Is WWE Roster thin?

[John McCass]

I was looking up to WWE's wikipedia page. So,an idea came into my mind. Lets count the number of wrestlers on the roster. It was about 70 (including part timers and injured wrestlers). About 40 were active. 40 is enough,isn't it???
40 wrestlers can't fill the main event,the midcard and the undercard!!!

 

[ColeMc]

Including valets and managers, there were 60 performers at last years WM, the Diva invitational and Andre Battle Royale made up the majority of that though. (Cesaro and Daniel Bryan wrestled twice)

Coming up to the RR, so far booked in there are 51 competitors, unless they double book some of the tag participants.

 

[Kamala316]

The problem isn't that the WWE roster is thin; the problem is that they run the same show every single week. How many times are we going to see the Usos vs. Miz / Mizdow, and then they're wrestling (again) at the Royal Rumble? I like what they've done with Rollins - he is running with the "cowardly heel gimmick". But other than Rollins, who has been given the "rub"? Ambrose? Reigns? Wyatt? You can make the argument for them, but the one WWE needs is Daniel Bryan. He got over with a one word statement, and the crowd goes bananas when he comes out. That being said, if I were Vince, I'd be putting the rest of the locker room on notice that there are a bunch of hungry young lions down in NXT that are ready to raise the bar at the next level. Remember when Goldberg debuted in WCW? No music, no fanfare, he just kicked ass from bell to bell. Why not do that with some of the new NXT blood. Keep the commentary chatter to a minimum (not that they help the show now, anyways), and let the in-ring work speak for itself and get the performer over. Also, I love the idea of a WWE TV title. You can put a time limit on the match, and showcase debuting talent, start new feuds, revisit old feuds, etc. It also puts another wrestling match on the card (instead of another talk segment). Sorry for the novel, but to answer the question: There is no reason for WWE's roster to be thin.

 

[rmp0012002]

I don't think the roster is thin on numbers but thin on talent. I think it's a combination of NXT with HHH and Vince and they have different philosophies. Too many guys look the same and wrestle the same and fans will quickly decide who they like. The guys that succeed are usually playing themselves instead of a character.
Everyone coming from NXT is quickly given a program to be a star on the main roster and in a very short time. Wrong. Guys need to learn from the bottom and work their way up and develop their personality and craft. Start a guy out on the top of the hill and there's only one way to go,down. A lot of guys coming out of NXT sadly are not going to be stars regardless of what HHH and Vince tells them and need to come to that realization. You can build people better by making jobbers, carpenters, mid card guys and main eventers rather throwing them out there as the next start but only to crash and burn. If you're not the real deal todays fans will eat you alive.

 

[MC_Live]

Numbers wise, yes, they have enough wrestlers. But the problem I they're thin on stars. That's the difference. Sure there are a lot of names on the roster. But how many are over? How many do people care about? Not many. And until WWE builds a roster not just full of people, but a roster full of stars, they'll be in trouble.

 

[kadroan]

I was looking up to WWE's wikipedia page. So,an idea came into my mind. Lets count the number of wrestlers on the roster. It was about 70 (including part timers and injured wrestlers). About 40 were active. 40 is enough,isn't it???
40 wrestlers can't fill the main event,the midcard and the undercard!!!

No, they're pretty deep. They just don't utilize all their talent. You got people like Cody Rhodes that don't even wrestle on RAW every week.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

yep - it's about talent being underutilized. Cody Rhodes vs Sami Zayn is an easy feud to do when Zayn is called up, the problem is they're not doing anything with Rhodes character, he's not even Cody Rhodes anymore.

They don't even have identities for their divisions. Barrett has been pinned clean twice since winning the IC belt a few weeks ago.

 

[Navi]

Yea I have to agree with most people, the roster isn't thin, it's underutilized. We are seeing the same matches week after week, on all the shows. For example: On RAW we'll have Cena/Rollins with some interference by Kane, Big Show and J & J Security. Then you have a run in by Reigns, Ambrose and Ziggler to save them. So that means on Smackdown, we'll have a 6 man tag match between Cena/Reigns/Ambrose vs Kane/Rollins/Big Show. Of course J&J Security will be there to lend a helping hand.

