On Bray Wyatt & The Mickie James "Death" Angle

I have mentioned that I would like to see Ryback eventually feud with Bray Wyatt over the Intercontinental Championship, but what is Wyatt doing right now? It does not look like much.

Bray Wyatt seems to be lost in the shuffle right now. They have put a ton of credibility into him and can now use him as a jobber to the stars. And that is what they are doing. This guy is not a top star. Because the WWE is so inefficient these days, they cannot develop a proper feud for him. If they do not want to put him in the Money in the Bank ladder match, that's one thing. But they cannot develop some kind of proper feud for him? One of the issues might be the short amount of time you have between events. It does not make it easy to develop proper storylines for everyone. Then again, Bray Wyatt storylines seem to disappoint even when the WWE has time to develop them.

How often do you see someone win a feud and then the WWE not be able to follow up? I am not talking about part-timers that can win a feud, then go back to whatever it is they do outside the WWE. I am talking about a full-time performer winning a feud and "Creative" not having anything for him. I remember when Wyatt won his feud against Chris Jericho. The WWE did not really follow up properly. They did these vignettes to hype The Wyatts splitting up. They protected Wyatt for a while. He was eventually used to put over The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Everything since then has been mediocre. There are guys better than Ryback for him to have feuded with. Now that Ryback is holding a title, however, you would hope that feud gets revisited. Something would be on the line now.

What else can the WWE do to make Wyatt look like he matters again? You saw his henchmen reunite. Why not reunite the whole stable? It will not automatically give them direction, but it could make things more interesting and maybe make it easier for them to be pushed as something strong. That is, if the WWE is even willing to do that.  

TNA ran this segment last week where James Storm pushed Mickie James into train tracks after she  refused to join his group. I see a lot of fans criticizing it. They read it as a "death" angle. Would I have handled this storyline differently? Yes. But I do not find it offensive and I do not see it as a "death" angle. The segment was not graphic. They did not imply a train was speeding in to crush Mickie James. They did not show a gruesome shot of her laid out. Pushing someone into tracks is not instant death. Why are people jumping to the conclusion that TNA implied Mickie James "died" in this segment? They are making stupid assumptions. The say when you make assumptions, you often make an ass of yourself and the person you are making assumptions about. I would say this is one of those situations.

TNA has done things like this before. When Mickie James suffered a real injury in 2011, they ran an angle where Tara and Madison Rayne tried to run her down on a motorcycle to provide a kayfabe reason for the injury. I do not remember fans getting upset about that. I do not remember TNA "killing" Mickie James with that segment. Have people died getting run down by motorcycles? Yes. Did TNA do anything in that segment to imply this was a "death" angle? No. Did TNA "kill" Mickie James with that angle? No. Have people died getting pushed into train tracks? Yes. Did TNA do anything in that segment to imply this was a "death" angle? No. TNA should not even have to update the storyline on their website for people to realize this is not a "death" angle. If no one read that motorcycle angle as a "death" angle and no one saw a controversy there, why are people reacting like this now?

The WWE has done things that are more graphic than this and where it was even more likely that the victim had to have "died" in the segment, in terms of kayfabe. They have run people over, thrown them off bridges, burned them, blew them up, had a miscarriage storyline, and so on. Remember when Austin dropped Triple H from a forklift? I would say that stunt was a lot more graphic than what TNA did. If you want to look at that like it's real, how many people can survive that or even walk away without being paralyzed? Triple H was my favorite at the that time. I had no problem with that segment. I didn't think he really died. I didn't think this was even a "death" angle. I didn't complain about it. This is the kind of thing that made wrestling so much fun back then. All these stunts were exciting. The WWE has done things that make what TNA did with Mickie James and James Storm look like a finger poke, which I understand can win you a World Championship in some promotions.

There are fans that complain about the WWE being PG. They talk about how great the Attitude Era was. They would love to see that again. That is, that's the impression they give. Do those fans understand that they would be in for some stunts even worse than what TNA just did? Will they be up for it? If they couldn't handle what TNA did, I don't think they can handle a second coming of the Attitude Era. I do not know if most of this criticism is coming from blind TNA haters or fans that have developed a "PG Mind" in recent years, but I think it is stupid to read this as a "death" angle and criticize TNA for this when they have done segments like this before without much uproar and the WWE has done even worse and has succeeded in drawing interest for it.

