Brad Maddox opened up the overrun segment with all his smarmy glory. He combined the evangelistic panache of a Southern preacher man, claiming that he was wronged, into his Bane-like countercry (complete with vocal affectations) for justice against a group that admittedly confessed that justice wasn't free. Combine it with Paul Heyman's false shame, begging for his Kraken not to maim and murder, even though by his own admission, he was a liar in every sense of the word. His glee at seeing Miz laid to waste among the strewn wreckage of his own television set was noticeable because he didn't show it. But it was implied, and implied glee is the best glee. This is a hurricane of nuance that is rarely seen from WWE, but when it happens, it hits me right in the gut, the place where my deepest desires to see the form of professional wrestling elevated reside.
Maddox as a nexus point for the main event scene was not predictable by any means a year ago, but to me, he's the most interesting figure WWE has produced in a long time, and I say that even as Antonio Cesaro continues to impress, even though he has been saddled with the most awful feud known to man against Ryback. I don't know what it says about the state of his status with the locker room that John Cena almost purposely waited until after his Beef Mode was turned into soup bones and sinew by the Shield, but that's part of the subtext. No one likes a rat, and Maddox almost plays that role too well. He was right to do what he did, but was he just a victim of Paul Heyman, or is he just like him, a liar who will sell out whomever he can to keep his hide from getting tanned?
While the main story of RAW tonight very much centered on this layered sense of angle-building, there was a noted old-school feel in the air. The other main story being told, centered around Big Show and Alberto del Rio, is the only one that presses the buttons of the old dynamic. Racist heel slanders an entire ethnicity and continues to beat the shit out of a helpless ring announcer. Good guy Champion gets suckered into the emotion and is compelled to go above and beyond the call of decency to get revenge. It's beneath him, sure, but we empathize, because this is how we want to conduct our lives. The difference between del Rio and everyone else in WWE though? He's morally right. No question he's been morally right all along, because Show has done nothing but make his life a living hell. In the real world, there are other channels, but this is professional wrestling. This is the one place where violence not only is the best answer, but the only answer. Why is it WWE gets it so right with this story and so wrong in application with everything else?
Still, that story as the backdrop for the most old school thing of them all, the induction into the Hall of Fame and the celebration of the man upon whose back early WWE was built worked so well as a partner piece. I never got to watch Bruno Sammartino wrestle, but by God, I got a chill watching his video package. WWE always has a sense of importance when building up their legends for lauding, that first Bob Backlund video excepted. Sammartino was a wrestler larger than life when he was active, and even though his era predated my birth, I couldn't help but feeling the man I saw clips of was important. He was the original hoss, it seems.
But speaking of hosses? MARK HENRY IS BACK MOTHERFUCKERS, AND HE'S JUST DOING WHAT HE DOES. IT'S HOSS SEASON, DORKS. YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Seriously though, why can't all RAWs be like this?
Maddox as a nexus point for the main event scene was not predictable by any means a year ago, but to me, he's the most interesting figure WWE has produced in a long time, and I say that even as Antonio Cesaro continues to impress, even though he has been saddled with the most awful feud known to man against Ryback. I don't know what it says about the state of his status with the locker room that John Cena almost purposely waited until after his Beef Mode was turned into soup bones and sinew by the Shield, but that's part of the subtext. No one likes a rat, and Maddox almost plays that role too well. He was right to do what he did, but was he just a victim of Paul Heyman, or is he just like him, a liar who will sell out whomever he can to keep his hide from getting tanned?
While the main story of RAW tonight very much centered on this layered sense of angle-building, there was a noted old-school feel in the air. The other main story being told, centered around Big Show and Alberto del Rio, is the only one that presses the buttons of the old dynamic. Racist heel slanders an entire ethnicity and continues to beat the shit out of a helpless ring announcer. Good guy Champion gets suckered into the emotion and is compelled to go above and beyond the call of decency to get revenge. It's beneath him, sure, but we empathize, because this is how we want to conduct our lives. The difference between del Rio and everyone else in WWE though? He's morally right. No question he's been morally right all along, because Show has done nothing but make his life a living hell. In the real world, there are other channels, but this is professional wrestling. This is the one place where violence not only is the best answer, but the only answer. Why is it WWE gets it so right with this story and so wrong in application with everything else?
Still, that story as the backdrop for the most old school thing of them all, the induction into the Hall of Fame and the celebration of the man upon whose back early WWE was built worked so well as a partner piece. I never got to watch Bruno Sammartino wrestle, but by God, I got a chill watching his video package. WWE always has a sense of importance when building up their legends for lauding, that first Bob Backlund video excepted. Sammartino was a wrestler larger than life when he was active, and even though his era predated my birth, I couldn't help but feeling the man I saw clips of was important. He was the original hoss, it seems.
But speaking of hosses? MARK HENRY IS BACK MOTHERFUCKERS, AND HE'S JUST DOING WHAT HE DOES. IT'S HOSS SEASON, DORKS. YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Seriously though, why can't all RAWs be like this?
