The Week In Wrestling (3/28/24): 3 Promos That Rocked & 3 That Fell Flat

Posted by admin on March 30th, 2024

Creating a nine-minute vignette to air on a two-hour show, commercials included, is an ambitious task. It is even more of an ambitious task when a show’s roster is full of capable, hungry new talent. Every minute is crucial to building up new stars and progressing their storylines, so to take up ten minutes of that valuable time to progress the careers of two people is a daring thing to do.

It paid off.

Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams’ documentary-style promo, “Prime Target”, was a hit on Tuesday evening. It was not only a daring use of “NXT’s” broadcasting slot, but it was also a departure from most of WWE’s regular promo vignettes. Most WWE vignettes are close-up shots spliced together with epic zoom-ins and fast-paced transitions — and that is entirely expected in the fast-moving nature of this business. Main roster shows don’t have time to sit through nearly ten minutes of promotional material, and so the narrative arc of most promo vignettes is simple: hype up, make a statement, leave. So rarely, if at all, do we get three act short films just dropped randomly in the middle of a show. “Prime Target” delivered just that, and they delivered it well.

The initial moments of the promo are unassuming. In all honesty, the first act of the vignette felt very much like a typical WWE promo, and while the innovative computer generated towers bursting from the ground to surround did add to the spectacle of it all, it still felt very much like your run-of-the-mill WWE vignette. When two-time Hall of Famer Booker T made an appearance to give his thoughts regarding the storyline, I was impressed, but not overly convinced that this was a groundbreaking piece — sure, other WWE superstars usually don’t make appearances in promotional material for feuds that they are not involved in, but Booker T, as a member of the “NXT” commentary team and someone who is semi-famous for his ad-libs during Williams’ entrance, was not a strange face.

Then, out of nowhere, Randy Orton shows up. CM Punk showed up. Sweet Baby James, Williams’ uncle from Philadelphia, showed up.

Showing all of these new faces that have a tangible ethos, but are otherwise uninvolved in Hayes and Williams’ storyline, gave the entire vignette a more informative feel. Having Orton and Punk — two people who are easily recognized as industry icons and no strangers to betrayals themselves — speak about this outside storyline gives the entire vignette a more serious tone, like a legitimate cinematic documentary instead of just another promotional hype package. Bringing in people who are near and dear to Williams — Sweet Baby James, Matthew Brooks (Williams’ friend and boxing coach) — humanizes Williams and endears him to the crowd. Showing Williams training in Philadelphia, where he planted his roots with his uncle James — all of these touches enhance the underdog story that Williams is trying to tell. The lines between kayfabe and reality are blurred when you bring in family, long-time friends, and experienced industry veterans. Everything that happened in the second act of this vignette humanized Williams’ side of the feud, and, in doing so, humanized the professional wrestling storyline.

The third act of the vignette was much the same, but because this whole style of promotional material is so new, there are no complaints here. Bringing in Johnny Gargano and Tommasso Ciampa — probably the most iconic “NXT” rivalry in the history of the brand — was a great touch for all of the Black and Gold-era fans and a nice way to lean further into the professional feel they were going for in this segment.

Hayes needs no help establishing himself — partially because he’s a heel and is not meant to garner sympathy, but because he is so good at playing an egotistical villain. There is not so much vitriol in Hayes’ words, but there is more of a megalomania to him — this is not an issue of revenge, but Williams’ rise to stardom has hurt Hayes’ pride. It is a nice deviation from the sadistic heels we’ve seen in WWE as of late. To be able to distinguish self-centeredness from belligerence so clearly is a hard thing to do when the two adjectives are often conflated, so for Hayes to do it so effortlessly speaks volumes as to the grip he has on his character. He is not chaotic evil, he is chaotic entitled.

Do we need vignettes that eat up ten minutes of broadcasting time and inspire deep cinematic analysis every week? No, of course not. However, with a feud that is as high-profile as Hayes and Williams’, something as high-quality and time-intensive as “Prime Target” is not only appropriate, but very much welcomed.

Written by Angeline Phu