by Dalton Belcher
I am a WWE fan, it's probably not going to ever change. I'll complain about things they do and don't do that I dislike, but at the end of the day, I bleed WWE. Though, my passion for the product does not hinder my ability to see through some problems in how they book their show.
Recently, WWE began a feud between their Intercontinental Champion "The Miz" and company "Show-Off" Dolph Ziggler. Now, I'm a fan of both wrestlers and I expected to see some standard WWE booking tactics (one distracts the other to cause a loss in a match and similar things), which I have. But then I stumble across an interview on the WWE app in which Ziggler details a relationship between the two of childhood friendship and two differing paths. Ziggler, the fan favorite, has scrapped and struggles for all he was given within the WWE Universe, whereas his opponent Miz has been given handouts and gone "Hollywood". It's not a new story, it's just run-of-the-mill, but it's effective. Ziggler did more to cause me to want to watch a match between the two in three minutes, than the company had done with time on multiple shows. I want to see Ziggler triumph. I want to see Miz finally get his comeuppance. And I've completely forgotten it's fake. For that wonderful moment of time after I watched the interview, I was 9 years old again and the ONLY thing that mattered was seeing this story reach a fulfilling conclusion. It was the feeling when my favorite wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin fighting the "evil" Vince McMahon and I wasn't the 20-year-old who watches the program with more cautious optimism and, instead, I was just enjoying it.
This is a small scenario and, in the big picture of things, I was going to watch the match anyways, because I know the two will deliver an entertaining in-ring contest. Though I can't help but think, I'll enjoy it for a while after I watch it, but I won't remember it nearly as well months later. Whereas, if the story that is clearly existing and captivating had been told, I would remember it as fondly as I do Stone Cold today.
I am a WWE fan, it's probably not going to ever change. I'll complain about things they do and don't do that I dislike, but at the end of the day, I bleed WWE. Though, my passion for the product does not hinder my ability to see through some problems in how they book their show.
Recently, WWE began a feud between their Intercontinental Champion "The Miz" and company "Show-Off" Dolph Ziggler. Now, I'm a fan of both wrestlers and I expected to see some standard WWE booking tactics (one distracts the other to cause a loss in a match and similar things), which I have. But then I stumble across an interview on the WWE app in which Ziggler details a relationship between the two of childhood friendship and two differing paths. Ziggler, the fan favorite, has scrapped and struggles for all he was given within the WWE Universe, whereas his opponent Miz has been given handouts and gone "Hollywood". It's not a new story, it's just run-of-the-mill, but it's effective. Ziggler did more to cause me to want to watch a match between the two in three minutes, than the company had done with time on multiple shows. I want to see Ziggler triumph. I want to see Miz finally get his comeuppance. And I've completely forgotten it's fake. For that wonderful moment of time after I watched the interview, I was 9 years old again and the ONLY thing that mattered was seeing this story reach a fulfilling conclusion. It was the feeling when my favorite wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin fighting the "evil" Vince McMahon and I wasn't the 20-year-old who watches the program with more cautious optimism and, instead, I was just enjoying it.
This is a small scenario and, in the big picture of things, I was going to watch the match anyways, because I know the two will deliver an entertaining in-ring contest. Though I can't help but think, I'll enjoy it for a while after I watch it, but I won't remember it nearly as well months later. Whereas, if the story that is clearly existing and captivating had been told, I would remember it as fondly as I do Stone Cold today.