Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialWWE Is Struggling To Adapt To Latest Changes.

WWE Is Struggling To Adapt To Latest Changes.

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Much as the problem is with having separate rosters for Raw & Smackdown, WWE went one further last year when they introduced the “Superstar Shakeup” as a replacement for the draft. Instead of making a brand switch seem special, the shakeup told us it doesn’t matter. Why care? When the brands get shuck up like a snow globe each year anyways? With no build or sense of importance.

Long gone are the days when you could look at someone like, The Undertaker for example, and say “he’s a Smackdown guy! So I must watch Smackdown”. There’s no identity for the brands other than one having a red scheme and the other blue. There’s no reason to watch one over the other so it defeats the point. The brand split was always meant to create inward competition, but manufactured competition means nothing unless the company gives the talent incentive to go above and beyond. Not only that, but The Undertaker goes where he wants, John Cena goes where he wants .. so it seems pointless to split rosters when a few come and go as they please. Also isn’t Raw already the #1 show? Due to having three hours and a bigger roster?

Speaking of big rosters, there’s too many titles. Neither the WWE or Universal title mean as much as they would if the other didn’t exist. The IC and US titles have always kind of cancelled each other out, but at least WWE has made better use of them in recent times. There’s not enough women superstars (who can draw) to sustain three titles across Raw, Smackdown and NXT. Ronda Rousey could win the Raw Women’s title, yet have to stand next to Carmella and Shayna Baszler as an equal? Isn’t that a bit wrong? I mean, if you’re going to push her as a box office attraction, how come she can’t jump and win the other titles as well? Oh yeah .. because she’s “contracted” to only work on Raw right? Sigh. It’s ridiculous.

There’s too many rules. There’s too many results which mean nothing. It’s WWE in a nutshell. They have the talent, but their schedule is so heavily stacked, and due to everything been done before, they have difficulty giving the audience something they’ve never experienced. And this has been the trend since the mid-2000s, gradually getting worse and worse, because WWE is a machine which hardly ever strays from protocol. Everything that worked in the old days was slowly chipped away, leaving talent in a vacuum of limited creativity. Even “Woken” Matt and his crazy universe isn’t immune to these limits.

Management isn’t willing to execute anything risky in fear of damaging its reputation. It’s all about the money, and as long as they’re raking it in, there’s no reason to change. I’ve said this for years, as it’s true of any business in any marketplace: When a company monopolizes the market, the consumers suffer. Prices go up. Quality declines. The consumer has to pay as they’ve got no other choice. In the 90’s, WWE(f) had to risk it all to survive, which is why their product became must-see. The fans didn’t know what would happen next. It wasn’t brilliantly written Shakespeare, but at least it was unpredictable and shocking. It’d grab your attention early, and keep it most the time. Not only that, but they knew how to keep everyone tuned in to the weekly product, and how to build to the next PPV. It felt episodic, and major angles had some thought behind them. We got heated feuds, really hate-filled blood feuds which could lead to someone possibly being ran over by a car, put in a casket (to RIP), or thrown off a cell through a table. It was super risky television which delivered more often than not; but as a long-term product it could not be sustained.

I remember when WWE started cutting back on the payoffs for feuds/angles, often leaving only a few weeks for a regular program to die abruptly before it could flourish. WWE changed the booking to work via monthly basis; except for special programs. But it’s not enough time! I remember how dumb it was, watching Cena feud with a dude one month .. beat him, move on to the next guy the following Raw .. beat that guy at the next PPV. Repetitive indeed. There was a time when WWE could build an angle for months (not often like), but the ability was lost ages ago outside of NXT at least. If i had to give an analogy, it’s like eating a Happy Meal everyday, instead of going out once a week for a fat, juicy steak which has been prepared to perfection. You’re going to get sick of those Happy Meals pretty fast .. well, I know I would anyways.

There’s no better evidence of how bad it’s got, than if you was to compare NXT PPV to WWE PPV, and the Johnny Gargano/Ciampa feud to anything produced on the main shows. NXT gets a handful of PPV events a year, and they smash it out of the park every time. Why is that? Because the angles, the feuds, and the talent themselves, have built to these moments the right way. The wrestlers know it’s time to step in to 8th gear and deliver their best. The fans get a good deal of time waiting in anticipation for NXT Takeovers. But you know what? Money in the Bank? Trust me, if they didn’t have ladder matches, it would be like any other Raw or Smackdown. It’s only special because of the contracts and crazy spots we are bound to get. Also, theme PPVs have the problem that you get all of it on just the one event .. instead of spacing it out over several. They could easily spread out four Money in the Bank matches for Raw male/female & Smackdown male/female superstars at different events across the year; instead of stacking them together on the same card.

Another problem with feuds on the main roster is they can’t get too “nasty”. And I’m not talking about the action or crazy backstage spots, I’m talking about rivalries which grow seriously personal. You don’t see the same levels of hatred between superstars as we used too. When was the last time we got a feud which was universally praised? I hate to say it, but I think the last time was probably Daniel Bryan vs. The Authority? And that only came about because the fans demanded it. Due to limitations, feuds are not allowed, or are not capable of (in the allocated time), evolving in to something memorable. Either the talent are not allowed to push the boundaries, or they only have a few weeks build til the payoff match.

