Okay ( deep breath ) here it goes:
This freakin company deserves all criticism and crap it takes. I’ve tried to not directly bash their booking or business decisions because ultimately I blame the fans (incl. myself) who continue to support WWE no matter what crap we are asked to endure. ( I write this as they stock, which I hold, continues to rise, so I really am at a loss for what changes their direction at this point).
9 days after the Greatest Royal Rumble (which was 2+ weeks after WrestleMania) the company has the audacity to run a PPV that runs longer than 3 hours and put me to literal sleep several times. A non-finish title match, no other title changes, and a main event that felt like an exhibition is not a PPV - this is a house show!
From Nia’s PSA for good PR (undoubtedly for a B A Star package coming soon) to tone deaf booking of Roman (again!), there wasn’t a single thing that made me think this promotion is the top tier of pro wrestling or even entertainment!! Andre the Giant and Ric Flair could walk through those doors in their primes right now and be wasted. How can the most talented in ring roster in decades (if not ever) be relegated to this crap?
Then you have old stalwarts Orton and Hardy getting boring chants - serious question: Has anyone got more Boring Chants than Orton since 2010?
Let’s check in on the heroic return of Daniel Bryan. Oh I see it has taken less than 3 months before the crowd is chanting for an alleged rapist instead of what they are watching. I get that it was directed at Cass’ placement in the match but if you are going to book Bryan in those situations he was better off retired. I have zero interest in this guy being booked every week in pointless matches that make him feel more mid-card than at any point in his retirement. He had better programs from a chair on Talking Smack.
Carmella as a champion has regressed the division to the days of Kelly Kelly. I know Carmella tries (remember that great show Proving Ground?!) but she lacks in-ring talent to carry a division that just featured Charlotte beating Asuka. No instead, Carmella beats Charlotte with offense that makes Kelly Kelly’s ring running look credible. Some women’s revolution: a champion on one brand that is forced to read an Anti-Bullying promo after the company just agreed to ban women from a card in Saudi Arabia, and another who is flat out terrible.
Now, on to the most egregious use of talent I can recall in years.
Consider Okada-Omega and the trilogy so far and now contrast it to AJ-Nakamura the past few weeks. I’m not directly trying to compare the two promotions but objectively speaking about what wrestling is and should be, WWE should be embarrassed to waste two generational performers like they are. Yes, they may eventually have the classic but at this point the feud is tarnished. A feud that started with the idea of a dream match has now finished in back to back no contests with count-outs and more low-blows than pin falls. There is no rivalry, there is no in-ring masterpieces, there is just the humor of a 5 year old who thinks low-blows are funny in 2018. This is trash. Want to make fans care about your top stars, treat them like wrestling gods (again, see Okada and Omega), not like 5 year old children.
I have no comment on a Adam Rose esq conga line which forced this show over the 3 hour mark for zero reason. This is bad as a Raw segment, much less a filler on a card with no heat. I can accept this if the matches were big fight feels and you need a break, but this got squeezed in between boring chants and that the crowd didn’t shit on this entirely should tell you how poor the actual matches came across to the live crowd. (okay, I did have a comment on it)
And I’ll let the crowd speak for me on that main event. More boring chants. Beat the traffic chants. Zero pop for Roman + an unnecessary loss for Joe. Just tone deaf, numb booking.
And I use numb as an adjective here because I’m numb to all of this. I watch out of habit. I realize this company isn’t changing. And I am learning to have zero excitement for a WWE show. I fell asleep last night watching this show, and woke up to watch AJ/Nakamura and Roman/Joe before work. I fell asleep 3 more times for matches I kinda wanted to see. I don’t want to see any of this anymore. But like I said from the top - it’s my fault I continue to engage with them and subscribe to the network because I validate their business model and booking decisions and for this I am at a complete loss as how to feel as a fan.