By Shawn Valentino, PWTorch specialist

Over the past six months, I attended both WrestleMania and Summerslam live. Witnessing those two shows in person and viewing the follow-ups on television have provided evidence of everything that is both good and bad in the wrestling business.

For example, the opening of WrestleMania 30 featuring three of the biggest stars in wrestling history in the ring together looking great and showcasing their charisma was one of the greatest segments I have ever seen. (By the way, the embarrassingly awkward segment with Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and Ric Flair on Raw during the build-up to Night of Champions was one of the worst legends segment I’ve ever seen. I’m thankful I did not make the short drive to Anaheim to see it live.)

During this six-month period, the two most memorable matches featured Brock Lesnar conquering The Undertaker’s Streak and then John Cena’s WWE World Championship. Having been to 12 of the last 13 WrestleManias in-person, I feel that The Streak should never have ended. What has happened since Summerslam supports my belief.

The annual Streak match delivered some of the greatest matches in wrestling history, and it added something prestigious that can be celebrated for the ages like almost nothing else in the industry. I sat through that awful Taker-Lesnar match at Mania, and the collective thud after the awkward ending made it the worst moment in WrestleMania history. Of course, if The Streak were to be broken, it would have had to have featured the right set of circumstances, and WWE may have had some plan in mind where Lesnar would do the unthinkable and then go on to have a dominant World Title reign before crowning a new star. In six months, WWE has managed to do the unthinkable and ruin both The Streak and Brock’s status as an invincible monster.

(1) The Streak ending should have been in an epic match with a majestic build-up.

We have learned since WrestleMania that ending Undertaker’s winning streak was a last-minute decision by Vince McMahon. Being there live, it was obvious that it was a last-minute call, and it was part of the reason it came off so badly. The build to the match was atrocious, with one bad segment after another that killed the battle even before it began. If WWE wanted a proper conclusion to its most epic story in company history they should have mapped it out months in advance and built the match as one of the ages.

Of course, it did not help that Taker was injured during the match, but this was one that did not stand a chance to succeed due to awful storytelling. I thought that if they were going with the end of The Streak, they should have just had Lesnar destroy Taker in a squash to really establish his dominance instead of giving him a weak, awkward win that almost looked like a mistake.

(2) WWE should have featured segments and video packages hyping The Streak’s Prestige and Brock’s aura.

Paul Heyman has cut some of the greatest promos in wrestling history in the last few months. I still do not think that WWE did a good enough job capitalizing on The Streak’s prestige and how much it meant that Brock is an unstoppable force. They should have had a Brock Month on the WWE Network showcasing his greatest matches. There should have been some documentaries on Undertaker’s streak and the massive news story it was that somebody was able to end it.

WWE finally started to cash in the few weeks leading into Summerslam with some excellent video packages and promos that made Summerslam feel like a must-see show. Perhaps there was a chance for the company to redeem themselves from a boneheaded impulse decision to end its most prized accomplishment?

(3) The Lesnar vs. Cena Summerlam match was perfect, but the key was the follow-up.

Again, I was there for Brock’s historic victory at Summerslam, and it was truly one of the most special matches I have seen in over 20 years of watching wrestling. It showcased the heel Lesnar as a force of nature that their top star could not even compete with. It was a brash move by WWE to demolish its champion in such a fashion, but if followed up properly it should have sent Lesnar on a journey as an unbeatable warrior and Cena on an intriguing road to redemption.

Lesnar and Cena should have taken Night of Champions off. Lesnar could establish himself as so important that he was above fighting on the show, and Cena could have been sent down a dark path re-evaluating himself before climbing the ladder to the top again. It would provide fans the impression that WWE was an edgy company with an egotistical beast of a monster champion and a conflicted top star on a unique character arc.

Instead, it took no longer than one week, again one week, to ruin a landmark match by having Cena come back without selling the loss and stating that he would “beat Brock Lesnar’s ass.” How did this make any sense, and what kind of desperation move by McMahon re-storing his top star in such a rushed fashion was worth this story? Cena should have taken a month off and returned humbled, ready to begin a quest to earn another shot against the man who dismantled him. Even Hulk Hogan had ups and downs during his reign at the top so it would be intriguing to see Cena question himself and fight for regained respect.

(4) The story leading to Night of Champions as completely disconnected to the match itself.

