WWE has this nasty habit of making the show all about people who shouldn't have shows made all about them. Whether it's Vince McMahon, Triple H or now, AJ Lee, they treat characters the way Homer wanted the animators and writers to treat Poochie when he was on Itchy and Scratchy. If the authority figure is not on TV, everyone should be asking where that authority figure is. It turns WWE, at least partially, into a boring business-world thriller with people who can't carry the kinds of performances needed to make them at least somewhat riveting. When everyone on the show is asking what the fuck a "Managing Supervisor" is or what he/she does by design, you're bordering on self-parody.
In Poochie's debut episode, Itchy and Scratchy were going to the fireworks factory. Poochie's sidetracking of them left the audience with no payoff, causing Milhouse to ask "When are they going to get to the fireworks factory?" A lot of times, people, most notably Brandon Stroud, are left asking that as well when WWE ventures into Poochie territory. Tonight though, I'm pretty sure they got there with an exciting slate of matches anchored by a renewal of the best series of 2010, Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler.
The two took their trio of matches from that stretch in the fall, and instead of recreating them, they went one better. I'm not sure how they convinced themselves to take some of the bumps they took during that match, Ziggler especially when he went face first into the top of the ringpost, but it certainly passed for fireworks going off in a wild and dazzling display across the cel-shaded sky, the meta-cartoon within a cartoon in Simpsons lore.
WWE is such a paradoxical company. They get it so right with their cast but behind the scenes, they fail so hard at creating a fully satisfying narrative. They're inconsistent at best, coming out with great stories one week and then shit like this week in others. They're lucky they maybe have their most talented roster in history right now, a roster full of guys like Bryan, Ziggler, CM Punk, Sheamus, Big Show, Kane and even John Cena to an extent to pick up the slack with their execution. Tonight was one of the nights when they needed to get to the fireworks factory. When they did, it took some of the edge off of the terrible script they had laid out for their performers.
In Poochie's debut episode, Itchy and Scratchy were going to the fireworks factory. Poochie's sidetracking of them left the audience with no payoff, causing Milhouse to ask "When are they going to get to the fireworks factory?" A lot of times, people, most notably Brandon Stroud, are left asking that as well when WWE ventures into Poochie territory. Tonight though, I'm pretty sure they got there with an exciting slate of matches anchored by a renewal of the best series of 2010, Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler.
The two took their trio of matches from that stretch in the fall, and instead of recreating them, they went one better. I'm not sure how they convinced themselves to take some of the bumps they took during that match, Ziggler especially when he went face first into the top of the ringpost, but it certainly passed for fireworks going off in a wild and dazzling display across the cel-shaded sky, the meta-cartoon within a cartoon in Simpsons lore.
WWE is such a paradoxical company. They get it so right with their cast but behind the scenes, they fail so hard at creating a fully satisfying narrative. They're inconsistent at best, coming out with great stories one week and then shit like this week in others. They're lucky they maybe have their most talented roster in history right now, a roster full of guys like Bryan, Ziggler, CM Punk, Sheamus, Big Show, Kane and even John Cena to an extent to pick up the slack with their execution. Tonight was one of the nights when they needed to get to the fireworks factory. When they did, it took some of the edge off of the terrible script they had laid out for their performers.
