>i think that since pro wrestling in general leans so hard
>into, and sometimes blatantly relies on, the idea that
>everyone knows its "fake", they are no longer interested in
>presenting a "work".
>
>they are making the movies McMahon was talking about 20+ years
>ago with disposable characters and actors, and if this one
>doesnt work, oh well. off to the next one while NBC/Universal
>gives them hundreds of millions of dollars for their
>entertainment content.
>
>AEW does the same thing FWIW. Dark Order and Matt Hardy
>spring to mind. but at least they let some people (MJF et al)
>attempt to present a traditional "work" if they want to.

There's some characters/rasslers who are obviously being 'protected' in all companies. I don't think that has died off yet...especially not people that a company claims to 'care about'.

Now sure, current day rasslin calls for even the top folks to occasionally just smooth get beat. But even with that, WWE is still VERY heavy on giving people 'visual pin victories' when they are about to lose. If not that, there might be a 'get yo heat back thing'. They even did visual pin for Finn just now. They certainly did it for Lashley on Monday too.