Great bit of armchair analysis, I thought I’d share here. The Shoot-worked-shoot-worked injuries are great story telling. The odd dub by Zayn wednesday gave us a peek that not all is as it seems.
Originally shared by Chip Colandreo
Perhaps pro wrestling is at its best when we don’t know whether we’re being worked or not…
Last night’s episode of NXT – in which Kevin Owens tells Sami Zayn that he knows Sami is hurt and will exploit that injury at TakeOver – was taped weeks ago, long before Sami’s “shoulder injury” Raw match with John Cena. I was at the taping and remember being intrigued by this mysterious kayfabe injury to SZ.
Then Raw happened and, work or shoot, the injury to Sami’s shoulder wasn’t a mystery anymore. In fact, for last night’s NXT broadcast, the production team added a (pretty bad) voice dub of Sami acknowledging the Cena match and the injury but promising to face KO at TakeOver anyway.
So, the question is this: Is the whole thing an incredibly elaborate work, one written to span a month’s worth of time and two different WWE programs? If so, that’s some of the best story construction this company has put together in years.
Or, is it a “work gone wrong”? A kayfabe story about an injury that suddenly became all too real, forcing the reality to be written back into the fiction.
The whole thing – the backstage and the on-screen – is entertaining as heck, and this is what makes wrestling at once so awesome and so perverse. For several hours every week, we watch men and women appear to suffer life-threatening injuries. The performers’ ability to make it all look so real and convincing while simultaneously keeping each other safe between the ropes is the facet of this art form I enjoy the most. That they can tell a compelling story at the same time is more incredible still.
No one combines all these talents better than Sami Zayn. If he really is hurt, I hope it’s not too serious. If it’s a work… Boy, it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.
What do you guys think?
Justin Phillips Wrestling isn’t Wrestling. https://youtu.be/VYvMOf3hsGA
We the purveyors of this form of storytelling understand it. What these Athletic Thespians do is entertain us. If they don’t entertain you, that’s your prerogative. (But I’d watch that link to Wrestling isn’t Wrestling. If you’ve got any time. It’s worth it.)
My suspicion is that it’s a legit injury that isn’t that bad (hopefully), and they’re capitalizing on it for storytelling purposes. But then, I’m a cynic about the idea that WWE can even execute a story with this level of subtlety.
🙁 Nathan