General WWE Complaining & PG Rating Thread

[ipswichicon80]

I will never understand what's so bad about today's WWE product, and why people are so quick to complain about it. Being marketed towards kids is not a bad thing at all. Attitude style programming is fun in doses, but eventually it got tiresome and they had to change their tune. There's nothing wrong with trying to appeal to a different audience, especially in times where kids are the ones making them the most money. You've got to know that adults aren't buying merchandise or getting every PPV they come out with. Well, some adults are. Those are the parents of the kids who endlessly beg them for it. Kids are innocent and they just want to enjoy their favorite TV shows as much as they can, so they'll be quick to accept everything that WWE gives them. It's very smart to market toward this audience as opposed to teenagers and young adults who have much more important things to worry about at those stages of their lives.

The problem with todays product is not the PG rating thats for sure. The problem is that it's flagship show(raw) is so stale it's unreal. Cena will face off againist Triple H next week(a match we've seen before) to determine who will face Orton inanother match we've already scene. Could the Miz or MVP not have scored an upset win? at least then even if they didn't win in the final match we'd have seen a fresh match. Instead it's same old same old. Also look for something to happen in the Cena Triple H match which makes the match at night of champions a triple threat( another match we've seen before) to crowbar both guys into the PPV.

 

[Kanye South]

The problem with todays product is not the PG rating thats for sure. The problem is that it's flagship show(raw) is so stale it's unreal. Cena will face off againist Triple H next week(a match we've seen before) to determine who will face Orton inanother match we've already scene. Could the Miz or MVP not have scored an upset win? at least then even if they didn't win in the final match we'd have seen a fresh match. Instead it's same old same old. Also look for something to happen in the Cena Triple H match which makes the match at night of champions a triple threat( another match we've seen before) to crowbar both guys into the PPV.

MVP vs. Orton would have been perfect for The Bash, as long as HHH or Cena was on PPV, but on this PPV, anyone not involved in a title match isn't on the PPV. To the fans, a PPV without Cena and Triple H isn't a PPV at all.

 

[ipswichicon80]

MVP vs. Orton would have been perfect for The Bash, as long as HHH or Cena was on PPV, but on this PPV, anyone not involved in a title match isn't on the PPV. To the fans, a PPV without Cena and Triple H isn't a PPV at all.

Thats my point. Because of the "night of champions" gimmick they've backed themselvs into a corner as they need guys like Hunter and Cena in the title match(as thats the only way they'll be on the card) which makes for repetitive matches. Why not just bring back Venagence as no one really cares that much about most of the titles anyway.

 

[LEGEND KILLER]

So being a regular on this website and now a more regular on this forum ive seen so many dare i say ENOUGH complaining about WWE.

Here's my thoughts...

WWE is now PG-13...why? beause they are now making more money than ever...forget the ratings look at the profits..they are gaining more main stream attention and good attention at that than the attitude era....did i prefer the attitude era? i think most did but you cant bash a company who's main objective is to make money...

Rey Mysterio/John Cena/Batista (super-faces)....these guys are also MONEY for WWE...sure i cant stand Cena winning 95% of his matches and always in the title picture but look at the audience WWE is catering towards...its PG-13 folks so its mainstream for children of which love Cena and mysterio and even Batista.

ECW - wwe cannot and will not bring back the old ECW....if this was the attitude era then i would disagree but its not and they simply cannot and nor do they have the old ECW talent to make it work either.

I love WWE and have been watching for years...i have a bad taste in my mouth about the product we see now because i agree they could do so many things so differently and IMO would make the show so much better but i am left with what we see each and every week...and i will still watch and continue to watch because this is as the attiitude era was a new era and cycle of life...WWE will go through this and change as their demographics and fans change...

The point of this thread is really to say guys, we dont have the same product as we once had but its not that bad...they are definetly trying and even though its pg-13 there is so much they can still do...The Trump angle scored WWE a solid 4+ rating which hasent been seen in a long time if not years...so my question is keeping the above information in hand what would YOU the audience like to see done keeping within the PG-13 ratings done to your favorite shows....

I would keep smackdown the way it is....simply put this is WWE's best pure show...

ECW again use this the way you are WWE because its working as a "grow-op" of sorts to get new talent over and give deserving wrestlers the opprtunity to hold a world title they wouldnt have much chance of holding on Raw or Smackdown (mark henry, Christian-who should be wwe champ one day, Tommy Dreamer etc.)

Raw - i think i finally see the light at the end of the tunnel...The new 1 night only GM is a great idea and gives us shock factor every week...i would focus on pushing more of the mid-carders to the top and stop burrying them including MVP, The Miz, and new talent Swagger and even Henry...Henry looked awesome on Raw against Orton...Imagine Swagger/Cena 2? or swagger/hhh? Swagger/micheals? Just freshen up the matches and feuds...WWE is on the right track but need to get HHH, Cena out of the title picture but not off raw just put them in main event type matches without the title similar to that of the Taker/micheals match at WM which was built like a main event w/o the title....

thought?...

 

[blowjoe5]

I'm sure there's similar threads to this one, but this is the question of, were you in charge of WWE entirely, what changes would you make, including just about everything.

I would do quite a lot differently. I'd reduce the number of PPV events to 8 a year, with the big 4 (SS, WM, SS, RR) along with king of the ring, with the winner getting a shot at the title at summer slam, the bash, no way out with elimination chamber matches and perhaps starcade late in the year.

I would get rid of ECW, have superstars as the kid friendly show with a better time slot and have smackdown and raw as edgier and more hardcore content.

I would get rid of the PG rating and have edgier content on the shows, bring back the sex, excessive violence and more hard-hitting storylines, be controversial.

I would end the brand split and have wrestlers able to compete on all shows.

