http://twitter.com/onecountkickout
http://facebook.com/onecountkickout
http://onecountkickout.wordpress.com
The hype for WWE Vengeance doesn’t seem very powerful. Actually, if we’re being completely honest here, it doesn’t seem much like “hype” either. It feels more like Vengeance is an additional episode of Raw coming up on a Sunday. WWE has managed to devalue their product to such a point that most of the PPVs aren’t worth buying and Vengeance is an excellent example of that. Why are people going to put their hard earned money down to view a PPV which was lauded with all of the fanfare of a mid-season sitcom episode?
Pay Per Views used to be built up as special events, as something you had to see. The cards weren’t always mind blowing or fantastic but they attempted to present it to you as if they were. WWE used to be concerned with perception, and they understood the old rule that if you make something seem like a big deal people will believe it is a big deal. WWE doesn’t do that anymore, they throw PPVs at you every month not because you want them but because they have them to give to you. Matches aren’t earned, they aren’t necessary. They’re scheduled a year ahead of time and when the PPV gets close they just cram some matches onto it. There’s nothing important about it anymore.
Why should you order a PPV when the matches are barely promoted for it? Why should you want to reward terrible booking, stupid storylines and recycled angles? Why should anyone find it necessary to sit down for three hours (more like 2:45) and see the same thing you can see the next night on Raw? I can’t answer these questions but I can say, I will not be ordering WWE Vengeance and I will give you three reasons why.
1) John Cena is in the main event… again.
Sure there are a lot of people out there that love the hell out of John Cena. I can’t name any of them, though, because I don’t know any of them. Either way, love Cena or hate Cena, it’s pretty damn hard to not get sick and tired of watching this guy be in the headlining main event of every PPV in which he is involved. Is that reason enough to not order the PPV? No, but if you add to the soup the fact that Cena doesn’t actually ever show care for the title he is pursuing it makes it difficult for anyone else to care.
Cena loses the title and comes out on Raw the next night. He doesn’t say he’s mad that he lost the title, he doesn’t say he’s desperate to get it back, he doesn’t say much of anything beyond he terribly infantile jokes. If this guy doesn’t care about the belt, why the hell should I care about watching him go after it? Also, if he doesn’t have passion for chasing the title, why does he keep getting all of these title matches? I guess just so he can walk around getting called a ten time or twelve time or eighty time world champion. As if that actually means something. I have no desire to watch the John Cena show, episode 900.
2) Michael Cole and Booker T.
Next to the matches themselves, the only other thing that is filling my head during a WWE broadcast are the commentators. Michael Cole seems to have slid back into his heel announcer, pain in the ass, annoying whiner persona. I will never, ever, understand WWE’s logic in not only pushing their commentators to ignore the matches and talk about random news but in putting Michael Cole in the position as the head announcer. Maybe it’s a joke, maybe it’s a rib on all the fans out there, to make them sit there and listen to Michael Cole, but it isn’t funny. Cole is wornout, tired and bothersome to the ears. As soon as I hear Michael speak I just want to change the channel.
Booker T isn’t much better either. I truly cannot grasp how this man has been involved in the wrestling business for as long as he has but hasn’t seemed to learn anything about the psychology involved. When you’re a heel, you want heat. You want the fans to be angry because you’re doing things for no reason other than to win, to upset your opponent and to hurt people. That is incredibly difficult to do when you’ve got someone like Booker T sitting at the table and justifying everything you do. When a heel goes over the edge, you can always count on Booker to scoop the heat by saying something like “Well he’s doing what he has to do right there.” Seriously, Booker?
3) The Miz and R-Truth lost their meaning.
When the Miz and R-Truth were fired by Triple H they were in the middle of a storyline where they were disgruntled. They felt there was a conspiracy against them that was holding them down and that Triple H was the main person who was keeping them down. So they get fired and thrown out of the building and there’s this great whirl of interest surrounding them. They show up at the next PPV, climb under the cage and attack Del Rio, Cena and CM Punk. They beat them down, they beat down guys in the lockeroom. They’re basically a thorn in Triple H’s side and showing that they will not just quietly go away. They get arrested and we’re all waiting to see what is going to happen the next night…
Nothing happens. Not a damn thing. Triple H gets removed from his position, R-Truth and the Miz get hired back. Where is the fanfare, where is the intrigue? So they attack CM Punk and Triple H comes out to save him and then we get a tag team match. That’s it. What is on the line here, what matters about this? It doesn’t mean anything. I love the Miz, I really liked R-Truth and I was intrigued to see where this would go. Well, it didn’t go anywhere. Maybe something will happen at Vengeance to make it important again but with as terrible as the booking has been lately it is hard to have much faith in this going anywhere.
WWE hasn’t put much into their PPVs lately. Maybe they’re focusing on the bigger ones, or caught up in the plans for the Rock. Maybe they’ve just lost their way and don’t know which way is up anymore. Or maybe, just maybe, they don’t really care anymore because they know a fan will order a PPV whether they want to see it or not. They’re banking on the habitual ritual of ordering those PPVs. That doesn’t work for me anymore, you don’t get my money because they feel you deserve it. You get my money because you earn it. Until they show some interest, create some stories and push some hype, I won’t be buying Vengeance or any other PPV for a long time.