HHH on Stone Cold's Podcast

[Sean Liska]

 

 

One tidbit I took from this is that people within the industry seem legitametly baffled by the crowd rebellions. Not even strictly from a business perspective (although that is the most important obviously) but also from a "wow, I can't believe people are taking this so seriously" angle. Like the fans booing and complaining are thinking about this much more thoroughly and profoundly than the wrestlers and decision makers themselves. Wrestling bubble.

I didn't get that impression. I thought it was reassuring that HHH understood that Roman gets booed because fans perceive him as being unfairly pushed and they think Bryan is being held down. They seem to get it.

 

 

He may indeed understand it better, but we really didn't get a feel for how he would manage the situation better if he had complete control. Basically, Triple H threw Vince under the bus during the interview for the decision, whilst giving absolutely no indication what he would do differently.

 

Well, he can't come out and say he'd turn Reigns heel for a year and hold off his title win for WM32 or whatever. That wouldn't look good.

[Strand Peanut]

HHH threw Vince under the bus?

 

He throws their dad/boss under the bus on their own corporate platform.. bizzare. This is all meta storyline they hope to manipulate.

 

Just a waste of resources. If they want to cover their own product like the other direct networks, they'd be better served interviewing their talent over their office.

[Johnny Sorrow]

 

 

 

I heard Chyna was brought up for HoF talk and Trips looked very uncomfortable.

Well the question was should she be in the HOF, and he was trying to put it as nicely as possible that while she deserves to be in, they can't because because let's say some kid who doesn't know who she is looks her up online they're gonna find porn and overdoses.

 

This would be a far more compelling argument if they hadn't already inducted a convicted rapist.

 

 

That. And Jimmy Snuka too. Three of the very first six results you get after you Google his name have to do with Nancy Argentino.

 

Yeah, but if a kid does a google image search of Tyson and Snuka he's not gonna see pics of Tyson raping or Snuka killing .HHH was talking about images.

[sek69]

I get HHH as a parent not wanting to open that can of worms any sooner than he has to (I mean, his girls will find out eventually because internet), and I don't think Chyna being in the HOF is a hill worth dying on to use a CM Punk-ism.

 

 

The podcast was entertaining in the sense of listening to a couple of guys who've done everything in the business shooting shit for an hour. It reminded me of going to the American Legion with my dad and listening to the old guys swap war stories. I think Hunter was caught a little off guard by Austin going right to the "kayfabe is dead" stuff right off the bat, but I thought it was a pretty interesting look at how his mind works. Anyone who's ever had to deal with corporate speak and/or workplace politics could figure out the dots he was trying to connect when he went into COO mode.

 

I actually wouldn't mind Stephanie being a guest at some point, she seems like someone who would do well in a shoot-ish environment where she didn't have to play bad guy all the time.

[Strummer]

So I assume Steph calling Bryan an A+ player in the BR article was the "good cop/bad cop" front because that statement seemed asinine a few days later at the Rumble. Completely ridiculous

[Sean Liska]

Bryan had a 20 main event on SD. A near 20 minute main event on RAW. And is headlining the next PPV in a key spot due to the free month gimmick. Maybe they don't see him as the next Cena but it's not like he's Ziggler.

[Strand Peanut]

That's part of it.

 

You can't keep having a guy in the TV main event, who consistently delivers, and then jerk him out when it comes to the big shows.

 

I mean you can, but eventually you'll pay a price. WWE is feeling that now, this is the end result of booking like that, and they've pushed themselves into a corner with a chunk of their fanbase.

 

I sort of understand when you read tidbits/rumors about WWE thinking it's not Bryan that's really over. But if that's true, then Bryan is some kind of conduit for fan dis-content?

 

I think there's some truth to that. But it didn't happen with anyone else. Their audience chose him. They saw ten years of the mid card being destroyed, politics getting in the way, big matches missed, and non logical wrasslin feuds.

 

And giving DB that quick loss to Shamus pretty much lit all those feelings and frustrations up. And a lot of folks thought "Nope, we're putting our foot down, not again." And with DB the audience thought they'd found someone impeccable. He ticks so many boxes for fans. As pluses, but also as a reminder of all the things WWE goofed this century.

 

Sometimes I chuckle, if they had just given that match with Shamus ten-twelve minutes.. none of this would've happened. It's their booking, they made their own problem.

[Johnny Sorrow]

So I assume Steph calling Bryan an A+ player in the BR article was the "good cop/bad cop" front because that statement seemed asinine a few days later at the Rumble. Completely ridiculous

Vince has final say, so I wouldn't think that either HHH or Steph talking about how they were and or are on the Bryan wagon is a good cop / bad cop deal.

[Strummer]

it is a strange dynamic. Bryan is often portrayed as a big star on TV but is mostly an afterthought on the big PPV shows. I don't really understand why they keep teasing their audience like that. I mean trolling, LOLz, but other than that...

[Strand Peanut]

Trolling. I know that gets used in reference to HHH and Steph as performers here and there.

 

But I don't think it's something the company is actively doing. It'd be a terrible business strategy.

 

Trolling, like spam, has been the bane of online discussion from the get-go. It's destroyed message boards and online comminities left and right. There is no money in trolling, and the entertainment value is pretty low.

 

Even more so, if you're trolling your audience, and you are a heel, you just put the heat between the heel and the crowd. The crowd can't pin a heel ? So.. huh ?

 

I don't watch enough WWE TV to know if that's exactly what's happening. But to me, the Kliq has always had strange ideas on the psychology of heat. And trolling wouldn't be far off that line.

