First, a disclaimer. For those that didn't know, I have been boycotting RAW for the longest time. In fact, I've been boycotting so long that I forgot when I actually started. But I remember the reason: at the time, WWE was consistently putting certain stars over others where the others were not given the opportunity to shine. John Cena was at the top of this list, where I saw him consistently put over stars like Bray Wyatt. I do also remember that Damien Sandow was still a standalone star - one who got added unceremoniously to history as the only person to truly lose the Money in the Bank cash-in match. Against John Cena. It all came back to Cena, and the reason for my boycott was that Cena needed to speak up and do the right thing.
It came to my attention that there was quite a backlash about last night's RAW, the first one of the 2015 year. Normally, the first RAW of a new year is exciting.
I certainly remember 2012: the supershow hailing the return of Chris Jericho, who totally trolled the fans (and gave rise to the term Jeritroll); the face rise of R-Truth and all of the innuendo that went along with that (The Bellas saw Lil Jimmy, huh); a seemingly unstoppable monster Kane trying to get Cena to Embrace the Hate; Jack Swagger's epic burial of Zack Ryder who was being led on by Eve Torres; and a great match with CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler (of course).
I would argue that 2013 is best left unmentioned, save the Rock confronting CM Punk.
2014 was Old School RAW, and it was this gimmick alone that made it awesome. Seeing Goldust still tear up a ring was amazing, the New Age Outlaws were actually entertaining, and while Bob Backlund got screwed out of his chance to ref a match, seeing Jake "The Snake" Roberts close the show to the absolute explosion of Michael Cole and others was well worth the price of admission.
And here we are, in 2015, and based on what I've heard and seen, it seems that WWE may have adopted the "Microsoft Curse".
There's a rumor in the Information Technology space that Microsoft is destined to have an on/off delivery schedule with its operating systems; that for every great OS, the next one is doomed to be a failure. Starting as early as Windows ME (a HORRIBLE operating system), to then 2000/XP (which are STILL running in a lot of companies today), to Windows Vista (which was horrible until Service Pack 2), to Windows 7 (which is the current gold standard next to XP), to Windows 8 (which people say is the worst Microsoft OS ever).
WWE may very well be going down the same path, where 2015's RAW was simply doomed to fail after 2014 was so stellar. But why is this exactly? Some argue that the Authority storyline is to blame. I think that's part of it. I think the bigger problem is that WWE is trying their darndest to create the modern version of the McMahon/Austin feud, and failing miserably. Some history.
McMahon/Austin largely started with a promo. To promote a totally different situation, Vince was outed as the promoter of big matches, and the incident with Tyson was promoted to simply be a guy being a special referee of a big match that Austin was to have, but it turned out to really have Vince just lose it and start doing everything he could to put Austin in line. Prior to this, McMahon was calm, reserved, not really screwing people (outside of the Bret situation which was never mentioned in this feud), just a normal guy who used to be a commentator but now was booking matches. A celebrity, who at the time was one of the largest showmen in the world, was brought into a match between two guys that were at the top of the industry. DX seemed unstoppable. Austin seemed like a loose cannon. It only made sense to have the "Baddest Man On The Planet" between them.
But it was never about Michaels. It was never about Tyson. It was about Austin and McMahon, even though they weren't central to the whole thing, they created a feud out of something perfectly logical and believable on programming that is scripted. If you were to ask either of them today, they would both likely say that it was the over-the-top characters that made the whole thing work. In fact, Vince even said on Austin's podcast (which was cringeworthy, mind) that his character is the person he used to hate the most; that he was portraying a character that invoked a reaction. Austin, for his part, was an amplified version of his normal self. In both cases, the characters were amplified, exaggerated, blown up beyond what was reasonable in order to create a sense of real anger and hatred between them.
Fast forward to today. HHH and Stephanie are both perfectly capable of this same type of exaggeration. We saw it with Stephanie and Chris Jericho - a feud that never even had a match, yet there is a tangible chemistry between them when they are in the same room. We saw it with HHH and the Rock just recently, no match yet there was that energy again. You honestly felt that these people just can't stand each other under the hood, even though you know they're laughing all the way to the bank. That's okay - as long as what portrays on the big screen is believable, that's what truly is "Best for Business". That's why HHH and the Rock can have a promo for 3-5 minutes and steal the show, totally overshadowing the entire roster, without even having a match.
John Cena is actually capable of the same exaggeration, or at least he was. We saw it against Kurt Angle when Cena debuted. We saw it against Taker in their feud. We saw it against Guerrero in their feud. We even saw it against HHH, and today, if there's a direct promo battle between HHH and Cena - a serious one - we see it. We get hints of it when Steph is in the ring cutting a promo Cena (unfortunately, the only image I come up with is Steph asking for her ass to be smacked again). But these days, Cena walks around as if he's his old Prototype character; stolid, stoic, dull and not believable. There's no sense of anger, no sense of hatred, no sense of emotion out of the guy. Even when he tries to cut emotional promos, he comes off cookie cutter and stale.
Randy Orton can do it, but only if he's a heel and only with the right opponent. He has to be arrogant. He has to be snobby. He has to be at least a derivative of the "Legend Killer" gimmick. Anything else and he comes across boring.
So, why does WWE keep going backwards instead of capitalizing on what it has? Who knows. Seth Rollins is a horrible character. Great talent, horrible character. Kane is played out. "J&J" is a joke that totally underutilizes two great midcarders in Noble and Mercury. Big Show keeps changing from heel to face so many times that nobody cares. Mark Henry turned face, got knocked out by Big Show in a matter of seconds at Survivor Series, yet that story gets ignored. Nikki Bella tells her sister she wishes she'd "died in the womb", yet WWE slaps them back together with no explanation or followup. Ryback is set to feud with Rusev yet fired on RAW. Ziggler is booked in a match that is then changed after the match is done in a setup to put the belt back on Barrett, which actually weakens Barrett as a contender. Alicia Fox can't make up her mind if she's a face or a heel. Paige is floundering with no real feud anymore. Emma has been relegated to enhancement talent. Summer Rae and Layla are inexplicably MIA, Fandango seems to have totally forgotten them. Oh yeah, Fandango who after re-debuting with a freshened up attitude got jobbed out to Ryback.
How many times will we see Ambrose and Wyatt, when there is no tangible hatred between these two besides the fact that Wyatt interfered in a match?
How many times will we see the Usos, Miz/Sandow, and Gold and Stardust?
Why was the Ascension pushed so heavily in NXT but then on RAW, cut a promo that sounded like it wasn't scripted and totally awkward? And why did they have a match against jobbers but the commentators bashed them for not facing someone notable? (Used to be that these types of "enhancement" matches were used to focus on the skills and moves of the team, rather than questioning why they're facing nobodies. Nobody bashed Ryback when he was squashing jobbers after his debut!)
Why is it that Seth Rollins can nearly cash in on Brock Lesnar, doing a curb stomp to him, yet Lesnar is all-too-happy to let that slide?
I saw on Facebook that WWE posted a survey. As of this post, there are over 15,000 "NO" votes to roughly 3,000 "YES" votes as far as people who enjoyed RAW. I know what'll happen, they'll say, "we did our job as heels!!". I don't think they understand that dislike of a show doesn't mean that the heels all did a good job. It normally means that things are starting to be less than entertaining. It is for this reason that my boycott continues. I sincerely am hoping that things get better.
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