Oh and in the meantime on Main Event and Superstars, Reigns will have a go at Big Show and Ambrose will have a feud with Kane. You get my drift. 4 shows and the same group of people will main event each of them.

There are wrestlers on the roster that we never see anymore. Like where is Titus O'Neil, Heath Slater, Los Matadores you know the mid card group that could be used in filler matches. Now I know no one pays hard earned money to see the guys I just mentioned, but a change is good at times.

It's almost like the WWE world only revolves around the top of the roster the other are almost forgotten about.

 

[sMark]

WWE roster is thin, no doubt.
In starpower: Cena, Bryan, Lesnar, Taker, Sting - that's all they have, how many of these guys you see on TV regularly?

In talent - there around 20 guys who can put on a good show, around 5 of them can talk.

You also often see the wrestlers in wrong spots - for example, who cares about Kane or Big Show, wouldn't they be in better spot as a tag team, at the same time you have Cody Rhodes wasting time and talent ith his brother.

I hope after WM WWE will call up the best from NXT and will have a guts to change their main event and mid card.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I don't find it thin. Honestly, I was pleased with how well they kept storylines going while Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan were out; can you imagine the amount of teeth-gnashing that must have been going on during Creative meetings, trying to figure how to make up for the absence of two huge presences? Add Sheamus and Wade Barrett to the missing and you get an idea how big a vacuum was created....especially if there are only about 40 active ring wrestlers, as the OP stated.

Still, I thought WWE did okay during these past months, although there would obviously be plenty of disagreement on that. Even plays presented on stage have stand-ins figured in their casts, but fans want to see the stars, right?

Same in pro wrestling.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Ideally, a roster of about 50 or so guys would probably be perfect when you think about it. When you factor in managers, valets and all that, then it's probably closer to about 60 or so all told.

The only "thinness" I see in WWE's roster is that there are generally 10 or 15 people that Vince has something done with while the rest of them are primarily left to flap in the breeze. As of right this minute, Triple H, Stephanie, Cena, Bryan, Reigns, Ambrose, Kane, Big Show, Rollins, Wyatt, The Usos, Miz & Mizdow and Rusev are really the only roster members that have any degree of priority or relevance. I would include Wade Barrett, but the poor bastard is exactly where he was at this point a year ago: he's Intercontinental Champion, yet he's losing every single non-title match he has. This is a prime example of what a fucking schizophrenic boondoggle Vince McMahon's booking is these days and is exactly why I wasn't interested in Barrett getting the strap for the 5th time. Sometimes, you'll get something sensible and entertaining and sometimes you'll get something that seems to make sense only in Vince's mind.

 

[Bockwinkel's Class]

Yea I have to agree with most people, the roster isn't thin, it's underutilized. We are seeing the same matches week after week, on all the shows. For example: On RAW we'll have Cena/Rollins with some interference by Kane, Big Show and J & J Security. Then you have a run in by Reigns, Ambrose and Ziggler to save them. So that means on Smackdown, we'll have a 6 man tag match between Cena/Reigns/Ambrose vs Kane/Rollins/Big Show. Of course J&J Security will be there to lend a helping hand.

Oh and in the meantime on Main Event and Superstars, Reigns will have a go at Big Show and Ambrose will have a feud with Kane. You get my drift. 4 shows and the same group of people will main event each of them.

There are wrestlers on the roster that we never see anymore. Like where is Titus O'Neil, Heath Slater, Los Matadores you know the mid card group that could be used in filler matches. Now I know no one pays hard earned money to see the guys I just mentioned, but a change is good at times.

It's almost like the WWE world only revolves around the top of the roster the other are almost forgotten about.

And that goes right to the heart of what I was talking to Klunder about a couple of months ago: Vince has basically dumped the traditional main eventer/upper mid-carder/lower mid-carder/jobber dynamic that wrestling has used for decades. In it's place you have the six to twelve guys they're pushing at any given moment and all the rest are jobbers.

