An interesting observation...

[Shanman]

Born in '91, I've been a WWE fan since before I can remember... VHS tapes of the WWF were clutch for me when I was in Pakistan. One of my earliest memories is at my grandmothers house with yellow boots on, almost crying when the Undertaker tombstoned Hulk Hogan on a chair placed by Ric Flair and "broke" his neck/back... or something silly like that. Someday, I'm going to apply as a television producer/creative writer for the WWE - changed career paths to make that a possibility at some point in my life.

Anyways, back on topic... I've noticed that I've evolved a lot as a fan in regards to the wrestlers I like and the styles that I enjoy most. With this Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena match coming up, I find it really interesting that so many people are genuinely disappointed with Triple H being the special referee. And don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking you... but all I remember is that when I was a kid announcements like that were incredibly exciting. Hearing that Shane McMahon was the special referee for the PPV main event, or that a new stipulation had been added would make the next day at school ultra exciting for discussion. Now, announcements like these are greeted with the reactions of, "ugh, there goes that potentially exciting wrestling match" or "this is pretty much ruined".

Why is this the case? Is it because we've grown to find value in the actual art form as opposed to just the storylines and theatrics? Also, what other things spring to mind as it relates to something you enjoyed as a kid but would prefer not to see in wrestling anymore?

[Urethra Franklin]

Well, in this case, it's because there's absolutely no need for any involvement from anybody outside of Daniel Bryan and John Cena.

The build-up is simple: John Cena is the 11-time WWE Champion and golden boy of the company. Daniel Bryan is an undersized, indie darling whose career, thus far in the WWE has far exceeded anybody's expectations.

Right now, Bryan is the hottest act in the company and the fans love him. Can this underdog dethrone the seemingly unstoppable champion?

That is ALL you need for this feud. Anything else detracts from it, let alone this McMahons/HHH masturbatory nonsense we're being subjected to.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

I mentioned this in another thread that this match to me is starting to resemble the Over The Edge 1998 title match between Steve Austin and Dude Love with all the outside elements at play (although Austin never had to worry about the possibility of Ken Shamrock cashing in Money In The Bank on him at any moment), and I often see that match and all its overbooked craziness touted as one of the better matches of The Attitude Era... But therein lies the issue for many people. That was 15 years ago.

I'm sure younger fans today will see this Cena/Bryan match and all the possible involvement from Vince/Trips/Maddox/Orton and be beside themselves with hype about how unpredictable it could be, but for many here it's just old hat and taking the spotlight away from two of the best wrestlers in the world.

[Bo Rida]

Yeah in addition to that Dude Love match Foley and Eddie's first title wins were both enhanced by outside interference and Punk's MitB title win was helped by Vince's involvement.
The trouble is for every example where such stipulations and outside elements were handled well there's
four more where it was just an unsatisfying or confusing clusterf***.

On top of that the match loses a lot of drama until the last third of the match as everybody is just waiting for the shenanigans to begin, one of the many issues with HHH vs Orton at WM was that everybody was expecting run-ins that never came. The situation being similar to the Punk and Foley examples I used earlier doesn't help matters as it's something we've seen before.

Finally this was a fresh match-up that sold itself so probably didn't need the extra elements in the first place.

[Deleted]

It's less about there being a special ref and more about there being more tired, played out McMahon family drama for me.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

To me, it seems like they could make money presenting Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena 1 on 1, no frills, no extras, because they already have what they need for the big match feel at Summerslam. Once we've seen that and they need something else down the road, then they can add Triple H as a referee and have all this McMahon stuff to prop up John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan II and make even more money on one of those random fall PPVs that usually no one cares about.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I think it's largely because it's unnecessary. Bryan/Cena sells itself. If, for example, the match had a dusty finish and THEN the McMahons wanted to join in that'd be fine.

Honestly this might have been enough build had there been a wider gap between PPVs.