I think anyone that believes people got so upset about Roman Reigns Rumble win that they canceled the network are sadly mistaken. There were a bunch of events that created the tipping point where people decided to take action against the WWE. You can make the case it's been years in the making, but I think just looking back at 2014 you can see the tide was building.
To suggest that it was just Reign's winning that set off the WWE universe is silly. Remember he was most people's pick to win before the event took place. So why did people get so upset? It was clearly the execution of the match, the current perception of how Reigns, is being over pushed and certain key events over the past year. The WWE knew animosity was brewing, which is why they trotted the Rock out their to protect Reigns. Funny I can't remember them running out top stars to shield CM Punk or Daniel Bryan?
You could make the case that the fan issues with the WWE go back to right after the attitude era, but I would suggest they start at WM27 when the Rock took over the main event that he wasn't in, but I think most of the animosity built up in 2014.
CM Punk Leaves
It starts for me with CM Punk. At the time of his departure he was WWE's 3rd strongest babyface and had been the closet thing to Cena until Daniel Bryan got hot. Many Punk fans were always unsettled by the way Punk's push got wrecked in 2011. There was some feeling that the 2013-14 push of Bryan was being sabotaged in the same way. At the Royal Rumble 2014 Punk was eliminated by Kane and put through at table. Then boom Punk was gone. Never heard from or seen again in WWE. A massive star for WWE the past few years and he was gone without a barely a mention.
The Punk fans were upset and don't undersell it their are a lot of CM Punk fans out there. Fast forward to Thanksgiving Day when the Punk Podcast drops on Colt Cobana's Art of Wrestling. He basically runs down HHH, the Medical Staff, the focus of the company, and makes WWE to be the bad guy in this situation. Needless to say CM Punk's departure was a chance for a large part of the audience to start viewing the WWE as the bad guys. He made many fans think that it's the guys behind the scenes that are the real bad guys.
Remember in his podcast he mentioned ever so slightly that he had suggested the formation of the Shield and wanted Chris Hero in Roman Reign's spot. Hunter and Vince wanted Reigns. Punk chose not to die on that hill. For those who read between the lines that was some real backstage info that suggest Reigns was a favorite of the top brass despite the fact that maybe he wasn't ready.
Daniel Bryan's Lack of Support
Going into 2014 Daniel Bryan had become WWE's hottest new baby face. His trajectory off Summerslam seemed to have him pointed for the Rumble win in 2014 and the title shot at WM30. WWE did some strange things like have him win the belt back the next month after Summerslam only to have it stripped and then screwed him out of the belt the next month. This didn't seem like smart booking because it was taking some of the shine off Bryan. Yet when WWE turned the title story away from him for the moment it seemed like they were doing that to relaunch him for the Rumble and WM30, so no one bothered to get to upset at his poor booking in the interim.
Coming off the New Year he was booking in a great match with Bray Wyatt at the Royal Rumble and lost. This seemed like the right move. Bryan loses to Wyatt and then after WM30 you have a built in excuse for a rivalry between WWE's two up and coming hot stars.
Many assumed that Bryan would be in the Rumble match later that night and win, but he was not even an entrant. A Pittsburgh crowd not known for being hostile in the past booed the result of the Rumble like never before. There was a strong under current of animosity for Batista who was a full blown face at the time. It seemed illogical to fans that Bryan wasn't getting the natural push and they took it out on the WWE by booing faces and cheering heels until the finish of the match.
The next month Bryan was booked in the Elimination Chamber match with the title on the line and WWE tipped their hand. Bryan got close to winning the title, but he was beaten by simple interference from Kane. It then became clear that WWE had no plans for Bryan to be part of the title match at WM30. Fan angst was brimming.
The Orton Batista match scheduled to headline the show was not being well received at all and WWE was being forced to add Bryan to make it a triple threat. While this was all good there were certainly fans that were frustrated at the way this had to be done just to do what seemed right. Bryan was popular and the WWE was ignoring it to choose stars that they had traditionally supported as ideal. The big muscle guy syndrome. WWE fans were feeling like they were being ignored.
