Raw 11-24-14

[Skelemania]

I know! As much as she's on the road, there's no way she's a good cook.

[Pete]

Someone in this thread literally told AJ to "go back to the kitchen". Not ironically. Fuckin' wow.

 

Well, the poster who said it claims to be a female...

[Big Fresh]

 

Someone in this thread literally told AJ to "go back to the kitchen". Not ironically. Fuckin' wow.

 

Well, the poster who said it claims to be a female...

 

 

I don't know if that makes it better or worse.

[Greggulator]

Here's why they use the evil authority figure character.

1) Heroes need odds stacked against them to conquer. The heel authority figure essentially serves as the person/alliance that sets the tension of the storyline in place -- i.e., "Austin, you have to beat Foley and I'll be the guest ref, with Brisco and Patterson as timekeeper and announcer" and the like. That makes stacking the odds so much easier to write from a narrative perspective.

There are other ways to stack the deck. The Horsemen stacked the deck because they had strength in numbers. Vader stacked the deck because he was a monster with no regard for human life AND had a manager. The Honkey Tonk Man stacked the deck because he would do absolutely anything whatsoever to keep the title, no matter how cowardly.

So the authority figure stuff gets stale. But it's really easy to see why that happens. You want Daniel Bryan to have sympathy? But him in a 3-on-2 match against The Shield, all because he lipped off to the boss.

That makes it so simple.

2) Wrestling's an exaggerated version of actual life. But we've all worked for awful bosses at some point in time -- people who make autocratic decisions at some whim, incompetent buffoons, people who got to a position of power because of who their daddy is. It's one of the most universal truths we have, and we get to see that story acted out in wrestling. Sometimes it's performed well -- Austin vs. McMahon, Bryan vs. The Authority. Sometimes it's performed poorly done.

But it's a story we all can relate to.

I'm not defending the anonymous GM. That got really tiring, especially when there was no payoff. But maybe it's a one week thing.

[SirSmUgly]

Someone in this thread literally told AJ to "go back to the kitchen". Not ironically. Fuckin' wow.

 

I was like, "Who the fuck said that?" Then I went back and looked and was like, "Oh Ebbie, you crazy, cranky lady."

 

At least Ebbie told her to make her own sandwich instead of telling her to make one for Punk. That's a form of advocating for empowerment in a way, uh, I guess?

 

I checked out part of this RAW after the fact to see Bryan, which was cool. The talky talk for twenty minutes to start the show was not. I was watching a Nitro yesterday that started in media res; the Giant was trying to chop through Giant Haystacks's chest in the aisle. They need to vary their openings like Nitro did. Sometimes a match, sometimes an event in the back or the aisleway, and occasionally a promo. 

 

Then the laptop GM...not a good creative decision, to say the least. 

[Greggulator]

AJ's character is that she thinks she's better at wrestling than the other divas (and kayfabe is due to her multiple successful reigns) and believes a lot of the girls she competes with got where they are because of reality TV or their appearances or, now, because of who they sleep with.

She lost the title because the bedraggled sister of her opponent forgave her sister's treatment of her because of how much she hates AJ. Now she wants revenge, and denigrating the character of her foe is a pretty good way to do that.

Not that hard to see the character or the motivations or why she's the face in this situation.

[nofuture]

Not that hard to see the character or the motivations or why she's the face in this situation.

 

Except that slut shaming the Bellas comes off as petty and mean spirited for a face, especially given her character's past. 

[The Comedian]

So, like...am I the only one who totally took the Anonymous GM bit to be a one-week thing in keeping with the post-Authority Guest GM stuff they're doing/a self-deprecating past reference (like when they occasionally bring up Mae Young's hand baby)/a rib on Michael Cole?

[Hooks]

AJ's character is that she thinks she's better at wrestling than the other divas (and kayfabe is due to her multiple successful reigns) and believes a lot of the girls she competes with got where they are because of reality TV or their appearances or, now, because of who they sleep with.

She lost the title because the bedraggled sister of her opponent forgave her sister's treatment of her because of how much she hates AJ. Now she wants revenge, and denigrating the character of her foe is a pretty good way to do that.

Not that hard to see the character or the motivations or why she's the face in this situation.

