WWE: What Was the Point of the Conspiracy?

Good morning Bleacher Reporters.

First of all, I want to wish everyone a Happy 2012.

In kicking things off for the New Year, we shall examine an angle that turned out not so happy for many fans.

Each month, I analyze step by step angles that started with promise but instead ended with a demise or disappointing results.

To begin 2012, I shall analyze the Conspiracy angle. An angle that got a large amount of requests in my last article.

The Conspiracy angle in many ways was capped off with the infamous CM Punk work shoot, though it wasn't originally Punk's intention. Overtime though, a plethora of characters and plots intertwined that signaled a WWE Illuminati of sorts.

However, in the end of it all the result of the Conspiracy and whether or not it even existed thinned out. And ended us with many questions asking, "WWE, what was the point of that?"

What Was the Point of the Text Message?

Ah yes. Remember the famous, "Who in the world sent the text message" bit?

One of the official seeds planted in the Conspiracy story was the infamous text message.

In the Summerslam PPV, Kevin Nash attacked a newly crowned champion in CM Punk. Soon after the attack, Money in the Bank winner Albert Del Rio cashed in his contract and won the WWE championship from a beaten Punk.

Afterwards, Nash claimed that Triple H sent him a text message asking him to do the favor. Of course, Triple H denied it.

After all the hints and speculation, it was revealed that it was Nash who sent the text message to himself.

Ok, what?

To me, what made it very stupid, was the fact that there were so many other directions that could've been taken. Even though I believe that there was too much emphasis put on an idiotic text message in the first place.

For instance, John Laurinaitis was seen constantly backstage texting and calling Nash left and right. Why couldn't he have been the one who sent the text?

Or what about Stephanie McMahon? She was seen randomly circling the backstage area with her eyes on Punk after Punk constantly insulted her marriage to Triple H.

Why would Nash even feel the need to make up an elaborate story sending himself a text message in the first place? He didn't have to go through all that drama. He could've just attacked Punk and just say that he did it because he was defending the honor of his former Kliq buddy.

And speaking of Nash...

What Was the Point of Kevin Nash?

Let's be honest here.

A storyline shedding some light on how things and politics really work within the WWE would've done just fine focusing on Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, CM Punk, John Cena and John Laurinaitis.

Hell, it would've done better in my opinion. Kevin Nash was NOT needed.

Nash's return should've started and ended with his Diesel character appearing at the Royal Rumble. There was no need really for Nash to be interjected into his angle just because he wanted to have a bigger role on screen.

Not only that, but Nash was interjected in so many ways that after a while he just became a jumbled mess.

First, the angle was that he had something against CM Punk and Punk disrespecting the business and the older generations. Fine, we could deal with that. Although a Punk feud with Triple H was more interesting than anything involving Nash.

But then, the REAL story behind Nash's actions was that he was defending his Kliq friend in Triple H. But then Nash would just end up going against Triple H more and more to the point that he insulted the man himself.

However, then it was hinted that Nash and Laurinaitis were working together behind the scenes. It was Laurinaitis who brought Nash back after Triple H fired him.

You see where I'm going here.

Nash's involvement in this angle did nothing more than complicate something that should've been more simple. Why would Nash's two cents matter anyways? What exactly did he want Triple H to do that he wasn't doing before?

It just all became one jumbled up mess as far as Nash concerned.

What Was the Point of John Laurinaitis's Role?

Speaking of a character whose intentions weren't quite clear, another figure in this angle that comes to mind is John Laurinaitis. Who was also known as the Head of Talent Relations.

Laurinaitis first appeared at the Money in the Bank PPV with Vince attempting to pull a Chicago Screwjob against CM Punk.

In the beginning, it appeared that Laurinaitis was supposed to be the voice for Vince McMahon due to McMahon being fired from his role as COO. Superstars such as Punk and Cena commented on Laurinaitis being Vince's right hand man.

Laurinaitis was even subtly trying to get his two cents on certain matters. For instance, he appeared to be very much so on Nash's side by helping Nash return.

However, I feel that Laurinaitis's role began to grow weary and underused. I would've liked to see him play more of the role of someone who maybe was trying to get Vince back in power.

It seemed to have been hinted all along that Laurinaitis may have even been the engineer behind the Conspiracy. However, this ended up never been outright stated.

Why would Laurinaitis orchestrate a whole conspiracy anyways, especially if it didn't help get his guy Vince back in power?

There was just too much gray area with the involvement of Laurinaitis. He didn't like Punk, but you would've thought that meant him working with Triple H or Vince more since Punk didn't like them either.

And why was he so hell bent on having Nash around? The nature of their business relationship was never that clear. Why was Johnny Ace so high on Nash in the first place?

What Was the Point of Awesome Truth?

