A couple weeks ago on Raw, the Undertaker stabbed Brock Lesnar with a pen, choke-slammed him through a table, and left him laying.
No point buying ‘Mania. Lesnar looked impotent. ‘Taker has nothing to seek revenge for. What happened should be the feud’s blow-off, not its beginning.
Last week on Raw, ‘Taker wasn’t there. So Mark Henry was his surrogate. Lesnar got his heat back by beating up somebody else. Not ‘Taker, but somebody else. Somebody else he’d previously beaten up, and badly. That’s what happens when part-timers get to dictate their schedules. You can’t build via absentee ballot.
‘Taker is really showing his age. He looks bad. Get a wig. ‘Taker won’t sell, not even for the former UFC world champion. Not even for the real fighter.
‘Taker comes back for ‘Mania. The streak continues like it should. Perhaps any match preceded by any buildup is enough. It’s booking by rote. But it’s not nearly as good as it should be. It stinks. It’s lazy. It’s incomplete. It’s booked at the convenience of two semi-interested parties, not by a logical timetable.
It makes zero sense. But…
‘Taker goes to 22-0. The fans pop. Lesnar gets big cash by way of allowing WWE to prove that their guys can beat up the UFC guy. Lesnar doesn’t care. Maybe the match will be epic, but probably not. Doesn’t matter. I don’t care about it.
It’s absolutely minimal effort on everyone’s part. Minimal effort for one of the main events on WWE’s signature show. That’s the best WWE can do.
Last week’s Raw was excellent, however. Every nuance was calculated because WWE was afraid of pro-C.M. Punk sentiment hijacking the show. So WWE used timing, Paul Heyman, The Shield and the Wyatts, and the inner mark living deep inside the Chicago crowd to serve up a brilliant psychological maelstrom. WWE hijacked the hijack. Too bad WWE doesn’t feel threatened every week.
If ‘Taker is 21-0 at WrestleMania, how come Shawn Michaels is Mr. WrestleMania?
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