 

But that goes against the weird trend in the last year or so that somehow posters on here always find a way to explain why the heels are actually sympathetic babyfaces.  The Authority, Rusev, etc.  I dunno man, I don't get it. 

[Greggulator]

 

AJ's character is that she thinks she's better at wrestling than the other divas (and kayfabe is due to her multiple successful reigns) and believes a lot of the girls she competes with got where they are because of reality TV or their appearances or, now, because of who they sleep with.

She lost the title because the bedraggled sister of her opponent forgave her sister's treatment of her because of how much she hates AJ. Now she wants revenge, and denigrating the character of her foe is a pretty good way to do that.

Not that hard to see the character or the motivations or why she's the face in this situation.

 

But that goes against the weird trend in the last year or so that somehow posters on here always find a way to explain why the heels are actually sympathetic babyfaces.  The Authority, Rusev, etc.  I dunno man, I don't get it. 

 

 

Yeah. I don't get the "Rusev is a face" thing. He doesn't cheat and he's now cowardly. But he and Lana are obnoxious creeps denigrating a country where they're having a very successful livelihood and championing the success of Vladimir Putin. Pretty easy to see why they're heels.

[Skelemania]

I actually didn't know that AJ was supposed to be a babyface. Nor should she be surprised that Brie distracted her in the match...a week after AJ kicked her in the stomach & hit her with a DDT.

[Greggulator]

 

Not that hard to see the character or the motivations or why she's the face in this situation.

 

Except that slut shaming the Bellas comes off as petty and mean spirited for a face, especially given her character's past. 

 

 

Well, yeah. AJ's not the most innocent of faces. And she didn't call them sluts. She said they're not talented, even though they think they are because of who they date/marry. It's a little different than saying "You sleep around."

[Greggulator]

I actually didn't know that AJ was supposed to be a babyface. Nor should she be surprised that Brie distracted her in the match...a week after AJ kicked her in the stomach & hit her with a DDT.

 

But when has AJ been rational with her emotions?

[SirSmUgly]

WWE faces often act like bullies and jerks, which is probably why posters tend to see the villains as maybe not faces, but as more understandable or relatable in some ways. 

 

AJ accusing people of getting where they are because they were models smacks of a really annoying type of prejudice that ignores that in kayfabe, Nikki Bella has been kicking ass and deserves respect for her wrestling abilities. On top of that, Nikki and Brie made up and are friends again. I can see why someone would find the Bellas more sympathetic than AJ. 

[Skelemania]

 

I actually didn't know that AJ was supposed to be a babyface. Nor should she be surprised that Brie distracted her in the match...a week after AJ kicked her in the stomach & hit her with a DDT.

 

But when has AJ been rational with her emotions?

 

 

Isn't that what makes her a heel? Or at best, a tweener?

[Just Dave]

Yeah, to borrow an analogy from Mick Foley, the shark in JAWS wasn't a heel because he begged off and then cheap-shotted Richard Dreyfus. He was a heel because he fucking ate people. Rusev mercilessly beats on people that we're supposed to care about. 

 

Also, I think the GM thing has become such a staple of WWE television in part because of how much more visible GM's/Commissioners have become in other sports. Roger Goodell's crooked ass is on tv every other day making shit up as he goes along. Bud Selig grows more senile by the year before our very eyes. Sports fans are more accustomed to authority figures onscreen.

[Greggulator]

 

 

I actually didn't know that AJ was supposed to be a babyface. Nor should she be surprised that Brie distracted her in the match...a week after AJ kicked her in the stomach & hit her with a DDT.

 

But when has AJ been rational with her emotions?

 

 

Isn't that what makes her a heel? Or at best, a tweener?

 

 

No. In this case, it makes her unsuccessful. She didn't think that her attacking Brie would lead to a lesbian-ish kiss that would distract her, leading to her having what's been well established most important to her -- despite her flaws, the title has been AJ's motivation since she stopped boyfriend hopping. The title was wrongfully taken from her by two girls she doesn't think deserve her respect. She probably erred by attacking Brie a few times, but AJ wants to be the queen of the ring and Brie was trying to take her spotlight.

[Patrick B.]

 

Yeah. I don't get the "Rusev is a face" thing. He doesn't cheat and he's not cowardly.

