From Point A to Point C; WWE's Rushed, Unplanned Creative Mentality

[ABMorales787]

WWE does not use "Point B". Over the last few years, it's become clear that WWE's creative team doesn't delve into details for their storylines like they used to. Wrestlers will pick beefs with each other by interfering and distracting each other in their matches. Championship matches are set-up by the champion losing to his latest rival cleanly in an earlier non-title match. If there's not much focus or interest on the feud and it's just to patch a PPV card, it's extremely formulaic and predictable.

They want success. NOW. That's not that surprising to the experienced viewer though. We see it all the time how they'll bring in a new character. A new concept. If it doesn't seem to catch on right away, they scrap it or change it.

It seems Adam Rose is the latest victim of that mentality as he debuted in NXT on March, was hyped for Raw on April and was on WWE TV by May. 6 months later, we hear WWE has lost interest. Apparently, he wasn't over. Well, no shock there. Debuts, his first feud was built around, you guessed it, distracting someone in his matches. Jack Swagger in that case. And then what? Well, WWE didn't plan that far ahead. If that's not a great example of WWE's lack of hindsight, have you heard of "WWE Cheap Pop's"? A Youtube video they uploaded parodying WWE TV in a MAD-style cartoon short. In a day it was taken down. Apparently the Shocked Undertaker Fan from Wrestlemania's head exploding was too much. In other words, no one gave this a proof-watch and went straight up the website.

But lately, even their better efforts have plotholes. For one, I can't get over the insanity that was The Shield's dissolution along with Batista "quitting". Let's recap:

Spoiler

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Batista quits, Triple H "has a plan"
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• Triple H proclaims he won't stop until Shield is done.
• Batista objects saying he wants his title match with Daniel Bryan.
• Triple H says no and drops the ol' "adapt or perish" line which makes me cringe when he says it.
• Batista quits.
• Triple H reassures Orton there's a "Plan B".
• Later in the night, we learn "Plan B" was Seth Rollins.

So let me see if I got things straight between Evolution's dissolution. Batista quit....... Because Triple H did not bother to inform him about his plan. Batista wanted his title shot but Triple H said no because he wanted the Shield done for first. Which was already happening because he had a mole. So why was Orton aware, but not Batista? Ah, who cares. We got to the point which was Seth Rollins turning heel. Which opens up another one. Why did he join Triple H if he, along with his "buddies" were making a total mockery out of them?
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Spoiler

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Seth develops a random superiority complex. And joins the people he was beating up with ease.

Yeah, he's Mr. MITB. Yeah, he's an established heel now. He's got a good feud going on. But where's that missing link of detail? Seth's superiority complex popped up out of nowhere. He joined Triple H months after turning on him realizing that he was being used. "Ah, why worry about details, foreshadowing and character development like a regular TV show would? The money comes in Point C so we'll go straight to that as fast as possible and hope it sticks". Glad it did stick otherwise Seth would probably be on NXT on the 4 Way title match for Takeover II. OK, maybe that's exaggerating.

There's loads of other examples of it. Jack Swagger's face turn was clearly not planned anywhere past a match with Rusev. Cesaro had a major Wrestlemania moment but.... "Well that's all I got. I just hope he gets over". And of course Nikki Bella channeling her inner Kane by harboring a lifetime of hatred and then bursting out with an evil plan of vengeance that completely ignores how we got to Nikki vs Brie. It was Stephanie, the person Nikki just sided with, antagonizing Nikki in case you forgot like WWE did. I wonder if Vince Russo is now doing the "secret consultant" shtick with WWE now that he got kicked out of TNA?

