Post by rnrk supports BLM on Apr 1, 2012 21:58:15 GMT -5
...was that it didn't beat Diesel/Backlund's record.
Honestly, to everyone who's followed Daniel Bryan's career since RoH or before, to everyone who knows what "workrate" is and watches pro wrestling for it, Wrestlemania isn't for you. Wrestlemania has NEVER been for you. Wrestlemania has always been the show where WWE pulls out all the stops in promotion with celebrities and mainstream attention in order to draw in people who aren't already obsessively following pro wrestling.
WWE already has you reeled in. They'll always periodically throw you bones, and tonight's was Punk/Jericho, but unless there's some massive shift in demographics, the product will never be built primarily around targeting you.
If you want to see an excellent Daniel Bryan/Sheamus world title match, you can buy Extreme Rules. And they're counting on people like you to buy Extreme Rules, because the casual fans sure as hell don't going to give a shit about WWE's minor monthly PPVs.
Tonight's WHC match was about Sheamus, the way they've been intending it to be for a very long time (since Summerslam at least, I imagine), because he's a guy who they see as a long-term prospect to get over with non-diehard fans. The only question was who would be tasked with helping him look his best tonight, and how.
The plan was probably for it to be Mark Henry. The booking over the last summer certainly seemed to be pointing in that direction. For whatever reasons, likely stemming from Mark's injuries, that didn't happen. Slotting Bryan in would always be a tough sell, because he doesn't (and can't) come across as the same sort of unstoppable, vicious beast. They had to do SOMETHING to make beating him look like a big deal; and no, putting on a "good match" by smark standards isn't that, because the niche of people who give a damn about "good matches" isn't what WWE is going after, and for good reason.
So tonight Bryan played Honky Tonk Man, getting annihilated by the (Celtic) Warrior. And making it that far at all is very good for a guy with his set of talents.
Honestly, to everyone who's followed Daniel Bryan's career since RoH or before, to everyone who knows what "workrate" is and watches pro wrestling for it, Wrestlemania isn't for you. Wrestlemania has NEVER been for you. Wrestlemania has always been the show where WWE pulls out all the stops in promotion with celebrities and mainstream attention in order to draw in people who aren't already obsessively following pro wrestling.
WWE already has you reeled in. They'll always periodically throw you bones, and tonight's was Punk/Jericho, but unless there's some massive shift in demographics, the product will never be built primarily around targeting you.
If you want to see an excellent Daniel Bryan/Sheamus world title match, you can buy Extreme Rules. And they're counting on people like you to buy Extreme Rules, because the casual fans sure as hell don't going to give a shit about WWE's minor monthly PPVs.
Tonight's WHC match was about Sheamus, the way they've been intending it to be for a very long time (since Summerslam at least, I imagine), because he's a guy who they see as a long-term prospect to get over with non-diehard fans. The only question was who would be tasked with helping him look his best tonight, and how.
The plan was probably for it to be Mark Henry. The booking over the last summer certainly seemed to be pointing in that direction. For whatever reasons, likely stemming from Mark's injuries, that didn't happen. Slotting Bryan in would always be a tough sell, because he doesn't (and can't) come across as the same sort of unstoppable, vicious beast. They had to do SOMETHING to make beating him look like a big deal; and no, putting on a "good match" by smark standards isn't that, because the niche of people who give a damn about "good matches" isn't what WWE is going after, and for good reason.
So tonight Bryan played Honky Tonk Man, getting annihilated by the (Celtic) Warrior. And making it that far at all is very good for a guy with his set of talents.