 

He did opt for the Pledge(even if he didn't go through with it) rather than the battle royal...

[Greggulator]

 

 

Yeah. I don't get the "Rusev is a face" thing. He doesn't cheat and he's not cowardly.

 

He did opt for the Pledge(even if he didn't go through with it) rather than the battle royal...

 

 

Ah, yes. So, yes, he acted cowardly last night. He and Lana agreed to do one thing and he backtracked on his promise. That's a heel act.

[Technico Support]

Here's why they use the evil authority figure character.

.......

 

I understand why it works but after over 17 years of the same tired plot device, one GM character after another, it's long past time to do something different.  If the babyface needs adversity, put him up against a group of villains out to destroy him a la The Heenan Family or The Dangerous Alliance.  Bad guys on the same level, not the face's boss.  If fans need something to relate to, there are more storylines in our lives than "grrrrrr my boss is an evil prick." 

 

Remember when we had wrestler vs wrestler storylines and we only saw Jack Tunney when some really heavy shit was about to go down?  We need to get back to that.

[Overly Critical Man]

AJ called Brie, a devoted and faithfully married woman that she sneak attacked, a "skank".

 

She's the heel.

[Brysynner]

 

 

 

Yeah. I don't get the "Rusev is a face" thing. He doesn't cheat and he's not cowardly.

 

He did opt for the Pledge(even if he didn't go through with it) rather than the battle royal...

 

 

Ah, yes. So, yes, he acted cowardly last night. He and Lana agreed to do one thing and he backtracked on his promise. That's a heel act.

 

 

Now I found D-Bry to be the heel in this scenario because he didn't punish Rusev for failing to live up to the stipulation. He just let the evil Russian destruction machine get away with breaking one of his rules.

[Greggulator]

 

Here's why they use the evil authority figure character.

.......

 

I understand why it works but after over 17 years of the same tired plot device, one GM character after another, it's long past time to do something different.  If the babyface needs adversity, put him up against a group of villains out to destroy him a la The Heenan Family or The Dangerous Alliance.  Bad guys on the same level, not the face's boss.  If fans need something to relate to, there are more storylines in our lives than "grrrrrr my boss is an evil prick." 

 

Remember when we had wrestler vs wrestler storylines and we only saw Jack Tunney when some really heavy shit was about to go down?  We need to get back to that.

 

 

There are loads of wrestler vs. wrestler storylines. Every Undertaker Streak match is wrestler vs. wrestler. Lesnar vs. Cena was wrestler vs. wrestler. The Shield vs. Wyatts was faction vs. faction.

I do think it's tired and it needs a big break. (And they've done that in the past -- the celebrity GM era.)

But overall, The Authority run worked really well. The Daniel Bryan stuff was great. Stephanie was the performer of the year. It led into The Shield storyline and their slow burn, which made Rollins into the top heel in the promotion and Ambrose became a great psychopath face from that. And now Ziggler's the hero of the day.

But, yeah, just retire it for a while before it needs to come back into play at some point.

[Greggulator]

AJ called Brie, a devoted and faithfully married woman that she sneak attacked, a "skank".

 

She's the heel.

 

Nikki Bella turned on Brie, who was about to beat Stephanie. She then spent the next few months tormenting her sister and eventually enslaving and humiliating her. Brie went sniveling back to Nikki because of a personal grudge.

That's not moral fortitude.

[THEmanWITHnoNAME]

 

 

 

 

Also AJ was talking about herself too with that talent is not sexually transmitted line correct?

 

AJ is apparently the least self-aware person ever. Calling Brie a skank? Erm... Bryan, Punk, Kane, Cena, Dolph, Primo, Hornswoggle, am I forgetting anyone (of course, this doesn't make her a skank, but she's not exactly in a position to be calling anyone else that).

 

 

I don't think she meant to call her a skank (she was more insinuating that just because she's sleeping with Bryan doesn't mean she can wrestle like Bryan), the choice of words made it seem that way.  And there's a ton of irony in that statement anyways. 

 

 

Ummm...no.

 

What she was referring to was the kiss and how that didn't somehow "infect" Brie with A.J.'s talent. It was pretty obvious.