So…the Royal Rumble…not a lot of fun eh?
Now I know a lot has already been written about the Rumble over the last week or so, and more will be by the time I finish this article, but for what it’s worth, here’s my opinion on it.
I should say here that this is only my opinion. I am a real mark. I don’t read wrestling websites. I don’t look for spoilers. I actually enjoy watching wrestling on TV to see if I’m smart enough to work out what’s going on. My only real guilty pleasure is listening to the fantastic podcast that is MFX. If you’ve not listened to it yet, then why not?? But even now, I listen to that in fear, just in case they’re about to say something similar to what I’ve already got to go on here.
So this is my take on the whole Daniel Bryan situation, which came to me at about 4am, after about 3 buckets of coffee, which is as close as I can get to the state of mind that Vinny Mac is generally in. Here’s my take on the Rumble match and if I get really lucky, I might just look like a genius!
Daniel Bryan lost out on a spot in the Rumble, and the winner was the man everyone expected, but no-one wanted. The aftermath sees the WWE Universe go radio rental, fans booing Ray Mysterio for the crime of not being Daniel Bryan, Mick Foley tweeting about how bad the PPV was, Punk walking out. WWE looks to be in disarray.
We’re now looking at a WrestleMania main-event that nobody wants to see, and what’s worse is, everybody knows that nobody wants to see it.
Now consider the consequences. If no-one’s watching WrestleMania, then no-one’s buying the WWE Network (at least in the US of A). How has Vince managed to get himself and his company into this situation? There’s no way that he’s read the signals wrong. Bryan has been hot as hell for months, even before the mainstream media picked up on the YES! chants. Live audiences have been all over the “Yes movement”, as it’s now known, for the best part of a year.
Not having Bryan in the Rumble match has been the big story of the year, and I cannot believe that the man who has always won at wrestling could lose so badly.
Let’s look at what’s gone on here though. Bryan’s been on Twitter claiming that WWE wanted him “nowhere near the Rumble”. Now…he still works there, and if he wants to have any chance of success, he tweets what Vince says is OK to tweet. Foley was extremely critical of the Rumble, and Foley never criticizes, so it must have been bad. Or Mick is doing what’s been asked of him.
Let’s face it, the best way to build Bryan, or any face, is to knock him down first and make the odds insurmountable. So keep Bryan out of the Rumble, generate as much heat as you can, then give the people what they want, but let them know you don’t really agree, and you’re doing them a big favour.
Punk apparently walked the day after the Rumble. Could it be that he was promised a title win at Elimination Chamber, only to be told that was no longer the plan? WWE have probably been writing on the fly for a good deal of the time of late. There’s no way that Bryan was supposed to turn face again so soon, and plans have had to change. Maybe Punk’s the loser in that, and he’s decided that he’s had enough.
Add to the mix that Vince, at times, seems to be determined to show the world how much smarter he is than everyone, especially the IWC. And could it be that, this time, Vince is actually right?
For me, the most important thing for WWE right now is the launch of the Network. The future of the company pretty much rests on the shoulders of its success. And when does this Network launch exactly? It wouldn’t be the day after the Elimination Chamber PPV would it?
It’s important to remember that being in the right place at the wrong time is no good, and the wrong place at the right time works no better. Right place, right time however, is the way to go.
Imagine the day before the launch of the Network, and Bryan wins the Elimination Chamber match, changing the main-event at WrestleMania to a Bryan v Batista match. The WWE Universe will go mental again, but this time, they won’t be acting like the heel who got caught. This time, they’ll be like good ol’ JR after a Horowitz victory. Right place, right time.
The Universe gets the chance to see Bryan prove he was the right man all along, and that the outcry about Batista being in the main-event was justified. Daniel gets to show everyone that the Universe was right, and that Vince got it wrong. Bryan is the new ‘people’s champion’.
Now WWE could have got to the same place via the obvious route – Bryan enters the Rumble, wins and goes to WrestleMania, and Batista wins at the Elimination Chamber to pick up the title. The result’s obviously the same as the match I mentioned above, but which will have the most effect on buys for the WWE Network? How many people would have been over the moon at Bryan winning the Rumble, then 30 days later, once everything’s calmed down a bit, subscribed to the Network?
If things go the way I’d do them, how many people will see Daniel Bryan winning the title THE DAY BEFORE the Network launches, and then subscribe? Right place, right time.
The big loser here could be the Elimination Chamber PPV, but buyrates in America aren’t what they used to be anyway, and if I’m reading it correctly, this will be the last traditional PPV that WWE try to sell. They want everyone on the Network, and it seems that every PPV, at least for the time being, is part of that package.
So less people buy the PPV, then discover Bryan is in the main-event at WrestleMania after all, and the only way to see that is to sign up. Oh and by the way, you can do that first thing after Raw the following night…
The only real problem with all of the above, is that none of it may happen, and I look like an idiot for saying it. And given the way the WWE has gone recently, I wouldn’t put money on it either way, but Bryan is in the Elimination Chamber match, so it has to be a possibility.
The main thing against it happening is the fact that Cena’s also in that match. We all know he likes to headline Mania, and he is, like it or not, where the money is.
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