From: JaKyL25 | #345
Part of the problem is Wrestlemania itself, not the Rumble.
ADR vs. Edge wouldn't BE curtain-jerking Wrestlemania if it wasn't for two guys who wrestled a combined 5 times last year taking up a spot higher on the card than them. Sheamus vs. WHC wouldn't BE the 4th-biggest match at WM if it wasn't for a bunch of guys who don't wrestle every week coming back on that one particular day.
WWE uses nostalgia acts/part-time acts as a crutch to sell WM, the one golden goose buyrate they consistently still get. It literally does 5x more buys than any other PPV, at $10 higher cost.
They've positioned the Streak as being more important than any title, and they've also positioned Rock descending from the heavens and being so generous as to grace the unwashed masses with a match as more important than any title. Those two things alone undercut the Rumble winner more than anything. Sure, if Jericho won the Rumble, the Rumble Winner match would be the 3rd biggest match instead of the 4th biggest, but lah dee dah big whoop. The same problem still exists.
Next year they're gonna have the exact same problem when Austin comes back for his "one more match" he's been saying he has left. If that happens, AND if Taker is still around going for 21-0, AND if Rock vs. Cena turns into the WM/Summerslam/WM trilogy that some dirt sheets have hinted at, whoever wins the Rumble next year is even more buried.
So the problem lies not with the booking of the Rumble winner itself, but rather with a deeper issue, mainly WWE's dependence on nostalgia, and their insistence that these guys who only show up to wrestle once a year are more important than the guys who have to carry the other 11 PPVs and 300 house shows.
The streak IS more important than any title (this is not even debatable) and yeah, the Rock vs anyone (Cena is irrelevant in this) is bigger than any title too. Because Rock and Austin were bigger than the entire company, not just the Title.
On what planet do you inhabit where you think Sheamus beating DB for a Title that has been held for as little as 43 seconds is even on the same level of someone potentially breaking a 20 year old undefeated streak? Yes, the Titles have been buried, but even if they were not, they would still not be at streak level.
To change this up, let's use Wade Barrett real quick. Would he get more over winning one of the Titles at WM, or breaking the friggin streak? This is not even up for debate. That is why the streak should close every year (unless Rock or Austin are there) because it is simply bigger than anything else in the company.
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From: Regaro_Ukiera |
MWC is god-tier