‘Harsh Reality’: 6 Truths that WWE fans find hard to swallow

When there is an elephant in the room, wrestling fans are quick to jeer and call it out the second they see it, pointing and calling attention to it; that is, if it is something they dislike.

When they like it on the other hand, all rules go by the wayside and any failure on the part of the competitor they love is swept under the rug and the flaws of others seem to be accentuated and blamed for the superstars failure, as if they could do no wrong and are infallible in a sport where mistakes could make or break a superstar at any given moment, whether it is an in ring faux pas or some other area they are sorely lacking in. Whether we want to face these facts or not…the truth of the matter is they are very real and need to be addressed. Here are six truths that WWE fans tend to ignore in lieu of their fandom.

1) Roman Reigns can have good matches

While being one of WWE universe’s favorite superstars to boo and jeer, Roman Reigns has caught an unfair amount of heat for his in ring work. While I admit, Roman is limited and sticks to his usual arsenal of moves and holds, the fact that the WWE universe continues to ignore is that Roman has been in some incredible matches and has the ability to perform when he has the right person to work with. His matchup with AJ Styles at Payback last year was a candidate for “Match of the Year”, He has had solid programs with Rusev, Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt and even though he isn’t the most technically sound guy, I feel he catches an unfair amount of criticism for simply being the “least” talented guy in “The Shield”, rather than being praised for what he does correctly outside of it. Whether or not the fans will ever warm up to Roman is another story, but at least give the man his due on being part of some amazing contests as he far from being the worst performer the WWE has ever had to offer.

2) Bayley is absolutely terrible at cutting promos

This one hurt me to write, but someone had to say it. After a cringe worthy promo full of her “freestyle” poetry aimed at Charlotte Flair, I knew that I had no choice but to take the “rabid dog” that is Bayley’s limited promo ability, take it behind the house and fire a bullet into its head. Her promos constantly sound like she is reading a book report in front of a classroom, which ironically enough, is the subject of the best promo she has ever cut.

Bayley is believable in a sense that she was once just a fan, plucked from obscurity and the first time they had her read a report she wrote as a child about aspiring to be a WWE superstar, I was teary eyed with the best of them, but as they recycle the same notion of Bayley being a fan first and an unlikely underdog as they regurgitate the same Daniel Bryan storyline in the Women’s division, it starts becoming less and less believable, especially in the way that Bayley spews promos without belief or conviction. When Bayley gets a little heated, she becomes more clear and her sentences start to sound more believable, which I do see as a tremendous upside going forward, as all of this will likely culminate in a moment where she has “had enough” and topples “Goliath” in the “David” role, complete with the fire she needs when the microphone meets her hand. I still love you Bayley, I promise.

3) John Cena is not “burying” anybody on purpose

In the past, this claim holds water as more than one superstar has spoken out on various decisions made regarding John Cena. Whether it was “burying” Nexus, his real life fling with Mickie James that led to Kenny Dykstra’s supposed release or one of the many other Cena stories of legend, the fact of the matter is John Cena is not continuing to lobby for the burial of your favorite superstars. If anything, Cena has put over more superstars in recent memory than he has “buried”. In the past two years, Cena has lost cleanly to Kevin Owens, Alberto Del Rio, Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles during his “part time” excursions between acting and wrestling, as well as having formidable matches against guys like Bray Wyatt, Rusev and Sami Zayn, helping to raise their stock, even though Cena came out on top in their feuds or in their matches.

Wrestling fans are sometimes a fickle beast and need to understand that not everybody is going to come in and score a victory over WWE’s favorite son right away, sometimes they have to lose to continue making Cena a respectable opponent for anyone. If he starts losing every bout ala Chuck Liddell, his stock plummets and becomes a meaningless victory on the resume of a young upstarts looking for a better position, making it seem that it was an easy victory against an aging veteran whose best years are behind him. Whether you believe it or not, John Cena is not here to “bury” everybody, especially near the end of his storied career. Be rational. On a recent episode of “Talk is Jericho”, even Jericho states “There is no such thing as burying anybody…Vince has the final say on every outcome.”

