Do we need more characters in WWE?

[Psykohurricane55]

I was watching Raw last monday and my favorite moment on that show was the Elias/Braun Strowman segment. This was just the perfect over the top segment with 2 guys playing characters and it reminded me of the late 80's when WWF at the time was pretty much all characters like this.

This got me thinking, do we need more Characters in WWE? My answer is Yes, i feel you need more of this. Every Successful era in WWE where because of the fact that you had a cast of characters that worked for the era. In the mid 80's through the mid 90's you had cartoony characters like hogan, warrior, Macho man, Piper just to name a few. Then the attitude era was mostly successful because of the over the top characters like Stone cold, mankind, Mr Mcmahon and The rock just to name those guys.

Today i feel we have more and more guys that are just Wrestlers with no personality and look like normal guys and i feel i just feel bored watching them. I want the over the top characters when i watch TV, I'm o.k with seeing a finn balor wrestled but give him a gimmick that would actually make him more interesting then being the guy that can have good matches. Same goes for a lot of those performers male and female. Give me a reason to care about the show, decide if you want to be Sports entertainment or Pro Wrestling because right now i get mix signals with the way they are booking those show. I'm a huge fans of Sports entertainment, i've been a fans for almost 30 years now and i want to be entertain by those characters, i don't care if they have a 5 star matches every week because that's not why a tune in to WWE for. If i wanted that i would watch pretty much any other indy promotion on the planet. All i want is to see over the top characters wrestles and have good storylines and that's what is missing right now and i feel that it's will get even worst when HHH is gonna take control because he's more into having a pro wrestling product then a sports entertainment one.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I do agree I have metioned on here previously about the lack of characters in wrestling today, The few characters they do have today all seem very successful, Personally I feel wrestling and athletic ability only takes you so far you could be the best wrestler in the company but if you have no personality or character you will fail but seen plenty of successful characters over the years who can't wrestle.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I was watching Raw last monday and my favorite moment on that show was the Elias/Braun Strowman segment. This was just the perfect over the top segment with 2 guys playing characters and it reminded me of the late 80's when WWF at the time was pretty much all characters like this.

This got me thinking, do we need more Characters in WWE? My answer is Yes, i feel you need more of this. Every Successful era in WWE where because of the fact that you had a cast of characters that worked for the era. In the mid 80's through the mid 90's you had cartoony characters like hogan, warrior, Macho man, Piper just to name a few. Then the attitude era was mostly successful because of the over the top characters like Stone cold, mankind, Mr Mcmahon and The rock just to name those guys.

Today i feel we have more and more guys that are just Wrestlers with no personality and look like normal guys and i feel i just feel bored watching them. I want the over the top characters when i watch TV, I'm o.k with seeing a finn balor wrestled but give him a gimmick that would actually make him more interesting then being the guy that can have good matches. Same goes for a lot of those performers male and female. Give me a reason to care about the show, decide if you want to be Sports entertainment or Pro Wrestling because right now i get mix signals with the way they are booking those show. I'm a huge fans of Sports entertainment, i've been a fans for almost 30 years now and i want to be entertain by those characters, i don't care if they have a 5 star matches every week because that's not why a tune in to WWE for. If i wanted that i would watch pretty much any other indy promotion on the planet. All i want is to see over the top characters wrestles and have good storylines and that's what is missing right now and i feel that it's will get even worst when HHH is gonna take control because he's more into having a pro wrestling product then a sports entertainment one.

There are quite a few over the top and colorful characters in WWE like Bray Wyatt, New Day, Dean Ambrose, Sheamus, Shinsuke Nakamura, Braun Strowman, Becky Lynch, Asuka, Naomi, the Usos and a few others. WWE has been slowly changing over the course of the last decade or so because of the growing influence of indie wrestling, Japanese wrestling and Mexican wrestling has had. Thanks to social media such as Twitter and sites like YouTube, a lot of wrestling fans have been exposed to seeing wrestling and wrestling styles in ways they had no real way of doing 10-15 years ago. A guy who may be a lifelong WWE fan may suddenly have found himself watching a bout between AJ Styles & Hiroshi Tanahashi or Kyle O'Reilly & Adam Cole and enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than watching something like a New Day segment devoted to pancakes or Miracle on 34th Street Fights during the holiday season.

