5 Reasons Why the TLC Plague May Be a Great Thing for WWE

This has arguably been the strangest week in WWE history.

Superstars have quit, taken leave, suddenly departed South American tours, abandoned their mayoral campaigns, and discussed exit strategies with Cody Rhodes all while trying to avoid an unnamed biblical plague that is currently sweeping through the locker room.

Injury and illness always come as tough news. WWE is no exception to that rule, but they certainly are better versed in how to deal with injured Superstars rather than 2017’s version of the movie Outbreak.

This Sunday’s TLC show was supposed to be about the long-coveted Shield reunion. WWE perched itself on this golden egg for years and decided, in the wake of John Cena and Brock Lesnar’s absence, that it was time to let it hatch.

Some things are just too good to be true.

WWE has to be bummed that their master plan has been torpedoed by some type of karmic contagion, but we’re still young and naive enough here at PopCuture to be optimists. With that said, the piecemeal TLC card may actually be a blessing in disguise.

In fact, we’ll go as far as to say that TLC is now a better show than it was a week ago. Here’s why:

The Return of Kurt Angle

Nothing exploits nostalgia like professional wrestling. 

NFL fans would never want to see Jerry Rice catch another ball. MLB fans are done with Nolan Ryan’s fastball. And no self-respecting NBA fan is clamoring for the return of Allen Iverson. 

But Kurt Angle in the most dangerous match in all of WWE? Yes, please!

It has been 11 years since the current RAW GM competed in a WWE ring. While Angle has been far from shy about returning to action, he likely imagined a gradual integration back into the game. Instead, his getting tossed into the closest thing WWE has to a lion’s den.

And it’s going to be great!

Look, we have to hope that Angle will be responsible in what bumps he chooses to take, but, Kurt Angle is one of the best performers in WWE history. Sure, he’ll miss a few spots but this is going to be highly entertaining. Don’t you forget Angle’s natural comedic chops, either. And in the current state of WWE, we’re ready to laugh to keep from crying. 

The Ressurection of Finn Balor

Fans love to point out John Cena as WWE’s “cooler” – that after a feud with the 16-time Champion, his opponents lose momentum.

While that point is debatable, the real cooler in WWE is Bray Wyatt. And having shared the ring with Bray since SummerSlam, Finn Balor was beginning to look like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining. 

Despite being tremendously handsome, outrageously ripped, and possessing a great Demon gimmick, Finn Balor was quickly becoming WWE’s most nondescript Superstar. To make matters worse, Balor’s already forgettable promo ability was being coupled with Bray Wyatt’s archaic babbling which made for a near mandatory change of the channel. 

But now, the wrestling gods have exorcised Bray Wyatt out of Finn Balor’s path and have place wrestling version of the Golden Fleece in front of him.

AJ Styles will fight Finn Balor’s Demon in a WWE ring this Sunday at TLC. Whatever your expectations are, raise them. This may be the match of the year. 

The Jilting of Sister Abigal

Bray Wyatt may not know it, but he and his career were spared by the Angel of Death. 

WWE and Bray Wyatt spent 4 years spewing dark incantations about his long lost sister. We giggled to ourselves as we thought about all of the spooky ways Abigail could make her initial appearance. Turns out, Sister Abigail is just Bray Wyatt with a vagrant’s handkerchief on his face accompanied by a voice distortion that came from a Snapchat filter.

To say the Sister Abigail shtick was mishandled would be a compliment. Even more, WWE was ready to double-down on the character and actually have Bray Wyatt compete as Sister Abigail. 

The kicker? Bray was going to lose.

After all of those years of cryptic references and subliminal build up, Sister Abigail was going to be thwarted in her first match. 

WWE is protecting Finn Balor as they seem him as a Universal Championship contender. Do we really think that WWE was going to let the Demon get beat by Bray Wyatt wearing his grandmother’s clothes? 

Don’t answer that.

The point is Bray, provided he survives his illness just got the break of his career. Hopefully, whatever antibiotics he’s on are slowly killing Sister Abigail, too. 

Re-Booking Roman Reigns

Although the Shield homecoming galvanized WWE’s fanbase, the main objective of the reunion was still looking questionable. 

While WWE would like us to think that the Shield banded together because the Miz desecrated their name, in reality, they came back for one reason: Get Roman cheers.

The Shield was getting plenty of cheers. Seth Rollins and Dean AMbrose were getting their adulation, too. But when Roman made his solo entrance for his cage match with Braun Strowman on Monday, he got the same ol’ boos.

While an illness is unlikely to buy him any more goodwill with WWE’s more impassioned fanbase, it will buy WWE time. 

We are certainly no doctor but a jabroni’s trip down a Google search tells us that Reigns should be good in a week. His illness, whether WWE acknowledges it or not, has drastically altered this Shield storyline and hopefully, WWE can find a pivot point that will help Roman get his cheers back. 

All wrestlers are subject to overexposure and Reigns is well past his saturation point. Fate seems to have intervened in Roman’s arc; let’s hope WWE has a compelling plan for his return.

 

 

Wake Up Call

It’s too easy to sit behind our precious little keyboard and toss Molotov cocktails at WWE’s creative process and patterns. As much as we think we know about the product, we mostly know nothing. However, fans and wrestling media alike are able to distinguish when WWE’s product is stale.

We were approaching that point. 

Aside from the novelty of the Shield reunion and the roaring ascension of Enzo Amore, RAW had become a chore to watch. It’s unfair and most likely ignorant to call Vince McMahon and WWE complacent, but we can call them distracted.

WWE is trying to take over the world. Armed with the WWE Network, John Cena, and a mostly Indian WWE Champion, Vince McMahon looked more like Xerxes than a wrestling promoter. 

Preoccupied with world domination, WWE lost sight of the little things: Character development, mid-card stories, attention to what is and what isn’t working, and creative freedom have all been replaced by some sort of systematic protocol. 

WWE Superstars have become brands instead of personalities – look no further than them wearing their WWE Shop gear every time they’re on camera. WWE has been coasting through 5 hours of live TV for months now, but this sudden wave of illness has forced them to book on their heels.

And when Vince McMahon and WWE are cornered, they do their best work.