Having a superstar shakeup the month before a self-imposed lull period of no PPV, is not the smartest idea. The shakeup opened up new possibilities, but the talent were thrown together with no build, no seeds planted, and seemingly little long-term planning. The result? A 3-hour Raw which I believe some find difficult to remain interest in from start to finish. Also a 2-hour Smackdown only 24 hours after the 3-hour Raw, despite basically being a blue version of Raw with different wrestlers. I’m not even going to bother with 205 Live, that’s another hour for anyone who can handle that much in 48 hours. I have to sit through it all .. whether I like it or not, otherwise how could I write about it?

WWE has gradually grown in airtime over the years, due to it’s increasing PPV schedule and extra long shows (with pre-shows) like Wrestlemania. For the first time .. I think in the promotions history, PPVs were cut back this year. WWE doesn’t know how to handle it, they’re not used to writing Raw & Smackdown longer than 3-4 weeks without a payoff event. After the shuffle, they haven’t had enough time to stabilize Raw & Smackdown’s rosters to produce quality feuds to maintain our interest til the next PPV. Luckily for them, it’s only Money in the Bank, where they’d normally stick a bunch of talent together and have them feud leading in to it.

Because NXT is so successful, it poses another problem. While NXT itself is great (although some may argue it’s not as good lately), an insurmountable surge of talent were promoted the past two years. Most of them didn’t seem to carry their hype over, sometimes not through any fault of their own, but due to a lack of airtime, and lazy short-term booking which killed their momentum. And it continues today, there’s at least a dozen NXT guys & girls who could be promoted tomorrow and do a better job than those hanging on. There’s so many amazing talents WWE’s holding on too (why won’t they let Neville go!?), because they know other promotions will pick them up and gain huge. WWE is trying to stop other promotions getting bigger boots .. but while it holds on to most of the worlds greatest, its main rosters are overflowing to the brim. They should’ve trimmed the fat, but by keeping places limited, they inadvertently promote internal competition for airtime. It gives WWE better control, because if one talent isn’t willing/able to do the job, there’s plenty of others contracted who could step up. This is a motivator for some, but for others, it’s like driving in to a car park hoping you can find the last spot in the lot.

Having so many contracted is a positive in some ways, but the biggest negative is it kills the momentum of young, hungry talents who should be doing more. Where’s Authors of Pain? Where’s Sanity? Why is Chad Gable almost a jobber? It’s difficult to get good feuds going when there’s so many needing airtime. Segments which could usually be reserved for furthering feuds, are replaced by three-minute squash matches. This is seen more on Raw, as Smackdown doesn’t appear to want to feature as many names. Smackdown also has the luxury of not needing to reserve time for special attractions like Lesnar & Rousey. Stephanie’s segments are generally twice as long as a Paige’s/Shane’s as well. As the flagship show, Raw is prone to extreme advertisement, celebrity worship, movie trailers, and booking which caters to getting talent on the card so they can get paid. It’s more like a 2-hour card with 1-hour filler most weeks, so I don’t blame fans for skipping and watching the highlights on YouTube later.

WWE has a deep pool of talent which is growing monthly. While WWE excels in many areas, the ability to shock & awe has been lost. It doesn’t stop fans tuning in however, either because they love everything WWE, or because it’s force of habit. With other promotions growing, alternatives are becoming more readily available. Despite this, WWE will never deliver its best unless it has too. Til there’s real competition, or profits decline, fans have to watch mediocrity and like it. Talents deal with it more than any of us .. so if anything, I feel bad for the young guys & girls going unused on the main roster. With how Raw & Smackdown are at the moment .. if I was a NXT guy, I’d stay there as long as possible. Once you leave .. you may end up in a void filled with guys like Tye Dillinger; which is far from being a perfect ten.

It sucks, but it will take time for WWE to realize the current model won’t work in the long-term. They can’t keep calling up NXT talents and not get rid of the dead weight. Main roster shows must change if it’s going to deliver a better, consistent product. I love WWE, and clearly I’ve had my ups-and-downs with it, but I’m finding it difficult to keep focus. I always know I can miss things and get caught up anyways .. it’s not like I’m missing out. That’s the problem though, it shouldn’t be that way. I should be anticipating. I should be excited that anything can happen on live television. I’m not though, because I know WWE’s shot themselves in the foot. The buildup for Money in the Bank has been lackluster, but at least they’ve put emphasis on how important the ladder matches are with the qualifying matches .. despite some getting way more chances than they should have.

I don’t want to go in to these angles/feuds too much as I’ve said enough. I praise WWE for reaching out and getting fresh talent, young and old, but there comes a time where you need to accept cutbacks. They might not need a team like Rhyno & Heath Slater. They might not need Alicia Fox. They could probably tell Titus to step back and be a manager only. Whatever they decide to do, they need to be more logical in the booking (don’t do something for no reason), and perhaps look to NXT for examples on how to build compelling feuds. By the time The Velveteen Dream is ready for the big time, I’m hoping management has taken some steps, otherwise .. I’m going to be pissed if he gets lost in the shuffle.

And I’m sure there’s other talents you would love to see moving from the indies to NXT, to eventually feature on the main roster. I’m hoping they are given a fair chance to show the world what they can do. In closing, WWE has the ingredients, it has the utensils, it has the show, and the live audience .. but to cook up something magical, the cooks have to put it all together with the right portions. Can WWE cook us up something delicious? Or are we just going to be fed the same old pizza with no toppings? Please let us know your thoughts. Thanks for reading! And as always, it’s much appreciated.

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