Why Extreme Rules Matters More Than You Think

IMAGE CREDIT: WWE.com

Extreme Rules 2013 is an important pay-per-view, even if it doesn't look like one. It's the night where WWE's choices decide whether we dip into another post-Mania lull, or the show gathers steam and creates a buzz. That all rests on which direction WWE takes three key stories;

Ryback:
This is a make or break pay-per-view for Ryback, in my opinion. WWE have to put the WWE Championship on him. And it would seem, evidenced by the fact that WWE have played up John Cena's ankle injury to the last minute, that the company are setting things up that way. Cena can never just lose. There has to be an asterisk attached somewhere. Not that that matters much, as long as Ryback leaves with the WWE Championship. His character needs that to justify the heel turn, and the amount of attention he's had.

Moreover, he needs it to revive his character. He's not exactly the hot topic he was back in October, when it would've been more timely to put the Title on him. Extenuating circumstances prevented it then. But they have to do it now. However, even if they do, it needs to be asked whether it's too little, too late. Has the time come and gone for Ryback winning the Title to be most effective? And if so, how does that affect him going forward? 

The Shield:
The Shield look set to make a clean sweep of the Titles. At least, they should. It's the next logical progression for the group who has beaten everybody to now have a bit of gold around their waists. But we must remember that we are talking about the United States and Tag Team Titles, and it's still the case that neither means much.

Team Hell No have been fantastic together, but they've eclipsed the fact that they wear the big pennies. Your first thought isn't “champions”, it's “entertaining and at times completely adoreable pairing which should never have worked but did and it's amazing”. And even though Team Hell No were the best choice to start building a division around, there's still no division to speak of, which is how and why they eclipsed the titles. What good is being champion of a division filled with wishy washy contenders?

As for the United States Title, it's a joke. A token belt for mid carders, and something for Kofi Kingston to carry around every few months.

Regardless, The Shield should take both Titles. It's only logical, and it can only help those Titles to be associated with three of the most prominent and well protected characters in the entire company.  

Brock Lesnar:
Brock Lesnar and Triple H have their rubber match inside a Steel Cage. I'm hoping that, like with Cena, the Cage is there to soften the WWE percieved blow of a Triple H loss. The stupid thing about WWE is that they're eager to protect those who don't need it, but fail to protect those who do. In an odd way, Lesnar needs protection. He should be protected from looking too weak and from losing until WWE finds the right guy to beat him.

Obviously, it's too late for Lesnar to be unbeaten. He's already lost to Cena and Triple H. But WWE can still do some kind of damage control by having Lesnar beat Triple H. At least it's some momentum for him, even if his entire WWE run (minus SummerSlam) has been mishandled.

This doesn't even factor in that it's possible these things won't happen. After all, WWE love to have John Cena overcome the odds, and to beat Ryback in a Last Man Standing match with a bad ankle might be too much for WWE to resist. And while The Shield have been protected almost perfectly as a group, WWE are hinting at the fact that they're not so clever divided. As for Lesnar vs Triple H, do I even need to explain to you why it's possible Triple H will win?

What WWE does at and after Extreme Rules decides whether we hit a lull or not. If Cena “overcomes the odds” again, Shield lose because they don't have “the numbers game”, and Triple H wins because he's Triple H, we'll hit that lull. The show will have no steam and nowhere to go. But if Ryback becomes WWE Champion, Shield sweep up the mid-card Titles and Brock Lesnar decimates Triple H inside a Steel Cage, then we're talking about something else entirely.

Debunking The Other Side of the Aries/Hemme Debate

IMAGE CREDIT: ImpactWrestling.com

The Austin Aries/Christy Hemme issue has people divided, but I don't see how. Did we not all watch the same thing? Did we not all see a guy trap a woman in the corner and stick his crotch in her face because she made a mistake at her job? It's incredible to me that there's anyone on the other side. How can you excuse that?

The excuses which are being given for Aries range from pathetic to frightening.

Some are saying that Hemme “deserves it” because she dresses provocatively. This is the same argument about girls who dress provocatively on a night out. People say they're “asking for it” if they dress like that. On a broad note: I don't care how ANY woman dresses, it's no excuse to take advantage of them. And case specific, I don't see what how Hemme dresses has anything to do with what Aries did.

The other excuse is that “he didn't touch her.” People saying this are completely missing the point. It doesn't matter if he touched her. He trapped her in a corner and stuck his crotch inches from her face while she flinched, clearly uncomfortable with it. Read that to yourself again until you see why it's completely irrelevant whether he fucking touched her or not.

The most frequent excuse, though, is that Aries was playing up to the fact that he's a villain. This is where people are confusing what's art and what isn't. If that was Impact's way of planting a seed for a story in which Aries is a jerk to women, is vilified for it and at a later date gets comeuppance, then we can excuse it. Because at that point Impact are telling a story, and a worthwhile one at that.

