WWE Conspiracy 101: The Conspiracy for Dummies

Listen up, Dummies...

Welcome to "The Conspiracy" 101. I'm your teacher, host, writer, friend and overall sarcastic #HEEL, William Gullo. I'll be teaching you all you need to know about the current plight of the WWE superstars and the overarching story known simply as "The Conspiracy"...

This course will be enlightening, debated and entertaining while hopefully shedding some light on anything and everything you don't understand about "The Conspiracy." We will also delve into supposed "plot holes" that many seem to pick apart like they could tell a better story.

Let's start with a pop quiz right off the bat.

Q: Telling stories that involve multiple people, plots and agendas all while allowing many to share center stage while telling an intricate and layered story that needs to fill up four hours of weekly television programming is:

A. Not meant for the ADD generation of fickle wrestling fans

B. A nice attempt (but failed) to invoke fan interest

C. Something the WWE needs to do more of

D. What in the blue hell is "The Conspiracy?"

A: C...If we all sat and complained from August 2010 to June 2011(seriously considered the dark ages of the WWE) and elect to still complain after the WWE is making massive strides to right the ship then we should all just stop watching wrestling as a whole. Let's all rage in the midst of finally having decent story lines, emotion, matches, tag teams, rejuvenated secondary titles, slightly more emphasis on the Divas, the rise of CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes and returning legends like Triple H and The Rock...

Side Note: Brett Hart doesn't count as a returning legend. Every time the WWE makes a trip to Canada I have to watch a 60 year old man still in jean shorts, leather jacket, sunglasses, and greasy hair make debilitating, cheap pop promos in front of his hometown crowd and pseudo wrestle (aka give someone a half-assed sharp shooter). This of course is just my opinion...and several others I know. This needed to be said. I apologize if you're offended...or from Canada. Moving on!

All right, class—time to suit up and jump right into the lecture. Please hold all questions and comments till after class, when the teacher will gladly answer and debate your questions, comments and grievances with you.

I suggest putting on a pot of coffee, get your sense of humor out and then kick back, laugh, get angry, swear or nod in agreement at what I'm about to dish out...

The Cast of Characters

Let's first take a look at the characters involved in the current plot of the WWE...

Triple-H: The once mighty warrior who, for almost two decades, has captured over ten world championships. Married to Vince McMahon's daughter and second in line for the throne to WWE kingdom.

CM Punk: An underground cult wrestler. Many within the universe strongly believe he is "The Best in The World" and has been strongly underused throughout his career with the WWE. He has slowly built a mass following and is now one of the top players in the game. 

John Laurinatis: Long time "right hand man" to Vince McMahon. Hated strongly amongst the universe.

R- Truth: Delusional character who's long time ramblings of a conspiracy have been proven true.

The Miz: Once one of the most hated champions in the universe. Seemingly lost everything and has since joined R-Truth in his quest to uncover "The Conspiracy".

Kevin Nash: Prolific, generation defining wrestler. Long time friend of Triple-H. 

The Counsel: A group made up of Christian, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, David Otunga, and Dolph Ziggler. They have come together to air their grievances against the newly crowned King Triple-H.

Vince McMahon: The principal owner of the WWE.

John Cena: While not directly involved with the conspiracy his star is to bright to not shine on the current situation within the WWE.

Alberto Del Rio: Current WWE champion. Has benefited greatly from the conspiracy surrounding the WWE.

Prologue: A Rambling Man Turned Prophet

Ever since that fateful night in June when CM Punk set the landscape of the WWE on fire and proceeded to march on the WWE establishment; the WWE set forth in an epic undertaking of story telling, vision, and direction. However, while many credit (and CM Punk credits himself as well) CM Punk with starting this current plot; there is one man who should be given sole credit... R-Truth.

Back in March of 2011 during the epitome of the "Super" Cena phase in the WWE there was a man who claimed there was a conspiracy within the WWE. A conspiracy filled with little jimmies who's sole purpose was to hinder his growth and success within a company that was only interested in selling the success of one man, John Cena. 

While Truth was a hilarious delusional character for months who's claims of a conspiracy against him were a little short sided; he has since been vindicated in his beliefs of a supposed conspiracy. While not directly aimed at him he has since become a modern day prophet for foreseeing the current landscape we find the WWE in today. 

CM Punk gets credit for bringing the WWE into the outside media spotlight, issuing in the use of social media as a median along with Zach Ryder, and breaking the mold of the boring, mundane, and completely uninteresting feuds. However, he does not get credit for inventing or ushering in "The Conspiracy."

End of Chapter Exam:

Q: Who is responsible for the WWE's Conspiracy angle?