 

[stingray11214]

Ideally, a roster of about 50 or so guys would probably be perfect when you think about it. When you factor in managers, valets and all that, then it's probably closer to about 60 or so all told.

The only "thinness" I see in WWE's roster is that there are generally 10 or 15 people that Vince has something done with while the rest of them are primarily left to flap in the breeze. As of right this minute, Triple H, Stephanie, Cena, Bryan, Reigns, Ambrose, Kane, Big Show, Rollins, Wyatt, The Usos, Miz & Mizdow and Rusev are really the only roster members that have any degree of priority or relevance. I would include Wade Barrett, but the poor bastard is exactly where he was at this point a year ago: he's Intercontinental Champion, yet he's losing every single non-title match he has. This is a prime example of what a fucking schizophrenic boondoggle Vince McMahon's booking is these days and is exactly why I wasn't interested in Barrett getting the strap for the 5th time. Sometimes, you'll get something sensible and entertaining and sometimes you'll get something that seems to make sense only in Vince's mind.

And, VKM has to pay them to flap in the breeze. I sometimes wonder if he signs people to keep other companies from signing those same people, and then do not use them. Seriously, this is why the Territory system worked. Someone like Zack Ryder would be performing somewhere 5 nights a week. If VKM did not want him, he would go wrestle for Jerry Jarrett, if not Jarrett, then Eddie Graham or Don Owen, and make the same amount of money as he is making right now.

What you are also doing by only using 15 people is that you risk someone who has not wrestled often getting hurt. There is an old saying in the fight game: "Rest makes rust." When they called in David Otunga to wrestle House Shows, he did not see a ring for almost a year. He was not hurt, so what the hell was he doing? Wrestling his Grande Mocha at legal meetings? I am surprised that he was not seriously hurting after his weekend in the House Shows.

What I don't get is why VKM is so terrified about loaning those that he is not using to Indy companies? Why not loan out Zack Ryder to NYWC? Otunga to the Juggalos? Still smarting by Emma's error? Send her to JWP, Oz Academy or Shimmer for a spell. They are not going to bury them, it would be suicidal. In fact, you are MARKETING them. That does not change the fact that WWE is still the biggest company on the f-ing planet. By giving your unused stars ring time, you are also giving them experience that you cannot give them right now. This is done in soccer. Club does not have a spot for that Striker? Make an arrangement for a lower division club to borrow him on loan. Now, if that club wants the player permanently after a spell, they work out the transfer fee. This way, if you have zero intention of using that person, you get rid of them and collect the money on the contract sale. A company gets a wrestler under contract, the wrestler gets a career back, VKM gets rid of a headache, the shareholders are happy that we got money to take a contact off the books. Everybody is happy.

Instead, you have Donald Sterli...er..Vince McMahon collecting a lot of top wrestlers, sitting on them by not using them. Spending a shitload of money for the privilege of saying that he has the finest talent roster on the planet, but few get used. Oy vey!

 

[rmp0012002]

People complain about why this guy is getting a push and not this other guy who was getting a push the month before. It has nothing to do with roster size or talent but the simple fact that all 50 guys can't be the top guy. The old style of wrestlers being enhancement talent at various levels solves this problem. Vince Sr. was in the wrestling business but Vince hated that and wanted to be in the entertainment business so how business was done was thrown out. I think from now on everyone that moves up to the main roster gets a world belt, no more complaining wrestlers and no more complaining fans.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I think the best and most popular times in wrestling are when everyone on the roster seems to have some kind of storyline going on, Looking back at the biggest times like the mid 80s and attitude era nearly everyone on the roster seemed to have a role and something to do or someone to feud with etc but theres too many on the roster right now just sailing along week to week with no purpose lost in the shuffle which I believe affects the overall quality of the whole product no matter how good the current main event storyline may be.

 

[XXJJ]

In terms of main event stars, yes the roster is very thin.

Cena, Orton and Bryan are their only legit main event full-time wrestlers. Rollins and Reigns seem to be going in the right direction and could get there soon.