High Road / Low Road 8.24.06: The McMahon Paternity Angle

The Results for Pacman Goes to TNA:

High Road: 07%
Low Road: 88%
Both Roads: 05%

E-Mails:

These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.

Lynx Raven Raide

Uncle Trunx: I also felt sorry for Sat this week, but that’s the way it goes. Sometimes I have to try to pick holes in a “Match of the Year” contender…

Sat: I have to agree with Uncle Trunx. Sometimes it is difficult for me and sometimes it is easy for me.

For Pacman, I cannot comment on outside of the US, but there was a ton of coverage of Pacman to TNA in the U.S. I think that TNA can make this a good hire, but my gut tells me that they will not be able to.

The Paternity Angle

High Road:
The Paternity Angle is a great idea because it adds another member to the McMahon family. I would say that the McMahon family is very popular with the fans, so it makes sense to add another member to the family.

Low Road:
Once again we’re going to see lots and lots of McMahons taking up TV time instead of wrestlers in wrestling matches. Yes, we get another member of the family and at least that person will actually be a wrestler but the other four will also be pushing actual wrestlers offscreen to further this soap opera storyline.

High Road:
One of the things that I have not heard mentioned is the fact that this bound to cause major problems in the McMahon family. The McMahon family has been reunited for awhile now, so it makes sense for them to break up. The addition of another family member is a great way to do this. First, Stephanie and Shane are going to be mad because they are going to lose their inheritance to this new superstar. Plus, Vince is going to have to choose if he is going to side with his new child or his old children. Also, how will Linda react to all of this? All of these things are what makes the Paternity Angle such a great idea.

Low Road:
All of those points have one thing in common; they are absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with wrestling. They are soap opera, pure and simple. Things like titles are going to take second place to more soap opera , to the undoubted detriment of the in ring action. What with the diva search and this ridiculous storyline, I’m going to be amazed if we see much actual wrestling on WWE this year.

High Road:
The Paternity Angle has been a good idea for the WWE because the ratings have improved since the beginning of the angle. RAW is back up to the 3.8 range and ECW has also benefited by being consistent at 1.5. This angle is working because more people are watching RAW then before the start of the angle.

Low Road:
Unless I’m much mistaken, the ratings are back to where they were before the ratings “blip” and the Benoit situation. I hesitate to credit this to McMahon having an illegitimate child until the ratings for the whole storyline are in and can be tied conclusively to that.

High Road:
I think that it is safe to say that we all know who the next member of the McMahon family is and I am shocked that the rating has not gone down. It would have made sense for people to stop watching when they had figured out the outcome, but that has not been the case. I think that this is due to the fact that this is something that we have not seen and the fact that this angle is making sense.

Low Road:
Do we know? WWE could easily pull a swerve and put someone unexpected in the role. Or, as the thing goes on and gets more and more asinine, we may yet see the rating go down. The angle may be making sense from a storyline point of view but to me, it’s taking up time which could be spent building feuds between actual wrestlers.

High Road:
One of the things that this angle does is that it sets up the child for life. My reason for saying this is that whoever is the newest McMahon is going to be set for the rest of his WWE career. A perfect example of this would be Kane. Kane has managed to carve out a good career and that is mainly due to his association with the Undertaker. The same will be true for the next McMahon.

Low Road:
It could potentially do so, if the payoff is correct. I think it could also be the kiss of death to a career if it goes wrong. Eugene was supposed to be related to Eric Bischoff; that’s hardly been the greatest dazzling career enhancer. Admittedly whoever turns out to be the long lost McMahon will have significantly more of a push than that, (although Eugene was working main events when he was first around) but long term it might not be a guaranteed blessing. Also, Kane has been successful because he’s been booked as a giant monster; the Undertaker connection helped him at first but the character has survived past that. Whoever ends up being the extra McMahon will have to carve out a niche for themselves after this storyline is over, and the baggage of McMahon-ness could hinder as much as help, I feel.

High Road:
I think that the Paternity Angle is a great idea because it salvages the limo explosion angle. The limo explosion was going to put somebody over huge and because of the end of that angle that person was not going to benefit from this angle. The Paternity Angle allows for the person to still benefit.

Low Road:
Possibly. Although as I’ve said before, the limo angle was as asinine as this ridiculous storyline, and should’ve been quietly dropped after the Benoit incidents and left alone. It was a chance to move back towards a more sports based style of wrestling, using wrestlers to build feuds based on competition and excellence, as Bret Hart did in the early ‘90s when Vince was in trouble with the steroid trial. With congress breathing down his neck, my guess is they’ve decided to go the other way and focus more on the storylines rather than the in ring product. I feel this is a missed opportunity.

High Road:
The Paternity Angle has allowed for the angle to spread to different brands because the child is a WWE superstar. Now, I am against the killing of the Brand Extension, but I am okay with this. I am okay with it because it is mainly McMahon and Coach going to different brands. Plus, we are not seeing wrestlers from different brands wrestling and that is the main benefit of the brand extension.

Low Road:
As I’ve said before, I’d like to see the brand extension adhered to or scrapped. Notice how only one storyline is big enough to run across all the brands? And guess what, it’s the one featuring the McMahon family. This clearly shows where the emphasis is to be placed in WWE; not on the champions or the athletes, no; the emphasis will be firmly on the McMahon family. This, to me, is a bad thing.

Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?