A. CM Punk

B. R-Truth

C. Triple-H

A: R-Truth. Plain and simple.

Chapter I: The Rise of the Rebellion, The Fall of McMahon & The King of Kings

While R -Truth is the grandfather of "The Conspiracy" it was CM Punk who used this platform to catapult not only himself, but the WWE as a whole. 

CM Punk led his army on a march towards the gates of the WWE kingdom in a war for change, new leadership, vision, and direction. His first assault on then king Vince McMahon would directly result in the WWE being mired in controversy as it saw Punk win the WWE championship and "leave" the company shortly after. McMahon, in an attempt to brush off the rebellion by CM Punk, gave the universe a new WWE champion in Rey Mysterio while attempting to banish one of its greatest stars from the comapny, John Cena.

As McMahon seemingly lost control of the company, the WWE title, and his faith in its best talent the "Board of Directors" made an executive decision. They would release McMahon, and his long tenured reign, of his duties while issuing in a new leader, Triple- H. 

Triple-H would make great changes to the landscape of the WWE. The company saw massive changes that were highlighted by elevating past underprivileged superstars, rejuvenating Smackdown to a degree, and making Monday's must-see- television again...

...But a bright glow could be seen growing on the horizon. Whispers of the rebellion had now turned to screams as CM Punk returned to reclaim his rightful place as champion. 

Unlike McMahon, who had become a shell of his former self, Triple-H would not tolerate Punk and his undermining rebellion as his father in law had allowed before. 

The two quickly became fierce enemies as dissension amongst the two grew. No longer bound by respect and admiration of each others previous successes the two would enter into an epic struggle that showcased Triple-H's new found company power along with CM Punk's growing rebellion. The two would cross paths at Summerslam where CM Punk and John Cena would meet to decide who was the undisputed champion of the kingdom where Triple-H would oversee as referee. 

Meanwhile a shadow was growing within the depths of the universe. A secret government, with its own hidden agenda, was about to rear its ugly head. It would use Summerslam as it's platform, and unleash itself with a simple, not so subtle text message...

End of Chapter Exam:

Q: Why do you think Triple-H is continuously put in the spotlight instead of featuring younger talent?

A. Younger talent is a joke right now.

B. Triple H can be used to elevate the story and wrestlers involved.

C. ...It Doesn't matter what you think!

A: B & C...Triple-H makes the WWE better as a whole, and the fact that he can be directly involved in an ongoing saga elevating Punk, The Miz, R-Truth, Christian, and many others is a good move for the WWE at the moment. 

How do I explain this?...

Triple-H is kinda like an A-list, award winning, older movie star (Sean Penn, Russel Crowe, Brad Pitt...etc) who makes a movie and the supporting cast around him better while basically selling people to watch the movie. It requires the supporting actors to step up their game and try to steal scenes they have with the A-lister... 

.... Am I making any sense?

The WWE has a wonderful story telling platform in "The Conspiracy" and is using Triple- H as its lead actor to lead an ensemble cast of players to tell it. Punk, The Miz, and Truth have risen to new heights because of it, and others should too.

If your favorite wrestler can't step up their promos and in-ring ability to maintain a role within "The Conspiracy" then they had no shot at staying relevant anyways... blame them, not creative.

Q2: Take Triple-H and the conspiracy angle out of the WWE and what do you have? 

A. Meaningless feuds that have no over arching story lines fueling emotions.

B. The John Cena, Orton, and possible emergence of "Super" Punk show. Yay!

C. No platform for mid-carders such as: The Miz, Truth, Christian, Rhodes, Ziggler, Swagger to get main event level attention by placing them within the context of "The Conspiracy."

A: All of the above... Oh, It's True. It's Damn True! It may not be perfect, but it's one hell of a creative way for the WWE to shine the spotlight on others.

Chapter II: The Birth of the Conspiracy

Where the hell was I? Oh yea, Summerslam main event... where (stuff) went down...

As the match between John Cena and CM Punk ended in a rather abrupt, controversial finish (Punk got the victory after Triple-H failed to notice Cena's foot on the rope) things quickly got out of hand. Through the crowd Kevin Nash, former WWE employee and friend of Triple-H, ran into the ring and cost CM Punk the title by allowing The Money in the Bank winner, Alberto Del Rio, to gain an easy pin fall on Punk. 

Punk in an outrage immediately pointed the finger to the newly crowned king, Triple-H, and with this came the birth of "The C-O-N..spiracy."

Punk, and his now massive followers, began their full frontal assault on the WWE kingdom. While Triple-H claimed he had no part in the return of Kevin Nash he did little to ease the intentions of Punk. As the two continued to air their dirty laundry towards one another they both lost focus of two important things.

