Originally posted by InVerseWhy did anyone think Bryan had a chance of winning the Rumble?
Because the company should've known the crowd was going reject (almost) anybody who won the Rumble that *wasn't* Bryan...and because Bryan/Lesnar would've been a worthy Mania main event.
Originally posted by Stefonics Normal business people write stories that make audiences want to spend a lot of money. This is not a company run by normal business people.
Normal business people do not book live television events in New England during peak winter storm season.
I'm sure there are many other examples but, for now, I'll just point out your avatar and the organization they're part of.
Originally posted by InVerseWhy did anyone think Bryan had a chance of winning the Rumble?
Because the company should've known the crowd was going reject (almost) anybody who won the Rumble that *wasn't* Bryan...and because Bryan/Lesnar would've been a worthy Mania main event.
Meh, rearranging everything and stopping the build up of someone they had been working on all summer and shifting to an injury prone guy just to appease the worst type of fans is the last thing they should be doing. Look, I like Daniel Bryan but, geez, I'm sure even he'd agree they're not going to drop everything and say "welcome back here's the keys go with it". In fact most people would bitch and moan when that same situation happened with John Cena.
Originally posted by wannaberockstarMeh, rearranging everything and stopping the build up of someone they had been working on all summer and shifting to an injury prone guy just to appease the worst type of fans is the last thing they should be doing. Look, I like Daniel Bryan but, geez, I'm sure even he'd agree they're not going to drop everything and say "welcome back here's the keys go with it". In fact most people would bitch and moan when that same situation happened with John Cena.
Yes, they spent the entire summer building up Roman Reigns, but none of it was working. The crowds weren't buying any of it.
Everyone who supported Daniel Bryan was waiting anxiously for him to come back. A far bigger blunder than last night's booking was even giving Bryan fans hope to begin with. Remember, NO ONE KNEW Bryan was medically cleared until he said so on TV. If they knew they weren't going to have him win the Rumble, they could have saved his return until after the Reigns plan was firmly in place.
I don't see the backlash as so much anti-Reigns or pro-Bryan, but anti-creative. I think people are so sick of business as usual, and once they saw Daniel Bryan get eliminated in such an anti-climatic, mid card filler manner, they turned on the product, not Reigns per se. This is evidenced by the fact that they pretty much booed everyone after the Bryan elimination. The company is creatively bankrupt. You have the top two baby faces getting major heel heat on a nightly basis. Half the heels get baby face reactions now. The few baby faces you have that actually get cheered by the audience are treated like afterthoughts. This company has taken a monopoly in a niche industry during an all time peak of said industry and for the past 15 years posted a steady year after year decline in quality and fan interest. They literally have eroded their own fan base to almost nothing. If I was a shareholder of this company, I'd be calling for a leadership change, no question about it.
If they didn't believe in Bryan potentially being in a top spot again, then...I don't know...don't put him in the Rumble and potentially sabotage the popularity of the guy you WANT to be the top face.
Originally posted by PowerPB13If they didn't believe in Bryan potentially being in a top spot again, then...I don't know...don't put him in the Rumble and potentially sabotage the popularity of the guy you WANT to be the top face.
And after letting Bryan go out on Raw and cut a promo saying he'd win the thing.
Most important item of business - they put the Rock/Reigns promo on YouTube!
They'll put it on RAW tonight at this rate.
Meh, rearranging everything and stopping the build up of someone they had been working on all summer and shifting to an injury prone guy just to appease the worst type of fans is the last thing they should be doing.
This argument would've been better if Reigns just had not come back from injury. Bryan is more of an injury risk going forward, but Reigns momentum hit a brick wall with that injury and all attempts to get him restarted haven't really taken.
I don't see the backlash as so much anti-Reigns or pro-Bryan, but anti-creative. I think people are so sick of business as usual, and once they saw Daniel Bryan get eliminated in such an anti-climatic, mid card filler manner, they turned on the product, not Reigns per se.
YES. I think it's one of a lot of things went on.
1) People like Bryan. That's very nice of them.
2) People like Reigns! Or did before last night! But he hasn't been as good since his return from injury and isn't nearly as over as he was with the Shield. I'm not sure what could be done, but the stuff they were doing wasn't working.
3) A vocal section of the audience is just about hate watching WWE at this point. The last few months have not been good. Outside the title match, this was pretty poor PPV. WWE used up any good feelings with the Authority deal, and they could've really ought to have saved some benefit of the doubt here.
4) The same vocal section gets really angry when they can see the wirework. The WWE (and Vince and HHH especially) have done a lot of talking about how they listen to the fans and fans make the stars. Those fans really want to believe that new kayfabe of making guys and are understandable upset when it turns out to be a work.
5) that Rumble was no good. The crowd turning on that match didn't help for sure, but it was dull as dishwater after Mizdow went out and it wasn't really great before it. If everything happened the same, but it was just somehow Dean Ambrose who won, people would still have a low opinion of the overall match. (Also, we'd be confused why the Rock was hanging out with Dean Ambrose and also the last three months.)
Including Bryan was a bad idea. I think the same reaction might have happened without it. It would have lacked the crystallizing moment of Bryan being thrown out but it's hard to believe Roman would be basked in cheers if everything else still happened.
The only thing I have to add to all the complaints about that hot circle of garbage that was the Rumble is that the fact that when Bubba said, "Truth!" and that Truth didn't reply, "What's up!?" That about says it all. I mean, come on.
Helen Keller was largely useless, and look how we remember her.
Including Bryan was a bad idea. I think the same reaction might have happened without it. It would have lacked the crystallizing moment of Bryan being thrown out but it's hard to believe Roman would be basked in cheers if everything else still happened.
