comparing landing on the moon with taking a bus to the shops.
Still, the sentiment is kind of the same: furious, oppressed masses, rejecting what they have been fed by their (sports entertainment) dictator and reacting with a vocal and well publicised protest that they hope will bring about fundamental change. Unfortunately it looks like this revolution is more of a flash in a pan than a burning inferno that brings about real change.
We’re a couple of weeks down the line from the Rumble and it doesn’t feel like a mass change was brought about by the high-jacking of the Rumble show. The fires of protest burned out pretty quickly on this one.
My take on Bryan and the Rumble is pretty simple – he should have been in the match. He didn’t have to win it but he should have been part of it. While WWE don’t want to be seen to bend to the whims of one crowd, this has been building up since Summerslam and it was bound to blow up in WWE’s face eventually.
Leaving Bryan out of the Rumble was akin to putting your head in a Lion’s mouth and then flicking his love spuds with a wet towel (quote Arnold Rimmer from Red Dwarf for that awesome metaphor).
WWE also made a massive over estimation of how popular Batista is. Now before anyone says, “oh but Batista drew a big TV rating when he came back, so he must be massively over,” just remember how strongly WWE pushed his return: a full month of videos, usually twice per show, on every show they have, hyping and pushing him to the moon. I reckon if I was given that kind of promotional leg up, I could pop a decent quarter hour rating on RAW too.
There’s also the nostalgia and curiosity factor that helps explain that big first rating. I doubt we’ll see Batista moving the needle dramatically again in his current run. Especially if he keeps wheezing his way through terrible in-ring performances, like he did at the Rumble.
It looks like the plans for Wrestlemania have changed with Bryan and HHH the most likely Mania match, especially now Punk is gone. Personally, I’d put Bryan in the WWE Title match with Batista and Orton and have him win the Title at Mania in the last match. The image of 75,000 fans all ‘yessing’ in unison as Bryan reaches the pinnacle of the company is the PERFECT final image for Wrestlemania.
Plus if he’s not in the WWE Title match, the live crowd will shit all over it. They’ll be left with the awkward and embarrassing situation where the guys the company say are the most popular and top stars, are booed out of the main event of the biggest show of the year. Whether or not what happened at the Rumble will make a major difference to Bryan and his fans is up in the air. It’s going to be an interesting time watching how this all unfolds between now and Wrestlemania.
As far as Punk goes, I don’t have any problem with what he did. In fact I’m wholly supportive of his decision to walk away. Perhaps the way he did it was wrong, but the decision he made (to walk away from a job he hates that is killing him mentally and physically) is one I can understand and recognise all too well.
Until you’ve lived with stress, real stress; the kind of stress that makes you mentally ill and alters who you are as a person, I don’t think you can comment on anyone’s decision to make what they feel is the only decision they can make – to walk away from the source of that stress and get their life back on track.
Yeah, I know, you love CM Punk and he’s one of the few guys worth watching in WWE these days. And it sucks he’s not going to be around. Still, you have to separate CM Punk the performer from Philip Brooks the person. Under all the tattoos, the great matches and memorable promos, he’s still just a normal person. A normal person who is performing in a profession that is anything but normal.
Whatever the reasons may be (probably a long brewing combination of stress, mental and physical fatigue, frustration with his standing in the company, creative issues and disagreements over money) if Punk felt this was his only option and it will allow him to recover his passion for his work, heal his injuries and simply get his head back on planet Earth, then good for him.
You don’t have to agree with how he left but you have to respect that the man has made a decision that he believes is best for him. Screw what you want or how this affects you. Stop being so damn selfish. Punk owes you nothing. He’s worked his ass off for nearly a decade in WWE and nearly as long as that on the indy scene before he got to WWE. Punk has paid more dues than almost any other top star in WWE today.
If he simply can’t do this anymore, for whatever reason, then he can’t do this anymore and people needs to accept that, show some respect to the man who has entertained us for years and hope he’ll be back one day.
I’ve seen people call him a baby and a quitter, which is as laughable as people who think he’s going to turn up in TNA. None of us really know what’s gone on with Punk. I’m defending him but that’s only because I worked a horrendously stressful job, that broke me mentally and I ended up signed off sick from work for a year and then it took me another year to get back into work when I was healthy again.
You know why that happened? Because I just kept going, even though I knew the job was destroying me. I kept going because I didn’t want to be seen as weak or someone who would quit something. Biggest mistake I ever made. I should have got out before I broke, instead of waiting until I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and then attempting to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of all the screw ups and bad decisions I made because I was mentally fried.
Even if Punk wasn’t suffering from stress or burn out and just quit because he didn’t like his job anymore, he’s well within his rights to do that. The fact he’s comfortable enough financially to do so is probably what’s upset everyone so much, because most can’t walk away from our jobs and live off our vast savings.
