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I’ve said on more than one occasion that today’s WWE mirrors
The New Generation of years past (no I’m not talking about TW James and Tommy
Lee. Shout to the both of them). The infamous steroid trial of more than two
decades past had lasting effects on WWE’s product. It has been well-documented that many people
thought the Titan Towers would crumble.
Well-established superstars started making plans to keep their careers
going regardless of the impending verdict.
It left a huge gap in the WWE. Eventually, Bret Hart and members of The Kliq stepped up to become major stars.
The situation mirrored life.
You know, that thing you live when you are not wrestling? So many gaps and voids created opportunities
for people trying to truly establish themselves. In the next five years, the Attitude Era was
in full gear and all the stars that took advantage of that opportunity reaped
career benefits no one saw coming. The
proceeding calamity laid the groundwork for the calm after the storm. This is kinda
what today’s product feels like for so many reasons.
WWE’s PAYBACK ppv this weekend should be very
interesting. This is the show that has
taken the place of WWE BACKLASH in recent years. This is a day and age where there is so much
parity in the WWE. Each era has been
defined by at least major star.
Bruno. Backlund. Billy Graham to a lesser degree. Hogan.
Austin. And yes, even John Cena. With so much of the game being laid out for
the public to see, the notion of fans themselves anointing a new torchbearer is
pretty much done. In this day and age, that
GUY is Roman Reigns. The product of the legendary
Anoa’I family, the fans flipped on this guy the minute they found out he would
be THE GUY in less than a year. To
smarks, it felt less like a guy coming up through the ranks and more like the
coronation of the fictional King title held by Harley Race, Hacksaw Duggan, Haku,
and Randy Savage from decades past.
The crazy thing about it is that sometimes, hate creates
heroes.
In recent weeks, the WWE’s hero of choice has been none
other than AJ Styles. The Georgia
product came up through the ranks to eventually make his mark all over the
globe – most notably in Ring of Honor and TNA Wrestling. Styles eventually came to WWE with a
well-established reputation. So
well-established that he is the man of the hour nowadays. And while it may seem cliché’ to go here,
this is truly a clash of styles.
Roman Reigns has the potential to follow in the footsteps of
all of the greatest champions in the history of WWE. Roman is not a small man by any stretch of
the imagination. Nothing makes people
gravitate to you more in this sport like being larger than life. He’s got a great look and a remarkable
heritage. Does he fall short in certain
areas? Of course he does but what great
champion didn’t? Bruno or Hogan weren’t
the most technically sound. Backlund was
boring . Austin started off as a
wonderfully technical wrestler, but abandoned that to fight, fight, and fight
some more. In hindsight, that actually
wasn’t a bad thing at all. Either way,
they all developed a larger-than-life appeal over time. Roman could do that as well in time. He’s exactly what a WWE champion should look
like.. ..by historical standards of course.
AJ Styles is the complete opposite. HE has an absolutely amazing array of moves
and maneuvers developed over years and years in the game. He’s taken on any and everybody and has fared
successfully in the process. He and the
Bullet Club have been the talk of wrestling for years prior to their defection
to WWE. Although both Shawn Michaels
were both World champions in the past, they were considered fairly small in
relation to some of the giants that had been kingpins before them. AJ would be no different. A shade under 6 feet tall, his appearance isn’t
that of a larger-than-life athlete. You’d
best believe having an average-sized guy as champion in an organization full of
extraordinary athletes would cause the marketing department major headaches.
This one match represents how different wrestling is now
than it was in eras past. Sometimes, we
are always looking at the past to figure out what’s going on today in and
attempt to make it all make sense. If
anyone objectively looks at this Sunday’s PPV main event, maybe they should be
looking ahead at what may be instead of behind them to see what wrestling was. Whether you are Team Roman or Team AJ, both
of these guys deserve that much. Who
knows? Five years later, your opinion of
this match might change dramatically.
“There’s a reason your
windshield is bigger than your rearview mirror.
It’s what’s in front of you that matters the most”
Fin.
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