Enough of Steph and Hunter's facade

[Deleted]

They're getting into Eric Bischoff territory with the insincere babyface act that no one has bought for a month now. I get that they're trying to walk a line and it has been working to an extent, but it's to the point now where I tune them out when they start speaking because it boils down to "blah blah blah we're being fair OH WAIT here we'll stick it to you now, hehheh". It's very repetitive and makes most of what they say worthless, which amounts to both pretty much chewing the scenery until they get to the part with some substance. It's like a long set up for a predictable punchline.

[BigWill]

I like it.

It makes them come across as even bigger heel than if they were to just act straight up evil instead.

[Allie Kitsune]

I feel like it's a more realistic approach, honestly.

When your bosses are annoyed with you, they don't instantly go into "Oh, screw you, I'm reprimanding and disciplining you to the fullest extent!" mode right away.

[grunt]

Oct 1, 2013 11:59:59 GMT -5 @lovehater said:

They're getting into Eric Bischoff territory with the insincere babyface act that no one has bought for a month now. I get that they're trying to walk a line and it has been working to an extent, but it's to the point now where I tune them out when they start speaking because it boils down to "blah blah blah we're being fair OH WAIT here we'll stick it to you now, hehheh". It's very repetitive and makes most of what they say worthless, which amounts to both pretty much chewing the scenery until they get to the part with some substance. It's like a long set up for a predictable punchline.

Same here. They managed to make me not care much anymore for a D-Bryan main event championship storyline, which is a feat in and of itself.

[Deleted]

Oct 1, 2013 12:08:40 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

I feel like it's a more realistic approach, honestly.

When your bosses are annoyed with you, they don't instantly go into "Oh, screw you, I'm reprimanding and disciplining you to the fullest extent!" mode right away.

Who wants to see a realistic boss from a regular job on a wrestlng show though? I get that all day.

This would be working better for me if Trips hadn't already gone full heel by Pedigreeing Bryan and taking the belt from him. It worked for Vince because it was subtle, he didn't start off by just screwing people over, he got pushed over the edge and became the most evil bastard on the planet.

At this point, we know they're the bad guys, the narrative has shown it time and time again, every week. It's like their characters are supposed to be trying to maintain a moral high road, but their heeish actions are too blatant for it to work.

[Hit Girl]

They are kinda sympathetic to me.

I don't mind them bullying the Big Show, because he's a big dumb idiot who probably deserves it. Nor do I mind them encouraging Orton to give Miz a savage beating, because I hate Miz and he's a douche. They gave Cody a fair shot and he lost clean. They gave Goldust a fair shot and he lost clean too. They gave Dusty a fair choice (he should have picked Cody) but he mouthed off instead.

And the more Brie is involved in the Daniel Bryan storyline, the less support I feel for him.

[Lancers]

Oct 1, 2013 13:56:40 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

They are kinda sympathetic to me.

I don't mind them bullying the Big Show, because he's a big dumb idiot who probably deserves it. Nor do I mind them encouraging Orton to give Miz a savage beating, because I hate Miz and he's a douche. They gave Cody a fair shot and he lost clean. They gave Goldust a fair shot and he lost clean too. They gave Dusty a fair choice (he should have picked Cody) but he mouthed off instead.

And the more Brie is involved in the Daniel Bryan storyline, the less support I feel for him.

Yeah, when you put it into perspective, they really aren't the bad guys. Don't forget they forced Heyman to have to fight Punk when Heyman tried faking an injury.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

They're evil to me because they're burying Miz.

[Deleted]

I agree, in a way.

HHH/Steph could stand to keep up this whole "we're not evil, we're making tough choices" stuff, but the rest roster has to be more vocal about much they don't like it and how HHH/Steph are out of touch - stuff like that.

When it comes to talking segments, the show is 80% Steph and Trips with very little rebuttal from the roster. We need to hear more from the wrestlers to give the story more weight. If WWE's trying to draw a parallel to what people experience in their day jobs, then we need to see it more from the POV of the workers, not the bosses.

Sometimes I feel like this whole damn "Best of Business" storyline has felt like one long slow burn of an advertisement for HHH's DVD.

[Old Jack Burton]

It's pretty boring and repetitive. And most of HHH and Steph's "points" are so transparent and easily refuted it's laughable. There's no real nuance to what they're doing.


I still like seeing McMahon-Helmsley era 2.0, but they've got to cut out a lot of the ham, and move forward with just being pure evil.

