Deadspin: Rousey Is Highlighting WWE's 4th Wall Problem

[Chiral]

deadspin.com/ronda-rousey-is-highlighting-wwes-problems-with-breakin-1833268922

In the approach to WrestleMania 35, though, WWE has abruptly taken fourth-wall breaking to a new and illogical extreme. Of the main event storylines for wrestling’s biggest show, two openly flaunt the lines between real life and kayfabe. The Raw Women’s Championship story between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair, as well as Kofi Kingston’s chase for the WWE Championship, have both used real-life factors in their builds for WrestleMania. It’s worked better in one case than another.

The less successful of those would be whatever the hell it is that Ronda Rousey is doing right now. The former UFC champion joined WWE last year, with a character template casting her as a wide-eyed superfan; sure, she could break everyone’s arms, but joining WWE was mostly portrayed as a life-long dream come true for the iconic women’s MMA champion. It didn’t work: fans turned on her fast, and while Rousey is preternaturally talented at manipulating bodies in the ring for maximum effect, she is an abhorrent talker. She speaks too fast, gets rattled by hostile crowds, and lacks the mic skills of even mediocre talkers like Bayley or Natalya. Between those shortcomings and some of her, to put it kindly, problematic real-life views, Rousey left WWE little choice but to turn her heel.

But there’s a lesson to be learned from the contrasting Rousey and Kofi storylines, and the company would do well to take it. WWE needs to trust in the world it has made, and respect the suspension of disbelief that’s so fundamental to being a wrestling fan.

Good analysis of both the women's title storyline and Kofi/Bryan here.

[KobashiChop]

The Kofi story is casually leaning on the "its been 11 years and we've never sent him to the main event" narrative while still maintaining plausibility in kayfabe. Plus the fact that he is looking in a broken mirror in a post WM30 Daniel Bryan helps it.

Ronda out and out said wrestling is fake and she could slaughter both the other women in a real fight. How do you honestly expect to draw any interest in the match doing that?

[Spider2024]

She's using a giant highlighter pen to break the 4th wall!

[Final Countdown Jones]

If WWE wants to be "real television" then it needs to f***ing learn the lines. People don't believe wrestling is real but by treating it like a TV show they still want to suspend their disbelief in the time they're watching. A jaded fan can still get super into a really exciting match and lose themselves in that. It's a beautiful thing, and WWE misses the point. I don't think Vince is just living in a wrestling bubble I think he's living in a Vince bubble; he's cut off from what fans' emotional connection to the show is and the gravity of what comes with all of that is lost on him.

[Deleted]

Read this as Deadpool, who is also famous for his 4th wall-ness.

[Perd]

Y’all are just a buncha imaginary barrier bitches!

[Deleted]

There is no world of WWE to get invested in...it is actually more like a bubble.

I have used the example a few times to but there are IMO only two companies that understand what they are and go completely in that direction and every other company lives in the middle

NJPW is dedicated to live events and being specifically sports oriented

LU is all the way in on being a television show

You know exactly what those two provide when you watch them

WWE lives firmly in the middle trying to please both but you can't because one end has to suffer in favor of the other and in the end none of it makes sense....like I am being told this is all fake....but then here comes Bray Wyatt and Taker that I am suppose to get invested in but nope sorry not possible because the narrative u told me a segment earlier was this is all fake and I am stupid for investing my time into this show.

[Allie Kitsune]

Sometimes it feels like WWE is saying "Why do you care? It's all just content!"

And that's not the concept they should be selling.

[Deleted]

Thank you, Donny.

[theironyuppie]

Interesting article, but it leaves out the initial context of Becky/Ronda's twitter arguments ignoring the on-air storylines and pushing Ronda in that 'this is all fake' direction.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

The most baffling thing for me about Rousey flipping out on her blog is that they’re not even going to bring it up on TV. It’s been, what, a week and a half, two weeks now? They’ve had ample opportunity to mention it even in vague terms, and they really haven’t. So all they’ve done is irritate and anger a large part of their hardcore internet fanbase to the point of completely killing the angle for them.

