See, though, the Shield was really over and definitely could have had more to give as a team...except that I have yet to see anyone explain who exactly they were supposed to be feuding with going forward. I suppose you could have had them go off into singles feuds while still technically staying together, but as a team, they already beat everyone WWE had to offer. At the point you're beating HHH, Batista, and Orton in an elimination sweep, who else are you supposed to feud with? I do think they so far haven't done enough with it. Hopefully that will change.
"There was no one left to challenge The Shield" Well, you know what? Find somebody! Put together new trios. That's no reason not to keep this hot team together. Where's the merchandise? Is there even a Roman Reigns t-shirt?
Months of being a "B+ player" who couldn't keep the World title for more than a day? Just because they forced into paying it off at Wrestlemania doesn't make the lackluster buildup any better. Not to mention the Kane storyline after he won the title.
My biggest problem with the turn is it came one night after a brutal match where all 6 guys took a ton of damage. Especially since HHH smoked Rollins in the face with a big piece of metal. At the end of the match, you even see Rollins and Reigns share a fistbump/handshake (can't remember which one) while laying on the mat. It just made zero sense to go through all that punishment to beat Evolution, only to join the losing side 24 hours later.
The whole thing is just a waste of a commodity. If they really wanted to break off Rollins, that's fine. Just replace him with someone from NXT and use The Shield to get someone new over while keeping Evolution vs The Shield going with Rollins in Evolution.
One good thing about the split is that now each of the guys are accepted and legitimized by the audience, so they can have a new direction and gimmick and can give their characters some depth quite freely. This is a lot better than the regular "here's this guy, accept him goddamn it" approach.
1.5 questions is a "mailbag"? Really, Neil Sedaka?
His humor in recent weeks challenges your position that WWE has done everything right with Reigns: "ass of the company" is cringe-inducing, and the coffee skit this week? Yikes. Why isn't he destroying people and disrupting every show until he gets his hands on Rollins?
How does "let it play out and see where it goes" make sense if WWE makes major changes on short notice? Plus, how is that philosophy working for Cesaro since Mania? For Orton since joining the Authority? The Cena-Wyatt feud? Rollins was going to be hottest (or at least incredibly hot) right after his turn,so why not have it planned out, including little things like music and appearance. If the idea is to (re)heat him at MITB, then turn him at MITB!
The thing with this whole turn/break-up is that it COULD have made a lot of sense, but nobody bothered to give Rollins any motivation.
Personally, I think it would have made the most sense to have Rollins come to the realization that Trips is the type of man that would never accept defeat, so no matter how many times "The Shield" may beat "Evolution", Trips would just keep making them go through the same brutal match for months - or even years - to comes. Sure, Rollins and his guys have won both matches and could win a million more, but "The Shield" would still be destroying their bodies and throwing away championship-opportunities (due to pissing off the boss) by continuing to feud with Trips forever. So, Rollins saw the writing on the wall, and decided that it would be better for his career and his body to join the enemy.
From there, you could even have Rollins try to convince Ambrose and Reigns to go back to working with/for Trips ("just like the old days"). That would be a great dissension-in-the-ranks story, with the fans wondering if one or both might turn. Hell, maybe they all turn heel, only for Reigns to feel that he has "outgrown" the hired-gun role. Turning on Trips is a tried-and-true way to get a guy over as a big-time face.
I'm getting ahead of myself, but doesn't the initial motivation for the turn make more sense than "I don't owe you an explanation"?
Since you're writing for a (hopefully) new & uninformed audience, do you somewhat enjoy explaining some of your terminology with which your faithful are already familiar, such as "rocket push?"
The turn makes no sense. There is no logical explanation for the turn in general and the timing (one day after beating Evolution) in particular. It was a total knee jerk and took away one of the most interesting things the WWE has built in years.
The argument that they were out of feuds is preposterous. Just because they are a stable doesn't mean they have to fight 6 man tags. Let Reigns chase the title and the other two fight tag team matches. Let them all have seperate feuds under the Shield banner. Those are just off the top of my head. It's bad, lazy booking. No other possible explanation.