One of my hobbies is creative writing for e-fed here, WZCW (which you should totally fucking join!). Me and 6 other dudes chat about what fictional stories we want to do and we put details into them to flesh them out for a minimum of one PPV cycle. We do our best and it's obviously not professional work by any means. But if we plan something, we make sure the details are there. We make sure the logic is as understandable as possible. No distraction. No challenger pinning the champion so now he gets the shot. No repetitiveness. Point A, Point B, Point C, Conclusion. If 7 schmucks can pull out a consistent effort to have detailed storytelling for a fanfic, why can't a team of 20 professional writers, half of which have from years to a full lifetime of experience in the field, do it? Is the rush of instant success that overwhelming that it blinds the desire for detailed storywriting? Or do WWE just simply think we're too dumb to notice? Ratings do seem to point to the latter. But I certainly notice. And it's pushed me away from WWE TV. KB's reviews are how I keep up with WWE's happenings and just look up the interesting stuff on Youtube or Hulu+. I prefer NXT, TNA and AAA as of late. You know who the heroes and villains are. Why they are how they are. Their motives with details. And champions aren't getting pinned weekly or do matches end with a distraction. And these are supposed to be the B-products.

Do you notice?
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[L@RISANO]

Surprised you forgot how for so long, it seemed that Roman Reigns forgot that he was a part of the Shield and never addressed or paid any interest to what Ambrose and Rollins were upto until now.

That lack of "concern" for his "brother" against a guy who also stabbed him in the back is a major reason why Roman's Singles push has been somewhat lacklustre and actually hasn't got fans totally invested in his Singles journey thus far...thankfully, the Creative have realised that and are now trying to pull it back and get him back some goodwill with those who 'hating' on him and finding any and every reason to do such.


Tbh, I think WWE Creative sometimes takes us to be dumb and don't expect that some fans will find out that some details have not been addressed, whilst also, there are some stories which are actually done well, but many fans just aren't willing to go deep enough to understand what is going on in the story and shit on some feuds without really understanding what has been put together(Case in point, Cena brutalising a Heel last RAW, albeit Bray was the wrong choice for such a job,lMO, but many just shit on it because Cena "should have been in a hospital bed").


As for booking on the fly...it seems to be happening quite often,tbh. Even the Shield Singles push seems to not have been planned properly, thus there are so many details that have been missed or mixed up somewhat.

Whilst Cesaro's lack of a push I feel is due to some plans changing because of DB's injury...which is something I feel that also affected Bray's rumoured push also as the focus is solely on the Shield guys now, whilst there were apparently no back-up plans for Bray/Cesaro, and thus they have been in virtual limbo.

 

[ABMorales787]

Surprised you forgot how for so long, it seemed that Roman Reigns forgot that he was a part of the Shield and never addressed or paid any interest to what Ambrose and Rollins were upto until now.

That lack of "concern" for his "brother" against a guy who also stabbed him in the back is a major reason why Roman's Singles push has been somewhat lacklustre and actually hasn't got fans totally invested in his Singles journey thus far...thankfully, the Creative have realised that and are now trying to pull it back and get him back some goodwill with those who 'hating' on him and finding any and every reason to do such.

It would be a very long opening post if I addressed every recent plothole. At least with Roman, he did say that he was going straight to the source in the Authority. So it wasn't as out of nowhere as one would think. He simply forgot why he started fighting them.

Whilst Cesaro's lack of a push I feel is due to some plans changing because of DB's injury...which is something I feel that also affected Bray's rumoured push also as the focus is solely on the Shield guys now, whilst there were apparently no back-up plans for Bray/Cesaro, and thus they have been in virtual limbo.

No, it became clear quickly that WWE did not plan past Cesaro winning the Andre The Giant trophy. He was immediately paired with Paul Heyman and for weeks whether he turned face or was still a heel wasn't clear. Add to that, he spent the first few weeks after Wrestlemania feuding with RVD casually going after the U.S. title and then Daniel Bryan vacated the title. All they did was have Heyman next to him so he could hype Brock Lesnar.

 

[bk555]

I swear to god, WWE Creative is so fickle these days. They have the interest/attention span of little children which is entirely the problem I think.

They don't build stars, they present the easiest possible path to a temporary fix every single time they have potential. Bray Wyatt's momentum is dead, Roman Reigns is already wearing off on fans and I have a terrible fear that they will somehow drop this Lesnar situation.

The booking situation for Brock Lesnar has been one of the most delicate situations in the history of WWE. WWE has to go a certain way with him and anything else will ruin the momentum he has from breaking the streak. To this point they've done it all correct but of course they are looking poised to hand the belt to Cena at NoC.