I would combine the WWE and World championships, as well as the tag team and women's championships permanently, and reinstate the cruiserweight title and the hardcore title, having World, US, IC, Tag, Crusierweight and Women's at the moment there are 8/9 titles available, reducing them to 6 would restore their prestige.

I would release the following people: khali, mark henry, hornswoggle, kozlov, festus, hacksaw, jilian, maryse, the bella twins, hawkins, ryder, jesse, mike knox, ricky ortiz, tiffany, tony atlas.

I would rehire Kennedy, Elijah Burke, Raven, Sabu, Super Crazy, Juventud, Sandman if he was sober-ish, muhammed hassan, paul london.

I would try and sign as many of the following as possible - jack evans, aj styles, the dudleys, kurt angle, victoria, samoa joe, mike tenay.

I would bring back the theme of colour commentators more and have JR and King back on raw together, cole and josh todd grisham on superstars and joey styles and tenay on smackdown.

I would bring back managers and proper valets for wrestlers, fighting to represent the wrestlers, interfering in matches, acting as a mouthpiece etc matt striker, santino and teddy long would be great for this, as well as any more non-wrestling talents.

I would have the roster look roughly like this:

tag team titles - cryme time, londrick with ezekiel, hart dynasty, priceless (without orton), wgtt, possibly the dudleys, carlito and primo, somtimes hardys, sometimes E & C and have more diverse tag matches, tournaments, tag gimmick matches etc

Hardcore - primarily the old ecw, guys like raven, sandman, sabu, dreamer as well as big show, kane, noble, helms, chavo, regal, finlay etc

ic and/or us title top midcard - regal, finlay, christian, jericho, mvp, punk, mysterio, swagger, morrison, miz, jeff hardy, matt hardy, batista, show, kane

lower-midcard - r-truth, kofi, goldust, charlie hass, santino

crusierweight - mysterio at first to elevate the division, jack evans, evan bourne, juventud, chavo, helms, noble, london, kendrick, super crazy and some more hired luchadors

womens - victoria, melina, mickie james beth pheonix, awesome kong, natalya

have women like kelly kelly etc, the valets, involved in bikini contests or whatever else, but not the women wrestlers

world - triple h, shawn michaels, orton, edge, taker, cena with mysterio, jericho, punk, mvp, swagger, morrison, miz, show, kane, kennedy, jeff moving between upper midcard and title picture.

These are things I'd do. What do you think and what would you do?

 

[shafe_41]

You're right there's tons of threads like this but i'll throw my 2 cents in anyway. As of the last couple months... the WWE is really on the right track. Throwing in all these unpredictable twists and turns that nobody saw coming and that somehow... people seem to like. The Trump thing was cool while it lasted and I wish it would have lasted longer. But Trump "started the mini trade", while brought Mark Henry, the most unlikely hero that anybody could have thought of, to Raw, and to the minds of the fans again and he had the whooooole arena behind him when he squashed Orton. Raw had a great shake-up with an aggresive face in Mark Henry, fan-favorite Evan Bourne... or at least we thought he was a favorite but judging by the pop he got Monday, nobody cares anymore which doesn't surprise me anyway. And the future giant superstar... Jack Swagger has actual competition on Raw now. Smackdown will bring us an Edge/Jericho feud, a new fresh heel CM Punk, and a show that's just... solid all around. ECW will give us a future champ in Shelton who hopefully can buy or find some charisma under a mat somewhere.

The WWE is on a good track right now so I wouldn't do a thing. Let's see where the events of the last 2 months or so take us.

 

[Stormtrooper]

I like some things, but I gotta call you out on a bunch of them. My ideas are at the bottom of my post.

I'd reduce the number of PPV events to 8 a year, with the big 4 (SS, WM, SS, RR) along with king of the ring, with the winner getting a shot at the title at summer slam, the bash, no way out with elimination chamber matches and perhaps starcade late in the year.

I like the idea of less PPVs, but I think 12 is the right number, or 10, with 2 PPV shows airing on Free TV (UFC does this, airing a PPV show on Spike, and it is extremely successful).

I would get rid of ECW, have superstars as the kid friendly show with a better time slot and have smackdown and raw as edgier and more hardcore content.

ECW is the best show in WWE right now, solid wrestling, minimum talking, and good announce team. Why get rid of it?

I would get rid of the PG rating and have edgier content on the shows, bring back the sex, excessive violence and more hard-hitting storylines, be controversial.

The edgier stuff was not always good. a lot of it went too far, and actually drove some people away. Not to mention we had seen that stuff for about 8 years, and it got old and repetitive. The Attitude Era ended around 2006, and a lot of my friends stopped watching before then, because it got repetitive, so this change of pace is nice.

I would end the brand split and have wrestlers able to compete on all shows.

You would then have to cut about half of the Main Eventers, and cut the profits in half. WWE runs 2 house show circuits, and cutting the brand split would make them only have 1 circuit. Plus the roster right now is about 75 people, and having them on 1 roster is insane (WCW tried that, and all the undercard talent left to WWE, and became megastars).

I would combine the WWE and World championships, as well as the tag team and women's championships permanently, and reinstate the cruiserweight title and the hardcore title, having World, US, IC, Tag, Crusierweight and Women's at the moment there are 8/9 titles available, reducing them to 6 would restore their prestige.

Less titles is good, and in your 1-brand world it would be OK, but you also have to remember that you now have 1 main event program to fill 2 weekly shows (3 if you count superstars). The programs would get stale before the PPVs, giving the tiles less prestige. I love adding the cruiserweight and hardcore tiles, though, they never should have left. The titles right now have less prestige because they change hands more times then people change underwear, not because there are too many of them.

I would release the following people: khali, mark henry, hornswoggle, kozlov, festus, hacksaw, jilian, maryse, the bella twins, hawkins, ryder, jesse, mike knox, ricky ortiz, tiffany, tony atlas.

