Dead On Arrival
In some circles Ryback will get blamed for the flat Hell in a Cell match last night, but not here. He played his role. The flaws in the match were out of his control.
Ryback & Paul Heyman vs. CM Punk was an unsatisfying culmination to what, at times, had been a captivating feud. Paul's entrance took too long, the match lacked heat and the denouement failed to generate the pop WWE hoped for.
Perhaps all parties could have done something different to improve the ultimate result, but the bulk of the blame rests with two parties: CM Punk and WWE Creative.
CM Punk deserves blame because every big star deserves blame when his angles go bad. In wrestling -- as in movies and TV and radio and you get the point -- stars have ultimate control. The promoter or the booker may get mad at the star or threaten the star, but ultimately it's the star's responsibility to make sure he is part of matches and angles that are good rather than bad.
At this point wrestling people should start to question CM Punk's taste in storytelling. He has undeniable flashes of brilliance, but it seems like he keeps upchucking at big moments. After his memorable win at Money in the Bank 2011, he let the angle immolate by allowing Creative to put him back on Raw too soon as an ordinary character. Now at the culmination of his greatest long-term angle, he let's a fundamental story flaw ruin the climax of his feud with Paul Heyman.
The great story flaw of CM Punk's Hell in Cell match was putting Heyman on the top of the cage. It was a distraction, sure. The greater violation was that it created tension without paying it off.
David Lagana, TNA's Senior Director of Creative Writing, recently linked to a fascinating article about suspense in storytelling on Twitter (@Lagana). The article pointed out that all great storytelling requires tension. Whether it's the tension of the James Hunt character finishing the last race of the Formula 1 season in RUSH or the anticipation of the Doug character pulling out the camera that holds the lascivious pictures from the night before at the end of THE HANGOVER, the audience needs to know the result of that tense situation before the story can go on.
Imagine if the third act of THE HANGOVER was booked like Punk's Hell in a Cell match. Imagine if the Wolfpack had found Doug on the roof and Doug had immediately mentioned that he had a camera with pictures from the night before. Imagine if Doug was all set to show Alan, Stu and Phil the pics, but then they decided to hustle back to Los Angeles instead. The movie would have died. The audience would have known that those pics were coming. Their minds would have been wanting to see those pictures and break that tension. No other story points would have mattered.
The moment Heyman began rising up towards the top of the cage, the tension began. The audience knew that Punk and Heyman were going to have a confrontation at the top of the cage. The audience knew that anything else they were about to watch was just window dressing. And, as expected, the audience largely sat on their hands through the twenty minutes of window dressing. Even when Punk finally did make it up the cage, the pop was muted. If you have good tension built up and you disrespect the audience by not breaking it, then people will not react as strongly when the payoff finally does occur.
Resolving suspenseful situations before moving on to other subjects is fundamental to storytelling. Any literature or cinematic arts professor worth his salt is going to hammer that home. For a professional -- and, in this case, a team of professionals -- to make such an obvious fundamental error shows a real lack of quality control at WWE.
The WWE Creative team was in a difficult predicament heading into Hell in a Cell. Heyman had to be in the cage to sell the pay-per-view. Heyman had to stay away from having significant contact with Punk until the kendo stick beatdown. And if Heyman was inside the cage, the only way Punk would have logically stayed apart from him was if Ryback controlled 100% of the match. That scenario would open up its own can of worms.
There had to be a better way. Maybe Heyman could have ran like Jim Cornette or bumped around like Bobby Heenan. Maybe a third party could have let Heyman out the door. Maybe WWE should have announced beforehand that Heyman would stand atop the cage. What is known for sure is that the CM Punk vs. Ryback match was dead, and the decision to put Heyman atop the cage killed it.
Ryback & Paul Heyman vs. CM Punk was an unsatisfying culmination to what, at times, had been a captivating feud. Paul's entrance took too long, the match lacked heat and the denouement failed to generate the pop WWE hoped for.
Perhaps all parties could have done something different to improve the ultimate result, but the bulk of the blame rests with two parties: CM Punk and WWE Creative.
CM Punk deserves blame because every big star deserves blame when his angles go bad. In wrestling -- as in movies and TV and radio and you get the point -- stars have ultimate control. The promoter or the booker may get mad at the star or threaten the star, but ultimately it's the star's responsibility to make sure he is part of matches and angles that are good rather than bad.
At this point wrestling people should start to question CM Punk's taste in storytelling. He has undeniable flashes of brilliance, but it seems like he keeps upchucking at big moments. After his memorable win at Money in the Bank 2011, he let the angle immolate by allowing Creative to put him back on Raw too soon as an ordinary character. Now at the culmination of his greatest long-term angle, he let's a fundamental story flaw ruin the climax of his feud with Paul Heyman.
The great story flaw of CM Punk's Hell in Cell match was putting Heyman on the top of the cage. It was a distraction, sure. The greater violation was that it created tension without paying it off.
David Lagana, TNA's Senior Director of Creative Writing, recently linked to a fascinating article about suspense in storytelling on Twitter (@Lagana). The article pointed out that all great storytelling requires tension. Whether it's the tension of the James Hunt character finishing the last race of the Formula 1 season in RUSH or the anticipation of the Doug character pulling out the camera that holds the lascivious pictures from the night before at the end of THE HANGOVER, the audience needs to know the result of that tense situation before the story can go on.
Imagine if the third act of THE HANGOVER was booked like Punk's Hell in a Cell match. Imagine if the Wolfpack had found Doug on the roof and Doug had immediately mentioned that he had a camera with pictures from the night before. Imagine if Doug was all set to show Alan, Stu and Phil the pics, but then they decided to hustle back to Los Angeles instead. The movie would have died. The audience would have known that those pics were coming. Their minds would have been wanting to see those pictures and break that tension. No other story points would have mattered.
The moment Heyman began rising up towards the top of the cage, the tension began. The audience knew that Punk and Heyman were going to have a confrontation at the top of the cage. The audience knew that anything else they were about to watch was just window dressing. And, as expected, the audience largely sat on their hands through the twenty minutes of window dressing. Even when Punk finally did make it up the cage, the pop was muted. If you have good tension built up and you disrespect the audience by not breaking it, then people will not react as strongly when the payoff finally does occur.
Resolving suspenseful situations before moving on to other subjects is fundamental to storytelling. Any literature or cinematic arts professor worth his salt is going to hammer that home. For a professional -- and, in this case, a team of professionals -- to make such an obvious fundamental error shows a real lack of quality control at WWE.
The WWE Creative team was in a difficult predicament heading into Hell in a Cell. Heyman had to be in the cage to sell the pay-per-view. Heyman had to stay away from having significant contact with Punk until the kendo stick beatdown. And if Heyman was inside the cage, the only way Punk would have logically stayed apart from him was if Ryback controlled 100% of the match. That scenario would open up its own can of worms.
There had to be a better way. Maybe Heyman could have ran like Jim Cornette or bumped around like Bobby Heenan. Maybe a third party could have let Heyman out the door. Maybe WWE should have announced beforehand that Heyman would stand atop the cage. What is known for sure is that the CM Punk vs. Ryback match was dead, and the decision to put Heyman atop the cage killed it.
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