But in this scenario, it was Aries punishing Hemme for making a mistake. A guy going too far. How can I be so sure? Because a Spike TV executive had to step in and smooth things over. And Impact has put up no defence for Aries' actions. If it WAS part of a narrative, if there was a reason for that, the smart thing to do would've been to mention it at some point before now. Like what WWE did when the Zeb Colter thing blew up. No such luck, unfortunately. I'm sincere about the unfortunately part. I WISH this was part of a story. But again, we all saw the same thing.

One website has approached me to have a discussion about this on a podcast. I'm flattered that anyone cares what I think. But, honestly, the idea that I have to explain why it was wrong that a male wrestler stuck his crotch in the face of a female co-worker, as part of an unscripted incident, which his superiors had to apologize about, worries me deeply.

To everyone who's arguing with me and people who share my view point, I can only say this: please re-think your position. Surely you can see what's wrong here. Surely you can see that this wasn't a planned incident. Surely you can see a blatant lack of morality, consideration and professionalism in what Aries did. Surely you can see that this goes beyond “TV villain does bad thing to get a rise out of us”. Just look at what's in front of you. Why this is wrong is at your fingertips. Hell, I've just told you. If you honestly still can't see why this is all wrong, I don't know what else to say to you besides that I'm deeply concerned by your moral code.

Unless something new comes up about this, I won't be mentioning it again. I've got nothing more to say without repeating myself. Aries was wrong, his actions were indefensible and the fact that he's being punished for what he did proves that point. End of story.

Make 'Em Learn the Hard Way

This is a truly fantastic piece, but I think TH hits the nail on the head particularly well with this in his closing paragraph (link is in the title):

People shouldn't have to feel ashamed of who they are to live in every day society. I'm sorry if you're among the people who can't deal with that, but you know what, you're the dinosaurs here. If you can't make your stupid, backwards opinions extinct, then you have no place moving forward. Wrestling is totally part of that movement, whether you like it or not.

Why is it so difficult for everyone to have this kind of attitude?

Guest Post: No Excuses for Austin Aries

IMAGE CREDIT: ImpactWrestling.com

I’m one of those oddities often called the “female wrestling fan.” Despite numerous ups and downs, I’ve been this way for years. In my 29 years of life, nothing makes me happier than sitting down in front of my laptop and watching wrestling clips on YouTube, or reading and discussing wrestling with my friends or having PPV parties. Wrestling, good and bad, is a large part of my life.

No matter how many times my husband rolls his eyes when he sees me watching a wrestling documentary on Netflix, or when I play hours upon hours of WWE 13, I’m a fan for life. In my long years of fandom, I've seen some of the worst moments that this industry has to offer, and if those things couldn’t make me stop, I doubt that there’s anything that can get to me.

Oh wait, yes there is.

This whole Austin Aries/Christy Hemme ordeal bought back some particularly ugly memories for me. I'm going to share a deeply personal thing that happened to me with all of you in the hopes that after you've read this, you might better understand Christy's position.

Spike TV exec confirms that Austin Aries will be punished

(Link in the title.) Good. I'm glad someone is doing something.

Raw Random Ramblings (May 13, 2013): It's Not Me, It's You... Or Is It Me?

IMAGE CREDIT: WWE.com

We seem to have slipped into something resembling a lull. But, what's weird about this lull is that, taken at face value, the product is actually in an exciting place. On the face of it, everything looks exciting. But in reality, it should be more exciting than it feels.

Firstly, The Shield are all-but running the shop. They are the thing about WWE right now. So why doesn't it feel as exciting as it should? Don't get me wrong, I'm not moaning about anything. I love The Shield. Dean Ambrose in particular is amazing, but it's great to see how far they've all come together. That said, it's just not quite where it ought be. Perhaps it's a calm before the storm thing. Not to say that they've been treading water for a while, but their forward progression has been less microwave zapped than it has oven roasted, if you get what I mean.

The last few months, they've kind of been doing the same thing in different packaging on repeat. That's fine. There's no need to rush. But I think it's getting to the point where they need to do something other than attack people and win six man tag team matches. It's started to start, but it hasn't really started. Extreme Rules seems to be the place where it really kicks in. At least, that's the impression we're getting. But only if certain things happen.

Ryback's heel turn has done it's job; it's filled the void of CM Punk's absence, and given John Cena something fresh to play with. But I feel like WWE expected it to be much bigger than this. They expected us to care more than we do. Almost as if they're trying to recreate last Autumn, where Ryback was the hottest act around, and they figured that turning him heel would put them back there. If it sounds familiar, it happened three years ago with Batista. But Batista pulled it off much better. Batista made it work.