[Deleted]

They do need to go full on dictatorship soon, but what they're really lacking is leather caps. It's not a McMahon/Helmsley regime till they start wearing an unreasonable amount of leather. Till then, I'll continue to enjoy their condescending asshole nature.

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

The reason their insincerity works so well is because not only does no one buy it, but also because WWE doesn't want us to buy it either. Cole and King, the face announcers, pretty much dictate who's got the moral high ground in angles- and they're constantly reiterating how full of shit and unfair HHH and Steph are, with JBL playing a more clear cut heel commentator than he has in years.

I like Mr McMahon's "it's good to be bad" antics as much as anybody, but the Levesques are just working a different style of heeling, and quite well IMO. There's not much need for them at this point to start stomping their feet and screaming "SCREW YOU IDIOTS" at the crowd just yet- the pressure from the babyfaces needs to get to them a little more before that.

[Deleted]

Oct 1, 2013 16:11:57 GMT -5 @conebone69 said:

Eric Bischoff would get his at the end though. That's what made his character work. Does anyone think HHH or especially Stephanie will get any sort of comeuppance out of this? HHH rarely makes himself look bad, and Stephanie is worse than HHH in that regard. That's probably why Orton exists; to be the punching bag that neither HHH or Stephanie want to be.

That's the one nagging question that's been in the back of my mind in the whole thing; the only way this really works is if Hunner and Stephanie get their due. It's not even a matter of them getting their asses kicked, though the Divas should be able to go in on Stephanie but that probably isn't happening. Their downfall has to be embarrassing and memorable to be satisfying.

I'm talking Stephanie begging and pleading not to be kicked out of the building as security hauls her off because she lost at Survivor Series or Eric Bischoff being put through "Wrestler's Court" where all his misdeeds were thrown back into his face, then got fired on national television then tossed into a dump truck.

I'm talking that type of shit.
It's gotta happen and they have to be away for a long enough time to where it also feels satisfying. Really, they're never going to be off television forever, but they've got to be gone long enough to where them not being on the show every week is the status quo.

And I think Hunner's facade works here.
It makes it more noticeable when he drops it and puts bass in his voice while he goes full-on mob boss on someone, like he did when Edge was on Raw talking shit.

I actually appreciate the fact Stephanie is the one who is slightly-more openly antagonistic than Hunner, but that just could be because Hunner's default is "condescending" and at least when Steph was a face she could dial it back slightly.

[Deleted]

Oct 1, 2013 16:03:52 GMT -5 BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps said:

The reason their insincerity works so well is because not only does no one buy it, but also because WWE doesn't want us to buy it either. Cole and King, the face announcers, pretty much dictate who's got the moral high ground in angles- and they're constantly reiterating how full of shit and unfair HHH and Steph are, with JBL playing a more clear cut heel commentator than he has in years.

I like Mr McMahon's "it's good to be bad" antics as much as anybody, but the Levesques are just working a different style of heeling, and quite well IMO. There's not much need for them at this point to start stomping their feet and screaming "SCREW YOU IDIOTS" at the crowd just yet- the pressure from the babyfaces needs to get to them a little more before that.

I'd say the pressure from the babyfaces needs to amp up a little bit. The Hunters playing the smarmy Bischoff-type seems to dupe the faces into a false sense of security sometimes. They need to be more skeptical and more pro-active in terms of changing things. I see that they're doing a different kind of a heel, but the desired reaction isn't eye-rolling boredom, is it? It shouldn't be, but that's how I'm starting to feel. They can still be distant and not overly angry and vengeful, but spending 3/4 of the promo trying to lull us and the wrestlers into thinking they're being fair just seems like pointless drivel since they've already completely altered the WWE title lineage, fired an up and coming babyface for no reason, and forced Big Show to punch out a Hall of Famer. I know it's not supposed to be working on us, but then my point is why do it? It's just boring. And as others have said, the wrestlers need to get more mic time to tear apart their long-winded points, instead of just getting an obligatory line in that Hunter/Steph just smirk at and laugh off.

[Friday Night SmackOwn]

Would a face version of the initial Nexus invasion work as a suitable comeuppance for the Hunner Corporation?

[Deleted]

Oct 1, 2013 17:00:05 GMT -5 Friday Night SmackOwn said:

Would a face version of the initial Nexus invasion work as a suitable comeuppance for the Hunner Corporation?

At this point, I want them to hold off the Nexus reunion until the 10 year anniversary in 2020 for sheer hilarity. I'd jump right on here to see if there's been anyone here for 7 more years wanting that damn Nexus to come back and finally got it!