[Final Countdown Jones]

Mar 13, 2019 21:54:25 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

The most baffling thing for me about Rousey flipping out on her blog is that they’re not even going to bring it up on TV. It’s been, what, a week and a half, two weeks now? They’ve had ample opportunity to mention it even in vague terms, and they really haven’t. So all they’ve done is irritate and anger a large part of their hardcore internet fanbase to the point of completely killing the angle for them.

Yeah that's where I really can't tell if this claim it's a work is saving face or if it's trying to adapt to her going cowboy like that, but it feels like if this was all really a shoot they might actually like, mention it on TV and use that as a further extension of things? It's so bizarre. It's like instead of telling one bad story they're trying to tell two bad stories in parallel.

[Dub H]

Mar 13, 2019 19:16:21 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

There is no world of WWE to get invested in...it is actually more like a bubble.

I have used the example a few times to but there are IMO only two companies that understand what they are and go completely in that direction and every other company lives in the middle

NJPW is dedicated to live events and being specifically sports oriented

LU is all the way in on being a television show

You know exactly what those two provide when you watch them

WWE lives firmly in the middle trying to please both but you can't because one end has to suffer in favor of the other and in the end none of it makes sense....like I am being told this is all fake....but then here comes Bray Wyatt and Taker that I am suppose to get invested in but nope sorry not possible because the narrative u told me a segment earlier was this is all fake and I am stupid for investing my time into this show.

Its more like WWE wants to be whatever they want to be at that day.

They have no sense of continuity ,world building or image.

using for example Matt Hardy compound.That shit would never happens in NJPW and it doesnt even fit Lucha Underground wackyness(but they could easily adapt it). But if WWE wanted they could have continued using it to build their own world where that shit happens.Instead they flip flop between Mattt being legit a extra-human entity and just matt hardy except crazy and then just Matt Hardy again.

Same with Bray,they want him to have the supernatural feel without actually being super-human.You can't have it both ways.

[Venti]

Ronda: Oops, I'm breaking the fourth wall.
Hi Dana White, how are ya doing? *waves*

[Deleted]

Mar 13, 2019 22:19:18 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Mar 13, 2019 19:16:21 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

There is no world of WWE to get invested in...it is actually more like a bubble.

I have used the example a few times to but there are IMO only two companies that understand what they are and go completely in that direction and every other company lives in the middle

NJPW is dedicated to live events and being specifically sports oriented

LU is all the way in on being a television show

You know exactly what those two provide when you watch them

WWE lives firmly in the middle trying to please both but you can't because one end has to suffer in favor of the other and in the end none of it makes sense....like I am being told this is all fake....but then here comes Bray Wyatt and Taker that I am suppose to get invested in but nope sorry not possible because the narrative u told me a segment earlier was this is all fake and I am stupid for investing my time into this show.

Its more like WWE wants to be whatever they want to be at that day.

They have no sense of continuity ,world building or image.

using for example Matt Hardy compound.That shit would never happens in NJPW and it doesnt even fit Lucha Underground wackyness(but they could easily adapt it). But if WWE wanted they could have continued using it to build their own world where that shit happens.Instead they flip flop between Mattt being legit a extra-human entity and just matt hardy except crazy and then just Matt Hardy again.

Same with Bray,they want him to have the supernatural feel without actually being super-human.You can't have it both ways.

The need to please two masters ends up pleasing none and that is WWE IMO in a nutshell.

The fans clearly want a much better strongly written product

The shareholders just want more money...they could not care less about the quality of the show

Someone summarized WWE in the perfect way recently ..it is a show for shareholders not for fans

In WWE there is no reason for 99.9% of the shit that happens in that company no explanation..why the cops are called for one incident in a segment but yet someone will attempt murder and the cops are nowhere even though the cameras in this company catch everything and the attempted murder took place in the ring.

Going off the cops thing in LU...people die everywhere on this show so of course you ask so where are the cops? and they address this in the world...the big bad orginization has corrupted all of it...local police , fbi , to the goverment etc so all the brutal shit happens without consequence because the audience understands oh yea the legal system don't work for the good guys in this world. and that furthers the world of LU because now u do not have to ask where are the cops when a guy gets stabbed in the skull.

[Dub H]

Mar 13, 2019 23:41:00 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

Mar 13, 2019 22:19:18 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Its more like WWE wants to be whatever they want to be at that day.