Post WM30 Bryan got a real injury that would sideline him for the rest of the year and cause him to have to give up the belt. Also the Authority angle that many assumed would end after WM30 was carrying on. WWE put the belt back on Cena. This was important because people are simply tired of Cena. Nothing against John, but he's just been overexposed and needs time away from the product to refresh. Yet, WWE pretends that a majority of the fans like him and tune in for him so they keep the focus around him.
Brock Lesnar Plays Houdini
Enter Brock Lesnar. Lesnar has been largely a part time player and at WM30 he stopped the Undertakers streak. While it will be argued for a long time if this was the right thing or not one thing for sure is that Lesnar is part time. Giving that rub to a guy that probably didn't need it and wouldn't be around past the following years show seemed really off putting to many fans. Why not give that win to a younger talent who could launch his career off of it like Bray Wyatt? WWE will look really bad if Brock leaves after WM31 having only had four matches since breaking the streak.
The loss of the streak and the lack of any Undertakers sightings throughout the year really had people up in arms. I'm sure there were fans that decided after that they were done with the product. I think it contributed to the anger of the crowd.
Lesnar used that win to return for Summerslam and win the WWE title from John Cena. I think many thought that Lesnar would now be around more and give the belt and the company new life. He took on Cena in a rematch at NOC the next month, but the match had a non-finish. Lesnar did not appear on TV much the rest of the year and did not defend the belt until January of 2015 from September 2014. Although I think it's good that the Champion is held out of some PPV's and not on TV every week this was near abandonment. Four PPV's passed with no title defenses.
That type of booking surely pissed off WWE fans. WWE didn't even use Heyman to fill the gaps, but instead chose to largely focus again on John Cena and his new rivalry with the Authority. The Champion was touted as being an attraction and only having to make limited appearances. Rumors circulated that WWE would not pay the amount requested for Lesnar to do more dates. If WWE truly felt that they needed to make their Champion a little less exposed then how do they explain not having Cena off TV for great periods?
The Big Survivor Series Moment Ripped Away Quickly
Cena was now the new target of the Authority. This was strange because he largely got along with the Authority until he won the title. This was just more of WWE jamming Cena and the Authority front and center. The Survivor Series angle finally gave everyone hope that possibly the Authority angle might be gone. I want to point out that the Authority angle kicked off with an excellent heel turn by Orton and HHH, but it largely flopped after that because of the illogical behavior of almost everyone in the company. By this point it was a tired angle and just them leaving meant maybe something new would happen.
The Survivor Series angle seemed like the moment when WWE was getting right. Vince had returned to set the stipulation that the Authority would be removed from power if their team lost. This was the first time WWE seemed to have an angle that was intriguing in quiet some time. People were very interested in this PPV and it was free on the WWE network.
They even eliminated Cena when no one expected it and it seemed to set the tone for Ziggler to final get a massive push. It was good to see a guy finally get his moment. Sting returned to create a unique and memorable event helping Team Cean win. HHH and Steph did a great sell job about how upset they were about being gone and seemed like fresh air was coming into the company. Finally fans felt like the dark cloud was leaving the area. (Note that Ziggler would only last about 3 minutes in the 2015 Royal Rumble, this after having an excellent ladder match to win the IC title following SS.)
Yet, WWE couldn't help itself. First they tried to bring back the Computer GM. This seemed like a way for the Authority to control the show without being there. Fans were enraged, so WWE used the angle to start the next show, but basically abandoned it. Something you rarely see them do. It was a show that WWE didn't know what to do next. Like they didn't have a plan. I think it was a lack of trust in new stars or a willingness to try someone new at this time.
This time frame really exposed the roster from a heel standpoint as being very slim. This was largely because WWE spent so much time working the Authority angle for the past year or so. An angle that was putting over two non-wrestling talents. Although Seth Rollins did establish himself during this time and I do think he is now a fully fledged top heel, I have to point out he was pushed to the moon and just barely got there.
