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| Don't expect this to happen Sunday, and that's okay Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Part of the reason why I disliked Bridesmaids was that Kristin Wiig's character pretty much had everything that could have gone wrong to her go wrong save a flock of pegasus shitting on her almost constantly from the beginning of the first act through the middle of the third. I'm not even sure we're through the first act yet; my masochism level has not been breached yet.
For those who are longing for hope, was Monday's mini-catharsis enough to stave off completley losing faith? If the standard WWE misdirection-before-the-pay-per-view show finish is enough for people to say "okay, I am satisfied," then maybe what's about to happen won't register too much on the pain scale. Daniel Bryan may have fallen down a hill for the last month, but what's about to come will make Homer Simpson being dropped down Springfield Gorge look like a stubbed toe.
Bryan's situation right now is not optimal, but it's far from impossible. He has a rematch clause and silent assent from his fellow superstars whom he knows are just busting at the seams to break rank and stick it to Triple H and his Corporation Nouveau. If anything, he has too much hope going for him, curiously too much given that he is only a month removed from the initial shock of being targeted as corporate enemy #1. If anything in modern storytelling is a given, the most effective catharsis comes from overcoming the most impossible of situations. The term deus ex machina gets thrown around a whole lot, because it's a device that is overused across any medium of entertainment. Bryan hasn't needed to invoke it yet, so what should anyone expect but his final breaking on Sunday?
I know that trusting WWE to follow through on long-term storytelling can be hard to nigh-impossible, but the case could be made that seeds for this current SummerSlam-to-WrestleMania season were planted June 27, 2011. Sure, the narrative has taken detours and had several guest stars invading it. Maybe WWE never planned for a Triple H-backed Randy Orton to be the gatekeeper between normalcy and WWE immortality, and maybe they thought CM Punk would be the man breaking through said gate instead of Bryan.
But after the two year dalliance of The Rock in WWE, they knew they would be here creating a new era, and I would hope that they know patience is required for an angle to be effective. All in all, while epoch-spanning stories have almost never been the forte of most wrestling companies, well, Vince McMahon is in the entertainment business. They've had television writers for eons, right?
Night of Champions is not going to be a pay-per-view one buys for catharsis, for finality. Argue with me all you want about whether all pay-per-views should have some kind of resolution; I say story-endings are only one of many different things a paid show can offer. Quality wrestling matches unscathed by interrupted commercial breaks are one other thing you pay your extraneous money for. The way the card is situated, several matches are in line to deliver on that end. Bryan vs. Orton has potential to be a broadway. CM Punk vs. Curtis Axel won't be the same as the former's match with Brock Lesnar, but Axel's capable enough for it to get close. The rumored Dean Ambrose/Dolph Ziggler match will be excellent if it happens, and the pre-show tag gauntlet and following Tag Team Championship match will be fun at least.
But catharsis? Oh, okay, maybe Punk will get his hands on Heyman once and for all, but I wouldn't be surprised if that gratification gets delayed too. This show is going to be transitional as all get out. However, the show might be worth getting to see just how they go from hopeful to hopeless for the REAL Best in the World. The night has to get darkest before the Sun starts to peak up over the horizon. Things are going to have to get nice and bleak for Bryan, because if they don't, then his comeback going into Survivor Series and then the Royal Rumble and then WrestleMania won't really mean as much, will it?