WWE may have thought that they were sending Cena down a path where he would have to confront his dark side to defeat the indestructible Lesnar, but in typical WWE fashion, it was done with little regard to logic or character consistency. They tried to follow the Luke Skywalker versus the Empire model from Star Wars, but what did it even mean for Cena to go to the dark side? This is a guy that has used forklifts and every type of weapon imaginable in his matches, including a damn chain around his hand to beat Lesnar the first time. What did he have to do, come out with a machine gun and open fire on Brock?

WWE has tried this before, including when Cena joined Nexus, lost to The Rock, and even after his first match against Lesnar when he said he would leave to reflect. Every time, they failed miserably by not properly completing the story or retroactively forcing emotion that was never there. Paul Heyman and Steve Austin tried to justify the befuddling storytelling by concocting a tale of how Cena would have to transform his character to win the match. The epic feud between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels from 2008 was a perfect example of WWE telling this story properly and displaying matches that perfectly fit the context of the storyline.

So, what happened when Brock and Cena finally fought again? They fought a well-wrestled match that had absolutely nothing to do with the build. Even the tone deaf, atrocious commentary team of goofs could not try to sell the story of Cena fighting his inner demons to beat the Beast. The execution of the match was completely disconnected from the segments between Heyman, Cena, and Lesnar that promised Cena would be struggling against his dark side to win the match.

One of the keys to wrestling building strong characters and compelling feuds and bringing out emotions of the audience is to tell a story in the ring that is cohesive with the story told out of the ring. All it would have taken is a few shots of Cena second-guessing himself or in conflict with himself of what to do to beat Lesnar. An example would be having the ref down or distracted and having Cena pick up a chair and then decide not to use it. Instead, WWE presented a solid contest that completely nullified what was a weak story to begin with.

(5) Brock Lesnar has already lost, only his second match after beating Undertaker’s streak.

Technically, Brock is still the WWE champion (but you wouldn't know it with WWE ignoring their champion on Raw), and the ending of Night of Champions was a non-finish, but any fan with an IQ above their shoe size knows the real story. WWE made it clear that Lesnar was about to be pinned by Cena, and it was only Seth Rollins’s interference that saved his championship reign. The announcers repeatedly stressed that Cena was about to win, and this shows that Vince wants it clear who the top star is. Now there is nothing wrong with reaffirming Cena as your top guy, but then what was the point of any of the last few months? Why not just have Cena beat The Streak and lead to potential contest against an upcoming star? Why even have Brock beat him for the WWE Championship? At this stage, it makes absolutely no sense.

Lesnar should have had a dominant run with the title where it looked like he was unbeatable. Instead, his reign of dominance barely lasted one month! They might as well have had him lose clean at the pay-per-view because it is better than being saved from defeat by WWE’s most cowardly weasel heel. Let us also look back at how horribly it was executed...

Why would Rollins hit Cena with the briefcase and then have to pin Brock? Would it not make more sense to hit Brock as well, the one he needs to beat? Or why not just wait for Cena to get the three-count on Lesnar and then hit him with the briefcase to stun the new champion, who was already tired and bashed by a weapon? And what type of disease did the timekeeper suddenly become afflicted with to make it so hard to ring the bell to start the cash-in? It was totally illogical and like ending Taker’s streak, it looked like last-minute bad booking.

Now, when Brock is pinned for the championship it means so much less because in theory, he has already lost in clear fashion. Let us say Roman Reigns comes back and beats Brock at WrestleMania 31 for the Championship. It does not mean nearly as much because Lesnar was not a dominant champion and should have lost his first title defense.

There is a reason Network subscriptions are not up to expectations and television programming is so flat. WWE has put themselves in positions to do something special with situations like the end of Undertaker’s Streak and Brock’s historic win at Summerslam, but they ruin it with mind-boggling booking, character inconsistency, and lack of logic. Perhaps WWE will do the impossible and manage to salvage this, but I believe that they have already done the unthinkable by ruining The Streak and Brock’s reign. Good luck to whoever tries to rise up the ranks and become the next big star in this storytelling environment.

Please send questions, comments, and feedback to shawnvalentino@gmail.com and check out my book, "The Showstopper Lifestyle," on Amazon. Feel free to add Shawn Valentino on Facebook.

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