Why would you release these people? Khali is a golden boy in India, and international markets are important. Henry is doing good things, so is Ryder, Knox, and kozlov; they are getting over, so they shouldn't be released. Festus, Jillian, the Bellas, Jesse, Ortiz I can see being released.

I would rehire Kennedy, Elijah Burke, Raven, Sabu, Super Crazy, Juventud, Sandman if he was sober-ish, muhammed hassan, paul london.

Muhammad Hassan quit the business, not to mention his character was TERRIBLE for publicity. They will not admit to any mistake getting rid of Kennedy, who couldn't get over as a face. The others OK, they can fill a hardcore division, although Sandman "if he is sober-ISH?" ISH? How can you hire somebody TO DRIVE HUNDREDS OF MILES A WEEK, if they have a drinking problem? Also, I find it ironic that you will kill off ECW, while bringing back a bunch of originals.

I would try and sign as many of the following as possible - jack evans, aj styles, the dudleys, kurt angle, victoria, samoa joe, mike tenay.

TNA has all of them locked up except for Jack Evans (I gotta be honest, I never heard of him). Plus, w/out the brand split, you have about 40 too many people. Bringing more in (especially upper card people) just makes the roster too big.

I would bring back the theme of colour commentators more and have JR and King back on raw together, cole and josh todd grisham on superstars and joey styles and tenay on smackdown.

Joey Styles & Mike Tenay are both Play by Play, not color guys, I don't know who you have for superstars (it looks like Cole, Josh Matthews, and Todd Grisham). If thats the case, congrats, you put 3 PBP guys on 1 show together. The color guys in WWE right now are King, Stryker (who is really good), and JR.

I would bring back managers and proper valets for wrestlers, fighting to represent the wrestlers, interfering in matches, acting as a mouthpiece etc matt striker, santino and teddy long would be great for this, as well as any more non-wrestling talents.

I agree completely (I know that shocks people reading this, because it looks like a complete bashing of your post, but there are a few good things in here,

tag team titles - cryme time, londrick with ezekiel, hart dynasty, priceless (without orton), wgtt, possibly the dudleys, carlito and primo, somtimes hardys, sometimes E & C and have more diverse tag matches, tournaments, tag gimmick matches etc

So Jeff Hardy, Edge, and Christian are no longer main eventers? They won't like that one bit, cause that means a HUGE cut in pay.

Hardcore - primarily the old ecw, guys like raven, sandman, sabu, dreamer as well as big show, kane, noble, helms, chavo, regal, finlay etc

Regal/Finlay/helms/chavo/noble are not hardcore guys. Helms/Chavo/Noble are cruiserweights, Regal/Finlay are technical wrestlers who belong in US/IC title.

ic and/or us title top midcard - regal, finlay, christian, jericho, mvp, punk, mysterio, swagger, morrison, miz, jeff hardy, matt hardy, batista, show, kane

This is a good upper mid-card, albeit half of these guys are in the hardcore division also.

lower-midcard - r-truth, kofi, goldust, charlie hass, santino

Other then Kofi, who should eb higher up the card or in the cruiserweight division and Haas, who is in your tag div with Shelton Benjamin, this is good.

crusierweight - mysterio at first to elevate the division, jack evans, evan bourne, juventud, chavo, helms, noble, london, kendrick, super crazy and some more hired luchadors

I like this a lot (I guess the Jack Evans guy is a cruiserweight). Only prob is hiring luchadors.

womens - victoria, melina, mickie james beth pheonix, awesome kong, natalya

Voctoria/Kong are locked up in TNA, but other then that, this is good.

have women like kelly kelly etc, the valets, involved in bikini contests or whatever else, but not the women wrestlers

DEFINATELY

world - triple h, shawn michaels, orton, edge, taker, cena with mysterio, jericho, punk, mvp, swagger, morrison, miz, show, kane, kennedy, jeff moving between upper midcard and title picture.

This is logical.

These are things I'd do. What do you think and what would you do?

I would actually leave WWE pretty much as it is. My changes are as follows:
-12 PPVs, 2 of which air on USA Network (same timeslot, but on free-tv)
-Re-design the WWE title so it doesn't look like a toy.
-Give the World Title to John Cena (H/Orton don't need a title in their never-ending feud) and have short feuds with a bunch of the potential main eventers (Miz, MVP, Swagger, Henry), elevating them in the eyes of the fans, while giving Cena something to do. Then HBK can come back and win the title from Cena in 6 months.
-Bring back the Cruiserweight title (on SD) and Hardcore Title (on RAW)
-Move Todd Grisham to Raw Play-by-Play with King, Make JR the PBP guy on SD, and bring in someone new as a color (JBL if we are lucky, or a new guy). (get rid of Cole, or make him a backstage interviewer again)
-Merge the Divas/Womens title into the LADIES title, which was what it was called back in the good old days. Also, LADY wrestlers would not be called DIVAS, that would be reserved for the valets and model-types that are in the company.

Feel free to rip my ideas if you don't like them.

 

[ipswichicon80]

Here are the things I'd change about WWE today.

1.) Make HHH go part time, and a part time heel at that.WWE coped just fine when trips was injured at NYR 2007 and he always gets a massive upsurge in support when he comes back.Despite his recent time off he has been in the main event scene forever now and is one of the reasons it's so stale. Of the current main eventers he's fueded with almost all of them at some point and won't get any fresh matches(in the main event scene anyway) until new people move up and become established. For this to happen people like Hunter(and Big Show) need to move aside. They are the past,it's time to look to the future.