They say you are supposed to suspend your disbelief as a wrestling fan. What ever happened to that? As a horror movie fan, I follow that belief. I know it isn't real, but just sit back and enjoy the show. Things are going to happen that just don't make sense. It's even worse than pro wrestling. But it is still entertaining. Does that mean you should accept everything these wrestling promotions do? No. But why are you taking things so seriously? I think workers not being given fair opportunities is a bigger problem than one segment.

One last thing I want to bring up. Many years ago, there was this "stupid news" report on the radio. A woman had called the police because she said she saw some guy getting killed. It turns out she was watching pro wrestling. I guess she forgot to suspend her disbelief. Will we eventually be getting more fans like that, only a lot more snarky? It seems some fans are trying too hard to be smart and are just not looking at something for what it is. And that is going to hurt what these promotions do.

Roode/Storm And Orton/Christian

This feud between Robert Roode and James Storm in TNA has this Orton/Christian-like vibe to it. Since I spent so much time talking about Orton/Christian earlier this year, I pretty much have to look at Roode/Storm.

Roode was the one who won the opportunity to face Kurt Angle for the World title. Even though Angle was hurting, he still retained the title there. Next thing you know, James Storm, the other half of Beer Money, is the one getting the title shot. He beats Kurt Angle for the title. Angle is off to heal, but that is another story. What about Roode? TNA had spent so long building up his title match against Kurt Angle. He was the face, the TNA Original, who was finally going to get the opportunity he deserved. He failed to win, but his partner didn't. Roode gets the opportunity against Storm, cheats, wins the title, and is now heel. James Storm's title reign ends abruptly.

Sound familiar? It is not an exact clone of what happened with Orton/Christian, but it is similar. Christian was a face who had just won his first major World title in the WWE. Fans were excited. The WWE books him to lose the title a few weeks after he loses it to Smackdown's new centerpiece, Randy Orton. This leads to a long, elaborate storyline that involves Christian turning heel and eventually regaining the title for a few weeks, only to lose it back to Orton.

First of all, you have short title reigns involved. A lot of people viewed WWE's booking of Christian as an insult. Especially when you consider the guy he was feuding with, it was clear who mattered more in the WWE's book. Storm's reign was short, but that is something TNA is known to do a lot. They have given short title reigns to Sting, Anderson, Jeff Hardy, Mickie James, Winter, and other such names. Obviously, these people are not being screwed over for the benefit of one centerpiece.

That is the second thing. Orton mattered more to the WWE in the Orton/Christian saga. Who matters more in Roode/Storm? Is there really a centerpiece involved? TNA is usually better at passing the ball around. Had the WWE been more like that, Christian's first reign, as well as his second, would have been better booked. In what has been going on in TNA right now, I don't feel you have one person unfairly treated for the benefit of the other guy. I don't feel you have one person being built up to put over another who is truly meant to surpass him by far. While the WWE screws over the booking of some individuals to let a centerpiece shine, TNA is once again showing that it is a little more fair than that. That does not mean they are necessarily entertaining, pushing the right people the right way, or build things up properly, but they are not trying to create a WWE-like centerpiece in what is going on.

You also have a heel turn. Christian's heel turn was drawn out over weeks and weeks after his first title reign ended on Smackdown. They developed it to the point where he attacked Orton and officially turned heel, then kept feuding for the title. TNA did something a little different. The heel turn for Roode came a short time after he failed to win the title from Angle, and it came at the very moment when he actually did win his first TNA World Championship. But there was development for that turn as well. It came while Roode was feuding with Angle. TNA did a good job of building up Roode to win the title, including having other wrestlers put him over. When he failed to beat Angle, you could almost feel his disappointment. A lot of TNA fans definitely did. And then his own partner and friend, James Storm, wins the title? There is your reason to have him turn heel. The WWE really did not do a great job building Christian up in this same way prior to beat Alberto Del Rio to win the title for the first time earlier this year. How could they? It was supposed to be Edge's push, but he was retiring. Nevertheless, that was still Christian's moment. If the WWE really did care about taking advantage of the situation to create the type of storyline Roode/Storm have now, they would not have had Christian win the title back from Orton in the crappy way he did and still screw over the booking of the second reign. Roode's character looks much stronger than Christian's.

Which feud do I prefer? Not that I am a huge TNA fan or big fan of any of these guys, except Orton, but I prefer how TNA has handled their storyline over how the WWE handled Orton/Christian. Again, I am not saying it is entertaining or TNA is flawless in how they are handling every aspect of this, but I like how it seems to be going so far. I am sure TNA hardcore fans love that TNA Originals are now holding the World title again.