The Bad Guys Won
By Scott Keith on 2 February 2019
It really feels like the bad guys in wrestling won in real life. Vince got his wish and all the rebels are gone, with the remaining crop of talent essentially obsequious, unhappy, and in a 50-50 booking holding pattern…their only respite from the tedious agony of their job being video games (or threesomes with Paige). Two former main event stars in CM Punk and Wade Barrett outright quit wrestling in part due to their miserable experience in WWE. And Ambrose could very well do the same. Anyone who gets truly over is seemingly buried for doing so (Strowman, Ambrose…), almost to spite the gradually declining audience…and the company is fucking rewarded with record stock prices and a billion-dollar TV deal. Vince wins again! Meanwhile, Triple H is a major executive who is still treated as a big star in his late 40s, and Stephanie has so much power that she can force the wrestlers to speak in hashtags.
Yup. Real life is the only thing booked worse than wrestling.