Blank Check: WWE Developmental

[Okay Fabian]

Thought experiment:

You are now in charge of WWE talent recruitment and development. Vince McMahon gives you a blank check and asks you to clean up and re-structure the "WWE Developmental System." What do you? What does your system look like?

I'll post my plan after this thread gets a few responses. I want to see what you would do.

 

[LegendKiller716]

I keep the same overall structure. I don't have a problem with developmental. There are three things I would add though.

I'm assuming they have a FCW training facility (if not, get one). In that facility I would add the following.

A Wrestling School: A lot of stars don't know the WWE way of wrestling, so have a dedicated school. Also Vince loves guys with the look (so do I)...(no homo) so have them train in the ring. Guys like Big Zeke, Rob Terry (I know he's TNA), and Batistwo could benefit from some good in ring training.

Public Speaking Courses: This is simple. Some guys in WWE seem uncomfortable on the mic, and I think this could help a lot. Also maybe have some guys like HBK and Kevin Nash come in and teach people how to seem more natural on the mic. Maybe even throw in some improv classes.

Character Development: I don't know how this would work, but maybe once a week have brainstorming sessions where gimmicks are discussed and have different people try them out, and see who the gimmick could potentially work for.

 

[Dynamitekid2012]

I keep the same overall structure. I don't have a problem with developmental. There are three things I would add though.

I'm assuming they have a FCW training facility (if not, get one). In that facility I would add the following.

A Wrestling School: A lot of stars don't know the WWE way of wrestling, so have a dedicated school. Also Vince loves guys with the look (so do I)...(no homo) so have them train in the ring. Guys like Big Zeke, Rob Terry (I know he's TNA), and Batistwo could benefit from some good in ring training.

Public Speaking Courses: This is simple. Some guys in WWE seem uncomfortable on the mic, and I think this could help a lot. Also maybe have some guys like HBK and Kevin Nash come in and teach people how to seem more natural on the mic. Maybe even throw in some improv classes.

Character Development: I don't know how this would work, but maybe once a week have brainstorming sessions where gimmicks are discussed and have different people try them out, and see who the gimmick could potentially work for.

Umm, you do know they have all of these right? They even make them take acting lessons and such as well. With that said, IMO its these same things that I think suck life out of the business.

The business at its highest points has been a business based on guys who could get themselves over. Guys who could bring their own ideas and characters in and would use their own charisma to get over what gimmick they're given. Ex. Dusty Rhodes: He was given polka dots and an old black woman who knew nothing about the businessand yet he used his natural character and charisma to get it over anyway.


Back to the original question... MORE ALTERNATIVES. Not everyone is going to benefit from the same teachings by the same guys doing things the same way. They need more alternatives in the way they teach these guys and bring them up because right now everyone is virtually a carbon copy of a generic create a superstar via the latest video game. The idea of doing things only one way simply doesn't work and has resulted in a bland and boring product. Find other schools, make them get more experience, and for christ sake, stop hiring so many guys with the exact same body build and look! I get they are trying to get guys with an "athletic" look but does it hurt or help the product in the long run? ... For instance, Lex Luger stood out because he had a body that stood out among everyone. Nowadays, nearly everyone is as big as Cena is, and yet somehow I'm supposed. believe he's stronger than everyone else with the exact same build? Hire different builds so that way the guys like Cena look like the beasts you're booking them as.

Wrestling isn't rocket science. The fact that they have so many guys with good heads on their shoulders backstage and the product sucks so bad is rather incredible. Every week I watch and have to sift through the shit they call a show for one segment or match where I'm not embarrassed to tell my friends I actually like pro wrestling. This shouldn't be the case and the developmental system is the most prime example I can think of to prove what is wrong with today's business... So change it already!!!! Please.

 

[frostbite2819]

Simple.
Instead of having just FCW, I would create and train wrestlers in different areas and 'territories' and have them all be different, make the wrestlers train for, say, 6 months in each territory to learn different aspects of the business.
For instance:
Have Lance Storm open a school in canada and have all wrestlers learn actual wrestling there, Lance could also run a small promotion to get the wrestlers feet wet.
Then they could move along after 6 months to, say, The Carolina's to learn from Flair and work at a Flair-run promotion to learn how to work a crowd in a big match in the subtle ways that flair did.
Then they could go to, say, a promotion run by Hogan or Piper to get down to the more 'entertainment' based aspects of wrestling, promos and such.
And finally, go to FCW to learn to tie all these different things together and learn to be a WWE style superstar.
And they couldnt get promoted until they worked a long match in FCW in front of all these guys, plus maybe HBK and Taker, to show them what they got.

Any apiring wrestler would benefit greatly from this kind of training and it would also weed out the guys who wouldnt make it in the end anyway, because to get through all this you would have to show a level of dedication to the business that some people just dont have. (ahem, Batista and Lesnar)

 

[nightmare]

They have a great system as it is. Alot of talent has come from developmental that will be future stars. Plus there are alot of wrestlers that have kids in the business. Who better to learn from than your father, who is a legend in the business?

It takes time to develop the whole package. Guys like Sting werent made overnight. WWE has the tools to get guys ready in FCW before coming up. Plus guys like HHH, Taker, Nash and JR all have an eye for talent and that is a bonus most feds will never have. If you impress Vince, you have it made. The vast pool of trainers\alumni that a up and coming wrestler can learn from in WWE is a very important commodity you couldnt purchase.