1. Someone was trying to undermine the new found power of Triple-H.

2. Someone wanted Punk no where near the WWE championship.

As the feud between Triple-H and Punk continued escalating; Behind the scenes a new character would emerge into the forefront. John Laurinaitis, a long time adviser to Vince McMahon, had begun to take matters into his own hands... behind the back of Triple-H.

Laurinaitis would make his first appearance at Money in the Bank as he, on the orders of Vince McMahon, tried to prevent CM Punk from leaving the WWE with its championship by ending the match before Punk could escape the clutches of John Cena.

Side Note: This is where Vince lost all credibility in the eyes of  the "Board of Directors". Cena was moments away from making Punk tap and instead of letting that happen he decided to intervene and basically screwed himself, the company, and Cena allowing Punk to leave with its "richest prize in the game". This is a perfectly logical explanation for his release.

Johnny Ace would continue to undermine Punk and Triple-H by signing Kevin Nash (who Triple-H quickly fired...hilarious) to a new contract, distracting Triple-H by claiming Nash was being treated at a hospital allowing Nash to once again intervene in Punk's advances towards the WWE title, and becoming "the voice of reason" to WWE superstars who were growing weary of Triple-H's ability to lead the company.

All the while John held onto his trusty cell phone... texting away...

CM Punk, who solely believed Triple-H was behind all of his misfortune and the growing conspiracy, continued on with his rebellion against the newly crowned king. He would soon learn that Triple-H was telling the truth the whole time.... As much as these two men hated one another they were destined to become allies in a bigger war against those who held the answers to "The Conspiracy."    

Intermission & Reflection

So what have we learned so far?

1. Vince lost control of the company, the title, and faith in John Cena...who he then tried to fire.

2. The "Board of Directors" saw Vince unfit to run the company and replaced him with his logical heir, Triple-H.

3. Triple-H was greeted by CM Punk during the apex of his rebellion for change. Punk immediately clashed with Triple-H over his new found power.

4. During the title match at Summerslam Nash intervened and cost CM Punk the title to Alberto Del Rio.

5. Punk blamed Triple-H for this fueling their hatred and feud even further.

6. John Laurinaitis begins to sign unapproved talent, sends a lot of text messages to an unknown source, and is power playing for Triple-H's position by lamenting with superstars who are growing cautious about Triple-H's ability to guide the company. 

So far so good? Great!

Can we all agree that this beats the hell out of where we were roughly one year ago in terms of story telling? And if you're one of the wrestling purists who could care less about story lines, and only care about the product in the ring, and others besides Cena and Orton being pushed down our throats... well that has drastically improved as well.

You know what I've learned so far from this current angle? That the loyal, die hard fan base consistently puts the WWE in constant loose-loose situations. Its infatuation and love for wrestling keeps them on the bandwagon while they constantly tell the conductor they're going the wrong way, they're doing it wrong, and it could, should be better.  

We're about to enter the area where apparently everything went wrong for the WWE and it's mission to bring its fan base its greatest story arch in a long time...

... Buckle up for safety.

Chapter III: The War, the Counsel, and the Walkout.

As the battle between CM Punk and Triple-H came unhinged at Night of Champions there became visible proof that the conspiracy went far beyond the reach of these two men. Once again the lingering thoughts of conspiracy felt between R-truth and The Miz would be put into the spotlight as the two of them interfered in the war between Punk and Triple-H. As Laurinaitis ran to the ring with security to apprehend the two anarchists he slyly sent another text message.

Coming through the crowd could be seen Kevin Nash... right on cue. Nash would once again eliminate Punk allowing Triple-H to keep control of the company by defeating Punk and putting a stop to his rebellion.

It was now clear that Punk and Triple-H shared a common enemy and that it would be in both their best interests to put their personal problems aside and confront "The Conspiracy" head on together.

Pop Quiz:

Q: Why are Triple-H and CM Punk all buddy, buddy now? It doesn't make sense!

A. The WWE sucks, but I'll still watch and complain later.

B. You're clearly not paying any attention to the story that's being presented

C. They share a common enemy that neither can defeat by themselves.

A: (shaking head) .... whatever...

Triple-H, who still held authority over the WWE, banished the anarchists for their actions at Night of Champions. With Triple-H still in a governing position, ridding the universe of a cancer, and a growing mutual respect between himself and Punk things seemed to be leveling off quite nicely for Triple-H. While Triple-H and Punk began to search for the identity of their common enemy. Something was about to happen that would alter the landscape of the WWE universe.

During the main event at Hell in a Cell after Alberto Del Rio once again became WWE champion. The anarchists returned to wreck havoc upon all those left in the ring, and any who got in their way. As Triple-H, Laurinatis, and the remaining superstars ran out to stop the advances of Truth and Miz...the cage was lowered, protecting the anarchists from the army waiting to dismantle them.