WWE probably could have brought up Kevin Owen to feud with John Cena at this point. They probably could have brought up Adrian Neville as a new heel as well as Finn Balor. They could have built a new stable with Paul Heyman. Yet, instead of doing something fresh and new they turned right back to the authority almost a month after dismissing them and surrounded them with Kane and Big Show too long time stale characters who's time has well pasted them by.
Vince Talks In Tongues
Vince's appearance on the Stone Cold Podcast was interesting. He accused his roster of not being ambitious. I had a hard time with that because he had booked his roster at about a .500 win rate for the past few years. I often wonder how he expected people to care about a guy if he can't string two wins together or hold a belt longer than two months.
He accused Cesaro of not connecting with the crowd. I wish Stone Cold could ask Vince what changed after WM30 for Cesaro when he was being cheered? People have said a lot about this topic, but I think it's very simple. WWE started pinning Cesaro too much and after he took loses fans started to care about him less. Just like how poorly Curtis Axel was booked it becomes hard to get over if the company constantly has you getting pinned.
I think Vince was entertaining regarding some topics on this show, but he largely opened himself up for criticism and stirred the fanbase up by not more directly answering questions. He did little to put the wounds of CM Punk behind him and he looked very foolish when a month later the Authority was back in power. That certainly wasn't exactly what fans wanted.
I think overall Vince took on an adversarial tone instead of a welcoming one. Coming off the heels of what CM Punk had said it again made him out to be the real bad guy. Not in the way that wanted to make you watch more, but instead watch something else altogether.
When you add into that the phony excuses Vince made about guys not getting over and connect that to the over push of Reigns and the passing over of Bryan you start to see that fans feel a bit betrayed.
Bryan Gets Hotter Than Roman
The month leading up to the Rumble seemed like a battle between Reigns and Bryan to win the crowd. Reigns didn't even get out of the starting blocks. I can barely remember Reigns getting a pinfall victory on Raw or Smackdown in a singles match. I'm sure he did, but I can't remember it, which speaks volumes to his impact. What I do remember was bad promo after bad promo after bad promo. It seemed liked Reigns was not ready to be the guy.
Bryan returned and had three good matches. He even took a loss to Bray Wyatt. Yet it seemed like the Bryan story was laying over the Reigns story. Going into the Rumble match they were the clear favorites, but it just felt like if you were listening to the crowds that Bryan was the guy. Especially if Lesnar was going to hold on to the title.
After a fantastic triple threat match where Lesnar won the anticipation was amped up. Now Cena was officially out of the title picture. Something that had to give many great relief. The Rumble match was going really well and telling a great story. Then the bottom fell out.
It's not worth repeating what happened after Bryan got bumped off the ring apron, but what is for sure set the WWE universe off. Fans had had enough of the poor booking, and obvious overpushes for guys that the company deemed best for business. Everything McMahon had said, all the long Authority promo's, all the John Cena stuff, CM Punk painting them as the bad gusy, and the pushing of heels that had been around for 15 years had finally boiled over.
Fans started canceling the network in perhaps a worse move than turning off Raw. Something that had to make shareholders not too happy at all. The story made main stream media. If you want to send a message to WWE there is no greater way than through your subscription to that network.
A snowstorm has bought WWE 3 days and if they defer most of the major storylines on Thursday maybe even a week to figure out a path that makes more sense. This is a major moment in WWE corporate history. It's different from last year because WWE didn't directly on screen screw Bryan or the fans. They basically did it behind the scenes in the board room where outcomes are determined.
You can't go out and just say he's in the main event. That doesn't help matters. WWE needs to grab this moment and turn it around in their favor. There are many suggestions, but if WWE has demonstrated anything as of late it's that they will create something no one will think of because that solution will be illogical. Only time will tell.
In closing WWE has pushed John Cena beyond the amount of years they pushed Hogan and Austin. Cena is largely booed by the audience. He's rarely 100% cheered. It has been refreshing to see top stars CM Punk and Daniel Bryan get cheered by almost the entire crowd. Why is that concept so hard for the WWE to grasp? We want to go to shows and cheer for guys to close the show. Reigns will become John Cena 2.0 if he wins the belt at Mania. Can WWE not see that or perhaps believe that?
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