Elias and Strowman delivered a very entertaining segment this past Monday but the vast majority of "sports entertainment" themed segments don't go remotely that smoothly. Sometimes, it's a perfect combination of the material coupled with the right wrestlers doing the right thing. But for every segment like that one or a Festival of Friendship, we numerous more segments that are more along the lines of New Day talking about cereal or pancakes, HBK & Triple H acting like frat boys even though they were both well into their 40s, Vince McMahon pulling down his pants so that people can literally kiss his ass, etc.

I think there have to be times, places and specific wrestlers that more "sports entertainment" themed segments to work because, like it or not, it's the age of the "smart fan." What that means is an ever increasing difficulty to get fans to be willing to suspend disbelief, to "believe" in the more over the top aspects of wrestling. Braun Strowman destroying everything in his path and flipping over an ambulance works because...well look at the guy. He's also been booked CONSISTENTLY well, they've played into his strengths, emphasized them and drawn attention from where he has shortcomings. That sort of consistent booking is something the main roster has struggled with for quite some time.

Pro wrestling and sports entertainment go hand in hand, but more emphasis has been placed on the wrestling aspect of it and I've got no problem with that. Most "sports entertainment" themed segments, not all, are lame attempts at Disney Channel type humor that simply falls flat or, at even worse, are just absolute trainwrecks that sometimes drag on for much longer than they need to. I have no interest in dance offs or garbage like that and I'm glad to see them gone from the main roster. Once upon a time, Raw each Monday was about 90% segments and it got to the point where it was almost unwatchable. You'd have Cena, HBK or Triple H showing up in every other segment, you'd have stuff like Hornswoggle beating up Chavo Guerrero and you might have 10 minutes in total of actual wrestling on the show. The wrestling matches are supposed to be the culmination of everything that goes on, otherwise all you're doing is watching some sort of poorly written variety show.

 

[Navi]

Like JH said there are a number of over the top characters already on the roster as well as what you could call your normal looking wrestler types. What I'm afraid of is, creative wouldn't know what to do with them, just look at Bray Wyatt for an example.

Wyatt has had one of the most how you say usual characters to come along in a long time and they have blown it with him. He's been up and down the roster like a yo yo. He was a jobber, champ and back to jobber. I do believe at some time in his career he was supposed to have been taken seriously as a replacement for the Undertaker, but his booking says otherwise. Now he is locked in a battle of weirdness with a cackling Matt Hardy. Will I find it entertaining to an extent, others find it pointless.

If you put more out of the realm character's on the roster, they will end up like Matt and Bray. Creative sometimes doesn't know jack.

 

[stingray11214]

What you need is not more CHARACTERS, but less CREATIVE STRANGULATION. Look, all the characters on the planet could be on RAW, and if Creative aka VKM has no clue what to do with them, they are going to fall flat. Back in the day, Jim Crockett would put 5 words on a piece of paper, and YOU had to create something in 5 minutes because Bob Caudle would be interviewing you about whatever when they came back from commercial. That is how it was done. When Dream Machine tried to murder Bob Caudle on camera, Jimmy Hart, Dream's manager, was the most contrite SOB in history! I still hear Hart saying tearfully how sorry he was for Dream's actions to Caudle. You cannot really write this stuff up.

Fast forward to today's overly scripted, wrestling-by-numbers, and (credit to J-H) Disney Channel-esque storylines, and you are leaving wanting to take a shower after watching Raw. Creative is absolutely CLUELESS on how to bring out someone's NATURAL charisma. They do NOT play to anyone's strengths in that department. If you had people that can deliver a line NATURALLY, that works far better than all the characters in the world. You can have people believing that Finn Balor can beat Brock Lesnar cleanly. Stop overscripting and let the TALENT do the job.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

What you need is not more CHARACTERS, but less CREATIVE STRANGULATION. Look, all the characters on the planet could be on RAW, and if Creative aka VKM has no clue what to do with them, they are going to fall flat. Back in the day, Jim Crockett would put 5 words on a piece of paper, and YOU had to create something in 5 minutes because Bob Caudle would be interviewing you about whatever when they came back from commercial. That is how it was done. When Dream Machine tried to murder Bob Caudle on camera, Jimmy Hart, Dream's manager, was the most contrite SOB in history! I still hear Hart saying tearfully how sorry he was for Dream's actions to Caudle. You cannot really write this stuff up.

