>>15775301Have to disagree with your framing of the companies a bit here though.
The Hangman match didn't exist in a vacuum. It happened in the context of a running storyline.
Hangman was the "low man" of the Elite, the guy who existed on the periphery but was never really "in." He struggled with angst and self doubt and developed a drinking problem, won a tag title, was turned on by his tag partner after winning said title. Went on to beat said partner for the championship, had a short run, lost, and has been drowned in self doubt all along.
Then Swerve comes along. Up and rising wrestler, tons of potential, decides he's going to make Hangman his whipping boy. And he does. Hangman has matches with him and loses. Guy keeps pushing. Swerve stalks his family, absolutely destroys Hangman in a death match, keeps pushing.
The "burning down the house" incident and the match itself are storyline beats. Swerve has gotten into Hangman's head. Hangman had snapped. He's in a very dark place now. That was why the match had to be so brutal, it was a playing out of the Hangman storyline that's been playing out since the company began.
It's easy to write this all off if you don't watch, much as one could write off storyline beats from Breaking Bad or The Sopranod taken out of context. But there is a story there and it's larger than just creating an excuse to do mud show stuff.
