Does everyone remember WrestleMania 41? Last year. Las Vegas. Allegiant Stadium.
Travis Scott.
Remember? Travis Scott made a grand entrance during the main event match between Cody Rhodes and John Cena on night two? He helped Cena heelishly win a record 17th world championship? REMEMBER???
Yeah, I blocked it from memory. Same with you and I don’t blame you even a little bit.
Travis Scott is a well-known, superstar rap artist with entertainment and business credentials a mile long. No doubt. That’s a fact. Scott had no business being anywhere near the main event of WrestleMania. Let alone without The Rock at his side and let alone in a role that had such a significant impact on the history of the business. It was a mistake of epic proportions.
The good news is, you can learn from mistakes. Or, so I thought.
Triple H was in charge of last year’s Scott fiasco at WrestleMania and the retcon of that creative atrocity by WWE was too many cooks in the kitchen, a wishy-washy Rock, and a John Cena heel-turn gone bad.
Ok, fine. The BS meter bounced in the red hearing it, but fine. Provided said creative atrocity doesn’t happen again.
Bad history on repeat
It just did. Pat McAfee revealing himself to be the mastermind behind Randy Orton’s newfound psychotic aggression on SmackDown this week was a version of the same mind-numbing creative that involved Travis Scott last year. It put a celebrity talent much too close to pro wrestling’s sacred traditions and without a real money payoff.
Isn’t Triple H supposed to be “The Game?” That’s his thing. “The Cerebral Assassin?” He should learn his game quicker. Or better. Or Both.
Last year, the Scott shenanigans at WrestleMania showed that Triple H lost a piece of the creative thread that he’s supposed to always be holding as Chief Content Officer of WWE. In that spot, it’s his job to make sure nonsense like the Scott angle doesn’t infect top storylines in the biggest moments on the biggest stages.
He failed. And you know what? It’s all good. Maybe including Scott in a meaningful way was a contractual obligation. Maybe Cena wanted it. Maybe it was a meta way to get the audience to boo as the biggest WWE show of the year went off the air. Not every booker gets it right every time.
Not learning from whatever last year was? That’s a damn problem.