Also, Punk’s working in a profession we’d all love to be a part of (if we had the physical skills, mental toughness and unbelievable commitment it requires to be a top star in wrestling) and he’s just given up on it. That must frustrate and infuriate all the people out there who were living vicariously through Punk.
Oh and anyone who says he owed WWE more can shut the hell up. He worked for them, they didn’t own him. If there’s one thing you can never accuse Punk of it is half-assing his work commitments or not working hard. Only John Cena has worked a tougher schedule than Punk over the last 5 or so years.
WWE’s is a massive, international company. If they can’t cope with one employee (no matter how high profile or important) leaving, then they’re more screwed than anyone really knows. It’s not Punk’s fault they haven’t built anyone (or in Bryan’s case allowed anyone) to be ready to step up should Punk or any other top guy leave the company or be unable to work through injury.
I’ve been a massive CM Punk fan since his ROH days. I believe he’s one of the most talented workers of his generation. I believe he’s succeeded in WWE in spite of the company and not because of it. I believe he’s given the last decade to us as fans and WWE as his employer. I believe he’s worked his ass off, earned his money and if he thinks now is the time to go, for whatever reason, more power to the man.
The reaction to the Rumble and the furore surrounding Punk’s exit has been a real eye opener for me this week. As a group, wrestling fans usually get a bad press. Most people assume we are barely functioning retards, or totally socially inept nerds. Or a combination of both. I’ve always defended being a wrestling fan. I’ve always been proud to call myself a wrestling fan, but the last couple of weeks have left me wondering if I really should be so proud.
I’m not talking about wrestling, I’ll always be a fan, I’ll always watch and I’ll always defend it against the detractors and naysayers. It’s just when you’re standing in the trenches and you look to your left and to your right, and all you see is fuckwits and morons, you can’t help feel that you’re in the minority and fighting a losing battle. Maybe those functioning retard and socially inept comments aren’t actually that far off the mark (excuse the pun).
I’m not saying people don’t have a right to complain. If the rise of social media has taught us anything, it’s that the modern world is all about stating your opinion and then fighting like a wounded animal when anyone disagrees with you. As a society we’re the most entitled, vocal and demanding of any in human history.
We’re also so reactionary in our opinions it’s almost scary. All it seems to take these days is a couple of tweets on a subject and people will say they are willing to kill or die for it. Of course they’re not; they’re just playing to the gallery and looking for acceptance and attention – another horrible trait we seem to have developed as a collective society.
As wrestling fans we’ve always been on the outside of society (apart from short periods in the mid-80s and the late-90s). There wasn’t always an outlet for wrestling fans to interact in the same circles as non fans. Social media has changed all that and it makes for some very uncomfortable viewing.
Take, for instance, the infamous fat guy mark who keeps posting videos of himself freaking out on You Tube every time Daniel Bryan gets screwed by ‘the machine.’ The guy is an attention seeking mark moron, who has found a way to get the hits up on his You Tube channel. His lack of self-respect and obvious shortage of intelligence makes him easy to mock. It’s also horrible to watch him do his shtick and then think, “I wonder if some people think I’m like that because I’m a wrestling fan?”
The wailing, tantrum-like reactions to Bryan and the Rumble; the keyboard warriors bashing CM Punk; the marks who want to believe everything is a work; the marks who think everything is a shoot but when it turns out to be a work they’ll claim they knew all along – they all make my skin crawl. Every time they send out a dumb ass Tweet, or post some ridiculous opinion or statement, they help to continue to establish the perception that wrestling fans are idiots. We’re not, well, most of us aren’t.
The very worst of wrestling fans has come out over the past couple of weeks – the tantrums, the calls for boycott that never take, the I’m-so-smart guess work on what’s a shoot and what’s a work, the entitled, self-righteous belief that we deserve better, the ill-informed opinions that somehow become gospel. I know it won’t stop and if anything, as we get closer to the WWE Network launch and Wrestlemania it’s only going to get worse.
I’m not ashamed to be a wrestling fan, far from it. It’s just the last couple of weeks have reminded me that there are a lot of people out there who do a really good job of propagating the false myth that we’re all reactionary, childish, loud mouthed marks. Maybe if a few of us actually came at these situations and circumstances with a bit less emotion and sense of entitlement, people might actually pay attention to what we have to say?
Anyway, that’s just one smark’s opinion; you don’t have to agree with what I say or even care about it. I know I probably go against the grain and have insulted a few people (maybe even someone reading this) but hey, the internet is still here and that’s what it’s for – stating opinions and complaining. If you can all do it, so can I.
That’s definitely enough ranting and rambling from me for today. You want some more of that, then follow me on Twitter @MFXDuckman. If you’d prefer a Duckman audio experience, check out the MFX Podcast where twice a week myself and my partner-in-crime, Sir Ian Trumps, take an alternative (funny and rude) look at the week in WWE and TNA. You can get all the details on our page here or by going to www.mfxpodcast.com where you can hear the latest show and all our past shows.
As always, thanks for reading.
Until next time…
Peace
Duckman
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