RAW tonight, for about 40 minutes, showed a glimpse of what the future of WWE could be. There was one wrestling match, one extended promo, and one preview vignette that had me, as well as several of my peers, hot and bothered. Not a single participant in any of those segments was a member of the WWE roster before 2010, with the exception of Randy Orton, who only played an ancillary role as a second in the wrestling match.
Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins first reminded everyone what the second "W" in WWE stands for, or at least used to stand for, or still does. The three letter abbreviation has seemingly lost all meaning. As Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black, the two tore up Ring of Honor any time they got into the ring. A glossy sheen of WWE production and indoctrination did nothing to take the bloom off that rose. If anything, it only added more layers to their storied, if unknown to most of the populace, rivalry. With each kick Bryan landed to Rollins' chest, the crowd exploded with "YES!" chants, pointing towards a future where wrestling matters in ways that fans like me have wanted it to for the entire time that we've been self-aware with whatever label we put on ourselves.
Then, the longest-running and most fully-formed feud in the company came to its biggest head of them all. The dissolution of the Chickbusters has been without a doubt a slow simmer, but there has been a clear endgame the whole time. In a company where women aren't granted agency with regularity, it's weird that the story that they've seemingly invested the most time into is one featuring the two nerdy girls from NXT Season 3. Now granted, one of them is AJ Lee, their best actor, and the other is the plucky, likable Divas Champion Kaitlyn. Kelly Kelly vs. Alicia Fox this ain't.
Big E. Langston's role in the climactic moment should not be understated. He dropped Twitter hints, even if they were denials in nature. It's a stereotype that awkward folk like Langston use humor to cover up their true feelings. Again, not everyone operates in the manners of Hollywood archetypes, but expecting WWE to get nuance is like expecting my nearly-two-year-old son to get quantum mechanics. Langston faked Kaitlyn out with awkward sincerity, and at least I bought it because I could imagine myself trying to put my shitty, weird jokes aside to fumble through something resembling earnest and heartfelt to a member of the opposite sex.
The coup de grace on all of this was an emphatic exclamation point delivered by an Eater of Worlds cloaked in a leather apron. Bray Wyatt and his wild-eyed and sometimes lamb-masked henchmen continue to cast an ever-growing shadow on WWE, and for once, there's anticipation to tune into RAW just be legitimately creeped out. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a substantial overlap between horror movie fans and wrestling aficionados anyway, which gives me hope that the former Husky Harris will be greeted with the requisite crowd reactions the likes that Kaitlyn and Lee received, even if they don't pop the Bryan level at first.
For all the fecal schmaltz that was heaped upon the show with McMahon Family Values and John Cena once again telling Ryback that in order to be a good WWE Champion, you had to have LOL MALE SEX ORGANS, that 40 minutes of showtime made the entire experience worth watching. No matter where they are now, WWE as a company is in a good place, at least creatively. It's all about letting their good talents do the things that make them good, as redundant as that sounds. Bryan wrestling Rollins is strength playing to strength. Lee going Bond villain all over Kaitlyn's ass is strength playing to strength. Wyatt telling people to run is strength playing to strength.
And the best part is that all of these people are part of the new order of WWE superstar. There are a whole lot of other circumstances at play here, no doubt, but if the rostered talent is any indication, things are looking up.
Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins first reminded everyone what the second "W" in WWE stands for, or at least used to stand for, or still does. The three letter abbreviation has seemingly lost all meaning. As Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black, the two tore up Ring of Honor any time they got into the ring. A glossy sheen of WWE production and indoctrination did nothing to take the bloom off that rose. If anything, it only added more layers to their storied, if unknown to most of the populace, rivalry. With each kick Bryan landed to Rollins' chest, the crowd exploded with "YES!" chants, pointing towards a future where wrestling matters in ways that fans like me have wanted it to for the entire time that we've been self-aware with whatever label we put on ourselves.
Then, the longest-running and most fully-formed feud in the company came to its biggest head of them all. The dissolution of the Chickbusters has been without a doubt a slow simmer, but there has been a clear endgame the whole time. In a company where women aren't granted agency with regularity, it's weird that the story that they've seemingly invested the most time into is one featuring the two nerdy girls from NXT Season 3. Now granted, one of them is AJ Lee, their best actor, and the other is the plucky, likable Divas Champion Kaitlyn. Kelly Kelly vs. Alicia Fox this ain't.
Big E. Langston's role in the climactic moment should not be understated. He dropped Twitter hints, even if they were denials in nature. It's a stereotype that awkward folk like Langston use humor to cover up their true feelings. Again, not everyone operates in the manners of Hollywood archetypes, but expecting WWE to get nuance is like expecting my nearly-two-year-old son to get quantum mechanics. Langston faked Kaitlyn out with awkward sincerity, and at least I bought it because I could imagine myself trying to put my shitty, weird jokes aside to fumble through something resembling earnest and heartfelt to a member of the opposite sex.
The coup de grace on all of this was an emphatic exclamation point delivered by an Eater of Worlds cloaked in a leather apron. Bray Wyatt and his wild-eyed and sometimes lamb-masked henchmen continue to cast an ever-growing shadow on WWE, and for once, there's anticipation to tune into RAW just be legitimately creeped out. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a substantial overlap between horror movie fans and wrestling aficionados anyway, which gives me hope that the former Husky Harris will be greeted with the requisite crowd reactions the likes that Kaitlyn and Lee received, even if they don't pop the Bryan level at first.
For all the fecal schmaltz that was heaped upon the show with McMahon Family Values and John Cena once again telling Ryback that in order to be a good WWE Champion, you had to have LOL MALE SEX ORGANS, that 40 minutes of showtime made the entire experience worth watching. No matter where they are now, WWE as a company is in a good place, at least creatively. It's all about letting their good talents do the things that make them good, as redundant as that sounds. Bryan wrestling Rollins is strength playing to strength. Lee going Bond villain all over Kaitlyn's ass is strength playing to strength. Wyatt telling people to run is strength playing to strength.
And the best part is that all of these people are part of the new order of WWE superstar. There are a whole lot of other circumstances at play here, no doubt, but if the rostered talent is any indication, things are looking up.