Befuddled Booking
After months of only dabbling through the WWE product, picking and choosing only matches I cared about, I finally buckled under the pressure and watched a live WWE pay-per-view. I choose poorly. Fastlane isn’t supposed to be a wrestling fan’s dream show. It’s a stopgap between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. It is an important stopgap though. The final chance for the company to change their minds, the last moment to solidify a rivalry or match before the main show next month, and as it turns out the time to forget how to book a wrestling show.
Booking is a bright light to wrestling fans, all of whom are moths. We must flock to it despite not fully understanding what this bright, shiny, pretty thing is. We slam our heads against it, hoping that one of these days instead of someone’s outside porch light it’ll finally be the moonlight we’ve been instinctively seeking. For years fans would fantasy book and play Monday night quarterback after every show, especially as the WWE’s ability to create an interesting and compelling product waned. And now those voices of starry eyed moths are absolutely right. The ever encroaching cliff has been reached and the WWE just don’t know what they’re doing anymore.
The company has been gifted two wonderful presents: Becky Lynch and Kofi Kingston. Having almost completely ignored for years, or in Kingston’s case over a decade, both have shown just how valuable they have always been. And so their day of jubilee seems to be approaching as both have been slingshot into championship spots. Except what should be the easiest of stories is now a thick soup of mystery ingredients.
Becky has been saddled with trash disguising itself as a human being in Ronda Rousey, who herself has been saddled with the worst “wrestling is all fake you know” story I’ve ever seen. What should be an easy story of a “real” fighter taking on someone with heart and determination has been complicated over and over again. Adding Charlotte into the story only seemed to protect Rousey since it adds nothing else to the story. Becky’s continued injury just seems to be there so she only has to wrestle at Wrestlemania for some reason. Nothing makes sense or tells a real story. The entire thing has played out like a random number generator trying to predict this year’s Wrestlemania matches. And worst of all it still has the fresh chance of ruining Becky’s run. Where she was once white hot at the Rumble, she’s now gone several months without a real PPV match.
Then there’s Kofi. Nothing about this makes sense. I even hesitate to call what’s happening a story. Whereas Becky’s path to the championship has followed a familiar throughline, Kofi’s has been a bit more organic. So who could blame the WWE if they weren’t fully prepared to put together a vast storyline that encompassed Kofi’s career, the depth of Bryan’s heel turn, and any number of ways the two could build up their Wrestlemania match? But what happened on Sunday was just odd. Kevin Owens was joined in the “why am I in this match?” club with Mustafa Ali. Even with fantastic wrestling the crowd wasn’t fooled and kept on cheering for Kofi. And Kofi, instead of getting a mini-heroic moment of his own, was sent off to get beat down. Because nothing says he’s championship worthy than a good ole fashioned thrashing.
Booking and building up stories along with wrestlers and characters that all need to make fans happy and spend money isn’t easy. There are more wrong examples than right. But now I believe the WWE just doesn’t remember how, or doesn’t care to. Their biggest show of 2019 is less than a month away and two championships are in booking hell, another is barely booked at all, and the last has a missing in action champion. With so much talent, money, and time it shouldn’t be too hard to create moments that treat fans and wrestlers alike with respect. But after watching Fastlane it’s clear the WWE have forgotten how to book.
