A man had his business manager dress up like the dead friend of his opponent at a wrestling event, then poured the ashes from an urn on top of him. At least half the arena still cheered the mastermind of the attack. There's a commentary to be made about wrestling fans there. I'm not sure what it is. Everyone has a different line. Mine must not exist, because I watched it unfazed from wondering about its taste. Instead, I wondered whether it actually tread new ground or whether it was as effective as CM Punk playing hackey-sack with the urn or his first interruption of the Paul Bearer memorial service the week after he had passed. I bet you didn't expect that.
The closing segment of RAW was very much a testament to the power of shock value in professional wrestling. More than any other medium, pushing the envelope gets more of a rise out of more fans, which is why I think the immediate reaction on Twitter was the way it was. The fact that it was completely visual helped the whole process along. Show, don't tell (or at the very least show before you tell). But at least to me, it felt like a remix on the original song with the bass turned up so it compelled you to dance a little freakier, or with a few flourishes on the synthesizer thrown in. Just because the conveyance was a bit different doesn't mean the actual message had changed.
Then again, when does a major swerve or story-development happen a week before WrestleMania? Hell, if John Laurinaitis is the big play for Rock vs. John Cena, then that might be the closest we've ever gotten to a real, tangible story development blatantly shown to us right beforehand (No, Shawn Michaels being in Triple H's corner doesn't count unless you really think he's wrestling again). The final major show before Mania isn't for breaking new ground. All the framework has been set. They're only decorating now, putting on the the finishing touches if it were.
If anything, the tell from this show might have been on match order. Cena and Rock gave their closing arguments at the top of the 8 and 10 o'clock hours respectively. Punk and Undertaker got the overrun. If you believe that WWE foreshadows things through RAW, then yeah, Punk and Taker are going on last. I may not wholly believe that, but man, that theory isn't looking so implausible right now, or at least not as implausible as it was even a month ago.
Regardless, this show did what it set out to do. It whet people's appetites for the main course on Sunday. It also showed that no matter what he does, what he says, whose memory he disrespects, or what foreign object he pours all over the goddamn Undertaker, CM Punk isn't just a legit claimant to the title Best in the World, he's also got Teflon in his DNA.
The closing segment of RAW was very much a testament to the power of shock value in professional wrestling. More than any other medium, pushing the envelope gets more of a rise out of more fans, which is why I think the immediate reaction on Twitter was the way it was. The fact that it was completely visual helped the whole process along. Show, don't tell (or at the very least show before you tell). But at least to me, it felt like a remix on the original song with the bass turned up so it compelled you to dance a little freakier, or with a few flourishes on the synthesizer thrown in. Just because the conveyance was a bit different doesn't mean the actual message had changed.
Then again, when does a major swerve or story-development happen a week before WrestleMania? Hell, if John Laurinaitis is the big play for Rock vs. John Cena, then that might be the closest we've ever gotten to a real, tangible story development blatantly shown to us right beforehand (No, Shawn Michaels being in Triple H's corner doesn't count unless you really think he's wrestling again). The final major show before Mania isn't for breaking new ground. All the framework has been set. They're only decorating now, putting on the the finishing touches if it were.
If anything, the tell from this show might have been on match order. Cena and Rock gave their closing arguments at the top of the 8 and 10 o'clock hours respectively. Punk and Undertaker got the overrun. If you believe that WWE foreshadows things through RAW, then yeah, Punk and Taker are going on last. I may not wholly believe that, but man, that theory isn't looking so implausible right now, or at least not as implausible as it was even a month ago.
Regardless, this show did what it set out to do. It whet people's appetites for the main course on Sunday. It also showed that no matter what he does, what he says, whose memory he disrespects, or what foreign object he pours all over the goddamn Undertaker, CM Punk isn't just a legit claimant to the title Best in the World, he's also got Teflon in his DNA.
