FanPost

The 'Yes, but' Movement

Well, here we are.

By now, you've read plenty of #takes on Roman Reigns, the Royal Rumble, Daniel Bryan and the boos. Maybe this is another one of them. I don't know.

Sunday drew the headlines, the heat and the cancelations. But it was Monday that finished the deal, for me.

After Sunday, I was angry. After Monday, I'm apathetic. I just don't care anymore. I don't care about Brock-Reigns. No amount of Paul Heyman magic will get me to the point of excitement. Since I got back into wrestling sports entertainment around Raw 1000, I've have plenty of frustrations. Even throughout the atrocious December 2014, I was still excited before each Raw, thinking maybe this was the time when something good happened. This past Monday has changed that.

Last year's Royal Rumble may have been an underestimation by WWE. This year's Royal Rumble was a middle finger to a portion of the fanbase. A portion Vince reportedly only believes was in that arena on Sunday. I don't expect the fan revolt to continue like it did last year. We felt we had a chance to change things last year, and CM Punk walking out certainly had an effect. Lightning won't strike twice.

I don't care about Reigns as a character. I can't. I would have preferred post-Shield-breakup Reigns to fight Lesnar than this. I LOVED that Reigns and the potential. But the bad-ass-ness has been replaced by Superman, fairy tales and giants maybe or maybe not calling themselves giants. His injury derailed any hopes of getting better as a worker in time for Wrestlemania 31. Yet here we are.

Brandon Stroud over at With Spandex perfectly summed up my feelings on this. (Emphasis mine)

Daniel Bryan's such a tough wrestler to book because he was created through this systematic expectation of failure, and he and CM Punk were the first wrestlers to really catch on in the post-John Cena, publicly-traded WWE. It's a place where superstars are created in a lab. Bobby Lashley, for example. Roman Reigns for another. You're told to like people and then your mild acceptance of it's fine. The people who don't like it become at odds with people who think you should shut up and enjoy mother's milk or whatever, and they keep the working class (so to speak) at each others' throats. Then they get everybody's money, because wrestling's a business that leverages the hope and faith and heated conversations of sports against the numb acceptance of entertainment.

Bryan and Punk caused/cause problems because they hooked people in that weird old way of having admirable traits and skills. They were cool, fun, someone you'd want to look up to, someone you'd want to be. They were great on the mic or great in the ring. They're "our" guys. Our guys aren't the guys they want, but they want "our" eyeballs and "our" money, so they run with it. When they think we've had enough to keep us watching, they shuffle it away and replace it with one of theirs. The Summer of Punk turns into Kevin Nash and Triple H feuding. World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan turns into World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus.

Monday was damage control for Sunday, but they made it clear things aren't changing this time. They directly addressed the issues of Reigns being unfairly pushed to the moon in the eyes of some. Well, "address" isn't a good word. "Acknowledge" would be better. They asked Reigns about it, and his response basically was, "It is what it is."

What else could he say? Nothing, because he's been backed into this position. It was a somewhat genuine moment (It still came off scripted), but the genuine moments should come BEFORE being given the rocket. There's nothing he could have said that would have won everyone over. That wasn't the goal.

The goal was the acceptance Stroud mentions. Enough mild acceptance. Based on many of the responses I've seen here, the goal was accomplished. Not for me. I don't want acceptance anymore. I want enjoyment.

Those of us who view Daniel Bryan as our favorite guy got our moment with him last year. Now it's time for what Vince wants.

WWE had its next cross-over mainstream star in CM Punk. Its next Stone Cold. They threw it away. They're doing the same thing to Bryan, but he's willing to be a company man and deal with it. What Bryan said Monday night to give Roman a rub made no sense in real life, but it did in kayfabe. Having Bryan compare Roman getting into this spot to Bryan last year was insulting to everyone who made that happen.

Do you know why we like Bryan? Because he loses. Because he's a good wrestler. Because he represents a lot of us. Because he has traits we can relate to. Because he's the underdog. You know who else had a lot of those traits? Austin. He represented how society felt at the time.

Roman Reigns has never been pinned clean nor submitted in a WWE singles match. Ever. He always wins. What am I supposed to get invested in? For all the comparisons to Cena, our friend Jack's initial rise was organic and filled with storylines. He was the Chosen One from his debut Smackdown, but it was still an organic rise of fan support. Reigns has been pushed on us from the very beginning. We're supposed to like him because we're being told we're supposed to like him. He held the tag belts, and that's his only gold. He had some matches with Orton. In the purely kayfabe world, he doesn't deserve this spot. He was put into a title match in the summer for no reason. He's going to be a cleanly-undefeated champion like Goldberg, without a mention of it, because this build was supposed to be subtle or something. It was anything but.

And don't give me the injury excuse with Bryan. Austin was nearly paralyzed six months before his monster push and WM14 victory. After missing 2000 with more neck issues, he got the belt in 2001 and even spent some time on the shelf with the belt. Why? Because Vince listened to the fans. If this was the plan all along, Bryan shouldn't have been involved in the Rumble. But hey, the ploy worked, as the Network reportedly crossed the 1 million subscriber mark partly as a result. Use Bryan to draw some more fans in, but don't reward them. If Bryan isn't strong enough to compete or you're that worried about injury, he shouldn't be competing yet. Bryan-Lesnar would have worked, and it would have done business.

Your top good guy is not facing your top bad guy at the biggest event of the year.

By no means do I believe my opinion represents the majority of fans. Many of you like Reigns. That's fine. I envy you. He does draw (a decreasing amount of) cheers. He isn't universally hated, but the fan reaction between him and Bryan isn't even close. I used to love Reigns. I've been given no reason to since. I want stories in my entertainment. Not nonstop Superman Punches. He's got all the potential in the world, but his career-defining moment came in a cascade of boos. So much for Vince "I listen to the fans" McMahon. Part of me feels bad for Roman for that happening, but part of me doesn't, because the reward is coming.

I've accepted Reigns-Lesnar is happening. I don't care about it. Rusev and Cena are having a match at Fast Lane because Rusev grabbed the microphone from Tom Phillips. That's literally the story. Sure, they'll develop around it, but this feud literally started because Rusev grabbed the microphone. Business as usual.

I'm done hoping for more.

I've had the Network for their free trials. I watch the good stuff through other means. I actually bought it for the Rumble. My brother came over to watch and wanted to get back into things. After this, he's passing, and I'm canceling my subscription before the next month starts.

Maybe Bryan and Ziggler will be given an Iron Man match to please us. I'd watch that. Let Ziggler take the IC title and build up a division of people we enjoy watching.

For the first time since I got back into wrestling, I'm apathetic. Will I keep watching? I don't know. On the Road to Wrestlemania, I'm pulling off at a rest stop.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.