2.) Stop burying people for questioning where thier character/storylines are going. I've never understood who this helps. The company is paying these guys to make money for them,why reduce thier value to the company? A fine would punish them but not hurt the company(in fact it would make money out of it). Instead, to avoid this happening, why not appoint people in postitions, whereby, if the talent have questions/ideas for storylines, they go to these people and thier quries are answered(or promised to be answered in the near future) and it explained to them why thier idea can't fly at the moment or if it's any good bring it up with Vince. Happy employees(sorry "independent contracters") are good employees. Them questioning the direction of their character shows they are commited? Why punish them (and the company) for that.

3.) Stop the (too) frequent title changes. How long before Flairs boast of being a "16 time world champion whooh!" seems like not such a great acheivment. I'm fast losing count on how many title wins the likes of Edge(9) and Orton(8?) have. Apprantly this does give a short term boost to PPV buys and ratings but it's short sighted. Maybe people HAVE been buying PPV's because they know, with all the title changes lately, the belt is likley to change hands and they don't want to miss a important moment. But eventully they'll stop buying PPV's, because if the title changes on (almost) every one it's no longer important.

4.) Unify the world titles. I wouldn't advocate ending the brand split(keeping to it might be a better idea) but I would unify the titles. Firstly the belt would mean more, we could go back to seperate PPV's, when the champ is facing a SD opponent it's a SD PPV and the same for when it's a Raw guy. This would give a greater range of oppnents without having to cerate new stars(although they should be doing this in the meantime) and give more time for storylines to be developed, and for fans to get emotionlly invovled in fueds. BTW I'm not inluding the ECW title in this see no 5.) as for why.

5.) Cut off ECW. I don't mean cancel the show as it's doing OK at the mo. What I mean is stop having people dropping in from Raw and SD all the time(in fairness they do seem to have started doing this) and change the rating from PG to adult. If you have three shows why have three simalliar ones all looking to attract the same audience? Use ECW to attract the hard core "wrestling fans". Go back to every match being "extreme rules". THis doesn't mean every match has to be a blood letting brawl but it would be something completly different to what WWE is offering today. Bring it back to the Hammersmith Ballroom, put the crusierweight title on there (and treat it with respect, y'know as if it means something) and bring in mexican and japenese wrestlers on short term contracts to fued with the CW champ for a month. Again this would be something different. It couls still be used as a place for new talent to learn, which is the job it does now. Thier would be an audience out there for this product, who a large % of don't watch WWE right now. Why not try to appeal to both familles AND the 18-34 demographic. Makes sense to me.

Probaly will think up some more later but that's it for now.

 

[scoobyjrg1974]

While I can really appreciate a lot of what you guys are saying, It just wouldnt work!!
I mean come on merge the belts, How would this help?
By merging the belts you lose key players in the organization because they wont feel relevant to the title picture, Remember WCW and how boring it got seeing the same people with the belt and not pushing younger guys.
Yes, WWE needs to continue pushing young wrestlers like MVP, Kofi Kingston, John Morrison and Shelton Benjamin to name a few.
BUT at the same time they also need to bring back groups like DX, Evoultion and Legacy.
These groups can really be a great draw, I remember watching growing up to see the Horsemen lose a match and it was such a thrill seeing it happen.
Where is the edge that WWE had during the Attitude Era?
Yes going PG is more family friendly, The sex and attitude were a great draw too.
Look at Stone Cold for example, He was popular for not taking crap from ANYONE, Thats why the people loved him.
Bring in a new era by bringing back some of the old era!
Yes it has been done before but to the newer generation, it would be new.
How many of the youth's watching WWE today even know who the Four Horsemen are?
How many know who the champ was 5 years ago?
Stop changing the title every other month, Have the title change hands Once a year like it used to be, when Wrestlemania was almost a sure thing that there would be a new champ, which is why everyone wanted to see that PPV.
Now there are PPV's every month and I wont watch them, I watch Wrestlemania every year and that is it.
Cutting out the amount of PPV's and giving the wrestlers a chance to make an good story line would bring in a large audience.
Getting rid of titles like the diva's belt and U.S. belt is a good thought but how can you see the developement of a young wrestler and how they react to being a champion?
YOU CANT
ECW needs to have the TV title or the Cruiserweight title, to help them to develope the young wrestlers coming in from FCW.
Thats my opinion, and I am sticking to it!!

 

[Razor]

You're going to get nothing but "I'm unifying the titles, and I'm bringing back the Attitude Era" posts. It's going to be annoooooying. Just sayin'

What I'd do:

Cut the fuck out of Benjamin and Guerrero. Seriously. They're probably the least over wrestlers on the roster, and they've been around for a long while. They can't do anything when it comes to getting that crowd to give a shit.

Keep ECW as it is. It's fine as the New Talent factory. Punk, Swagger, and Kofi all had ECW as a home. It's working.

Smackdown desperately needs faces. If ECW is the Land of New Talent, Smackdown is the Land of A Thousand Heels. Fuck me. Other than that, the mid-card and main-event are just fine. Seriously though. Faces, please.

Raw needs a mid-card desperately. It's really only Kofi and MVP there. Other than that, nothing else needs to be touched. Everyone is pulling their weight.

Kind of overall, I'd tweak the Women's Division. Maybe drop the Diva's title, and make the Women's title defended on all brands. Make them ladies work for something.

EDIT: Totally forgot. Cut down on the PPV amounts. Seriously. 4 weeks between PPVs with 3 weeks in some places is rediculous. No wonder Creative feels overworked.

No fucking with the PG era, because this isn't 10 years ago. No more sex and violence for the sake of sex and violence. Stables? Meh. Legacy is fucked enough as it is. And no, I'm not bringing back old stables. They're old, they're in the past. If we're going to go back to the old shit everytime things get a little boring then we'll never come up with anything new.

 

[JPTunis]

Ok here's my random list...

