WrestleMania a sign of Poor Talent or No Trust?

[Roskell]

As an old school fan who started watching in the 80’s then throughout the 90’s and to the present day product, WrestleMania approaches once more...an it’s again a further showing of how inferior the current product and its roster of wrestlers (Sorry...Superstars) are. Not by the performance of the superstars themselves.. but by the company telling us they are not good enough! 7 Superstars fill the three main event feuds; Lesnar & Triple H (w/ HBK), Taker & Punk and another Cena & Rock match. Only two of them (Cena & Punk) are full time current generation wrestlers. Simply put...the current WWE talent, who perform all year around for the company are not good enough to be involved in any of the three main feuds for the biggest event of the WWE calendar.

WrestleMania never use to be about wheeling out the old talent to fill the main spots, it was about the biggest wrestlers on the roster facing each other in a long feud ending at WrestleMania. But this appears to be the 2nd year running that part timers fill the main event scene while wrestlers the likes of The Miz and Wade Barrett are not considered good enough to even get on the card! The way I see it, as WrestleMania is built up as the biggest stage of the year and you don’t feature your full timers, then in the eyes of the fans they won’t see them as stars either.

None of the part timers in the main feuds are putting over stars who need it. Punk and Cena are already at that top level. The Rock, Triple H, Taker, HBK, Lesnar should take a leap out of Jericho’s book and help the company in the long run by making future stars and helping others get over.

So the question is; Is the talent that bad that the WWE needs part timers to fill WM main event scene? Or doesn’t the WWE trust the current superstars enough to give them their own WrestleMania moments?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE has a roster full of talented wrestlers. They also know that people tend to watch in droves when old school stars like Taker, Rock & HBK make appearances. WrestleMania, first and foremost, is the WWE's biggest payday of the year. The WWE wants to ultimately do whatever they think will draw them the most money. Cena vs. Rock II, Taker vs. Punk and Triple H vs. Lesnar II are going to be the biggest draws of the event. There's no arguing that. It's a great marketing strategy to draw upon nostalgia with wrestlers who are not only still relevant but who can still go in the ring.

However, this is a formula that WWE simply isn't going to be able to rely on forever. As I said earlier, they have a roster full of great talent but, aside from Punk & Cena, nobody is really at that true, top tier level. At the same time, however, in spite of what you might hear, guys like Punk & Cena don't drop down from the sky everyday.

Also, I'm actually kind of encouraged to see that this year's WM will have several notable "debuts" as part of the action. Personally, I can't remember the last time a WWE wrestler had his first match as part of the main roster at the biggest show of the year. Big E. Langston is in the hunt for the tag titles and Fandango is against a future WWE Hall of Famer. Is it risky putting talent that, for all intents & purposes, untested at the biggest show of the year? Hell yes it is. Could they crack under the pressure? Will they be able to deliver what the company is hoping? You have to gamble sometimes in life, whether it be in your personal life or business or whatever, and that's what WWE is doing. It seems, to me at least, that they have confidence in these two and that they'll do a good job. WrestleMania is kind of the ultimate proving ground.

This is also The Shield's first WrestleMania and they're wrestling in a six man tag match against Sheamus, Orton & Big Show. Ambrose, Rollins & Reigns were nobodies, comparatively speaking, at this time six months ago. Here they are now with only about 5 matches shown on television or ppv to their credit and they're going up against three men who've been World Champion a total of about 17 times. They've gone from generally being "indy guys" to having a high profile match at the biggest show of the year. While not exactly a "debut", it's still kind of feels like it is since we've only seen them wrestle a small handful of times.

 

[Roskell]

A great point and well explained. I agree 100% on it’s the “best for business” approach in the regards to ratings and money by bringing these part timers for the ‘Road to WrestleMania’. But my main gripe, which you mentioned yourself is that they can’t do this forever. I feel it would be better using these stars from the past against the stars of today, would be more of a benefit long term than a short term buyrate.

I have no problem with the whole card, as there are some fresh things to look forward too. I’m more pointing at the main event scene and particularly the big 3 main events.Could The Rock not face an upping Heel, than another repeat of last year’s match? Could Lesnar not take on Ryback? Could Triple H not face Wade Barrett? You have the likes of Sandow, Ziggler, Rhodes etc that need that one big moment to reach that next level, what better way than use established part time wrestlers from the past to get there. WrestleMania is the perfect place to make that big step as it is the grandest stage of them all, but if you’re not prepared to take a risk on one of these guys and rely on the ‘old timers’ then how long can that last?

Because once WM is over, you’re left with only Punk and Cena...slightly maybe more over than before or in Cena’s case less over. Then you need to start selling PPV’s for the rest of the year with superstars that weren’t good/big enough to hang with the ‘old timers’ a few weeks ago.

 

[The Butcher]

You could take it as an indictment of WWE's current talent, or you could look at it as the fruition of what Vince McMahon has always wanted deep down. The main event of the very first WrestleMania had a celebrity in the ring and a slew of others surrounding it. WrestleMania 2 had a main event for each of its three venues, and two of the three featured celebrities/NFL stars. WrestleMania XI put a retired NFL star in the main event in lieu of the leaders of the "new generation." WrestleMania XIV might as well have been Mike Tyson vs Steve Austin given how it was publicized. Almost every WrestleMania has had celebrities in skits, as ring announcers, as commentators, as valets, as special guest refs or time keepers, etc. etc. etc.

