Does Vince McMahon, at 70, have a death wish?
It's one thing for him to be breaking bread with fellow geriatric Jerry Jones at AT&T-Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, 3 months before Wrestlemania takes place there. It's another to put his body on the line against a man less than half his age over and over again, and ignore the critics who say he needs to retire because, from a creative standpoint, he doesn't have it anymore.
Thinking only he can turn the ratings around this time of year, McMahon appointed himself the special referee for the World title rematch between current champ Roman Reigns and former champ Sheamus. Right there, McMahon has three strikes against him:
1. Conflict of interest. As the company Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, McMahon rightfully should be staying out of the fray, his time as a prime player in storylines long over. His bias is obvious as the day is long.
2. Age. At 70, even if he is jacked to the gills, and some will question if he's doing more than just working out all hours of the day and night when not in the boardroom, he shouldn't be out there. One false move from either Reigns, Sheamus, or anyone else, for that matter, and Vince likely ends up in the hospital with a legitimate injury, or, worse, a heart attack or stroke.
3. Deteriorating mental faculties. This applies to the man and the character, and ties into #2. By making this more about him than the wrestlers in the match, he's actually doing Reigns & Sheamus, two capable workers who've squared off many times in the last 3 years, a terrible disservice. The idea may be to get Reigns over as a babyface, but the idea of putting Reigns' title on the line at the Royal Rumble on January 24 is a bad one. After Reigns was booed out of the building last year after winning the Rumble, he's being asked to be the first man since Stone Cold Steve Austin turned the trick in 1997-8 to repeat as Rumble winner. Given how often McMahon changes his mind, that might not happen, but it'd be, ah, best for business if they changed things around and got Reigns out of the Rumble match and into a singles match, which I think was the original plan.
What has transpired on Raw since TLC only serves as proof once again that McMahon doesn't care about his audience, and what they think. His arrogance will ultimately be his downfall, because he won't write the story correctly. All along, he's refused to allow an advocate on the other side to offset the heel administrations, because he thinks the story that he's used since 1997 still works. No, it doesn't. It went stale when he kept going to the Vickie Guerrero well one time too many between 2007-14. Actually, it was bread mold by that point.
He won't let a far more talented storyteller, like, for example, Paul Heyman, who's twiddling his thumbs between appearances by Brock Lesnar, notwithstanding the Slammys 2 weeks ago, create a more compelling, sensible story. Think back to when Heyman was head writer of Smackdown during Stephanie McMahon's GM run (2002-3). Smackdown was easily a better watch than Raw. Then again, Heyman was working with guys that could trust him creatively (i.e. Undertaker, Eddie Guerrero). In today's WWE, more than ever, Heyman, since he has no role other than being Lesnar's mouthpiece, should be in the creative office.
In fact, I'd reboot the creative team and make it consist of Heyman, Michael Hayes, Dean Malenko, Mike Rotunda, and Dave "Fit" Finlay, the latter three all agent-producers now, and with Triple H, not Vince, being the man with the last word. You look at what Triple H has been able to create in NXT. The old schooler in him has to be neutered when he shows up on Mondays and has to do what his insane father-in-law says. In the back of his mind, Triple H knows he can come up with something much better. Rebooting the JOB Squad of the late 90's isn't the answer. Heath Slater is no Al Snow, and I feel sorry for Slater, Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas, and Adam Rose, all of whom are now being put on the firing line because of the usual creative indifference. I saw a still shot of the newly formed "Social Outcasts" online, and Rose, who was a big part of the ESPN NXT special last year, looks like a creepier version of Austin Aries. I give the Outcasts to the summer before at least one of them ends up "future endeavored".
What is it going to take, then, before Vince realizes he's the problem, not the solution? The ratings dipping all the way down below 1.0, to Impact-level basement numbers? No. If that were to happen, then Vince would go back out there again, ignorant of reality as usual. He drove Shane away more than six years ago because he refused to cede control when it was clear he had lost his mind. Now, Stephanie and Triple H are little more than ventriloquist puppets echoing his sentiments and devaluating themselves with each passing week. They don't deserve that. I realize Stephanie cares about her father, but she needs to realize, once and for all, that he is putting himself at grave risk, and it may be up to her and The Game to save him from himself. This has to happen, sooner rather than later.