1) 12 ppv's -

Jan - Royal Rumble
Feb - No Way Out
Mar - WrestleMania
Apr - Backlash
May - Over The Edge
June - King of the Ring
July - Great American Bash
Aug - Summer Slam
Sep - Hardcore Heaven
Oct - Halloween Havoc
Nov - Survivor Series
Dec - Starcade


2) Bring back managers / valets! There are tons of guys who just aren’t making it due to their mic skills. Bring back managers and valets to help with promos and add a new dimension to characters. There are a few current guys who I think would be great if they just had someone in their corner…

Mark Henry – I read that James Mitchell has tried getting a job with the WWE. He is a fantasic heel manager for big guys!

Kane – Imagine him with Paul Bearer again or James Mitchell?!!

Shelton Benjamin – “The Gold Standard” with the Million Dollar Man! Natural fit!

Vladimir Kozlov – The Evil Foreigner gimmick is gold, get him a charismatic translator.

The Hart Dynasty – They need a mouthpiece and Jim Neidhart actually was talented on the mic and
charismatic as hell despite being overshadowed. Bring him in and let him lead the new Foundation.

The Great Khali – could’ve been so much more with a good manager.

John Morrison – not a fan of his mic skills!

The Miz – Great on the mic but he’s the “ladies man” so why not give him a hot female valet (Kelly Kelly) and have him make her cheat to help him win. When Savage was heel, Elizabeth was still beloved even while she was in his corner. This would open so many storylines for the two.


3) There’s a lot of complaint about titles losing prestige. With there being different brands, you cannot merge the 2 heavyweight titles because one show will be pointless without one and you can’t have the champ on both because he would have to have different feuds on each. Unfortunately you must keep the different heavyweight title but we can certainly merge the IC / US and Women’s / Diva’s titles to give them a bit more prestige. I would also like to bring back the Cruiserweight title on ECW. You could also have the IC, Women’s, and Tag Champs wrestle on each brand when appropriate to their storylines and rivalries so you don’t have to put each person from the division on one brand.


4) Hire, Fire, and Move! There are a few wrestlers they can get rid of, a few they need to release, a few they can move to a different brand, and a few who’s direction needs some changing that specifically come to mind.

Release -
Jim Duggan, Jesse, Festus, R-Truth, Ricky Ortiz, Hornswoggle, Primo (after Carlito destroys him in their temporary rivalry), etc.

Hire -
Paul Heyman, Eric Bishoff, Monty Brown / Marcus Cor Von, Joey Mercury, Paul London, James Mitchell, Mr. Kennedy, Sabu, Rob Van Damn, Justin Credible, Lance Storm, Steel almost any top talent you can from TNA, The Great Muta, Mistico, Shinsuke Nakamura, Satoshi Kojima, and other various foreign stars, etc.

Move/Change -
Batista to ECW for smaller work load and star power
Kane to ECW
Team up The Hardys, Regal & Finlay, MNM, London & Kendrick, Funaki & Jimmy Wang Yang, Mike Knox & Mark Henry


5) Change how the brands are presented a bit. Realistically, there aren’t a ton of younger kids who are allowed to stay up until 11 on a Monday to watch raw. I’d have to imagine a majority of the viewers for Raw are ages 12 and up. Inversely, I’d have to imagine that Smackdown is mostly a younger viewer show since it’s on a bit earlier and most teens/adults go out on a Friday night and not stay home to watch wrestling. ECW being on at 10 is definitely an older crowd as well. Let’s keep Smackdown with the PG rating, bring Raw back up to PG13 at least, and ECW at TV14. Raw needs to spice things up a bit and have a little edge. It doesn’t have to go back to the hardcore Attitude Era ways but a little more sex, a little more violence, and a little more controversy can take the show a long way. Let Smackdown be the show for kids/families with the more kid friendly wrestlers like Mysterio, Cena, and the Hardys. ECW needs to get back a bit more to how it was and how it SHOULD be. You obviously cannot have the old school hardcore style every match because of injuries, lawsuits, etc. but you can have hardcore matches without flaming tables and thumbtacks! Let some high flyers do their thing, let some ECW vets due their thing, and spice up the matches a bit by letting them take it around the arena and using tables and chairs more often!


6) GIMMICKS!

I am so sick and tired of hearing people say that because of the UFC the WWE needs to come across as more realistic with its characters and finishes. BS! Everyone knows wrestling is not real so why try so hard to pretend to be? If I wanted to watch real fighting, I would watch the UFC. I don't want to watch fake real fighting! Bring back some over the top gimmicks, make the finishes fun and fluent, PRO WRESTLING IS NOT REAL! (I wrestle and I run my own promotion, please don't rip me up for that statement!)

7) Push more mid-card storylines! I can't even think of one that's seriously going on right now. I'm not talking rivalries but I'm talking actual storylines. Kozlov is a foreigner, lets push the anti-USA deal with that or something!

These are just a few things I can think of off the top of my head. Anyone else?

 

[ipswichicon80]

The point about brining back managers is a good one. So often we hear "people are no good on the mic" give them a manager as a mouthpeice and it no longer matters about there mic skills. Also the (experinced) manager can teach them how to talk on the mic. This worked well with Lesner and Heyman. I don't understand WWE's reluctance to bring managers back. Having managers also can open up new fueds for thier guys. For example
: Harvey Wipplemans constant pursuit of the Undertaker/Bobby Henans feud with Boss man. In a day when the mid level guys have so few storylines this could really help. And no I don't want the attitude era back, it was of it's time. I want something new(IE guys fromn the attitude era giving up thier spots and putting over new talent).

 

[ipswichicon80]

While I can really appreciate a lot of what you guys are saying, It just wouldnt work!!
I mean come on merge the belts, How would this help?
By merging the belts you lose key players in the organization because they wont feel relevant to the title picture, Remember WCW and how boring it got seeing the same people with the belt and not pushing younger guys.QUOTE]

I don't understand this comment. How can opening up the main event scene so Raw and SD can compete for the same title, the one world title, make the title scene more stale? Edge and Triple H haven't really fueded yet/CM punk vs Cena?Y2J vs Orton? It opens up so many more fresh fueds? How would that be like WCW?