[Smelly McUgly]

I have a working theory about Bryan and why he connects with the 18-34 male that watches the show that goes beyond "fans revolting against typical WWE booking," though I do appreciate Strand Peanut's theory.

 

I think just as Steve Austin was an expy for the prevailing male attitude of the late '90s (working man against the boss, wanting to use violence to solve issues, unemotional, doing things based on the desires of the id), Bryan is an expy for the prevailing male attitude of a large chunk of the male audience in 2015.

 

The current male audience is smaller and more niche, and Bryan ticks off a number of boxes for that audience:

 

1. He is smaller and all-natural (theoretically), which would be a plus in the era where millennials mistrust Big Pharma and there are a surprising amount of Anti-Vaxxers (one example here) for such a pro-science generation

 

2. He is clearly not a corporate or social climber, which is a plus where many of his fans would be anti-corporate folks. Running that Occupy RAW angle was actually really clever and seemed like WWE had a finger on the pulse of the country (except that I'm sure Vince McMahon, being a Baby Boomer that seems confused by Millennial culture and belief structure AND the head of a corporation, probably did it in a sort of cheeky way and probably thought it portrayed Bryan somewhat goofily in his mind.)

 

3. He does some of the "manly man" type stuff that makes characters like Ron Swanson (and that makes guys like Nick Offerman, who is a woodworker in real life) popular with the crowd. The log-chopping stuff that was from Total Divas or whatever. The dude beat up a burglar, too! That sort of throwback stuff to an idealized version of traditional manhood is really popular with this particular audience.

 

What they have on their hands is the perfect babyface for the time and for a large part of their audience. The difference is that I don't believe that Bryan's "new millennial man" gimmick really has the ability to draw in the pre-teen crowd that Austin did, so there's definitely a ceiling. On the other hand, I actually think Bryan has more short-term money-making potential right now than anyone in the company, and that includes John Cena. He taps in to something that I think the core male hardcore audience really identifies with, and I think kids can get into him too in the same way they got into Bret Hart (smaller fighting champion that never gives up).

 

I could be clouded by the fact that Bryan and I are from the same area and probably share a number of the same cultural values as a result, but I feel like Bryan legitimately is so liked by the 18-34 male because he embodies what type of person they idealize/would like to be. It just seems weird and totally different when you put him up as an idealization next to Hogan, Austin, and Rock because he's so different from those guys in terms of the culture that he taps into.

[Grimmas]

That Smelly McUgly is a great explanation and is probably spot on. Don't discount the great ring work.

[C.S.]

What they have on their hands is the perfect babyface for the time and for a large part of their audience. The difference is that I don't believe that Bryan's "new millennial man" gimmick really has the ability to draw in the pre-teen crowd that Austin did, so there's definitely a ceiling.

 

Not necessarily. A post from page 4 of the Bryan Microscope thread:

 

There's a video on Wrestlemania Today from Thursday where they have a piece on the Yes Movement with some WWE figures interviewed but also a lot of fans interviewed. Little kids who say that they love Daniel Bryan because of YES! YES! YES!, a little girl who says he has great moves, another kid who likes him because he's a flying goat, and they show all the other media appearances of the Yes chant and quite a bit more and I think that, more than anything else they've done or that he's accomplished, is the craziest, most surreal thing.

 

It's a really well produced video and it just hammers the point home that even though it's the most unlikely thing in the world, it's all real.

 

So, yeah, kids definitely dig Bryan too.

[Stiva]

There's a gif floating around of a trios from 2013 with Bryan suplexing Rollins off the top rope and, it'll stick with me forever for some reason, there's a little kid in the crowd going absolutely crazy for it and Bryan. If I was a kid, I'd love Bryan because he does a lot of cool shit in the ring.

[Sidebottom]

Just listened to it. I hope somebody works out the ratio of dialogue on this one, has to be 90% in HHH's favour. I'm all for the subject speaking a lot more than the interviewer but I came away wanting my Austin fix. The way Austin was going through his notes, you can believe A LOT of stuff was left out because HHH was droning on. Pretty boring interview IMO.

[shoe]

One thing that came out of this. With HHH saying they changed direction because of listening to the fans. That will put to rest Johnny Sorrow's this was the plan all along talking point.

[goodhelmet]

Johnny Sorrow wrong about WWE booking? Bite your tongue!!!!

[Russellmania]

One thing that came out of this. With HHH saying they changed direction because of listening to the fans. That will put to rest Johnny Sorrow's this was the plan all along talking point.

wasn't that already established by evilclown's recent interview with HHH/Steph/Bryan?

[shoe]

 

One thing that came out of this. With HHH saying they changed direction because of listening to the fans. That will put to rest Johnny Sorrow's this was the plan all along talking point.

wasn't that already established by evilclown's recent interview with HHH/Steph/Bryan?

 

I don't read Snowden.

[tigerpride]

Sorrow insists that was the plan all along? Sad, given it's been debunked over and over.

[Matt D]

Johnny Sorrow wrong about WWE booking? Bite your tongue!!!!

That's all part of the reality era new kayfabe, brother.

[Strand Peanut]

What they have on their hands is the perfect babyface for the time and for a large part of their audience.

Which is why, as a man of his time.. He is unlikely to reach the top. I think barring a sudden cultural shift, we've already seen the best of what we'll get.

 

But hey! If DB gets there and stays there, maybe the shift is a foot..

[JerryvonKramer]

I don't get any of this"millenial" stuff.

[funkdoc]

I don't get any of this"millenial" stuff.

 

maybe it's not a thing in the UK?

[Grimmas]

Millennials (also known as the Millennial Generation^[1] or Generation Y) are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates when the generation starts and ends. Researchers and commentators use birth years ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.