They have no sense of continuity ,world building or image.

using for example Matt Hardy compound.That shit would never happens in NJPW and it doesnt even fit Lucha Underground wackyness(but they could easily adapt it). But if WWE wanted they could have continued using it to build their own world where that shit happens.Instead they flip flop between Mattt being legit a extra-human entity and just matt hardy except crazy and then just Matt Hardy again.

Same with Bray,they want him to have the supernatural feel without actually being super-human.You can't have it both ways.

The need to please two masters ends up pleasing none and that is WWE IMO in a nutshell.

The fans clearly want a much better strongly written product

The shareholders just want more money...they could not care less about the quality of the show

Someone summarized WWE in the perfect way recently ..it is a show for shareholders not for fans

In WWE there is no reason for 99.9% of the shit that happens in that company no explanation..why the cops are called for one incident in a segment but yet someone will attempt murder and the cops are nowhere even though the cameras in this company catch everything and the attempted murder took place in the ring.

Going off the cops thing in LU...people die everywhere on this show so of course you ask so where are the cops? and they address this in the world...the big bad orginization has corrupted all of it...local police , fbi , to the goverment etc so all the brutal shit happens without consequence because the audience understands oh yea the legal system don't work for the good guys in this world. and that furthers the world of LU because now u do not have to ask where are the cops when a guy gets stabbed in the skull.

Sleazy 90's Cop was the best gimmick Joey Ryan ever had,dont @ me.

But yeh,everything in WWE feels more like a checklist or bullet point

Yeh we had the authority figure,check, gimmick toy match check, top star we want to push promo ,check. There is no connections, as you said it really is for shareholders,it is basically then going "see ,we did everything in the list,so now keep giving us money".

[Deleted]

Mar 13, 2019 21:54:25 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

The most baffling thing for me about Rousey flipping out on her blog is that they’re not even going to bring it up on TV. It’s been, what, a week and a half, two weeks now? They’ve had ample opportunity to mention it even in vague terms, and they really haven’t. So all they’ve done is irritate and anger a large part of their hardcore internet fanbase to the point of completely killing the angle for them.

I have to believe that it's partly because guys like Heyman and Vince are from that oldschool era where provoking visceral responses like that lead to generating money because people paid to see people like Ronda get their heads kicked in. Because really you don't see that kind of stuff anywhere else anymore but WWE who used to thrive on that. They were greatly successful at getting under everyone's skin with this, and honestly I really doubt that they've either gained or lost much from this experiment, people on the outside who may have heard about this probably don't care, and the ones that are really ticked off are probably not going anywhere either, but it's probably in WWE's best interest to stop kicking their fan base around so much.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Mar 13, 2019 21:54:25 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

The most baffling thing for me about Rousey flipping out on her blog is that they’re not even going to bring it up on TV. It’s been, what, a week and a half, two weeks now? They’ve had ample opportunity to mention it even in vague terms, and they really haven’t. So all they’ve done is irritate and anger a large part of their hardcore internet fanbase to the point of completely killing the angle for them.

They should go out of their way to bury that part of the storyline next to "who moved the briefcase?" and "who was driving the hummer?".

WWE needs to get as far away from Ronda's childish tantrum as possible.

["Trickster Dogg" James Jesse]

Mar 14, 2019 11:33:12 GMT -5 Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! said:

Mar 13, 2019 21:54:25 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

The most baffling thing for me about Rousey flipping out on her blog is that they’re not even going to bring it up on TV. It’s been, what, a week and a half, two weeks now? They’ve had ample opportunity to mention it even in vague terms, and they really haven’t. So all they’ve done is irritate and anger a large part of their hardcore internet fanbase to the point of completely killing the angle for them.

They should go out of their way to bury that part of the storyline next to "who moved the briefcase?" and "who was driving the hummer?".

WWE needs to get as far away from Ronda's childish tantrum as possible.

Ronda moving the briefcase and driving the hummer are two things I would have never expected. Curse you, Rousey, and your devilish ways!

[auph10imitated]

12 year old Ronda Rousey drove a hummer into Kevin Nash and raised the briefcase screwing Stone Cold all in one year. Legend of our time.