Fast forward to today's overly scripted, wrestling-by-numbers, and (credit to J-H) Disney Channel-esque storylines, and you are leaving wanting to take a shower after watching Raw. Creative is absolutely CLUELESS on how to bring out someone's NATURAL charisma. They do NOT play to anyone's strengths in that department. If you had people that can deliver a line NATURALLY, that works far better than all the characters in the world. You can have people believing that Finn Balor can beat Brock Lesnar cleanly. Stop overscripting and let the TALENT do the job.

Yeah, i get your point, but at the same time, i feel like it's not fair to blame Vince for the bad creative, this as been a big problem since the attitude era in my opinion where Vince thought that it was better to have a creative team that knew nothing about wrestling instead of doing this by himself with a couple of guys. We can praise HHH all we want right now, but if put in the same Situation Vince is right now, he wouldn't do better. The thing is, back in the old WWF, Vince would do pretty much do the same thing, he would give them their characters and just let them go out and create their persona and while i don't recommend that for everybody on the roster today, a lot of the top guy would be comfortable enough to get some leeway in the promo department.

Also it's normal to want and blame creative for everything, but if the performers are not able to get themselves over with the crap they are given, that's on them in the end. Look at Braun Strowman, the guy is been given stupid stuff to do each and every week, yet he's able to get that stuff over and show some personality in the process. Look at Finn Balor, the guy as been get opportunity after opportunity to show is personality and yet, all we know about him is that he's irish and he's a good wrestler. So who's at fault here, Creative for giving him a direction to go to or Finn for not taking this same material and making it his own and finding his voice with the crap they gave him?

Like Steve austin and other guys said before, this generation of wrestlers all wait for management to give them a push when it's on them the best of what they are given, if you can prove to Vince that you deserve to get a push and you get over with your personality, you will be successful, if you just take what creative give you and just act it out like you really don't care about it, you're going to get stuck and fans will stop to care about it.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

Just curious...

Is the age of the internet and "smart" crowds something that stops Vince & Co. from trying characters? Back before the internet, you could throw a wrestler into a gimmick, see how it went and, if it failed, repackage them and try again. Some fans would know that, for example, Kane was the same guy who was Isaac Yankem; but, for the most part, it was left alone. You didn't have "Husky Harris"-type chants when Friar Ferguson came out as Bastion Booger. Nowadays, if a young, say, Apollo Crews was sent out as an over-the-top character that failed, he would be in a huge uphill battle to reestablish himself as anything but that failed character. I'm wondering if, by presenting these wrestlers as people and not characters, WWE feels it is easier to move on from a bad ANGLE involving a certain performer than moving on from a bad CHARACTER played by that same performer.

But, to the OP's question, I don't know if they are needed, but they would be welcomed by me! I love characters. I think they lead to more creative options. I don't care that Beefcake isn't a barber or the Undertaker isn't really dead. It's just a fun way to develop storylines. For all of his mistakes, I would take a Vince Russo back right now. Today's wrestlers are more athletic, sure, but that alone gets stale. Use their athleticism during the matches, but get me characters to entertain me before the matches begin. Two technical wrestlers poorly attacking each other in promos leading up to a PPV is lame. Give them characters and over-the-top storylines to get them there and THEN let them show off their wrestling skills. We can--and should--have both!

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I agree on this... the problem with characters is that the genie is well and truly out the bottle now... you even have Steph going out of her way in every interview she does outside the company saying "I play a character onscreen...and I do a job backstage".

When one of the major bosses of the company is making that kind of statement regularly then it's harder for any talent to make a pure "character" stick as it's clear there's more to them. Strowman is working right now because for all his monster stuff, there is some fun creeping in like the cello, like him perhaps crushing on Alexa a bit etc...

Likewise, Rusev is getting over far more than ever before because he's getting to be the guy he's always been backstage, rather than being forced to be "The Bulgarian Brute" 24/7 - even on the early Up Up Down Down videos he was a funny guy but not getting close to showing it.

