You know, I keep thinking to myself about how this election is playing out like a terrible wrestling angle with swerve after swerve and a twist ending that kills the whole thing and sinks an entire wrestling promotion as a result. Case in point, the Fingerpoke of Doom:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0UU5JBH4II]

Just to give you guys a little back story, the New World Order (The Wrestling Faction, not the Alex Jones Christofascist conspiracy crap) formed at WCW's Bash at the Beach in the summer of 1996. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash had just come over from the then WWF and were causing trouble for everybody on and off screen. People were wondering if this was an invasion. Eventually Hall and Nash eluded to a 3rd person that was coming with them. Then, at Bash at the Beach, the 3rd man was revealed to be none other than Hulk Hogan, with Hogan dropping the signature leg on Randy Savage.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hILCw66sLU]

It was one hell of a twist to be sure. No one saw it coming. After that point, everybody was tuning in to see what would happen next. Eventually the faction would split into 2 groups nearly two years later, nWo Hollywood, led by Hogan, and nWo Wolf Pack, led by Nash. The angle got stale after a while because there were too many people in both groups. It also didn't help that there was a Lucha Libre offshoot called the Latino World Order with Eddie Guerrero and other Cruiserweight low and mid-carders.

Oh, and there was Goldberg, king of the squash match. He managed to rack up quite a streak and eventually he won the US and World Heavyweight titles over 1998. The streak kept going until Scott Hall and Kevin Nash tased him at Starrcade and the title was dropped to Nash. After that...well, we got the Fingerpoke of Doom.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu1VBP4kVGY]

Meanwhile at around the same time, the WWF had some strange angles of their own. Shawn Michaels had finally won the big one. He and Bret Hart went at it in a 60-minute Iron Man Match at Wrestlemania 12, with the match ending in sudden death because neither could best the other via pin fall or submission.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuGdLGoG3e4]

The two would continue the feud for quite some time and as it wore on, Hart came to believe he was being screwed again and again, with his frustration culminating in an incident on Raw a bit before his submission match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 13 the next year.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxCDDlSw9-A]

The feud would continue on and off until the Survivor Series, where Hart lost the title to Michaels and left the company after the event. This was dubbed 'The Montreal Screwjob' based on the fact that Hart did not submit when the bell rang. As it turned out, everyone but Bret was in on it.

Now with the back stories out of the way, let's get to the backstage politics and the business end of it all. In Hogan's case, he managed to stay on top for so long because of his 'creative control' clause. Basically, he could decide how a match was going to go no matter who was over at the time. Top guys do this a lot once they establish themselves, but Hogan wrote the book on it.

Shawn Michaels was more or less the same way. He wouldn't lay down for nobody. Hell, the match at Wrestlemania 13 was supposed to be a rematch from the Ironman match of the previous year. But then Michals 'lost his smile' and the rest is history.

Bret Hart did it too. Just before the Survivor Series, Vince McMahon was worried Hart would take the WWF title to WCW. It wouldn't be the first time something like that happened, but the last thing McMahon needed from a business standpoint, he couldn't afford to have another Madusa incident on his hands (Madusa eventually reconciled with WWE and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame recently as her Alundra Blayze gimmick).

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6UWUolS6Z0]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPPT84qMxCs]

The practice holds back young talent and other talent who was over with the fans. But promoters also have a tendency to shove personalities down peoples' throats whether they like it or not. Case in point: Roman Reigns. He won last year's Royal Rumble, the fans got pissed, and not even The Rock coming out after the fact could salvage that one because people wanted Daniel Bryan to win that year and go to Wrestlemania for the belt.

So you're probably wondering 'Yeah, well what's the point of all this?' Let's be honest. These days our political system plays out like a shitty wrestling promotion that pushes guys and girls whether the fans like them or not. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were shoved down our throats for the last 2 years and Hillary can't even draw a fuckin' dime.

The only reason Trump even draws anything is because he continues to make an ass of himself by saying offensive shit about anyone or anything he can just to get cheap heat. The problem is, his promos come off as though he's a heel version of the Ultimate Warrior and they make no fuckin' sense most of the time. Take a look at these 2 videos here and you'll get the point.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q46l70mNmCw]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aFo_BV-UzI]

So I guess we'll just wait and see if this plays out like a screwjob or a fingerpoke. Either way, nobody's gonna be happy.

Keep an eye on the sky. This is only going to get worse.

See ya around,

Aspie