QOTD #9: Money in the Bank

WWE’s fourth hottest show of the year drops tonight, with Money in the Bank. We’ll be looking ahead to see who’s the likely interim champion until Daniel Bryan or Brock Lesnar are ready to take the strap, and get a glimpse into who the company is rolling the dice down the road.

Today’s Question: What are you expecting from tonight’s pay-per-view?

I’ll post the most creative, or factually correct responses tomorrow. If you want to jump into the discussion, please click the comments button or scroll to the end.

Yesterday I asked you about tropes. A lot of people asked, what is a trope? A trope is a nuance in the genre, something that is pretty much guaranteed to happen every time. For example, whipping your opponent towards the ropes is going to result in them bouncing off them like a pinball, and hurtling back in your direction. And it can apply to just about any TV show. Even this blog has its share of tropes; you can bet every thread will feature at bare minimum 40 posts from the Red Power Ranger.

Let’s get to some of your favorites.

parallax1978: QOTD writers that ignore feedback.

Aaannnnnd we're off ...

Devin Harris: My favorite trope is the oversell of the Undertaker's chokeslam. Specifically, the spot when he takes his arm all the way back to grab someone's neck. Then they just start jumping up and down instead of trying to get out of the hold.

 jobber123: I like to laugh at the racial stereotype gimmicks. Can't get enough Samoan savages, black theifs and servants, African wild men, prissy English and French guys, Mexicans driving lawn mowers, Italian guys playing Indians, fightin' Irishman, black pimps, etc etc

I’ve long been convinced that Vince McMahon has absolutely no idea what goes on in black culture; and even if one of the writers came up with something compelling and real, it would be nixed because it didn’t have an afro and steal wallets.

PrimeTimeTen: The "Trophy/Cake" rule.

I thoroughly enjoy watching my non-wrestling watching wife see this stuff play out for the first time. We were watching the post-Mania festivities this year, and during the Andre The Giant celebration, I warned her that the trophy wouldn’t make it out of the segment in one piece. Her logic was the trophy was nice, and there was no way the company would make such a nice trophy to be destroyed. Her face turned to horror when Swagger and Zeb took to it, asking me “why would they do that?” Anyway, PrimeTimeTen was kind enough to give us his favorite cake smashing display, and he picked a classic:

MC Hesher: Nothing like a well-executed "Cocky heel issues open challenge and regrets it immediately" trope. Examples:

-          Honky Tonk Man/Ultimate Warrior

-          Chris Jericho/Rey Mysterio Bash at the Beach 1998

-          Triple H/Undertaker to set up their Wrestlemania X-7 match (Not quite the same thing, but I really liked that feud.)

thebraziliankid: Trying to make Cena submit,every heel/face with a submission finisher should just give up before the match.It's clear he's not gonna tap.

I think it’s an ego thing. Nobody could powerbomb Kidman, but that didn’t stop every Cruiserweight from suddenly adding the powerbomb to their arsenal. My belief is that JBL walks around goading Cena’s opponents ahead of time, telling them they’re not good enough to make him tap out; and once they’re fired up he offered them 10-1 it won’t happen. The stock market is just a cover up.

 David: The phrase "Tonight in this very ring." I wish one would say "dang I wanted it to be tomorrow across the street."

Garth Holmbert, C.C.: The referee refusing a blind tag to a babyface making a comeback, but falls for it every time the heels clap their hands and fake making tags. I love me a good face (or Ricky Morton style) beatdown in tag matches, and the heels doing as much as possible to work the crowd is always a good thing.

This is a seriously lost art that the Shield had perfected (which is part of the reason their pointless breakup is so disheartening).

Stelio Kontos: The spanish announce table always being the one that gets destroyed.

ONITA100: The Wargames 2nd face entrance. Absolutely electric everytime. Especially when you get a Roadwarrior or Sting in. They hit that first punch, crowd goes BOOOM. Great stuff

It’s a little disturbing that in dozens of Wargames (if we include the 80’s circuit runs), the faces have yet to win a single coin flip. It would be in Sting’s best interests to avoid craps tables at all costs.

MrJustinB: Jerry Lawler's power is dampened by his shoulder strap.

BeardMoney: I like the cheap pinfall tropes that we've been conditioned to buy as finishes. For example, the heel's manager distracts the face, the face turns around, and the heel rolls him up and pulls the tights; or the heel pins the face with his feet on the ropes; or the heel nails the face with an "international object" behind the refs back. We've seen these finishes work so many times that when the face kicks out now, we're actually surprised. It's similar to kicking out of finishing moves, except that probably happens more frequently in the modern era.

Paul Meekin: The underdog stealing one or causing real doubt about possibly winning one he wasn't supposed too, specifically the wonderful Hurricane v. The Rock dynamic from a buncha years ago. Naturally Daniel Bryan even though he was already a world champion, and then Santino in the Elimination Chamber.

I don’t think we can have this discussion without mentioning TAKA Michinoku’s awesome title match against Triple H. The timing was perfect, we had just seen Vince McMahon as World Champion as recently as 6 months earlier, and because title changes were all the rage, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that maybe ... just maybe. Santino’s another excellent example, the crowd was READY for him.

SodiePop: Letting the arm drop twice and then reviving yourself before three when in the sleeper hold. Predictable, beaten into the ground and solely used for a wrestler to get a rest, but damned if it doesn't rile up the crowd.

kbjone: Here's one nobody has mentioned yet: The Hulk Up (created in some form WELL before Hogan, for the record), but specifically the Hogan variation. Also called the "I's stood all I's willing to stand" approach, at least in Popeye's dialect. Heel is beating on Hogan, or working him over with a rest hold. Hogan starts to power out, shaking and convulsing as he walks around the ring. Eventually, he turns around after one too many heel shots, finger pointed right at the soon-to-be hurting evildoer. (Bonus points when the crowd yells YOU! in unison with the point.) Cue beating, Big Boot, Legdrop, 1-2-3. As I mention above, it was used before Hogan, but he made an art form out of the comeback.

I remember after a fight in the 4^th grade, I was licking my wounds before the end of recess, when a good friend of mine just looked me dead in the eye, and without a hint of sarcasm told me, “you should have hulked up”.

Jason Clark: An oldy but goody is veteran turns on protege or vice versa. My favorite was Magnum TA & Mr. Wrestling II from Mid-South. It doesn't happen as much because those relationships are not a standard story line anymore, but it had the ability to create nuclear heat for guys. You could argue this is simply an overall example of tag-team wrestler turning on partner, but the teacher-student dynamic was always effective in my mind.

Stuart_Chartock: Seriously though, my favorite trope is either that pretty much any ridiculous weapon or item (like a canoe) you could imagine could be under the ring and nobody questions it.

I loved when this started finding its way into video games. In trouble? It’s cool, just go to the crowd and grab a stop sign!

My personal favorite trope is directly tied in to tonight’s pay-per-view. Ever since Edge re-invented the game in 2005/06 with the Money in the Bank briefcase, babyface champions have never been at more of a disadvantage. TV Tropes calls this effect the “Your Princess is in Another Castle” syndrome, and rightfully so. Starting with John Cena defending his title against 5 men inside the Elimination Chamber, only to immediately have a fresh Edge staring him in the face, this has become a yearly tradition of wondering after which gruelling match the heel with the briefcase is going to rear his ugly head. Even babyfaces have got into the act, as Punk did in 2008 against the originator – Edge. It leads to months of tension and excitement, every single time the champion is down.

Enjoy the pay-per-view tonight, and I’ll see you tomorrow.