BUT at the same time they also need to bring back groups like DX, Evoultion and Legacy.
These groups can really be a great draw, I remember watching growing up to see the Horsemen lose a match and it was such a thrill seeing it happen.

I agree on this, though not in the "gang warfare" saense. I don't however want to see old stables come back. I'd like to see new ones. With "stables" that managers have, this is another good arguement on bringing managers back.

 

[scoobyjrg1974]

Ok to clarify what I said, By merging the Heavyweight championships, you have one champion and one fued.
Yes, that means that you will see new feuds, however only if they are all on the same brand, Y2J Smackdown Orton Raw. If Orton int the champ how are they gonna feud when they arent on the same brand.
Yes they have tried to do intrabranded matches before but they failed becuase the fans of Raw may not be the fans of Smackdown.
And by the way folks I did not mean to bring back the old stables, I meant CREATE NEW ONES, but stables none the less.
As I said before most of the younger generation doesnt know who Andre the Giant is or Who Junkyard Dog was. The dont know who Captain Lou or The Grand Wizard are either.
So why not bring in some of the stuff that worked back in the day, and try it now, who knows it may make new fans of the ones that quit watching when Hulkamania went away and Bret The Hitman Hart actually wrestled his opponent's, then wasthrown to the side for the attitude era.

 

[HypnotizedHero2010]

about the original post. everything you say is great and i know for a fact that alot of people have good ideas for changing the wwe. but it won't happen. kids make most of the money for wwe. kids dont know the what good wrestling is. so unless they cant make money then they will never change there current product. back to PG-13, back to the good wrestling days. with some hardcore, cruiserweight, tagteams, mid-card feuds, the mainevent. everything together makes a great show. and wwe is missing alot of pieces. its hard to beleive that a company is actually holding itself back from being better and more entertaining.

 

[blowjoe5]

As for merging the brands, it is entirely workable. A fued could easily pass over onto two shows a week, some of them do right now. It would give more build up to ppv's in a short space of time, it would allow more fueds to develop etc.

Merging the titles is fine. Can't Orton and Triple H fued without the title involved? There only needs to be one man with the title at once in one fued. Everyone argues that less people would be showcased, less young stars developed etc, but remember that the biggest names ever, austin, rock etc were developed when the WWE had only one major show and it was fine then. WWE wouldn't lose any money from merging the shows, they'd actually be more likely to make money. When for example, WWE comes to the UK, I want to go and see it, but it's a choice, hardy, edge, 'taker on SD or michaels, hhh, cena on raw. With the merge, you'd have more stars and so more drawing power.

Someone mentioned that I'd included certain people twice in various title pictures, that's because people often are involved in different title pictures. Kendrick could chase the crusierweight title when he's out of the tag title picture, noble could easily go for the crusierweight or hardcore titles, punk could move between the us/ic and the world title etc.

I'd be making roster cuts because mark henry, koslov, the bella twins etc just aren't over or cared about at all. In any way. I'd release more people than would be rehired.

The luchadors wouldn't be difficult to hire.

'Demoting' people isn't a problem, the wrestlers are there to do a job. Regal, finlay, angle, benoit, show, kane etc all moved to ecw to help it because they're good workers and company guys, not because they wanted to have all the glory. People like christian would willingly fight for the ic or us title or the tag titles for a while.

Everyone always says why cut ppv's, why go back to a higher rating etc when advertising and kids merchandise are fine, but the fact is that they aren't. The WWE has seen ratings fall horribly in the last few years. Basically halved. A lot more dx shirts, austin shirts, rock shirts were sold than the rubbish family friendly cena shirts, hornswoggle bags or whatever else they're selling.

Tenay could easily act as more of a colour commentator, or at least argue a lot, and josh matthews is rubbish and should be moved to a highlights show or a backstage interviewer.

 

[ipswichicon80]

Ok to clarify what I said, By merging the Heavyweight championships, you have one champion and one fued.
Yes, that means that you will see new feuds, however only if they are all on the same brand, Y2J Smackdown Orton Raw. If Orton int the champ how are they gonna feud when they arent on the same brand.
Yes they have tried to do intrabranded matches before but they failed becuase the fans of Raw may not be the fans of Smackdown.

I was talking about going back to the early days of the split, when the world champ defended on both shows,which worked quite well in my opinion. So that takes care of your point about less fueds because of being on different brands. On your second point about about interbrand matches not working because fans of Raw not be fans of SD:
1.) I don't really buy WWE's line about most fans watching only one show. The majority of fans probaly waytch both IMO.
2.) even if my first point is wrong the fact there have been inter-promontinol PPV's for the past few years means most fans would be aware of the wrestlers on the other brands(hell, SD stars turn up at Raw all the time, so fans must be aware of the stars on "the other show").
3.) Inter-promontional matches work best if they're rare. So again,stop having people just moving between shows every five minutes, for little or no reason, and save the (non title) inter-promontional matches for the big events(Ie Mania Summerslam and suvivour series).

And by the way folks I did not mean to bring back the old stables, I meant CREATE NEW ONES, but stables none the less.
As I said before most of the younger generation doesnt know who Andre the Giant is or Who Junkyard Dog was. The dont know who Captain Lou or The Grand Wizard are either.
So why not bring in some of the stuff that worked back in the day, and try it now, who knows it may make new fans of the ones that quit watching when Hulkamania went away and Bret The Hitman Hart actually wrestled his opponent's, then wasthrown to the side for the attitude era.

