Sunday will feature the last games of the regular season. And nothing is absolutely settled. There are still wildcard spots to be had, division winners to be decided, and even the top seeds have not been decided. How is all this settled? All a team has to do is win and they're in? Only in some cases. The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles are in a "win-and-you're-in" game to decide the winner of their division and which of the two goes to the playoffs. The same for the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. Things are very simple in those two sets of games. Whichever team wins the game gets the division title and goes to the playoffs, while the loser is eliminated.
Things are not that simple for other teams. The San Fransisco 49ers can only win their division if they win their game against the Arizona Cardinals and the Seattle Seahawks, the current division leader, loses to the St. Louis Rams. The 49ers and Seahawks will both have 12-4 records, but tiebreakers would give the 49ers the division. And that is the kind of thing you have for a few games this Sunday. The only hope some teams have to make the playoffs is if another team loses. Their destiny is not in their own hands. Winning does not automatically get them in.
Switch to pro wrestling. There is this idea many fans have that all a wrestler has to do to get pushed better is get over. That's it. It is like one of those "win-and-you're-in" situations in football. Obviously, it isn't that easy. Zack Ryder got over and the WWE did not want to push him. Mickie James got over and continued to be pushed the same way she would have been pushed had she not gotten over. The Dallas Cowboys may control their own destiny this Sunday in terms of only needing to win to make the playoffs, but wrestlers in the WWE do not control their own destiny in the same way in terms of just needing to get over. You need other things to work your way. Even then, it is still not guaranteed that you will get the career you earn. Meanwhile, some individuals can fail to make it and still get treated very well. Michelle McCool is an example of that. She was pushed as the centerpiece of the diva division. She never got over enough to match how she was pushed. The diva division is very unfair. Of course, the same thing happens in the men's division, but the fact that you have so much more space to push the men makes it less of an issue, usually.
Recently, Jericho and Edge discussed the Nexus angle. They talked about how Nexus should have won that match at Summerslam. To them, the loss hurt the careers of those rookies and Wade Barrett's career has flopped. I disagree with them about the outcome of that one match really mattering that much. Yeah, you can complain about Cena winning and how he won. And the members have all mostly not gone too far, except for Daniel Bryan, but he was out of the group almost immediately. And Wade Barrett is not in a great place now. But one match outcome could have changed all that? Really? With all due respect to Edge and Jericho, that just sounds ridiculous. Would the rookie heels winning that match automatically have gotten them over with the fans? I doubt it. Would that match outcome mean that the WWE would have to continue pushing them well until they did get over? I don't see why. And is this really an "over-and-you're-in" situation? I don't think they were giving these guys an opportunity to get over and earn better careers for themselves. The main point was to create a situation that would put John Cena, the centerpiece, over. As for Wade Barrett, he was not immediately buried after Nexus. He has had some title success. I think he was showing signs of getting over. What really screwed him over was that injury a few years ago when he had a ton of momentum. But even if he had returned very over, there are still other guys the WWE wants to push well. This is like a situation where a football team needs to win and for another team to lose to get into the playoffs. Not only does Barrett need to get over, he needs other guys ahead of him to not work out so that the WWE can finally decide to push him better. To put it simply, I don't think that one match outcome really changed the outcome of much. If the WWE was really serious about giving these guys fair chances to get over or develop any of them to be over, like Barrett, one match outcome would not have changed anything. It isn't like Nexus performed horribly in that match to screw themselves.
Look back at Survivor Series last month. The Shield looked good in their match. Specifically, Roman Reigns looked great. And how has the WWE followed up with them since? After that big win, they have pretty much gone back to doing what they were doing before. They are henchmen for The Authority. That was not the start of some huge push for them. Especially Roman Reigns. Even I wondered if this was the start of a big solo push for him. Nope. Giving someone a great match outcome is not a guarantee that they will be followed up with immediately after. What happened with The Shield at Survivor Series is an example of that. And that example makes me further believe that the match outcome for that Summerslam match with Nexus would have also not been a guarantee of anything. As I frequently say, never make too much out of one moment.
Making too much out of one match outcome is like making too much out of one football game's outcome in a situation where you need one or two other teams to also lose. Yeah, it is great that you won your game, but you are not in the playoffs yet. Yeah, it is great that the WWE gave you a nice moment, but that does not mean you are someone they want to be a star. I am not taking anything away from stars that put over younger talent and want to see them succeed, but that one match outcome is not a guarantee that the company will treat them well. Some things are not within your control. Some fans really need to stop believing that all a wrestler has to do to get treated better is get over and an over wrestler still being treated poorly had to have done something wrong. The WWE has too many individuals to push and they will often go with their own favorites, not the fans' favorites.
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