Dave's Battle Ax: With just days to go before Wrestlemania 31

With just days to go before Wrestlemania 31, the WWE is finally starting to turn up the heat on its network shows.  I was beginning to wonder if the company even cared to have a build up it’s marquee event this year, given the tepid lead ups to the past 3 PPVs they've attempted.  You see, it’s easy to forget that for all the drama and armchair predictions, that WWE is still just a TV show, with writers and directors and sound guys and grips and trucks out front making it all happen.  Only this year, it hasn’t been a very good show to watch.

Don’t get me wrong, the talent in the back ARE busting their collective asses out there every night, it’s just that the writers have let them down.  You see, every season of WWE has a narrative.  Last year was about the rise of the Shield, the year before that was all about CM Punk.  These crucial storyline elements are what ties the whole show together and somehow has to play out across 2 televised shows and 2 WWE Network shows to be cohesive.

This season, injuries messed up that narrative, big time.  If Daniel Bryan hadn’t been out for 6 months and Roman Reigns 3, the narrative leading up to Wrestlemania this year could have been epic.

Instead it feels cobbled together - and the main reason is that the writers/bookers were winging it, badly.  So what we’ve got to supposedly cap off the narrative is a somewhat muddled march to the biggest night of the year.

I’ve seen other shows go thru injuries, cast changes etc. thru the years and it can either make or break a show going forward.  This year, the WWE ended up broken and it’s going to take more than a Superman punch to set things right.

The reality is that this show has been running for as long as I can remember and has gotten so big, it’s like a leviathan - unable to make sharp turns when it needs to, unable to adapt to the needs of both wrestling fans and WWE fans (there is a difference) in an ever-splintering world of social media distractions and gewgaws to bring everything back home again.

I truly hope that in the year coming up AFTER Wrestlemania 31, WWE TV has a better season. With all these other channels and shows to choose from, more will find other things to watch if it doesn’t.

- Dave Parrish

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