I'm almost certain it would have happened. (Though Meltzer disagrees, fwiw.) With Bryan out, WWE would've spent the month building up Ziggler or Ambrose or both as legitimate contenders to win. The crowd would've adopted those guys. The "crystallizing moment" would've been the instant the last non-Reigns babyface got tossed. Reigns would not necessarily have been dead on arrival, as he was entering after Bryan had been eliminated. But he would've repeatedly been on the wrong end of the "yay/boo" slugfest spot, and he'd be the overwhelming heel in the final 2 against anyone other than Kane, Big Show or Adam Rose.
The "wirework" point is right on the money. That's what people really resent here. I'd wager most people in that crowd actually like Reigns, which doesn't preclude them from booing what he represents.
Originally posted by thecubsfanMost important item of business - they put the Rock/Reigns promo on YouTube!
Watching this now I think Roman looks like a broken overwhelmed shell with no confidence. He doesn't even look sure how to stand next to the guy giving an interview anymore. I feel bad for Roman. I like Roman. He should be some guy's Diesel right now.
That being said I don't have a problem with the backlash, because the company earned every bit of this, but poor Roman is never going to be the same.
I think with all this hullabaloo the thing that is getting most overlooked was that we had the Awesome Truth reunion to start the rumble.
Bryan should of won or Ziggler should of won hands down. The crowds have been very vocal about Bryan and have been getting more vocal for Ziggler. All the via satellite stuttering bad acting from Reigns during his injury barely lit a candle with the live crowds. Vince doesn't listen to us anymore, and I wouldn't be surprised if he had spite for the majority of us casual and hardcore fans. He's just a crazy old millionaire (that should be a billionaire) who feels like this multi-million dollar company is his personal play chest.
SO he does what any kooky Scrooge McDuckian old millionaire would do... fuck with people to see how much he can get away with until he dies or faces bankruptcy. We are pawns and always have been.
Oh yeah, If I spent hard-earned money to see a theatrical show I should be leaving happy. Vince and co. knew that Reigns winning wasn't going to be popular which is why we got the live updates of Rock being at Philly and in the building. Rock was hired on for damage control. So the question remains, if this at-one-time wrestling booking genius knew that Reigns winning had a strong possibility of backfiring then why stick with it? If he saw that far into the future he should of called an audible and switched to either Ziggs or Bryan which he could of easily did during the Rumble match itself.
The man is either too stubborn to change with the times and needs to check his ego and step down, or he's too use to having no one tell him "no" all these years and just wants to swim in his money vault all day because he's too wealthy and unchallenged by competition anymore to give a shit.
I freaked out to Bubba "Calfzilla" Dudley returning, DDP Yoga Diamond Cutters to everyone (if ever there was a more necessary time for a certain Legend Killer to show up) and Rollin's debuting a Pheonix Splash so thanks for those moments Rumble.
Cole: "Yeah, thanks to Kane. You should buy Kane a Rolex watch for what he did for you."
Rollins: "Oh don't be silly, Kane doesn't wear watches."
He said "The blood running through these veins family. Family." Was this scripted and he didn't practice or was it thrown together hastily after the reaction to the Rumble?
As someone who hasn't been watching WWE programming, my main reaction to that post-match interview is: when THE HELL did The Rock start talking about himself in the first person? I realize he's not in that persona much anymore, but hearing him say "I'm gonna..." over and over in a WWE context is still really jarring.
Is Bubba Ray back on the roster, or was this a one-time thing? I'm assuming The Boogeyman is a one-time thing, and I'd hate to think that DDP is going to try to wrestle regularly again at his age (although he'd make a great manager, and I certainly wouldn't object to him doing an occasional match on a special occasion).
Originally posted by Peter The HegemonAs someone who hasn't been watching WWE programming, my main reaction to that post-match interview is: when THE HELL did The Rock start talking about himself in the first person? I realize he's not in that persona much anymore, but hearing him say "I'm gonna..." over and over in a WWE context is still really jarring.
Is Bubba Ray back on the roster, or was this a one-time thing? I'm assuming The Boogeyman is a one-time thing, and I'd hate to think that DDP is going to try to wrestle regularly again at his age (although he'd make a great manager, and I certainly wouldn't object to him doing an occasional match on a special occasion).
I think its possible Rock even on TV was an audible during the rumble. I know I saw a ref running down to the ring towards the end and I thought it might be an audible on the end.
Really not sure that interview was scripted at all.
I find all of this hilarious. You know why the WWE can run shows like this? BECAUSE IT CAN! At this point in time, Vince could have Santino Marella read the phonebook for 3 hours and people will still watch. What's a fan to do, watch TNA? ROH? Lucha Underground? 14 years ago, the WWE won the big war and ever since then, they have had carte blanche to do whatever they want. People can get as mad as they want about Daniel Bryan, but there's been 'Daniel Bryans' before and there will be ones after him. There's always going to be an 'internet darling' that a section of the crowd will get behind that get dicked over. And those same vocal people who boo the Cenas of the world will STILL watch over and over again (and pay good money to voice their displeasure). Until that section of the crowd leaves (or people stop watching) shows like this will continue and Vince and Co can pretty much do whatever the heck they want and push whomever they want. As an added bonus, it's not like Daniel Bryan (or Dolph Ziggler or whomever) are jumping ship. Better to be a medium fish in the big pond than a big fish in the puddle.
Kevin Kelly: "Mr. Austin, would you like to comment on Wade Keller's Take that endorsing the XFL hurts your anti-authority character?"
Steve Austin: "Oh shit, he actually said that? I thought the boys in the back were ribbing me!"
Kelly: "No, he really said that. Did they tell you the part about you sitting in the stands, looking all skeptical?"
Austin: "AHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah... oh man that was too much."