Characters have a place, but there needs to be more to it... someone like Adam Rose suffered as the character didn't actually have anything behind it, it might work on NXT but in the main roster people know the difference between a phoney character and someone who is "being themselves amplified". It'll be interesting to see how guys like Black and Velveteen Dream fare on the main roster... both could either hit big or bomb.

 

[Navi]

Yeah, i get your point, but at the same time, i feel like it's not fair to blame Vince for the bad creative, this as been a big problem since the attitude era in my opinion where Vince thought that it was better to have a creative team that knew nothing about wrestling instead of doing this by himself with a couple of guys. We can praise HHH all we want right now, but if put in the same Situation Vince is right now, he wouldn't do better. The thing is, back in the old WWF, Vince would do pretty much do the same thing, he would give them their characters and just let them go out and create their persona and while i don't recommend that for everybody on the roster today, a lot of the top guy would be comfortable enough to get some leeway in the promo department.

Of course it's fair to blame McMahon for bad creative considering he is the final say on everything that goes on in promo's, the ring and pretty much everything else. So if we don't blame the guy who puts the whole thing together then who is to blame. You can't put the onus on the wrestler who is only working with what he or she is given. The buck stops with Vince.

I think HHH has proved that he is much better at creative than Vince is right now, just look at NXT. The character's in NXT are great, it's when they hit the main roster and Vince gets a hold of them they flounder. For God's sake he wanted to turn Neville into Mighty Mouse, cape and all.

Also it's normal to want and blame creative for everything, but if the performers are not able to get themselves over with the crap they are given, that's on them in the end. Look at Braun Strowman, the guy is been given stupid stuff to do each and every week, yet he's able to get that stuff over and show some personality in the process. Look at Finn Balor, the guy as been get opportunity after opportunity to show is personality and yet, all we know about him is that he's irish and he's a good wrestler. So who's at fault here, Creative for giving him a direction to go to or Finn for not taking this same material and making it his own and finding his voice with the crap they gave him?

I agree about Strowman, the guy is great. What with the flipping over of vehicles and just destroying shit, the fans love it. Balor on the other hand is boring, always has been for me anyway. He is only becomes interesting when the paint is on, and it's really not that interesting. It's Finn Balor wearing a bunch of face paint. Guy is gold in the ring wrestling wise, but has the personality of a wet blanket.

Like Steve austin and other guys said before, this generation of wrestlers all wait for management to give them a push when it's on them the best of what they are given, if you can prove to Vince that you deserve to get a push and you get over with your personality, you will be successful, if you just take what creative give you and just act it out like you really don't care about it, you're going to get stuck and fans will stop to care about it.

Management does pick and choose who gets a push and who doesn't. If you want an example look at Reigns, we are four years into his push and it's not over yet. The guy still gets boo'd. Actually you described him perfectly in your quote, he has taken what's been given to him and quite honestly I don't think he cares much. He knows that he will get a rocket up his ass no matter what happens. Compare him to someone like Rusev who should be a major heel, fans should hate him but they don't. "Rusev Day" is over as hell. He has personality up the ying yang, and where is he on the roster, nowhere. Fans want to see more of him, but because he's not related to the Rock that isn't going to happen.

Like I said the buck stops with Vince when you hit the main roster. He picks and chooses who will get a push and who won't. It doesn't matter how charismatic you are, if Vince likes someone better you are screwed.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Yeah, i get your point, but at the same time, i feel like it's not fair to blame Vince for the bad creative, this as been a big problem since the attitude era in my opinion where Vince thought that it was better to have a creative team that knew nothing about wrestling instead of doing this by himself with a couple of guys.

It's asinine not to assign Vince blame for bad creative decisions because he's the one who makes them. Even though being head of WWE's creative team is part of Triple H's job description, it's just a title because the only true head of WWE creative is Vince McMahon. He doesn't come up with all the ideas, of course, but he comes up with some of them; whether they're his ideas or not, we see them on television if he likes them.