I like your line of thinking here. Apprantly Jim Cornette say's there is a "seven year rule" in wrestling. Where, if something hasn't been done for seven years there should have been enough of an audience turnover to make it seem fresh and new. I would like to see more stables in WWE as well

 

[ipswichicon80]

about the original post. everything you say is great and i know for a fact that alot of people have good ideas for changing the wwe. but it won't happen. kids make most of the money for wwe. kids dont know the what good wrestling is. so unless they cant make money then they will never change there current product. back to PG-13, back to the good wrestling days. with some hardcore, cruiserweight, tagteams, mid-card feuds, the mainevent. everything together makes a great show. and wwe is missing alot of pieces. its hard to beleive that a company is actually holding itself back from being better and more entertaining.

Sadly this is so true.All the people who are posting on this subject are looking at how to improve the product not how to maximise profit. The sad thing is, in the long term, a better product would make for more profit for the company.
For example I'd like to stop the plugging of products on RAW and PPV's, This would improve the product,but would lose WWE money and wouldn't really attract any more fans to the product,so why do it? However improving the in ring product would bring in more fans and more fans long term. Almost everything WWE does these days is to appeal to the main stream or the masses.Whilst this is a good business move from a "wreslting" fans POV it sucks that a industry we love is not booked for or aimed at us.

Another suggestions on improvements that could be made. Why not get rid of the soap and sitcom writers and bring in people who actully know WRESTLING to write storylines?( and on a side note judging by the storylines and skits US sitcoms and soaps must be awful in the main. clearly we only got to see the good ones here in the UK).

 

[Suneeboy]

They have not lost a fan, but they have definitely lost a viewer. In protest of the recent trash that has been WWE programming I am turning off my television. I will come back when the wrestling gets better, the storylines are interesting, the feuds are fresh, and characters aren't buried.

Recent developments that have led to this:

1) PG Rating (Lack of Blood, Tables, Weapons)
2) Repetitive and uncreative storylines
3) Terrible commercialized gimmicks (Kizarny, The Boogeyman, Hornswaggle, etc.)
4) Pussyfying characters (Khali, Big Show, R-Truth, etc.)
5) Alternative promotions not afraid to be creative (TNA & ROH)
6) Good wrestling matches (not Santino vs. Kendrick, or Hornswaggle vs. Chavo)
7) Lack of title prestige
8) Awful promos
9) Sub-par announce teams
10) Lack of variety in the main events.

I understand that the landscape has changed, but I a not satisfied. I accept that the PG era is here and that is what the WWE is focusing on, but I will not support it. The things that have made me love professional wrestling are now gone.

I may watch matches if I read that they are good on Youtube or downloads, and I will also continue to give ECW some time to evaluate the new talent initiative, but I am no longer sitting on the couch on Mondays at 9 or Fridays at 8 to watch WWE programming. Smackdown is better than RAW, but Smackdown is still not what I want. I am not settling anymore, and I will not watch until things improve, and if they never do, I will never watch again.

I stopped watching when the invasion angle hit, but returned. I am now leaving again.

I am not entertained by the WWE's product anymore.

 

[Slyfox696]

No offense, but if those things bother you, then you're not really a wrestling fan. The WWE is redefining the wrestling landscape...or, rather, they are bringing wrestling back to what it should be. The last few years have been used to correct the damage done by the Attitude Era, and the lack of quality professional wrestling we saw then. The Attitude Era substituted shock for quality, and the WWE has to now retrain its fans.

The matches now are just as good as ever, the storylines are fine (especially when there are 5 hours a week to write stories for), and it's about pro wrestling again.

But, you should take time off. I'd say your problem is not the quality of the WWE, but rather overexposure to it.

 

[Suneeboy]

No offense, but if those things bother you, then you're not really a wrestling fan.

No offense, but who are you to say what I should enjoy in a wrestling product and what I have come to enjoy and expect and view as entertaining? Who are you to define what I should deem as entertaining or what solidifies my qualifications as a fan? Oh I forgot, your Slyfox.

The WWE is redefining the wrestling landscape...or, rather, they are bringing wrestling back to what it should be.

Yeah that's doing great for ratings isn't it? They just lost another viewer.

The matches now are just as good as ever, the storylines are fine (especially when there are 5 hours a week to write stories for), and it's about pro wrestling again.

The matches are not as good as ever. They are actually worse than they have been in recent years. There have been some bright spots, but the amount of classics has greatly decreased in the past 2 years to be specific.

the storylines are fine (especially when there are 5 hours a week to write stories for), and it's about pro wrestling again.

The storylines are not fine. Santino was just cross dressing, R-Truth is shucking and jiving over on Smackdown! like some 1930s sideshow. (I'm Black by the way and I thought the skit was awful). Seth Green is GM on Monday, The Trump Angle bombed as far as entertainment value went, Khali Kiss Cam, HHH/Orton again, and you are saying its fine? Well that's you, not me. The storylines are boring.

the WWE has to now retrain its fans.

Retrain its fans? I'm a grown man dude, I don't need to be trained...but maybe you do.

But, you should take time off. I'd say your problem is not the quality of the WWE, but rather overexposure to it.

I'd say your problem is you're a "know it all", but who I am to judge? I'll leave judging to you .

I'm not overexposed, I'm just not entertained...did you not read my post? I watch wrestling every day of the week dude, whether its new shit or old shit, I'm watching.

 

[gd]

I think the WWE is fine at the moment. Considering CM Punk and Jeff Hardy are main eventing PPVs I think the landscape has changed significantly in the last few years. Sure HHH v. Orton was done a lot, but the rivalry was actually going good until after the WM match when it lost a lot of steam.

There have also been some very good matches in the WWE recently, Taker/HBK, Hardy/Edge at Extreme Rules, and the whole series of Mysterio/Jericho matches have been very good. Just last week, Raw featured 2 very good singles matches and a pretty good tag team match. Smackdown constantly puts out 2 to 3 very good matches a week, and you're sure to see a lot of wrestling on ECW and Superstars. Not sure about your complaint there.