I dug the turn from the standpoint that it was something different and unexpected. I thought I would give it a week or two and see what they did with him before I made up my mind. Instead of having him join Evolution, they just make him look like a haggard Bruce Wayne who forgot his mask. So, although it didn't make sense to begin with, they went full retard and fucked it up even worse.
Par for the course.
Switching to the losing side was dumb, so they decided to tease him switching to the other side, only to make him Random Heel #47? Far dumber.
I agree with that last bit. Seth Rollins explains that he turned on the Shield because they were fighting a war that they'd never win. Then he proceeds to explain why he means by pointing out that even though the Shield beat Evolution twice, they'll never get the upper hand because the authority owns and controls the fate of their destiny and can do with it as they please. Rollins, also, explains that he didn't get into this company to be apart of something that was big - he got into it because he wanted to be big. And with the Authority on his side, he can now be able to achieve that.
Turning the night after dominating Evolution didn't make a lot of sense, Rollins really didn't have a compelling reason for it, and Dean Ambrose is dressed like Jimmy Yang Wang.
It's been said a million times before that the best heel turns are when the heel: has a motive, truly believes in what he's saying, and (ideally) IS right about what he's saying, but it is just done in such a whiny and repetitive way that the fans can't stand the person.
I see those traits in my two favorite heel turns ever -- Bret and CM Punk. With the former, Bret WAS getting screwed at every turn. He beat Austin fairly, TWICE, yet in prize fights he was screwed time and time again by Austin and others and no one seemed to do anything about it. He had the Rumble, and THREE title matches against Sid locked up, but interference prevented him from being victorious and Monsoon / McMahon never did a thing. The fans didn't buy into whining as a solution though, and thought, "if you can't destroy Austin enough to get rid of him, it's your own fault."
With Punk in '09. Everything he said about Hardy was true, and everything about himself was true. The comparison was dead on, and Punk's eloquence and confidence furthered his mic work. But the fans were all, "yeah but you're a whiner and we like Jeff Hardy regardless......because he's cool."
I don't see motivation and belief with what Rollins is doing. The situation he was in garnered him two clean victories over one of the biggest groups in wrestling. So...he decides to leave The Shield for the losing side?
Hollywood Heel Rock = doesn't take the booing at WMX8 and later well, leaves and makes a name for himself in Hollywood, comes back and takes an holier-than-thou attitude since he felt the fans turned his back on him (and not in an imaginary way that the writers usually cook up, enough to buy that his persona would feel slighted), awesome heel.
See, though, the Shield was really over and definitely could have had more to give as a team...except that I have yet to see anyone explain who exactly they were supposed to be feuding with going forward. I suppose you could have had them go off into singles feuds while still technically staying together, but as a team, they already beat everyone WWE had to offer. At the point you're beating HHH, Batista, and Orton in an elimination sweep, who else are you supposed to feud with?
ReplyDeleteI do think they so far haven't done enough with it. Hopefully that will change.
What storyline was considered humiliating for D-Bry?
ReplyDeleteLove your writing Scott, but that was a glib piece of crap. Playing the smarter than thou smark is not becoming of you.
ReplyDelete"There was no one left to challenge The Shield" Well, you know what? Find somebody! Put together new trios. That's no reason not to keep this hot team together.
ReplyDeleteWhere's the merchandise? Is there even a Roman Reigns t-shirt?
Months of being a "B+ player" who couldn't keep the World title for more than a day? Just because they forced into paying it off at Wrestlemania doesn't make the lackluster buildup any better. Not to mention the Kane storyline after he won the title.
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't really humiliating nor was it really a burial. He only lost to Orton at Hell In A Cell because HBK turned on him.
ReplyDeleteHe was still in the main events and positioned as one of the top stars of the show.
Wut? That was VINTAGE SCOOTER. We have trap doors here for comments like that.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this argument has been beaten into Montreal territory at this point, so we'll have to agree to disagree on it.
