Thought of the Day: The New X-Pac Heat
The old version has since been replaced by Vickie Guerrero Heat where people boo her simply because that’s what you do when Vickie is on screen. My question about it, as well as X-Pac Heat:what difference does it make why the people are booing? Isn’t that the desired goal? Who cares if it’s X-Pac/Vickie Heat or regular heat?
I believe the theory is that sort of heat is bad, because it’s not the desired “real” heat, and can damage PPVs, storylines, etc… if they’re pushed.
Which I think is true to a degree. If you correctly use those wrestlers or characters, then you can get pops, support behind other people, etc…
Look at the current Vickie Guerrero spat with AJ. What they should have done is upon Vickie becoming manager, have her set AJ up with a carrot and a stick act: As an act of “kind will”, AJ will receive a title shot at Eve. Eve successfully defends her title shot and wins (cleanly, but with a little bit of distraction or shennagins), and when AJ protests or argues another rematch, Vickie lays down the stick: if she wants another title shot, she’s going to have to run the gauntlet of the entire division.
Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Alicia Fox, Kaitlyn, etc… all in matches that favor them or are just going to wind up damaging her (to draw from the nWo example you mentioned in a recent review). AJ does her best, winning a number of the matches (and even handicap matches against “locals” or developmental), but always getting more and more hurt, with Vickie gloating after every match and AJ slowly getting more and more back into her insane groove. Ultimately, she wins and Vickie reluctantly gives her the title shot, and the match gets set. During this time, Eve will have been on a win streak of her own, being much more successful and “fed” easy wins if you will.
From there, you go with the standard build up between Eve & AJ for her rematch, with Eve holding the advantage with a previous victory and AJ just being battered and back to her mental instability. Then, the match comes…
And AJ just goes ballistic, practically scratching and biting and throwing everything at Eve to bring her down. Eve nearly gets pinned in the early going before rallying after the referee pulls off AJ, and tries to methodically bring down the harpy. Halfway through the match, the referee gets taken down, and Vickie Guerrero runs down as replacement referee. This swings things further to Eve, as AJ’s rampage is further restrained and even cut off by Vickie’s actions. The fans are booing like crazy, Eve looks like she’s going to walk away with another victory, but somehow, someway, she mounts her comeback. No matter what Vickie does to keep AJ on the backstep, Eve is just getting back into this. Slow counts, being more active in pulling AJ off, etc… Eve winds up getting pinned for a slow three count (that feels more like a five), and boom AJ is the new Divas champion. Vickie goes to give her the belt (perhaps at AJ’s cocky demand), and when AJ takes it in her hands, she hits Vickie with the belt, right in her face to a big pop. Vickie falls to the floor and starts backing away and out of the ring, before AJ raises the belt and goes to the ring corner.
Weekly match requirement (5 minutes minimum)
Weekly promo requirements (5 minutes tops)
Wrestlemania Climax match requirement (15 minutes)
All in all, Vickie isn’t over exposed, she gets her comeuppance, AJ gets a boost and revitalize her insane gimmick, and the fans get a pay-off that didn’t need much building to start with.
That’s brilliant.