A lot of your other complaints, announce teams, PG Rating, and stupd gimmicks aren't really good either. I couldn't really care less who's announcing the matches as long as they seem like they kind of know what they're talking about. I think WWE announce teams are serviceable and Matt Stryker can even be described as interesting.

In my opinion, the PG rating isn't a really big deal. Just because you don't see a lot of blood it doesn't mean a match isn't good. I'm also pretty sure that weapons are allowed under PG rating considering we saw steel chairs on Smackdown just last week. All of the gimmick you described have one thing in common, they aren't used regulary on TV anymore. Kizarny wrestled like 1 match, Boogeyman came back for like a month, and Hornswaggle is seen sporadically backstage.

I think the WWE is actually pretty good right now, you're simply just sick of wrestling at the moment, which is perfectly understandable. However, you don't need to come up with bad reasons as justification for your decision.

 

[De Mysteriis Dom Satanas]

Threads like these never cease to entertain. Do you honestly think Vince McMahon, if he read this thread, would slump down in his chair, whiskey in hand, and scream, "OH MY GOD NOT ANOTHER ONE!"?

So you're not watching anymore? And you thought this was important...why?

 

[Dizzysosinister]

i have agree with dom santanas vince dont really care so why should we but im all for having a opinion and thats yours so keep on truckin mister with your t.v off

 

[Mighty NorCal]

The only reason the ME scene feels so reptitve to everyone who is crying, is becuase there is just more air time to fill, more PPV slots to fill. What exactly else are they supposed to do? Lets look at the big four, shall we.

Back when PPV debuted, it was easy to fill all of TWO main events for a year. Survivor Series and Royal Rumble had gimmicks for their ME's so they hardly count. SO now, we have 28 PPV mE slots to fill, (two main titles) as opposed to fucking TWO. Thing thinks may need to be repeated a bit?

Lets look back, ever so slightly

1989

Royal Rumble - The Rumble

WM5 - Macho Vs Hulk

SummerSlam - Macho and Zeus Vs Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake

Survivor Series - Survivor Matches, made up of all of the above

1990

Royal RUmble - Royal Rumble match

WM6 - Hulk Hogan Vs Ultimate Warrior

SummerSlam - Hulk Hogan Vs Earthquake

Survivor Series - Survivor Series match

1991

Royal Rumble - Royal rumble match

Wrestlemania - Hulk Hogan Vs Sgt Slaughter

SummerSlam - Hulk Hogan & The Ultimate Warrior Vs Sgt Slaughter and the terrorists, and a fuckin wedding afterwards

Survivor Series -Survivor Series match.


Damn those repititive, stale bastards. Damn them. So stale. i mean. Its just like, stale. Hold on, more staleness. They really need to start refridgerating their Main Events in...

1998

ROyal Rumble - The RUmble

NWO - Six man tag match, featuring the stars focused on in the rumble

WM14- Oh look, the guy who won the rumble, and the guy who was in the title match at the rumble. Gawwwsh, so fuckign repititve and stale, just makes me sick.

Unforgiven 98 - ZOMG. Totally have a rematch from WM between Taker and Kane. Like ZOMG, so stale. A fuckin DQ finish for the title match? Way to make the champ look weak, ZOMG

Ill skip the middle, I think you all know well enough what happens there...

SummerSlam 98 - Austin Vs Taker. What the shit, really. Two guys who have both been in every Main event since Janurary? fucking stale stale STALE!!!! *throws toys out of the crib*

Survivor Series 98 - Mankind Vs Teh Rock. Well il be fucked. Wait, they went over Undertaker and Austin respectively to get to this match? Oh, nevermind, STALE....

1999

RUmble - RUmble match. ther last three in? Mcmahon (ME heel for over a year now) The Rock (ME winner of the last major show) and...oh look, Steve Austin, the guy who won the LAST RUmble. Stale, I say

Wm - The Rock, VS Austin - Same guy who ME'd last years show, same guys in the RUmble Winning, same guys in the main title picture at the closing of the last big PPV. Damn, they really seem to be shoving these Rock and Austin dudes down our throats.

SummerSlam 1999 - Austin Vs Trips Vs Mankind - Well Ill be fucked. The first new ME guy outside of Mankind-Austin-Rock-Taker. Damn, everything was just SO stale during the attitude ear right.

Survivor Series 99 - Triple H, Big Show, The Rock. Well here we go, sliding back into repetitveness again...
2006

Rumble - Kurt Angle Vs Mark Henry


WM22 - Triple H Vs John Cena

SummerSlam 2006 - Edge Vs John Cena

Survivor Series 2006 - Batista Vs King Booker

2007

Rumble - The Rumble

WM23 - John Cena Vs HBK

SummerSlam 2007 - John Cena Vs Randy Orton

Survivor Series 2007 - Batista Vs Undertaker, HIAC

2008

Rumble - The RUmble

WM24 - Edge Vs The Undertaker

SummerSlam 2008 - Edge Vs The Undertaker, HIAC

Survivor Series 2008 - John Cena Vs Chris Jericho

2009

Royal RUmble - The Rumble

WM25 - Triple H Vs Orton

So. In the golden era, its was roughly the same amount of repetitive ME scene. Back then, they didnt have 5 hours of TV, and 28 ME slots to fill. What the fuck do you want? Not this era apparently.

Oh wait, in the attitude era, they STILL didnt have but 13 ME slots to fill, and STILL only had 4 hours a week at the most (towards the end) to fill up. Yet, im still seeing the same names in the PPVs.

so here we are, in our current Place. Im actually seeing LESS times were the same name is used right in a row, back to back.

You know what is stale? The argument of the ME being stale. Which era would you fucking like?