Visible proof that the conspiracy still lingered, and it now had corrupted/recruited two new visible members... The WWE superstars who were already claiming injustices and unsafe working conditions would use this to fuel their attemps at dethroning Triple-H.

These others who had begun to question the leadership ability of Triple-H, and the unsafe working conditions due to the evolving conspiracy conspired against him in a massive strike movement. This movement was led by a heel faction consisting of Christian, Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, and David Otunga. They organized a vote of "no confidence" against Triple-H and proceeded to abandon the universe in an attempt to rid the kingdom of Triple-H. 

Pop Quiz:

Q: Was the "walk-out" a failure?

A. No, Because it was never meant to be the focal point of the story only a segue and means for the "Board of Directors" to evict Triple-H from the throne.

B. Yes, WWE sucks! I'll still watch and complain later.

A: A... You can't have all your employees walk out on you, have legal issues brought against you and the company, and expect to keep your job! The walk-out was simply a last stand for the disgruntled, unappreciated superstars to rid the company of Triple-H. This is what happens in the real world... people organize their efforts with others, make a stand against company figureheads, which results in companies firing CEO's for the sake of keeping their company in business. Triple-H became the fall guy because of the growing conspiracy around him and the atmosphere it presented. Plain and simple.

The walkout would spell the end for Triple-H and his reign over the WWE kingdom. Vince McMahon in a returning role would be the one to tell Triple-H that the "Board of Directors"  were relieving him of his duties and in his place John Laurinatis would be promoted.

With the changing of power the superstars returned to the company, and with his first business as acting GM, Lauranitis reinstated the anarchists that had long been banned from the universe. The Miz and R-truth had once again returned to wreck havoc amongst the WWE, Triple-H, and CM Punk. 

Chapter IV: The Unknown Future & the Dreaded Plot Holes

With John Laurinaitis now acting as the governing body for Raw these are uneasy times within the WWE universe. Triple-H and CM Punk are now set to do battle with the anarchist group of Miz and R-Truth. This will be their first step together in uncovering the identity of their common enemy.

Is Johnny Ace behind the conspiracy? Or is he simply in the right place at the right time?

Who is he texting?

Is there another wizard to this Oz pulling the strings beyond Laurinaitis?

Will the relationship crumble between Punk and Triple-H?

What is the overall agenda of "The Conspiracy"?

While nothing is written in stone there is a couple things we know...

We've seen the rebirth of a dying product, and while the WWE will be hard pressed to please all at least they have rejuvenating a product that lacked focus, direction, and vision. Is it perfect? No, but a giant step in the right direction. 

We've only begun to scrap the surface of the conspiracy angle....

Let's Fill in Some Plot Holes

Q: So... The "walk-out"... how come the superstars who left were still their on Smackdown?

A: Because Triple-H is not in charge of Smackdown. As COO he overseas day to day business operations. He's technically not GM of the individual shows. Teddy Long is in charge of Smackdown. The superstars didn't walk out on him. Since the Raw GM has taken a little vacation apparently; Triple-H, since his inception as COO, has primarily been the force driving Raw.

Q: Triple-H should not be comparing his employees to boom sticks! Isn't that wrong?

A: No, that's hilarious. it shows that Triple-H is not prepared to lay down because of the cloud of conspiracy surrounding him and the wrestlers who walked out on him. It's his true "attitude era" character shining through the new corporate one.

Q: Why is CM Punk being buried?

A: (shaking head)....next!

Q: What was the point of Kevin Nash?

A: Look, Kevin Nash was obviously suppose to wrestle CM Punk at Night of Champions, but things happen in the real world that prevented that from happening. Instead we got a classic match between Punk and Hunter. Nash is probably not done with this angle, and if anything it was a nice cameo from a well known actor (sorry, I mean wrestler) as a way to garner interest and fuel Punks belief that Triple-H was behind the conspiracy.

Q: Yea, about this walk-out... why did both faces and heels and those not even directly involved in the conspiracy angle leave?

A: We have got to get off this whole walkout thing... Obviously the conspiracy was creating an unsafe working environment for a lot of people, and would continue to happen as long as Triple-H was leading the way. He had to go in order to preserve the safety of others.

Q: Why was Vince let go again? I've seen worse things happen in my time watching wrestling and didn't see any other GM's or COO's get the ax.

A: Different story arch, different era, different wrestlers, different hidden agendas. Someone wants control of the WWE and is doing what they need to do in order to get it. Go along for the ride and take advil when needed!

Alright class that's it...Any more questions that I missed I will gladly answer.

Class dismissed!