So the dust has settled on the Lashley and Lana wedding segment from the final Raw of 2019.
Some enjoyed it for what it was: an over the top typical wrestling wedding where anything could have and did go wrong.
Some of you may not have enjoyed it but are intrigued by the added twist.
There are some that it just didn’t work for and that’s ok as long as it didn’t work for you because you disliked it…not just because it was on Raw. And for some of you, there weren’t enough caps on twitter, or couldn’t get on YouTube quick enough to scream your “rage” about the whole segment because after all when it comes to wrestling in your own mind, your opinion is the only one that matters.
Well if you fell into the last statement, or just didn’t like it not because of anything other than it was on Raw, then the problem is YOU.
What do I mean? Well, allow Uncle JCD to explain.
Think back allllll the wayyyyyy to September of this year when Lashley randomly retired during the Rusev/Seth Rollins match on Raw, and then the even more random (for the moment) Lana return as well. For two seconds before they started making out, it was just that, random and made 0 sense. Obviously once the started making out it became painfully clear what we were in for.
For weeks we sat through hot garbage restaurant segments, divorce court segments, restraining orders, and countless other pain inducing segments that made zero sense or just out right sucked.
But through it all one thing was clear, Rusev, after being insanely and stupidly cooled off, was getting over again. “Rusev Day” chants would drown out Lana and Lashley whenever they spoke, and despite what was being spewed out of “experts”, that showed at the very least Rusev was benefitting from the angle.
Sure WWE benefited from the angle as well. At a time when Rusev and Lana’s deals were coming up, WWE gave themselves an out and a way to devalue the duo had they decided to part with the company.
However Lana and the company announced she recently resigned and despite no offical announcement it would seem to be clear that Rusev has also signed a new deal.
Now back to the angle itself, while almost all of it was indeed cringe worthy garbage, the YouTube views between the good and bad have been doing monster numbers. And again while a good share of it was probably due to the car wreck nature of it, people were viewing it. As of this writing, (Tuesday at 3pm Eastern) on the WWE YouTube page, there has already been 1.8 million views. The views for the segments have done pretty solid numbers and that is a huge reason as to why the angle has gone as far as it has, despite crying social media “experts”.
So here we are the stage is set for the wedding.
During the night, there were several nauseating vignettes promoting what was to come later on. And once about 10:40pm hit, here we were. And to make matters worse, WWE actually went to a commercial break before the actual ceremony even began.
Despite some line bumbling and some make up mishaps, a story was starting to take shape even from the start.
Lana making it all about her, from her vanity, her directing the minister and Lashley on what to say, seemed to set the stage for eventually Lana would get dumped by a fed up and castrated Lashley. We’ll see if that eventually happens.
The teases of the interruptions were done much better than they had been in the past as they didn’t jump right to “it”. Between Lana and Lashley’s first exes and even the tease that no one would interrupt, the segment while long was starting to take shape to the eventual Rusev appearance. Everything was pointing to that, but then something different happened, Liv Morgan, after weeks to vignettes appeared as a scorned lover left behind.
But in an Attitude Era style twist, it was revealed that Morgan and Lana to say the very least, have a past. After a CAT FIGHTTTTTTT broke out, Rusev appeared and the final shot of the night was Morgan and Rusev standing tall.
So what was everyone wrong about?
Well it’s simple, for starters I don’t care what anyone claims, NO ONE had THIS as the payoff.
Rusev is super 2017 Rusev Day over, and finally there is actual intrigue and interest in what happens next.
The YouTube views, the over run ratings number prove that despite the “hatred” and “anger” on social media, the angle went from full on crap bag, to intriguing in the sense of what long term role does Morgan play in this.
Say what you will about this, WWE might just have turned crap into lemonade and there’s nothing YOU can do to change that fact.
