The conclusion of The Rock vs. CM Punk match is arguably the best thing put out by any wrestling company in recent memory, not to mention a great move financially. Sure, a lot of people are upset about it, but that was intentional.
Let's start off with why the storyline arch between The Rock and CM Punk was artistically fulfilling. Our story begins with the hero of the people, CM Punk. The first half of our story takes many parallels to the Greek tragedy Oedipus (only with marginally less incest). The people ("smarks") are being oppressed by the Sphinx (the corporate machine that is John Cena). A new hero, Oedipus (CM Punk, who is on the fringe of society, which resonates with the smarks who are on the fringe of the WWE fan base), defeats the Sphinx, thus freeing the people (smarks) from its evil tyranny.
The Champion defeats all comers, the past hero in John Cena, the new hope in Ryback, and like Oedipus, his hubris gets to him. He becomes arrogant and conceited. Think The Dark Knight, "you rather die the hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
Now we have this unstoppable villain in CM Punk. To bring in some more Batman analogy, let's look at The Dark Knight Rises. This villain (Bane) is running through everyone. It is time to call back the old guard to slay the evil dragon. The hero of the past (because the mythological hero of the past always has a legendary power incomparable to any of the modern day), the true People's Champion before CM Punk came along and usurped the role, The Rock (the goddamned Batman).
The match itself is an emotional roller coaster. Punk, being the evil antagonist, uses all types of trickery, scheming, and outright cheating possible, but there is a sense of balance and fairness in the universe, which is represented by the president of the WWE, Mr. McMahon. McMahon deems that this must happen the right way. And once on equal footing, The Rock shows that he is truly the better man than the evil CM Punk, who has ended up becoming everything he fought against in the beginning, a tyrant. It’s beautiful. "You rather die the hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
Okay, now let's get to the business of why putting the WWE Championship on The Rock was the right call.
For starters, this is a business. The World Wrestling Entertainment exists solely for the purpose of making money, as does every entity that considers itself a business. And in business you need publicity and brand awareness. Within this bizarre subculture that is professional wrestling, WWE is the biggest brand there is. The end all, be all. But within the greater scheme of things in the world and even within the entertainment industry, WWE is not nearly as relevant a brand as it is to those who are within the bubble of professional wrestling.
The Rock is a cross-culture celebrity. He is an icon within the pro wrestling bubble and, outside of that, he is a famous Hollywood star. He is bigger than pro wrestling. Now, with that said, we need to compare a few facts: WrestleMania 29 (which will presumably be headlined by The Rock) is April 7th, 2013. GI Joe: Retaliation (which stars The Rock) hits theaters March 29th, 2013. A week and a half apart.
So what is The Rock going to be doing leading up to the GI Joe premier? He is going to hit the talk show loop, appear in all of the magazines and the press. And what's going to be on his shoulder while he's doing all of that? The WWE Championship. Sure, to us the belt may look ugly as sin, but you couldn't have the company's corporate logo be any more prominent if you had lights emanating from within. It’s great advertising. And of course having this big, bulky, gaudy trinket on his shoulder is going to bring up questions, which will give The Rock ample opportunity to hype WrestleMania. Starting to get it? The Rock wearing the WWE Championship is like the Susan B. Komen pink ribbon, it’s his way of saying, "I support WWE." Plus, how great is it going to look in toy stores when you see The Rock action figure with his WWE Championship next to the GI Joe action figure of The Rock? He's going to be everywhere. And therefore, so will WWE.
Now, with The Rock all over the media with the WWE Championship, he is going to get eyes on the WWE product. Ones that left because they were tired of where the business directed itself, ones that remember when they loved wrestling, when it was dominated by The Rock.
Compare the ratings today back to the Monday Night Wars, where The Rock was consistently one of the top five guys of the fed. Back then the wrestling audience was steadily 10-12 million people. Every single one of them knew who The Rock was. They still do. His audience is approaching billions.
The WWE strives to be a global brand. The Rock is seen in movies around the world and because he is outside of the WWE bubble, The Rock is a bigger brand than the WWE is. Sad, but true. Even if you choose to dispute that, The Rock's movies have a lot more eyes on them than any WWE pay-per-views.
A lot of people say, “this should have been used to build up new stars.” Could this have been used as such an opportunity? Sure. But not every single opportunity to build new talent needs to be taken. There are plenty of other ways to build talent. Is it better to enhance one piece of talent instead of trying to take the opportunity to reach out to a much larger fan base? Those opportunities are few and far between, building new talent can come at any point if you are a talented and creative booker.
Think globally. Stop thinking about what you want and start thinking about what’s best for the business of pro wrestling. Because I guarantee that’s how Vince McMahon thinks, and rightfully so. Besides all of that, there is also plenty of sociopolitical motives that act as driving factors behind WWE’s line of thinking, but that is an article of its own for another day.
Frankly speaking, Vince McMahon has pulled the emotional heartstrings of "tradition" and the “smart” marks’ love for wrestling, rolled it into a ball, and packaged it into the gimmick that is CM Punk. While I honor the traditions of professional wrestling, I will not be sucked into marking out for a very well booked angle and character. I’m beyond the point of marking out. This is business for me. And the oldest time honored tradition in this business is making money. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate good stories, well done angles, and good matches. And I believe CM Punk is genuine, you have to be to have that passion he exudes. But at the end of the day, Vince is a promoter and a storyteller, he just figured out how to put a spin on this real life personality and make money off it. The character and the person that CM Punk is today exist because Vince McMahon has finally figured out the way to work the smart marks. Vince thinks on a different level. If you want to be truly successful in this business you have to not just think about how you want things, but how everyone else views things. You have to know and understand how your audience thinks and feels to be able to control them.
I will never forget this quote from Jerry Maguire (and neither should you), "it’s not show friends (or even show tradition), it’s show business." It may hurt you to go against the time honored traditions of professional wrestling, but I know the only way to preserve those values is to grow and expand with where the direction of the WWE is headed. Otherwise, we’ll fall to the wayside and what we’re saying won’t mean a damn. We need to adapt.
Business… it’s money.
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