Rassle Inn #47

By now, I imagine that most, if not all wrestling fans have seen the Texas Death Match between Swerve Strickland and "Hangman" Adam Page.  To say that it was divisive would be a crushing understatement.  There is no middle ground on this one.  I may come across as old and detached here, but I'm squarely in the negative camp.  If you dug this bloodbath, can I ask what you dug exactly?  The blood?  That's literally all you could have liked, as there was no cogent storytelling to speak of.  Yeah, I guess they...bled well?  I'm struggling to play the optimist.

I have many problems with this match, but there is one thing that cannot be argued away.  It did absolutely nothing for AEW's bottom line.  I can guarantee you that the ratings will continue to stagnate.  The same people are going to tune in on Wednesday nights as always, and as for Saturday nights, we know how and why that horse left the barn.  What did this chaos - I don't know what else to call it - do to get Page over as a babyface?  By the same token, is Swerve over as a heel?  The crowd seemed poised to chant for him, regardless of the direction taken by "booking."

What about the next blood feud?  The next major angle?  Are they going to bring guns to the ring?  Because they have nowhere to go from here.  Is it any wonder that the crowd was dead for the two matches that followed?  If I was MJF, I'd be royally pissed right now.  Last night, I chose to watch an episode of WWF Prime Time Wrestling from 1989 just to cleanse my palate.  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed a bygone product that has no relevance in 2023.  I'm not sure what that says.  It was so refreshing to see a heel (in this instance, "Ravishing" Rick Rude) act like a heel.

That reminds me.  Boy, I'm revved up, so you'll have to oblige me for a moment.  Drew McIntyre recently turned heel.  He'll be fighting alongside The Judgment Day at this Saturday's Survivor Series.  The reaction online was puzzling, to be sure.  If it were 1989, the fans would have been livid.  In 2023, the fans register their approval of consistent booking.  "What a great heel turn."  "Well done, WWE."  I...I can only shake my head.  I know you can't unring a bell, and those same fans are not to blame for holding inside knowledge that they never should have gained in the first place.  But geez.  What would Bobby Heenan think?