Another situation that I thought they got absolutely right was Daniel Bryan's run. They built and built and built and built until BAM. Wrestlemania moment. They gave the fans what they wanted and even when it seemed that they had waited too long to pull the trigger, the payoff was admittedly fantastic.

Now again, these are of course rare cases in WWE's recent record of booking. A lot of young guys have suffered from this trend of short-sighted booking and it's starting to seriously affect the state of this company.

 

[Wald]

You're right to be honest. A big time they didn't bother with the actual meat and bones of a storyline was during the build to Rock v Cena 2. If you remember correctly, when the match was finally set we were told about how Cena was coming off the back of the worst year of his life professionally and personally. How losing to the Rock sent him in to a tailspin of negativity and how his redemption could only come by beating the Rock at Mania.

Great start point of a story (Cena, our hero, loses to the guy he said he absolutely had to beat to cement his legacy) with a great concluding chapter (Cena bounces back from that defeat and a horrible year to rid himself of his demons) but the big problem was they didn't actually have Cena have a terrible year.

Looking back at his PPV matches. He rebounded straight off losing at Mania by defeating the returning Brock Lesnar in a huge match up. He lost to John Lauranitis after loads of interference, before beating the Big Show in the return match of that feud. He won Money in the Bank, didn't win a triple threat at Summerslam, drew with Punk in a title match, didn't win a triple threat at Survivor Series (didn't get pinned though), lost to Ziggler after loads of interference before winning the Royal Rumble.

It's not an all conquering year certainly but it also isn't a year from hell. I think they just thought we'd accept Cena's lies and pretend it was though.

 

[Navi]

The short answer is yes I do notice. The problem is I wish I could do something about it but unfortunately can just sit and grind my teeth.

Part of the issue is the unpredictability of the business. They spent a year building Bryan up, and even though there were bumps along the way, they did a wonderful job of it. Even if you weren't a fan of his, it was a feel good moment at the end of Wrestlemania for everyone. Then after climbing the mountain, he gets injured, and now we don't know if or when he's coming back, or what shape he'll be in. So all that for what seems to be nothing.

The Shield for some reason were booked perfectly. Right from their inception till the breakup, you couldn't have booked a better program. I'll bet the Wyatt's were wishing they were in their shoes. But again after the break up things have gone well not so great, especially for Reigns. He's been the biggest loser, as he's floating around the main event scene, not really seeming to do much of anything. Rollins and Ambrose are having the feud of the year and I'm sure that will continue after he comes back.

It doesn't help that if the rumours are true there is tension between HHH and Vince. Vince is old school and wants things to be the same year in and year out. HHH at least has his hand on the pulse of the business and knows who he wants and how to get them. Vince should really just stay at home now, keep an eye on things and maybe if it really looks like it's going pear shaped then step in. I can't help but feel that half of we see is Vince and the other half HHH. The two really don't mix. One has to step back.

The biggest problem I see though is the amount of PPV's we have and the fact that each one is just a repeat of the last. There is no time to build between each one, and if someone gets injured during the week or two beforehand, it seems that there is no backup plan in sight. Cut back on the amount of PPV's, I mean do we really need 12 a year? Give these wrestlers time to actually create a story for us to get invested in. And give the creative writers time to have a backup ready just in case. Until some of these issues are worked out, then we'll just have the same old same old and nothing will change.

 

[Alastor]

What do you mean used to? Which era is a point of reference? There was always a quick and abrupt end to feuds to start new ones in pro-wrestling/WWE. You can't compare what we fans do online to what they do for one simple thing, there are outside factors that affect their plans. Scheduling, injuries, crowd reactions can destroy plans and they might need to change things on the fly. So it might be better to have a brief point A to point C and work around that.

Anyway as for your example of the Shield and HHH, Batista quit because he is sick of waiting for his promised shot at the tittle. HHH didn't inform both Batista or Orton of his plan until after that promo. By then Batista has decided enough is enough. Orton was only aware later. As for why would Seth leave the shield, it is the same as a player from a smaller/more modest but more recently successful sports team who move to a bigger/richer but less recently successful team. Kind of like when the Yankees, Lakers, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid buying up players from better performing teams when they needed more talent.