ReplyDeleteThere was no one left to put into the nWo. Well, you know what? Find somebody!
ReplyDeleteGoldberg wearing the white and black would be huge!
Two emails isn't a mailbag.
ReplyDeleteCena turning heel during this storyline would've been a gamechanger.
ReplyDeleteI was being sarcastic. Or was I? I forget.
ReplyDeleteThen just don't team them together.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem with the turn is it came one night after a brutal match where all 6 guys took a ton of damage. Especially since HHH smoked Rollins in the face with a big piece of metal. At the end of the match, you even see Rollins and Reigns share a fistbump/handshake (can't remember which one) while laying on the mat. It just made zero sense to go through all that punishment to beat Evolution, only to join the losing side 24 hours later.
I'm surprised that didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteWhy have Sandow form a crew and challenge The Shield when you could dress him up as Magneto?
The whole thing is just a waste of a commodity. If they really wanted to break off Rollins, that's fine. Just replace him with someone from NXT and use The Shield to get someone new over while keeping Evolution vs The Shield going with Rollins in Evolution.
ReplyDelete"I'm not dead, I'm just badly burned!!"
ReplyDeleteBreaking up... Is easy to do...
ReplyDeleteThe buildup for HHH/Bryan from EC onwards was fantastic. Practically every segment was a home run.
ReplyDeleteOne good thing about the split is that now each of the guys are accepted and legitimized by the audience, so they can have a new direction and gimmick and can give their characters some depth quite freely. This is a lot better than the regular "here's this guy, accept him goddamn it" approach.
ReplyDelete1.5 questions is a "mailbag"? Really, Neil Sedaka?
ReplyDeleteHis humor in recent weeks challenges your position that WWE has done everything right with Reigns: "ass of the company" is cringe-inducing, and the coffee skit this week? Yikes. Why isn't he destroying people and disrupting every show until he gets his hands on Rollins?
How does "let it play out and see where it goes" make sense if WWE makes major changes on short notice? Plus, how is that philosophy working for Cesaro since Mania? For Orton since joining the Authority? The Cena-Wyatt feud? Rollins was going to be hottest (or at least incredibly hot) right after his turn,so why not have it planned out, including little things like music and appearance. If the idea is to (re)heat him at MITB, then turn him at MITB!
The thing with this whole turn/break-up is that it COULD have made a lot of sense, but nobody bothered to give Rollins any motivation.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think it would have made the most sense to have Rollins come to the realization that Trips is the type of man that would never accept defeat, so no matter how many times "The Shield" may beat "Evolution", Trips would just keep making them go through the same brutal match for months - or even years - to comes. Sure, Rollins and his guys have won both matches and could win a million more, but "The Shield" would still be destroying their bodies and throwing away championship-opportunities (due to pissing off the boss) by continuing to feud with Trips forever. So, Rollins saw the writing on the wall, and decided that it would be better for his career and his body to join the enemy.
From there, you could even have Rollins try to convince Ambrose and Reigns to go back to working with/for Trips ("just like the old days"). That would be a great dissension-in-the-ranks story, with the fans wondering if one or both might turn. Hell, maybe they all turn heel, only for Reigns to feel that he has "outgrown" the hired-gun role. Turning on Trips is a tried-and-true way to get a guy over as a big-time face.
I'm getting ahead of myself, but doesn't the initial motivation for the turn make more sense than "I don't owe you an explanation"?
Since you're writing for a (hopefully) new & uninformed audience, do you somewhat enjoy explaining some of your terminology with which your faithful are already familiar, such as "rocket push?"
ReplyDeleteWhat's a rocket push? That time the stage guy up in the rafters pushed Owen Hart? #TooSoon
ReplyDeleteI think most writers do. It's a way to sound smart and established AND it helps pad out your word count.
ReplyDeleteThe turn makes no sense. There is no logical explanation for the turn in general and the timing (one day after beating Evolution) in particular. It was a total knee jerk and took away one of the most interesting things the WWE has built in years.
