View From The Top Rope: Hijacked.

Hijacked.

Imagine a couple of bandits pulling bandanas over their faces and hijacking a train at gunpoint. Then, PLOT TWIST: the engineers, trembling like leaves in an autumn breeze only moments before, whip out AK-47s and rocket launchers. The hijackers just became the hijackees.

WWE has effectively hijacked every fan movement going.

Vince anticipated Chicago’s attempt to steer this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW off the tracks by sending Paul Heyman out to CM Punk’s music. By acknowledging the would-be martyr, WWE took control of the situation. They knew Chicago would cheer for their hometown hero, and so worked the grass-roots movement into the script. Now, when Chicago or any other crowd stands tall and chants for CM Punk, they’re playing right into WWE’s hands.

Hijacked.

For months, Dolph Ziggler has groused about his position below the lowest strata of the undercard. Now WWE’s repurposing his complaints into a dissatisfied-employee shtick of its own creation. Hijacked. Crowds booed Batista, so WWE turned him heel. Hijacked.

What about the #YESMovement? It’s a thing, and WWE’s the one stoking the furnace. They realize the goldmine they have in Daniel Bryan, and they used him and several excellent match-ups to deflect attention away from CM Punk’s conspicuous absence at RAW in Chi-town.

Hijacked.

It’s still possible for WWE to add Daniel Bryan to the main event of WrestleMania. The Authority delights in forcing Daniel Bryan into two, three, or more matches a night, right? Why not spice up the inevitable Bryan/HHH match at ‘Mania by adding a stipulation: if Bryan pins the COO, he earns a spot in the title match, turning him into an even more compelling underdog by having him limp, battered and bruised, into the main event.

And WWE can take all the credit when WrestleMania goes off the air with the cameras zoomed in on Daniel Bryan leading 75,000 bodies in a huge YES chant.

Hijacked.

Vince McMahon isn’t perfect. Far from it. He’s a savvy marketer and promoter, less so a wrestling savant. Yet he was savvy enough to roll fan movements into his scripts and blow them right back into the stands.

That’s one way to view it. The pessimistic way. The optimistic way is that we, the fans, have effected change, however minor, by booing #Bootista and cheering Daniel Bryan.

Chanting for CM Punk accomplishes nothing.

What is chanting for a guy who walked out on YOU supposed to achieve? The Punk chants that spring up and fade out (usually within seconds) are especially perplexing when they occur during Daniel Bryan matches. Don’t cheer for the guy who left you at the altar. Cheer for the workhorse who puts on excellent matches night after night after night. If perception is reality, then we (the people!) still hijacked the train.

Other things are still in the works. Daniel Bryan’s title run is one of them. We can make it happen–and it WILL happen; it’s only a matter of when–by throwing our weight, our voices, behind causes that matter.