International Object

Required reading, as always. I do have a few points that I would have explained a little differently. I will say, my favourite part of this article is when he crammed three footnotes into one sentence., because I’m a footnotes mark and I don’t care who knows it.

In recent years, the winner of the Rumble has earned a title shot a few months later at WrestleMania.

In recent years? I’d almost suggest that it used to be they got title shots. Ever since 2008, all they’ve gotten is a beating.

The Rumble has come to be known for telling career-defining stories — wrestler starts match as one of the first competitors and courageously lasts till the end, or some variation on this theme.

The only time this has really worked is with Flair, because the Rumble was his first real highlight match in WWE and it was an amazing match. Michaels beat a bunch of nobodies, Benoit isn’t someone we can call courageous anymore, and Mysterio’s Rumble win was so telegraphed they main-evented that show with Mark Henry (and not the 2011 Mark Henry).

To play with the crowd’s instincts — turning their welcome-back applause against them — was the most effective way for a star like Jericho to “turn heel” in short order. In fact, he was turning heel in perhaps the most meta way possible: Average fans were largely left perplexed by Jericho’s act, but the “smart” fans on the Internet felt most strongly aggrieved.

In a way, CM Punk opened Pandora’s Box when he ushered in the “Reality Era” a few months ago. Now, thanks to the breathing room he created for acts like Jericho’s and Daniel Bryan’s, Punk’s reality shtick looks almost old-fashioned.

A wrestling show will often swing between favouring “characters” and “real people”, often within the same match. Punk’s character is that of a real person with real issues. Jericho and Clay, meanwhile, are 100% characters right now. It’s interesting to watch the audience swing between preferring one over the other, too.

The fans demand reality, and he peddles a product that’s unapologetically over-the-top; we hail CM Punk, and McMahon counters with Jericho and Clay and the Cena-Kane feud. He’s not trolling us so much as he’s re-exerting control.

I don’t know how much of any of this has been Vince’s decision. And I don’t how how much the fans demand reality. From the reactions to some of these over the top characters, I’d say they just want the show to be a fun thing to watch. And maybe Vince does too.