As for Ryback, his turn and the feud with Cena should be exciting, but it's fallen a bit short of expectation. Both ours and theirs. The WWE Championship seems like the answer to that, but will WWE do it? Has the moment where putting the Title on Ryback would've helped come and gone? And if the answer is yes, what do WWE do with Ryback?

Dolph Ziggler is World Heavyweight Champion, and like with The Shield, I'm not complaining. It's fantastic. The moment he captured the Title was unforgettable. But the reign definitely hasn't hit it's stride yet. His injury won't help that.

And to be honest, sometimes I struggle to see the difference between World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler and United States Champion Dolph Ziggler.

Mark Henry is still the best he's ever been. But he's a heel, which means he has to be one-upped at almost every turn by the babyface, who in this instance is the increasingly infuriating Sheamus. Henry is never allowed to be what he is for any significant length of time. The only things which would remedy that are, 1. a complete overhaul in how WWE books its feuds in general, or 2. a babyface turn. The former ain't happening, and the latter makes no sense. Henry could be lighting the world on fire right now, and he should be involved in the Ryback-Cena thing. But he's not, and thus Henry's ongoing renaissance isn't quite what it could be.

Fandango? See Ryback.

And don't even talk to me about Brock Lesnar's WWE run. His face is in the dictionary next to the definition of “not what it could've been”.

Don't get any of this wrong: I'm not saying WWE's current product is a bad one. It's not. But it's also not quite what it looks like it should be. Almost like WWE know what they're after, but haven't figured out how to get it there yet. Or maybe they don't know how to get it there at all.

Extreme Rules should be the answer to that, but it depends on WWE. In theory it's the pay-per-view where all these plot lines hit their stride. But there are decisions which need to be taken for that to happen. Some of which seem certain, like Shield making a clean sweep of the Titles. And others which aren't as certain but are a must given the circumstances, like Ryback becoming WWE Champion.

Whether we stay in this odd lull or the product matches the potential on the face of it is really up to how brave (and generous) WWE are feeling on Sunday night.

Ryback The Talker: A Square Peg in a Round Hole

IMAGE CREDIT: WWE.com

We can all sit there and armchair book. If I'd had it my way, Ryback wouldn't have challenged anybody for the WWE Championship until WWE were ready to put it on him. And that would've been after months of gradual progression, beating everyone in his way, each opponent slightly more challenging than the last. But that didn't happen. They pushed him in too quickly, and as a result of him having to lose because of the direction of CM Punk's Title reign, his character quickly started losing steam.

The only option WWE had left to salvage what was left of the character was to turn him heel. The turn couldn't come quickly enough, with CM Punk out of the picture for a while and John Cena needing fresh meat for the next few months as the newly-minted champion. And though he's hardly setting the world on fire, the heel turn has accomplished what it was there for. It's put Ryback back in a position of relevance, and bided WWE some time until they can get CM Punk back on the road to help Cena carry the show week-to-week.

But they've been getting him to talk way too much, and it's the only real problem I have with heel Ryback. Whether we like comparisons or not, the thing that made Ryback fun to watch was the same thing which made Goldberg fun to watch. He came out, destroyed someone, and left. In the time between coming from the locker room and going back to it, he didn't say much, if anything at all.

In the land of WWE, everybody talks. Or, everybody who WWE even remotely cares about gets to talk. But especially if you're in the main event, you're going to be talking. And that's fine. I get it. The trouble with it is that, a) it doesn't suit every character to get microphone time every week, or twice a week, and b) not everyone can talk very well.

Ryback fits into both of those categories. His character not only works best when he arrives, destroys and leaves, but he really isn't very good with  a live mike in his hand, if we're absolutely honest. And for WWE to insist on him talking so damn much is like cramming a square peg in a round hole, if you'll excuse the cliché.

I understand that WWE wants main event guys to be able to exchange promos, but in this case, it kills what makes Ryback unique. A guy like him, much in the same vain as Brock Lesnar, shouldn't be yabbering every week. He doesn't need to. Look at him. We all know what he wants to do: hurt people and win. That's it. But, funny we should mention Brock Lesnar. He doesn't talk much either. That's not an accident. He was Ryback before Ryback; not only does it not suit Lesnar's character to talk too much, he ain't great at it when he does either. Which is why WWE are smart enough to keep Paul Heyman around for Lesnar.

And if they're smart, WWE will pair Ryback up with someone who can talk. It doesn't have to be Heyman, though Heyman's the best of the bunch. But if WWE want Ryback to truly be the guy rubbing shoulders with CM Punk and John Cena, they need to hide his weakness. That is, he needs to shut up and let someone who's good at talking talk for him. It's what Paul Heyman has always preached: accentuate the positive, hide the negative.

Talking is crippling Ryback, and because WWE need Ryback where he is, it's a flaw which needs to be hidden for the time being.