While it may technically be the job of WWE's creative team to actually come up with ideas to please the audience, their actual job is to please Vince McMahon. Anything and everything we see on WWE television week in and week out, the good and the bad, we only see because Vince likes it. I'll be the first to say that neither he or the creative team doesn't gets nearly the credit they should when good quality is put out but people sure do line up to kick him in the nuts when they see something they don't like. In some instance, I think some of it is taking something that's not really an issue or that bad and trying to exaggerate it. I also think a good deal of that is just plain ol' trolling because crapping all over WWE is the "cool" thing to do in wrestling among smarks from all walks of life.

However, when something just falls flat or just plain stinks, as Navi pointed out, the buck has to stop with Vince. That's part of what having THE final say about anything and everything is all about.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

I dont mind characters we have as much as I do showing one and that character progression. For example if you watch females aside of few of them like Alexa or Charlotte and Asuka every other female doesnt show any character. As AJ Lee said in that infamous "pipebomb" of hers meant to feud with cast of Total Divas they are "a bunch of cheap, expendable, interchangeable, useless women". Would anyone miss Naomi or even Natalya? How about even somebody "bigger" like other 3 Horsewomen? Would anyone miss Becky or even Bayley in this state? Or even Sasha who aside of saying how she is "The Boss" doesnt show any of that persona? Sure they all have some fans but in grand order of things none of them would really be missed because none of them in current state brings almost nothing to the table. Heck I could go even further and say how they play the same character who you could change heel/face tomorrow and would felt no difference character wise. And that is the difference between that Elias/Strowman thing and rest. They showed character there and played it. And I feel like that part is gone. As others have said they already have plenty characters there. But they dont show or play them as they should so we could see them and connect with them. I couldnt stand Enzo but at least he showed his character and played it every single week. Which is something 90% of roster doesnt do wheather its creative or their fault.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Agreed, Vince has to take the final hit on any decision made and his instincts are terrible at the best of times, even if he has deferred that decision to Trips. Vince has arguably cost the company talent with those decisions in the past, just as Trips behaviour has but ultimately it is Vince who allows it.

When you hear stories of John Morrison being "depushed" as Vince didn't like him not standing up to Batista for stealing his girl, yet firing Matt Hardy for doing just that...and then using both as an angle (that icky moment where they implied Melina had been raped) then you know Vince probably has trouble discerning character from person to begin with.

Remember Vince is a guy who allegedly blackballed Randy for boning his daughter, but then wanted to run an incest angle where he was the father of her first born... no writer is going to come up with worse than that... ever.

 

[miamicanes460]

They need less people on their roster, not more. I'd combine the two brands again and make a ton of dead weight cuts and focus on building up 20-30 guys instead of trying to find something for your middling talent.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Step 1 - steal underpants
Step 2 - ????
Step 3 - make money

Yeah, more characters might be great. I like the idea that being a pro wrestling is something someone with some other career or some mental instability might do and do well. But I also know that the OP is one of the bigger Woken Matt complainers on this forum.

I also know that none of it matters if creative and the talent can't make the characters entertaining.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

No because WWE doesn't know how to use them.

See Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy. Wyatt is a cult leader with no followers and the Broken stuff has been reduced to nothing more than that ridiculous laugh.

So no we don't need more characters but rather a better creative team.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Yeah, i get your point, but at the same time, i feel like it's not fair to blame Vince for the bad creative, this as been a big problem since the attitude era in my opinion where Vince thought that it was better to have a creative team that knew nothing about wrestling instead of doing this by himself with a couple of guys.

Vince has the final say on everything creative does. It's fair to blame him.

We can praise HHH all we want right now, but if put in the same Situation Vince is right now, he wouldn't do better.

Why do you say that? How do we know how qualified HHH is or is not?

The thing is, back in the old WWF, Vince would do pretty much do the same thing, he would give them their characters and just let them go out and create their persona and while i don't recommend that for everybody on the roster today, a lot of the top guy would be comfortable enough to get some leeway in the promo department.

Wrestlers in the old days had much more creative freedom. Now Vince micromanages everything, which is hurting wrestlers getting over.

Also it's normal to want and blame creative for everything, but if the performers are not able to get themselves over with the crap they are given, that's on them in the end. Look at Braun Strowman, the guy is been given stupid stuff to do each and every week, yet he's able to get that stuff over and show some personality in the process. Look at Finn Balor, the guy as been get opportunity after opportunity to show is personality and yet, all we know about him is that he's irish and he's a good wrestler. So who's at fault here, Creative for giving him a direction to go to or Finn for not taking this same material and making it his own and finding his voice with the crap they gave him?