4) CM Punk is probably never coming back

Most of the wrestling world still views Punk as I once did. He is a talented competitor and was an amazing WWE champion who never got his just due from the WWE, always treated like a secondary piece amongst the John Cena’s and Triple H’s of the company. Yes, this I agree with. What I don’t agree with is the WWE universe continuously clamoring for a guy who has no interest in coming back and who has taken it upon himself to go out of his way to degrade a sport that has made him a millionaire. On countless occasions, Punk has stated that he was tired of being a “Fake Wrestler” and slapped the hard work and lineage of great men and women who have sacrificed so much for the sport across their collective face. Aside from that, his need to continue taking shots at WWE and superstars he dislikes is not only juvenile but transparent in his motives. Yes Punk, we all realize you weren’t given every opportunity you deserved, but neither have countless others who stayed the course and finished what they started rather than taking their ball and leaving the game abruptly. Between his incessant need to bash his former employer and his rate of losing one friend per week, its puzzling to me how many fans won’t open up their eyes and see that CM Punk may no longer be a good thing for the sport of professional wrestling.

I would love to be wrong on this one and have him return with a better attitude, but odds are it will take another 2 minute UFC humbling and a couple of years of stewing before its even a possibility, therefore we should probably just move on with our lives and stop beating this current dead horse into a puddle.

5) Seth Rollins needs to turn heel again

From being the big mouthed, under your skin, heavyweight champion, to turning into a baby face who has fallen almost completely out of focus, Seth Rollins has had a tumultuous few months since his return from injury. He won the world title from Roman Reigns in his first PPV match back, only to lose it to Dean Ambrose via the “Cash in” minutes later and since then, the spiral has continued downward as Rollins has taken heat for Finn Balor’s injury after already taken heat for being the man who broke John Cena’s nose and for tossing the icon Sting into the turnbuckle, back first, ending his WWE career as quick as it started.

As a heel, Rollins was at the top of his game. While I feel two of the three injuries weren’t Rollins fault, WWE is missing an opportunity to use this to Rollins advantage, much like Paul Heyman did with Chris Benoit in ECW when he accidentally hurt Sabu, creating “the crippler” moniker in the process. Currently he is in the title hunt, but has been on the losing end a few too many times. His current program they are setting up with Triple H could bring him some much needed clout, but in the meantime as he continues palling around with Reigns, losing to Owens, and playing the “hero” the fans will be sour at believing his ascent as a viable option. Turn heel, Seth…sooner rather than later.  

6) Not every situation can be a “home run”

Much like any other sport or movie, there is always going to be an off day or a story that takes much more work to put over than others. Fans need to learn that you can’t always correct something overnight, sometimes it could take months and months of building and storyline development to work. I see a lot of pompous, arrogant posts about who should have the title and why but what is never considered is the formula for how to get there and alternatively, where to go with it once it happens, case in point, everyone who was up in arms for Dean Ambrose to be heavyweight champion. While Dean was deserving of a reign, AJ Styles made more sense, therefore the “transitional champion” role made more sense in the long run as fans seem more interested in Styles, who was NOT the champion than they were Dean, who was. Dean’s reign was short and mostly forgettable and can be boldly circled when fans continue saying Nakamura or Sami Zayn should be champion right now, at this very moment.

Giving someone the belt to early can be damning and ruin better opportunities in the long run. What fans never keep in mind is that while they are of the type who have been watching for years, many others are simply new to the experience, often casual wrestling fans or former wrestling fans with children who have started watching, and as much as it sucks for us who enjoy the wrestling aspect first, the champion of the promotion has to resonate with everyone watching, not limiting the audience to the wrestling elitists who think they have a formula to make the WWE the greatest company on earth, when in reality, some of those decisions would lose the company millions of dollars in revenue and could tank a few careers in the process.

I definitely see some snarky comments and harsh words in my future and I welcome you with open arms. Please be sure you send all harassment to me for this post via @NicholasGrooms on twitter or if you like what you are reading please be sure to follow @FightBooth and @Wrestling Desk as well. Remember fans, it is all in good fun and I wanted to turn heel for a day.