ReplyDeleteThe argument that they were out of feuds is preposterous. Just because they are a stable doesn't mean they have to fight 6 man tags. Let Reigns chase the title and the other two fight tag team matches. Let them all have seperate feuds under the Shield banner. Those are just off the top of my head. It's bad, lazy booking. No other possible explanation.
I dug the turn from the standpoint that it was something different and unexpected. I thought I would give it a week or two and see what they did with him before I made up my mind. Instead of having him join Evolution, they just make him look like a haggard Bruce Wayne who forgot his mask. So, although it didn't make sense to begin with, they went full retard and fucked it up even worse.
ReplyDeletePar for the course.
Switching to the losing side was dumb, so they decided to tease him switching to the other side, only to make him Random Heel #47? Far dumber.
Doing something unexpected for the sake of doing something unexpected is definitely a recipe for failure.
ReplyDeleteThis "leap, then look" mentality that WWE has is fucking ridiculous.
I agree with that last bit. Seth Rollins explains that he turned on the Shield because they were fighting a war that they'd never win. Then he proceeds to explain why he means by pointing out that even though the Shield beat Evolution twice, they'll never get the upper hand because the authority owns and controls the fate of their destiny and can do with it as they please. Rollins, also, explains that he didn't get into this company to be apart of something that was big - he got into it because he wanted to be big. And with the Authority on his side, he can now be able to achieve that.
ReplyDeleteI think the shield will get back together at some point. If they ever decide to give reigns a heel run in the next few years, he'd need back up.
ReplyDeleteNot 100% sold on reigns himself. He is great in tag situations, but one on one he is a bit iffy. Of course, he's getting the push anyway!
It worked for the Horsemen. Separate feuds alongside group feuds
ReplyDeleteTurning the night after dominating Evolution didn't make a lot of sense, Rollins really didn't have a compelling reason for it, and Dean Ambrose is dressed like Jimmy Yang Wang.
ReplyDeleteI'm disappointed there hasn't been a Rise and Fall of Owen Hart DVD.
ReplyDeleteBig Show shamelessly trying to incorporate the "Yes" thing was one of the worst offenses.
ReplyDeleteIt's been said a million times before that the best heel turns are when the heel: has a motive, truly believes in what he's saying, and (ideally) IS right about what he's saying, but it is just done in such a whiny and repetitive way that the fans can't stand the person.
ReplyDeleteI see those traits in my two favorite heel turns ever -- Bret and CM Punk. With the former, Bret WAS getting screwed at every turn. He beat Austin fairly, TWICE, yet in prize fights he was screwed time and time again by Austin and others and no one seemed to do anything about it. He had the Rumble, and THREE title matches against Sid locked up, but interference prevented him from being victorious and Monsoon / McMahon never did a thing. The fans didn't buy into whining as a solution though, and thought, "if you can't destroy Austin enough to get rid of him, it's your own fault."
With Punk in '09. Everything he said about Hardy was true, and everything about himself was true. The comparison was dead on, and Punk's eloquence and confidence furthered his mic work. But the fans were all, "yeah but you're a whiner and we like Jeff Hardy regardless......because he's cool."
I don't see motivation and belief with what Rollins is doing. The situation he was in garnered him two clean victories over one of the biggest groups in wrestling. So...he decides to leave The Shield for the losing side?
Hollywood Heel Rock = doesn't take the booing at WMX8 and later well, leaves and makes a name for himself in Hollywood, comes back and takes an holier-than-thou attitude since he felt the fans turned his back on him (and not in an imaginary way that the writers usually cook up, enough to buy that his persona would feel slighted), awesome heel.
ReplyDeleteOh god
ReplyDeleteAaaaannnnd what's wrong with that? JWY was the shit
ReplyDeleteRandy Savage: Hulk Hogan is all up in his wife. In storyline, and who knows in real life.
ReplyDeletethe strangest thing (because it was right in front of them): it even worked for Evolution.
ReplyDeleteBrodus as the Blob and Hornswaggle as Toad and you have your own Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
ReplyDelete