Braun Strowman has received some of the best booking in years. You think he's been given "stupid stuff" and "crap"?

WWE reduced Finn Balor's character to an Irish guy who's a good wrestler. He had the Demon, but WWE completely squandered it the night it debuted.

As I said in another post, Bray Wyatt is a cult leader with no following and has never won anything significant. How is he supposed to still be over?

Like Steve austin and other guys said before, this generation of wrestlers all wait for management to give them a push when it's on them the best of what they are given, if you can prove to Vince that you deserve to get a push and you get over with your personality, you will be successful, if you just take what creative give you and just act it out like you really don't care about it, you're going to get stuck and fans will stop to care about it.

Vince chooses who gets pushed and who doesn't.

You don't remember Royal Rumble 2014? The entire arena was chanting for and wanted Daniel Bryan, but Vince wanted Batista.

The next year? Same situation, except this time it's Reigns. Vince ultimately won out.

 

[LibSuperstar]

The issue is more so lack of personality and genuine connection w/ the crowd. As some of you have already reference, creative is strapping talent. Just earlier I was chatting w/ a Twitter follower about how inorganic the lines the writers and perhaps that's due to the writers having a Hollywood background over a wrestling one. Look at the Mixed Match Challenge and how entertaining it's been b/c the talent are being themselves.

 

[Navi]

While it may technically be the job of WWE's creative team to actually come up with ideas to please the audience, their actual job is to please Vince McMahon. Anything and everything we see on WWE television week in and week out, the good and the bad, we only see because Vince likes it. I'll be the first to say that neither he or the creative team doesn't gets nearly the credit they should when good quality is put out but people sure do line up to kick him in the nuts when they see something they don't like. In some instance, I think some of it is taking something that's not really an issue or that bad and trying to exaggerate it. I also think a good deal of that is just plain ol' trolling because crapping all over WWE is the "cool" thing to do in wrestling among smarks from all walks of life.

And that's it in a nutshell. Creative could come up with the best storyline ever, but if Vince doesn't like it, it will go nowhere. I'm the first to give him credit for taking this company from where it was to where it is, however, I'm also the first to critique it when it doesn't deliver. Please keep in mind I'm only speaking as a fan here, not someone with any sort of intimate knowledge of the wrestling business. What I want, the only thing I have ever wanted is to be entertained, right now that is not happening, for me anyway.

 

[Razz]

They need to collaborate more with their talent and let their personalities come out more or figure what way to feature them. They need more angles/storylines or focus pieces for those other than main eventers. I remember watching those interviews they would air on RAW with Foley/JR when he was slowly breaking out of Mankind character it really made a genuine connection and got him over to someone like me that don't know much about him or his past history at the time. The stuff with Braun has been a spotlight on what they could do with a lot more talent.

There are many good workers nowadays but they are focused as somewhat one dimensional talent who come out to wrestle random matches on the main rosters. Also main eventers losing some of the special ness being over exposed a lot too because of they amount of matches/shows they are airing etc compared to back in the 80s/90s. The brand split has helped that a little. They just don't build or focus enough on building the midcard below talent like they did in the Attitude era or the 80's were they could seemingly get almost anyone over, be entertaining and involved in their own storylines/skits. A lot of the midcard stuff in the Attitude era was alot of collaborations from what you hear with talent having some input as it was enhanced or exaggerated versions of personalities that got them over. Like a Austin/Foley/Rock/Angle/HHH/NAO/E&C/Hardcore Holly/Too Cool/Godfather/Rikishi/Al Snow/APA etc weren't too far off from some version of themselves. Being too scripted is not always good, let that talent go out their sometimes and see what fails/succeed for them and what catches on.

