How WWE Used The Squad To Kill Our Spirit
At one time or another, every wrestler does a job. They all lose at some point and it’s the way the business goes. Sure, fans can complain about it. They can weigh the worthiness of those who scored the victory. They can bemoan the downfall of their favorite wrestler, but at the end of the day, it’s the nature of the industry.
However, sometimes it goes beyond that. Sometimes a performer does more than a job. Sometimes the fate of a wrestler is far worse than a three count. That’s what happened on Monday.
Following their loss to DeGeneration X, The Spirit Squad was all but finished. Triple H had stated at the start of the contest that fans would never again get to see the five cheerleaders on WWE TV. Despite the fact that Hunter’s character isn’t in a position to make such statements, fans have come to accept it as the way things go. Even though he’s portrayed as a thorn in Vince McMahon’s side, The real-life Game is a part of the office. So when he makes statements like that, people accept it as fact. Simply put, there’s no kayfabe when it comes to things like this anymore and people get it. Although it’s as if Bad News Brown got to make major decisions about WWF TV around the time he choked out then-WWF President Jack Tunney, it’s a different time now. It is what it is.
That’s not what I’m here to talk about today, though. Triple’s pre-match announcement wasn’t the major downfall of this angle. In fact, it was just the tip of the iceberg. Following the Spiriters loss, DX shot a segment backstage where they shoved all five members into a box and then “mailed” it to OVW.
Wow. :shock:
For those of you keeping score, let’s lay it all on the table. The Spirit Squad consisted of five young wrestlers who were brought up with the same gimmick. They worked it hard, despite it’s shortcomings. Over the course of 2006, they wrestled on 30 editions of Monday Night Raw. Not only did they wrestle, they were pushed to the moon. Their alliance with Vince McMahon was a major part of Raw’s storylines for the better portion of the year. Their tag title reign and feud with DX was a huge part of the show.
However, now their considered “not ready.” Sent to a place that’s known for being the training ground for WWE, the SS is gone. Now keep in mind that I’m not complaining about where they’re going. In fact, WWE has every right to send young stars to Louisville’s developmental league. That’s not the issue.
The issue is that it was done in a public way on WWE television. The issue is that this team that has been featured on 30 editions of Raw, held the tag titles, and took part in the company’s most high-profile feud of 2006, was declared to be minor league on cable TV. In other words, fans were told that the group they were forced to watch for months, was never good enough for Raw.
Then why the hell did we have to watch them for months? Why were they ready to main event Raw in April, but aren’t fit to even be on the show in December? Why does it feel like the joke, once again, is on the us, the fans? :dunno:
WWE’s done this before. They did it with Steve Austin during his hiatus. They did it with Bret Hart in December of 1997. They did it with Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and The Ultimate Warrior. What exactly did they do? :dunno: Well, they pushed a wrestler while he was on the roster and then laughed at their fans for supporting them once they were gone.
I’m not saying that we all supported the Spirit Squad here. What I’m saying is that WWE counted on the Squad to draw in fans for their matches on Raw. By promoting the SS-DX conflict, World Wrestling Entertainment saw it as something to sell. As a promotion, it was the top match they felt they could offer fans. After all, isn’t that the idea of promoting matches? Take people who can perform, put them on top, and give your audience the best possible show you can, right? That’s what I always thought. That’s what we figured they were doing at the time.
Ha ha. :no: No. Despite presenting the cheer team as a major force on the show for months, the company has now sent them away to get more training. Not only that, but they did it in a way that denotes they were never ready to come up and, once DeGeneration X slapped the OVW label on the box, we were all supposed to laugh along with them and get the joke. Unfortunatley, we weren‘t laughing. WWE was…and they were laughing at us.
There were a million and a half ways to transition the Squad out of their gimmick. While most people might accept the fact that all five guys wouldn’t be main eventers, no one expected to see their characters disrespected and destroyed without anyone escaping the “too green” stigma. Some might say that the group will definitely be brought back as individuals with different gimmicks. That’s fine. The problem here is that even then fans will remember WWE unceremoniously dropping them from the roster in November and declaring on television that they weren’t up to snuff. Such a high profile send-off is hard to forget. The damage has been done. It’s going to be something people remember for a long time to come.
The most frustrating part of all this isn’t even the fact that the joke was on us. The most frustrating part is that after all the TV time the Spirit Crew got, they could have easily been broken up in a more high profile way. After weeks of teases and false splits, it would have made sense for WWE to use that TV time to their advantage. Fans were familiar with this team. They knew all five men. They understood the characters. They did so because WWE had introduced them and nurtured the gimmick. By finishing it off with a box and a wink, wink, the Squad’s TV time was pointless. The way their gimmick ended was the way you should end a gimmick that was barely used on television. There’s no buildup required to finish of a character with the ol’ “They weren’t ready yet, so let’s all point and laugh.” You could have debuted a guy in October, had the same going-away angle for him in November and it would have gotten the same reaction it did on Monday. There’s no reason to do it with a team you pushed so hard. The point of promoting a wrestler or team is to have fans become familiar with them. Once you do that, it’s your job to take advantage of that familiarity and transition them into something new.
Sadly, it is what it is. The Squad is gone and, according to the company, we’re all stupid for watching Raw when they were there. They weren’t ready. We knew that. Unfortunately, WWE knew that too.
So, Vince, just do us all one favor. Let us know now if you feel that MVP or The Miz aren’t ready for WWE TV. We’d hate to waste all that time getting to know them just so you can laugh in our face three months from now. :-/