So, finally, 29 years in, Vince has a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and the biggest action star in Hollywood in his back pocket. Of course he's going to give them top billing. Even if his current talent was more over and even if Brock Lesnar and Dwayne Johnson weren't WWE alumni, I can all but guarantee that Vince would give them top billing. It's never been about the wrestling for Mr. McMahon. He's time and again done everything he could do to gain mainstream traction for his niche business.

I don't disagree that today's talent/product is in many ways inferior to what I grew up with, but I'm a crusty, old IWC'er who will to his dying day say that the Ultimate Warrior was a good promo. The fact of the matter is that WWE is pulling down money and attention through whatever means are necessary and acceptable to the mainstream. Just like it's always done; just like it will always do.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Another thing to keep in mind is this is really the 1st time the WWE has had a chance to showcaase top stars of a previous era against each other or against top stars of today.

By the time the New Generation with Bret and Shawn started, Hogan was gone, Warrior was gone and Macho stayed on for the first few years but was used moreso as an announcer.

Then by the time the Attitude Era was in full swing, Bret was screwed and moved on to WCW, Shawn injured his back and was gone by early 98, and all the other older stars were still in WCW.

Once it became time for the new wave of talent to take over (Cena, Batista, and Orton) your previous stars (Austin, Rock and Brock) were gone and for one reason or another not coming back. Going back furthur, Shawn was back but he was not a novalty act as he was a full time (or close to it) competitor, Bret had a stroke and couldn't compete anymore and anyone older than that was too old to contribute.

So that takes us to today and markes the first time that WWE has at its disposal, guys from previous era's (Rock, Brock, Taker and HHH) who are full fledged part timers that can still sell big shows. I'm sure if the WWE could have used Austin and Rock 5 years ago, or Hogan, Macho and Bret 10-15 years ago they would have.

 

[rge2010]

The WWE roster as a whole is absolutely stacked with talent but sadly it really lacks drawing power.

Only John Cena has come close to the drawing power of Rock and Brock and even then he is a way off. These people clambering for Ziggler to be the face of the company - sorry, he's good but he just doesn't have 'it' in my opinion. If Punk has tried and failed then Ziggler has no chance.

 

[Radical]

The state of the WWE and WrestleMania is a sign of a lack of trust in the full-time roster they have not a lack of talent.

Yoshi Tatsu is a talented Superstar. If you watched him in his feud with Tyson Kidd on NXT a couple years ago he was very good (as was Tyson). The problem, I guess, is that Tatsu isn't great at speaking English so his promo ability if very limited. But... that hasn't kept some guys from being stars!!

I don't blame WWE for bringing back The Rock, Brock, Taker, Jericho, Triple H for matches at WM. They need to have a big draw so they make a lot of money which technically helps the WWE keep producing 'quality' television. Of course 'quality' is in quotes because they have the FUNDS to produce quality but often lack the actual execution of it on a regular basis.

But there are SOME good signs. The Shield, Fandango and Big E Langston are new guys (basically) and are getting a shot on the grandest stage of them all to showcase their skills and get off on the right foot in become stars.

Problem I see is that the IC and US title have basically be forgotten and disregarded.

Could they not have added a 6-pack challenge for the #1 contendership for the US title at WrestleMania or at least the Pre-Show and that way they could have had more meaningful matches to fill up the last few shows before WrestleMania with solid wrestling matches.

The IC title is defended at the pre-show now and basically has no story behind it. No WONDER it is only pre-show material. But it's sad because the BELTS should be used to lift up the talented Superstars they have.

They tried it with putting the US title on Cesaro as a fresh/new Superstar about a year ago but they shoved him down the toilet by jobbing him out before WM and giving him no feud or title match.

My point? I think there is a lack of trust in the WWE higher ups (aka Vince) because I think they could make better stars out of the talent they have but they don't give them enough chance to make a name for themselves.

 

[Mr. HD]

After every WrestleMania, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Chris Jericho, and The Undertaker leave, take their break and WWE has a FULL YEAR to build their new talent.

If that next year comes around and they still need to bring in the aforementioned wrestlers, then it's a combination of the superstar failing to get over and WWE's inability to help them get over.

People have complained about the part timers taking their spot. Maybe if they connected with the people a little better, it'd be them facing The Undertaker and or them headlining Mania vs Cena or Punk.

I think Vince has no faith in his current roster. He keeps bringing in Rock, Jericho, Brock, HHH, and Taker to bring people in because the current guys can't do it. But if they push guys like Damien Sandow, they wouldn't need all of them to constantly come back and bring back the fans they lost after Mania.

 

[The Eighties]

I miss the days when Mania was about the clashes between the top stars on the roster or about a guy winning his first WWF/E title in the main event, as opposed to a parade of nostalgia acts.

I thought when Hogan was used in the nostalgia role they had it just right, it was the support to the WWF title match which was contested between two main roster stars.

This current run of nostalgia acts being the focus of Mania started at Mania 27 when the whole show was built on segments with Rock waffling and the curiosity over what he would do to Cena at the end, no one gave a shit about Cena vs The Miz. Then at 28 Taker had his first Mania as a "once a year" performer against a a guy who works maybe 3 or 4 matches a year so I'd hesitate to even call him a part timer, and the main event was Cena vs a guy who'd worked 1 match in 8 years.

This year they have went the full hog with the 3 main events featuring guys who work at the most 3 matches a year, with only 2 guys who are full time wrestlers involved, only one of which will actually win his match.

I don't think it's lack of faith so much as the wrestling business is the equivalent of a one horse town and the mentality is "why bother wasting time and energy creating new stars when we can just make a load of money off ready made ones when we wheel them out once a year, we'll worry about new stars when the nostalgia teat is sucked dry."