The Brass Ring Debunked

[Hanley!]

Vince McMahon and the WWE have long liked to talk about wrestlers grabbing "the brass ring". Recently on Austin's podcast, Vince said the reason the company wasn't building more new stars is because the wrestlers in the company weren't reaching for the brass ring. They weren't trying hard enough to be the next big thing. It wasn't his fault, it was their fault.

Most of us called bullshit immediately, because that's what it was. But I think now we can finally put this piece of WWE propaganda horseshit to rest.

Because finally they're behind a new wrestler 100%. In a way that they haven't been since John Cena and Batista. This is the first time since 2005 that a new wrestler has won the Royal Rumble and will main event Wrestlemania. We've had a decade of the company failing to commit to popular and talented guys like Punk, Bryan and Ziggler in between. But now they're finally committing to somebody. Roman Reigns has been given the fabled green-light push.

So Reigns has been the first guy to reach out and grab "the brass ring" in 10 years? Not a fucking chance.

Are we supposed to believe that this guy has worked harder than any other young guy on the roster this past decade? That he wanted it more? I don't see any evidence of that:

- He hasn't put in more hours than the others. He's only been around a couple of years.
- He hasn't paid his dues more than the others. He's barely lost.
- He hasn't gotten more over than the others. Last night is proof of that.
- He hasn't done more media than the others. He barely does any at all. Rollins & Ambrose used to do media without him when the Shield were still going.
- He hasn't worked harder on his craft than the others. He's currently an average performer. Far from the best young prospect they have.

I'm not a Reigns hater. Far from it. I think he could be a good main event star some day. But today is not that day, and it brings me great pleasure to debunk this garbage that WWE has been trumpeting these last few years.

So when Vince McMahon talks about grabbing the brass ring, what he really means is that you should be huge, have a great look and an extremely famous relative. It's not about hard work or talent. Only the shallow stuff really matters.

[Everlong]

Yeah, nail on head.

FYI, I added this to the home page as a featured post. Really sums up exactly what's wrong with the WWE and McMahon today.

[The Legend]

I'd add in one other element that he has nailed down much better than the guys you mentioned like Ziggler and Punk. He seems to be a pleasure for the WWE, Vince and the creative to work with. Ziggler and Punk haven't gotten ahead mostly because they are headaches and malcontents, that create drama and bad publicity and a negative attitude in and around the WWE.

No matter the line of work, people like that aren't enjoyable to work with. You don't bend over backwards to help people like that and no one here will ever have a boss no matter the line of work that will want to promote you higher up the company ladder because of an attitude like that.

It's time to recognize that the WWE is a workplace for those guys and unprofessional behavior has consequences no matter the line of work one happens to be in.

People (including a lot of the young wrestlers themselves) seem to have this vision of Austin and McMahon being behind the camera the same people that they were in front of it and think that Austin got ahead by being a malcontent and a pain in the ass to work with backstage, I'm pretty sure that's not true 99% of the time.

[CubsIn5]

Well done Hanners, this is perfect. On a related note, I LOVED Cesaro and Kidd's "Brass Ring Club" shirts. I want one so so so bad. I originally thought they were wearing bullet club shirts (which would have been amazing) but "Brass Ring Club" is beautiful.

[Messiah]

People (including a lot of the young wrestlers themselves) seem to have this vision of Austin and McMahon being behind the camera the same people that they were in front of it and think that Austin got ahead by being a malcontent and a pain in the ass to work with backstage, I'm pretty sure that's not true 99% of the time.

From everything that has been said, Steve Austin was not an easy person to work with. He was just as "bad" as Punk in that regard, the only difference is social media wasn't nearly as prevalent in 1998. You could argue that Austin was arguably worse. Punk never refused to put someone over like Austin did in '99 when he wouldn't take the fall to Triple H.

[Kyle]

What unprofessional behaviour has Ziggler demonstrated? And Punk may have been brash, but he worked his butt off for the company and got nowhere good until 2011 - and even then WWE did everything they could to hold him back. Regardless of what goes on backstage, WWE is a business - and you put your most over wrestlers in the best spots, because they are the guys people are going to pay to see. Bryan and Ziggler are way over. Reigns was pretty over, but his stupid unnecessary, CRINGE-WORTHY promos have taken all the sail out of the boat. That's WWE's fault to a big extent and Roman's for being horrid on the mic, but it's also completely stupid to have Reigns win the Rumble in the manner he did - with Bryan and Ziggler being showed off as afterthoughts in one of the biggest matches of the year.

[VaderBomb]

Keep up the good work, Steve. Nail on the fucking head.

[Hanley!]

I'd add in one other element that he has nailed down much better than the guys you mentioned like Ziggler and Punk. He seems to be a pleasure for the WWE, Vince and the creative to work with. Ziggler and Punk haven't gotten ahead mostly because they are headaches and malcontents, that create drama and bad publicity and a negative attitude in and around the WWE.

But he's not so much a professional as a guy who's been pushed constantly since his debut and has barely lost a match. What did Punk or Ziggler ever really do except disagree with the way they were being booked? Why the hell would Reigns complain about the same thing?