In my point of view, Punk played the role perfectly of the guy who was against the Conspiracy. He was the ultimate anti-hero that fans rooted for to go against the grain. He was the guy who spoke out against WWE's Golden Boy, John Cena. He was the one who said what a lot of people were feeling with that famous work shoot.

So that leads to this slide here. What was the point of Awesome Truth?

Awesome Truth gained a role in the Conspiracy when they attacked a referee during one of their matches. After a give or take apology to Triple H, they were immediately fired on the Raw after the attack.

Then Awesome Truth would go on a tangent, speaking out against the Conspiracy and all who they thought were involved.

In my honest opinion, Awesome Truth really was not needed in this angle. CM Punk was the perfect voice going against the Conspiracy.

What was Awesome Truth needed for then? Especially when they were the heels. Last time I checked, the heels were supposed to be a part of the Conspiracy, not going against it.

But then it seemed to have be hinted that the Conspiracy was just some fallacy that was made up in Awesome Truth's mind.

So does that mean there wasn't a Conspiracy in the first place?

And in the end of it all, what did the Conspiracy angle really do for Awesome Truth?

They were speaking out against being held down, only to be fed to The Rock and John Cena at Survivor Series.

I believe it was best to have left Awesome Truth in the tag team division. They would've been better used helping put over Air Boom instead of getting lost into the Conspiracy shuffle.

What Was the Point of the Conspiracy Benefiting Alberto Del Rio?

Another curious direction the Conspiracy angle took was the involvement of Alberto Del Rio.

Del Rio earned his first WWE Championship reign after cashing it in on CM Punk at Summerslam. Punk was already shaken by a Kevin Nash powerbomb.

At the Hell in a Cell PPV, even more odd events took place. The cell was locked when John Cena tried to re-enter, which helped Del Rio regain the WWE title.

CM Punk even went on to say afterwards that somebody must have wanted Del Rio to be champion very badly.

But why? Since when did authority all of a sudden see Del Rio as the perfect face of the WWE? Since when was Del Rio the golden boy? And why were all these odd events benefiting Del Rio?

Or let's get things real here. Why wasn't there more of a push for WWE's REAL Golden Boy, John Cena, to have the title instead of Punk?

I believe that the Creative Team chickened out on this aspect big time and Del Rio's push suffered in the process. Del Rio's role was just a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. In the midst of a hot CM Punk and John Cena's place within the company finally coming to question, Del Rio was the odd man out.

But instead of focusing more on WWE's real love for pushing John Cena, the writers copped out and tried to make it as if Alberto Del Rio's "destiny" was to be fulfilled via a Conspiracy.

What Was the Point of the Walkout?

After Awesome Truth crashed the Hell in the Cell PPV and were arrested by security, the whole WWE roster finally began to take notice of the Conspiracy.

They complained that what happened at Hell in a Cell happened for a reason and that their safety was being threatened.

In the end of it all, they voted "No Confidence" and Triple H was fired as the Raw General Manager.

Now first of all, I believe quite frankly the writers took another cop out with the reason for the walkout in the first place.

Instead of focusing on the "safety" of the superstars, why not instead focus on them being dissatsified with their positions in the company?

Beth Phoenix could've voted "No Confidence" to the fact that the Divas constantly get second hand treatment and aren't given any respect. She could've even brought up to Triple H the fact that Barbie Dolls such as Kelly Kelly were given more attention than real wrestlers such as herself.

Instead of focusing on "safety", guys such as Wade Barrett could've spoken out in the same manner that Punk did. They could've spoken out on John Cena getting too much spotlight for too long.

They could've spoken out on how the likes of Kevin Nash were taken attention and time away from rising young stars such as Air Boom and Barrett.

There were so many better reasons for a walkout rather than "safety issues". Things in the WWE were much more unsafe in the Attitude Era than they are now.

And then, the result of the walkout was the promotion of John Laurinaitis to Intern General Manager.

Really?

Last time I checked, Laurinaitis was the reason for all this mess in the first place. He was the reason why Vince McMahon refused to wise up to the changing of the times and guard. He was the "yes" man to McMahon's decisions.

And the superstars walked out just to have Vince's yes man take control of Raw?

Heck, why was the focus solely on Raw anyways? What about Smackdown?

WWE completely dropped the ball on this portion of the angle which could've made things more interesting and more crucial.

Conclusion

In the end, the Conspiracy angle failed to deliver on any Conspiracy or interest of a Conspiracy.

Instead of using the storyline in order to interject more real life personas and plots, the writers took the easy way out instead.

While taking the easy way out, guys such as Awesome Truth and Alberto Del Rio were lost in the shuffle and buried in the process.

The angle does deserve a lot of credit for continuing the rise of CM Punk, I'll give it that. However, it could've resulted in rising a lot of other things as well in elevating the company.