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The argument that ensues from Bret v. Shawn (personally, not a match) always seems to come down to "the prison effect".
That is to say, Shawn is treated like someone who went to prison for a few years, then comes out all Jesus saved and goes from being loved because he's the bad boy to loved for being the reformed bad boy. He gets showered with adoration in spite of making a career from being a self-serving asshole.
Bret, on the other hand, is the kid that kept his nose clean, got a B average in school, and everyone rags on him that he "should have got straight As then!" He's seen as "old and bitter" because in spite of his hard work, he'd not quite gotten the recognition he felt he rightfully deserved.
A better(?) measuring stick for what I'm going for would be to compare them to the Hardy Boyz. Not counting the batshit insanity that came later, mind you, think of their prime: you have Matt, who was a decent working "company guy" who got the Chavo treatment, and you had his "charismatic" fuck-up brother who got pushed to the moon because he jumped off shit whist smearing himself in blacklight bodypaint. In a world where we're always hearing about how hard work is supposed to pay off, Matt got the rep for being a whiny bitch (like Bret) and Jeff is just automatically forgiven because he's high profile and moves merch/puts asses in seats (like Shawn). It might be the way the business works, but it's not exactly fair.
The argument about the ladder match thing is basically it went from Shawn not having a clue WTF Bret was talking about to it becoming synonymous with Shawn (until the Hardyz- this time bringing them up was unintentional.)
Bret's had an awesome career to be sure. However, he feels he could have been treated better during it. It's not as simple as water under the bridge for everyone. Being treated like shit kinda does make you a grumpy fucker, and it isn't so much about how us fans feel about him for that career. This is more about how he was treated in relation to how he feels he should have been treated.
I dont' feel like he's ever really said that he should be getting his ass kissed and sloppy blowjobs at all times, but more like if he was so good and such a valuable asset to the company, he shouldn't have gotten treated like such a bastard stepchild so much.
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