They also need to be fully convicted with their characters/storylines. Not this start-stop BS they have been doing for almost a decade with a lost generation of guys like Lashley, John Morrison, Ken Anderson, MVP, Carlito, Shelton, Santino, Sandow, Wade Barrett etc. Dolph Ziggler being an painful example. I agree with the Bray Wyatt comments, his character was cool for the first little while but he never would get the big wins or moments, so in the end his words about being a god etc were not connecting and has become incessant rambling. He should have been treated like the way Undertaker was when he was first brought on WWF. Even when Bray won the title they have a chance to redeem his character but totally dropped the ball making him the lose the belt in such a short time. He needs a big revamp and to find something that will make him click even if going face. Apollo Crews is another example of total lack of creativity. They just bring him cold on to the main Roster. For almost 2 years he has done nothing of not and being a backdrop to Titus O neill for the majority of his time. Not winning a significant match or in a notable angle/storyline doesn't help do anything. Yet he is quite good in the ring. Never has there been any focus on him maybe to show some packages on him and let him go out and try to do so some sort of character development or something that he may have an idea for to get him to connect as a heel or face.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

A major difficulty is that the TV landscape for their demographic is SO PC now that there is no scope for edginess in the way there once was.

Think back a few years to A.W. and the live mic incident, where a gag that would go over most viewers head saw the talent fired immediately. There's no way A.W was given that gimmick and told "be careful what you say" but the first time a contentious thing was actually said, they canned it and him publicly.

Likewise, with the Nexus/Daniel Bryan incident... he didn't actually do too much wrong, they were told to tear the place up... but he went "just" too far and again, massive knee jerk reaction on WWE's part.

Titus does something a little "off" during Bryan's retirement and book 90 day's reduced to 60 day suspension...

Even further back you had Finlay fired as an agent because he came up with a GREAT heat drawing angle for Miz that upset some Marines...

Creativity is completely subjective in the WWE, you can come up with something Vince loves and still, if the sponsors, network or some commentator in the media picks up on it and says "nah...not having this..." then you're fucked.

So you end up with the ultimately futile overscripting... it kills the ability for talent to get over but stays "safe", fans turn away from the product cos they don't want safe...but Vince wants to sell to children and ultimately Disney... so it remains.

 

[Lee]

A major difficulty is that the TV landscape for their demographic is SO PC now that there is no scope for edginess in the way there once was.

Think back a few years to A.W. and the live mic incident, where a gag that would go over most viewers head saw the talent fired immediately. There's no way A.W was given that gimmick and told "be careful what you say" but the first time a contentious thing was actually said, they canned it and him publicly.

Likewise, with the Nexus/Daniel Bryan incident... he didn't actually do too much wrong, they were told to tear the place up... but he went "just" too far and again, massive knee jerk reaction on WWE's part.

Titus does something a little "off" during Bryan's retirement and book 90 day's reduced to 60 day suspension...

Even further back you had Finlay fired as an agent because he came up with a GREAT heat drawing angle for Miz that upset some Marines...

Creativity is completely subjective in the WWE, you can come up with something Vince loves and still, if the sponsors, network or some commentator in the media picks up on it and says "nah...not having this..." then you're fucked.

So you end up with the ultimately futile overscripting... it kills the ability for talent to get over but stays "safe", fans turn away from the product cos they don't want safe...but Vince wants to sell to children and ultimately Disney... so it remains.

You got two staff members removed, one who's been here for 8 years for exactly the same sort of thing.

To stay on topic though, I feel like WWE does need more characters especially for those at jobber/midcard level. Look at how well people love Heath Slater or Rusev for having a character. Heck look at Hurricane's Hurri-pop at the Rumble. Or bWo's One Night Stand 05 pop. Al Snow with head another good example. Not the best workers in the world but they have characters that made them stand out.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Nah, the culture has nothing to do with it.

Sure, today's world has people running and telling the principal on somebody that used words they didn't like, but let's not pretend characters "back then" were somehow better than they are now because fart jokes and steel chairs. WWE has more compelling characters than it ever had before. Nobody is truly vanilla. Believe me, I've been reviewing indy wrestling lately and I can say in all certainty that nobody in WWE is bland. Not really.

The issue is execution, which is pretty much what everybody is already saying in this thread. If there's no story, then there's no reason to tune in. People were amped when Woken Matt became a thing, but if you're just gonna have him do a laugh-off with Bray and share wins on TV, then there's nothing interesting there. And in the day and age where WWE is just going to feed us the important bits on their Youtube channel anyways, there's become less reason to watch it on TV. If anything is to be blamed for the drag in wrestling lately, it's this cheap execution.

