I've said it often enough. Vince McMahon just doesn't get it. He doesn't want to get it, and he doesn't care what we think of his uncreative ideas of late.
Take for example Survivor Series. A few spots on both Raw & Smackdown's men's teams were taken up with the likes of Kurt Angle, Triple H, and Shane McMahon when they could've gone to younger, more deserving talents. Jason Jordan was named to Team Raw, but then was tossed aside because the Chairman wanted to set the wheels in motion for a renewal of Attitude Era hostilities between HHH & Angle.
You have probably seen the result. Triple H turned on Angle, and gave a pinfall to his brother-in-law, only so he could have the last fall to himself and seal the win in the men's elimination match for Raw. Braun Strowman, in an angle that cemented his newly earned face status, took exception to ol' cucumber beak's selfish actions, and laid him out after the match.
So what happens on Raw? Angle, Jordan, & Strowman all wanted a piece of the Cerebral Assassin, but HHH and wife Stephanie only appeared in the opening segment, and weren't seen again the rest of the night. This wouldn't be happening, in this writer's opinion, if HHH/Steph were allowed to function the same way Hunter does in NXT. But that's not what the insane old man in the ivory tower wants, and we suffer. We have to spend the winter putting up with Attitude Era 2.0, whether we like it or not.
Thankfully, there are other viewing options. Ye scribe, for example, prefers "Supergirl" at 8 on Mondays, and, of course, there's football until next month. Until Vince finally gets a clue (doubtful), Raw won't get out of its ratings doldrums any time soon, and that's on him, more than on the talent.
Let me offer another example of Uncreative stupidity.
After dropping the Intercontinental title to Roman Reigns, a title change that should've happened over the summer, The Miz cut a promo on the Houston crowd, still claiming to take credit for putting some prestige back into the title, which of course is utter fallacy. Cody Rhodes used to claim the same thing when he was IC champ, but Cody had merit to his claims. Miz never did. Miz was booked as a coward who refused to defend the title unless it suited him. The Shield came back out and destroyed Miz, a write-off so Miz can go on 1) extended paternity leave, 2) back to MTV for another Real World challenge series, and 3) being pre-production on "The Marine 6", his 4th outing as the heroic Jake Carter.
And that gets me thinking. He's a hero in this movie series, and while his babyface run a few years back didn't go so well, due to uncreative stupidity as usual, now would be the time for first-time daddy Mike Mizanin to finally shed the guise of the self-serving egomaniac and accept the fact that the act he created on "Real World" more than a decade ago has more than run its course. He should come back as a babyface coming out of this break.
But, knowing Vince McMahon, that's not likely to happen.......
