Am I Missing Something?

[goc]

What ACTUALLY gets heat these days though? For as much as people want to keep telling me that Kevin Owens is the best heel in WWE he doesn't really get a lot of heat.

Owens really isn't a heel nor does he act like one.

Sheamus.

Well I guess they could plant a story about Kevin Owens being workout buddies with HHH but I doubt anyone would believe that.

[The Thread Killer]

 

I accept that these guys are talented, but does it have to be them that WWE builds this division around? Because they sell merchandise?

Guys who make the company money have historically been the guys you build around in wrestling.

 

 

You're obviously trying to be snarky and clever, implying that why wouldn't WWE build around them, because they sell merchandise, but there is a bigger picture.

 

But I didn't say they make money, I said they sell merchandise.

 

Selling T-shirts and plastic unicorn horns at the concession stands doesn't necessarily make them a team people want to see an entire division around, nor does it mean people would buy shows specifically to see them. Just because 25 or even 50% of the crowd chants that you rock while you play the trombone, doesn't mean you should be the #1 team in the company.

 

Example, people were interested in Starrcade 86 because they wanted to see The Road Warriors throw Jim Cornette and The Midnight Express off a scaffold. People bought Vengeance or SummerSlam 2010 to see DX fight Vince and Shane. I believe if you go back and look at some of the bigger shows over the years when Tag Team Wrestling was still viable, that you will find compellingly booked Tag Team matches that were placed high enough on shows to be considered a legit reason why fans would want to see the show.

 

I hate using this term because it so over-used, but I feel that properly booked, Tag Team wrestling has been and can be a "draw."

 

I don't think A New Day can be, and I don't "get" A New Day because I don't understand what they're trying to accomplish. Clearly, they're supposed to be faces, but they do that ridiculous dance gyrating and thrusting their hips like Rick Rude...is that supposed to endear them to people? Xavier annoys the shit out of people playing the trombone during matches, channeling Jimmy Hart and his infamous Megaphone. And then of course...they cheat. At Extreme Rules, Kofi Kingston had to interfere when he wasn't even one of the two legal men on the team, and hit somebody with a foreign object in order for A New Day to retain the titles.

 

Loss is absolutely right. The way they are booked, they are very hard to garner sympathy for by something traditional like an attack. When The Vaudevillians attacked them recently, it was funny, because A New Day were acting stupid, and they got their comeuppance for it. I shouldn't have watched that and wanted to cheer for The Vaudevillians, I assume. I should have felt bad for A New Day and wanted to see them get revenge after being attacked.

 

This is all moot if Vince really is serious about totally doing away with heels and faces and having everybody be a tweener, or whatever. But even if he is serious about that, then it's really going to screw up a lot of the standard plot devices which have been used in Pro Wrestling since day one. And A New Day are a perfect example of that problem.

[sek69]

Honestly, I think a lot of it comes from how they were able to take a gimmick that initially was death incarnate (does anyone remember their first few weeks before they went full-on silly?) and make it into something that sells merch. They clearly have smart business minds and you'd have to think the company respects that on some level that they had the hustle to make chicken shit into chicken salad.

 

Still, I would expect them to move the tag titles off them soon as it seems that they are getting more comfortable using the NXT guys on the main roster. Enzo and Cass clearly have the advantage, as you can see Vince's big-man boner peeking from behind the curtain every time Cass is on TV. I can see them becoming the focus of the division since Enzo has undeniable charisma. If American Alpha can make it to the main roster without getting slotted into jobberdom for being smaller guys, you're going to have the serious tag team division people are waiting for.

[NotJayTabb]

I'm perfectly happy for New Day to keep the tag title as long as possible, as it delays the inevitable Enzo & Cass title reign. It's odd, because part of me gets why they're so popular (people like to chant along with wrestlers) and another part just doesn't understand why (because they're obnoxious loudmouth arseholes). Cassady in particular is a lousy promo - the "spell it out for you" spiel used to be Enzo's bit, but I think they gave it to Cass because everything else he says sounds terrible. Before the Payback aborted match, he cut some dreadful promo about Hey Arnold that made no sense and would be torn apart if given by another wrestler. The only time I ever liked these two is when they debuted in NXT and got squashed weekly by Mason Ryan.

 

But, they're massively popular. They're going to win the tag title and probably hold it for a long time. I've come to accept it, though it doesn't mean I'm going to like it

[The Thread Killer]

I felt bad for Enzo when he got injured, because I assumed that Vince would instantly take the chance to push Enzo aside because he was on the shelf, and push Cass due to his height. So far it hasn't happened, but I am waiting for inevitable Cass singles push based solely on the fact that he's seven feet tall and you can't teach that.

[goc]

Selling merchandise by definition is making money. And WWE has pretty much never put an actual tag team and certainly not the tag division as a whole in a position to draw ticket sales/PPV buys. Even during the 80s or the early 2000s when they had hot teams that people cared about they weren't put in a position to draw.

 

I don't see any reason to imagine that's suddenly going to change even though right now they probably have the deepest roster of tag teams that they've had since possibly even the 80s. They've got like 10 or so actual teams right now and I'm just happy they actually seem to care about the tag division when for years there was usually no more than 4 teams at a time.

[Laz]

Using the argument of "they're not a draw" when their merch out-sells the World champ's is fucking ludicrous.

[funkdoc]

Before the Payback aborted match, he cut some dreadful promo about Hey Arnold that made no sense and would be torn apart if given by another wrestler.

 

this is a perfect example of the sort of cultural divide (i guess this is more accurate than "generational") the New Day arguments bring up. my social media feeds completely mark the fuck out for stuff like that promo, or New Day talking about Street Fighter on TV. that's pretty much what they want more of wrestling to be!

[Laz]

Thing is, New Day is catering directly to the nerd market of today that are starting to yearn for nostalgia and, overall, those who just tend to prefer goofiness with their wrestling. It's not a surprise to me that most people I've seen who are really into them are also fans of anime, Chikara, retro gaming, etc. Or at least to the ideal "average" of those audiences. If you're not into it then chances are you aren't who they're playing to.

 

I'm not even saying this as a big New Day fan, either. They're a fine team match-wise and gel together very well (in both promos and matches), but I'm not into that kind of nerdy stuff so I don't feel too strongly about them. I'm also not their target audience, either.

[The Thread Killer]

Using the argument of "they're not a draw" when their merch out-sells the World champ's is fucking ludicrous.

 

Get the hell out of here. Seriously, where did you get that info? I've not read that anywhere. I'm not saying I don't believe you, but that is news to me.

[Laz]

https://mobile.twitter.com/WWEBigE/status/721864410025836545

 

When a goofy tag team out-sells anybody near the ME during the week of the biggest show of the year? Yeah, there's something there you push.

[The Thread Killer]

Well shut my mouth.

 

That news simultaneously:

 

1. Surprises the hell out of me

 

2. Disproves my point that New Day don't make enough money to make them worth building the Tag Team division around

 

3. Makes me weep bitter tears for the future of wrestling fandom

 

Okay, so maybe they DO make a ton of money and maybe that does justify their spot.

 

But they still annoy the ever-loving shit out of me, dammit. I swear, that fucking trombone...

[Loss]

I would be shocked if Vince doesn't take full credit for New Day's reversal of fortune, arguing that all the naysayers said it was an awful idea, yet here we are. He argued for a long time that with Daniel Bryan, he taught a great worker how to be a superstar.