Also have to take into account that the Trash TV approach worked not because it was all that compelling with storytelling, but it was because we were all young and dumb and got a cheap thrill in watching something that we either hid from our parents or took pleasure in watching with them because it was so adult.

Characters are fine. Story is a little to be left desired. Doesn't matter what society is going through, there are ways to keep viewers interested.

 

[ABMorales787]

A major difficulty is that the TV landscape for their demographic is SO PC now that there is no scope for edginess in the way there once was.

Probably because "edginess" is overrated and passe. It's been 20 years. Fans don't care about "edginess". They care about good wrestling. It's why independents have grown in that period.

Think back a few years to A.W. and the live mic incident, where a gag that would go over most viewers head saw the talent fired immediately. There's no way A.W was given that gimmick and told "be careful what you say" but the first time a contentious thing was actually said, they canned it and him publicly.

That's because AW made an implied rape joke and that wouldn't fly anywhere because it was IMPLIED RAPE.

Likewise, with the Nexus/Daniel Bryan incident... he didn't actually do too much wrong, they were told to tear the place up... but he went "just" too far and again, massive knee jerk reaction on WWE's part.

Is Justin Roberts part of "the place" they were told to tear up? Yeah, it was a knee jerk reaction. No one's gonna deny that. But again, read your instructions. Was choking Justin Roberts one? No.

Titus does something a little "off" during Bryan's retirement and book 90 day's reduced to 60 day suspension...

He acted unprofessional in a work environment. Live on television, no less. Shoving the boss who was not pleased. That wasn't some PC nonsense. That was an idiot pissing off his boss.

Even further back you had Finlay fired as an agent because he came up with a GREAT heat drawing angle for Miz that upset some Marines...

I think you can draw heat without being disrespectful to soldiers. The Sgt. Slaughter as an Iraqui Sympathizer was pretty Goddamn stupid in it's time. Jericho was booted off Brazil for kicking the flag, JBL for doing the goose-step in Germany (seriously, how stupid do you have to be to do something like that?) among other incidents. We've evolved to the point that we can see the clear line between drawing heat and just being controversial for the sake of attention.

Creativity is completely subjective in the WWE, you can come up with something Vince loves and still, if the sponsors, network or some commentator in the media picks up on it and says "nah...not having this..." then you're fucked.

I know. It's almost like we've set standards in today's society for what's acceptable and for what's just plain dumb. More often than not, if it gets that type of coverage, WWE's probably doing something stupid. Like using Reid Flair for an angle. Which they did. And rightfully caught fire for their lack of tact.

So you end up with the ultimately futile overscripting... it kills the ability for talent to get over but stays "safe", fans turn away from the product cos they don't want safe...but Vince wants to sell to children and ultimately Disney... so it remains.

I think you're mixing up "we want it our way because we're always right" with them being pressured by advertisers. Advertisers hardly press the product unless it's doing something that would warrant that. There's plenty of freedom in WWE, the problem is that if WWE doesn't control what's popular in their own product, they reject it. I hardly doubt advertisers are bitching at WWE about "Rusev Day".

 

[StingBane4200]

I like what they are doing with the performance center. The better in ring training, the better the product. There are some very talented superstars coming up and of all of these guys are learning from some pretty legendary superstars. Maybe a preformace center for writers? I would go. I would also push for more of the story to be told inside the ring. I'm not saying gettting rid of promo's, just using them more of a 1980's style format where interviews and promos are 20% of programs. If Roman reigns barely said anything and was used less often the fans would crave him instead of boos. John cena is another example of overexposure to audience. WWE have plenty of characters but are left out because Roman or Cena need 20 min promos. Factions are great ways to introduce characters slowly and showcase more of roster.

 

[Snugglebites]

Perfect example recently. A few weeks ago on RAW, we had Gallows and Anderson vs The Revival, four generic guys with zero character. If you described one of them you're describing all four. Apart from the hardcore fans, why would anybody care about this match? Sure, the wrestling may have good but most people watching aren't that bothered how good a wrestling match is.