Credit: WWE.com
I am a staunch supporter of wrestling being presented as a sport. I feel like kayfabe is not dead and that even though it is not shoot fighting, the work aspect of it is still a competition. There is an art to professional wrestling. In my last piece, I brought up that CM Punk not being pushed as a main eventer on the level of John Cena and The Rock pissed me off, and Roman Reigns getting this half hearted push as "The Guy" has hurt me to the point that I need to stop caring about it for my mental and emotional health. People who do not love professional wrestling do not understand it. If they understood the business, they would be emotionally invested in it like us marks. A lot of marks don't fully understand the business either, so you have people who are shoot angry that Nicholas has exceeded his boyhood dreams and won tag team championships at the age of ten.
I'm not going to lie to you, if Sheamus or Cesaro sold one single piece of offense from young Nicholas, I would be on the side of the people whose sensibilities are offended. But, he did not throw a punch. He seemed nervous to literally be in the center of the thousands of his fans and the millions watching at home. As any of us would have been in that position. It would have been believable to any of us that Strowman was capable of beating the tag champions singlehandedly. That is what happened. I feel like WrestleMania 34 will be remembered as a show that both gave us what we'd expect, and lots of things we did not expect. Strowman beating the tag team champions single-handedly is to be expected. That little kid who struggled to lift his championship over his head, was unexpected. This is polarizing to people. This is the wrestling version of not liking Future's music. If Young Metro don't trust you... I'ma write an article about how I don't trust you. I don't need things to be the best for me to enjoy them and have fun with them. Many people replied to the question "If not Roman, then who?" with "Nicholas" and I laughed everytime. If that's not funny to you, you are the feds.
Last year at Backlash, the SmackDown tag team championships were defended. The Usos defended their penitentiary against The Fashion Police. I enjoyed that match way more than I expected to. I was in attendance at AllState Arena as I live in Chicago, and I feel obligated AS a Chicagoan... to point out that Rosemont is not Chicago. I digress. I never thought I would wholeheartedly chant for a mop, or pop for women's clothing being thrown at JBL, but there I was. Marking out for the pure comedy that was that match. WWE scripts really bad dialogue that is meant to be comedic. Clearly their creative teams are much better at making light of its competitors in the competition itself. I can totally understand why a purist would hate that a championship match was full of comedy spots. I also feel that if you cannot acknowledge that it was good fun, YOU ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED. When I really think about it, nothing else that happened that night was all that interesting or memorable. That was the night Shinsuke Nakamura debuted as an in ring competitor. KO beat AJ in a US title match by countout. Randy Orton put Jinder Mahal over as WWE champion. The Usos and Fashion Police stole the show by FAR. Because it was just SO much more entertaining than anything else. And on a night with all the WrestleMania entrances and Ronda Rousey's debut, I think many of us will remember that night for Nicholas getting a hot tag... and tagging right back out.
I talked to my best friend that night about how Nicholas needs to make all the shots, and even wrestle on SmackDown house shows. We were working each other. The shoot was... we would buy Nicholas merch. We had so much fun even talking about Braun teaching him the running powerslam, and Nicholas hitting it on Big E. I know that last sentence is preposterous. That's why it was fun. Of course we don't want to see a little kid beating up grown men. The idea of it, however, is more entertaining than most of what actually happens on WWE programming. There used to be an expression you never hear anymore with good reason: "Anything can happen in WWE". As overly scripted and overly produced as things are now, I scoff at everytime marks think "shoots" happen. It's all a work. We need the illusion that it is a shoot to forget that fact and become immersed in Vince's universe. Nicholas was a step in that direction. When Braun said he was going to pick a fan, I expected it to be someone from developmental, but nope. Nicholas. This is a time where WWE not doing what I expected worked for me. If it didn't work for you... I DON'T TRUST YOU.