FanPost

The Power of the Beast

WWE.com

There was a moment just after last night’s much talked about Raw segment unofficially dubbed "BROCK KILL EVERYONE" by Cageside’s General that really emboldened to me just what it is about the Beast Incarnate that makes for such compelling television.

If you haven’t watched the segment yet, you really should, but for those who haven’t, I’ll give you the rundown.

After Brock tossed Seth around like a small child, brutalized J & J Security, beat up some inanimate objects, punished innocent bystanders, taunted and disobeyed his employer’s commands to stop, and satisfied his bloodlust with one last F5 on that same innocent bystander, Steph cut a characteristically great promo suspending him, shrillness ramped up to 11… and then something truly incredible happened.

A graphic advertising John Cena’s open challenge for a shot at the US Title came up, scored by the usual corporate approved hip hop/rock mashup tones of Monday Night Raw, but something was different… Complete silence from the announce team. They were too busy being collected from the pools of their own blood, urine, and vomit they laid in.

This might be because I’m a filmmaker and I’m hypersensitive to production techniques, but for my money this was three or four of the most galvanizing seconds in Raw history, more so even than Brock F5’ing Cole right out of his shoe. It felt alien to me, in the best, most exciting way possible, because for the first time since my interest in the product was reignited just under a year ago, something happened in a way that felt like it wasn’t going according to plan. The unshakeable status quo of WWE’s uber-polished, consummately professional presentation was shattered, evidenced by a familiar visual cue appearing without its expected accompanying verbal rejoinder to stay tuned for the upcoming segment.

This is an achievement of the highest order in terms of pro wrestling television production. It is a carefully prepared moment in which it is apparent that the well-oiled machine of WWE’s production crew simply was not prepared for events to turn the way they did. This is what it felt like when Tony Schiavone called for the cameras to cut away from Eric Bischoff’s mangled body after Kevin Nash powerbombed his shrimpy ass through a table. Our current shrimpy vanilla douchebag of a commentator knows how you feel, Eric.

The reason this moment was so profoundly awesome wasn’t that Brock displayed an aptitude for violence that few others can muster- that’s great, but it only gets you so far. The reason this moment was so profoundly awesome was that Brock had done something that sliced right through the polished status quo of our weekly Monday Night Raw presentation and exposed scars that made the whole thing feel real.

It’s odd to say this about the so called "Reality Era," but when is the last time that happened? When is the last time something felt real? Seth Rollins hammering his Shield brethren with a chair got close, but I don’t think it was quite as compelling. There are some assorted moments during the Daniel Bryan Yes Movement saga that got close, because we knew there was a level of reality to the fact that the WWE brass didn’t want him on top. I’d argue the last time something felt this real was CM Punk’s pipebomb, nearly four years ago.

Before that it was probably close to ten years since the last moment of such immersive believability. I’m very excited for the 1997 episodes of Raw is War to join the VOD library on the Network, because the Steve Austin vs. The Hart Foundation feud provided several of these incredible moments and I can’t wait to watch them in their proper context.

All of this is a way of pointing out the incredibly simple techniques WWE can use to embolden its own creative decisions, to highlight the impact of the actions of the characters, and to create compelling moments that I wish we saw more frequently. By that I don’t mean I wish Brock would kill everyone more frequently. If he did that every week it would become as boring as John Cena lifting 500 lbs. men on his shoulders, an incredibly impressive physical feat that makes me yawn.

What I mean is that apparent interruptions to business as usual should be frequent occurrences, as simple tweaks in production, like simply not having anyone talking over a promotional graphic, can become incredibly immersive moments as they represent the fact that a superstar has done something truly dynamic, something so unusual and unpredictable that even the folks who know it’s going to happen appear unable to account for it. And Cena is the perfect opposite number here because an oft-cited criticism of his character, one I consider a leading cause of his divisiveness, is the utter lack of consequence of anything he does or anything done to him.

Steve Austin used to create these moments all the time, and the magic of his presence was that even when he wasn’t doing it, it always felt like he could, at any moment, interrupt the established order. Unfortunately the only guy on the current roster with that ability is the guy we only see every three months- the guy who got written off the show in the exact segment we’re examining.

Brock’s "specialness" is only partly a product of his rarity, as Vince McMahon noted in his interview with Austin. Another key element is the consistently impressive depth of his characterization, and I encourage everyone to check out last night’s Cageside Live for an excellent description of the character-specificity of Brock’s tirade last night, as voiced by Geno, noting that when Brock’s appetite for destruction is not sated, even his trusted advocate is terrified of the Beast.

I think the other element that makes Brock special is that he is always booked in a way that makes something like last night’s explosion of fury a possibility. Brock had never done anything so violently unpredictable, to the extent that this was, but every time he walks out it feels like he’s capable of that sort of unpredictability.

This is where WWE Creative is misunderstanding certain performers, namely Dean Ambrose. The reason Dean Ambrose was getting so white hot during the feud with Seth Rollins last fall was a combination of the incredible chemistry and commitment to characters between both wrestlers, and the unpredictable booking that gave us moments like this:

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Unfortunately one fatal error was made just before the beginning of the hilarious moment seen above, which was having Seth stop and suspiciously look over the gift box for a good five seconds before Dean popped out of it.

And this is how a memorable moment is kept from becoming an unforgettable one- not only was the show cluing us into what was about to happen, it was exposing itself to be artificial with a setup that demonstrated that not only did the camera man know what Dean was up to, but so did Seth. There were about 3-5 seconds just before this during which Seth stood at the top of the ramp gloating with his briefcase, all of the boxes in frame behind him. That’s when The Lunatic Fringe should’ve busted through the box and attacked him. When it could have felt like it wasn’t something pre-planned.

The less intriguing decisions that characterized the remainder of Raw have been thoroughly covered elsewhere, so I want to just take the time to congratulate WWE Creative on all of the decisions made in this segment and encourage these strokes of dynamic writing. Awesome job, everyone involved. More, please. The thoroughness of this presentation was so uncharacteristic of WWE’s booking over the past year that it feels significant that this sort of thing made it to air, and I think they all need to be commended for committing to this kind of storytelling.

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