Is the WWE just waiting for their retirements?

[Twiztid Rodimus]

This is something that came up in another topic, and it got me thinking.

Is WWE waiting for the older cats to retire? Is that why they keep trying to show the up in comers more and more.

I think that Wwe, is actually trying to weed out the older wrestlers, and eventually have a fresh new begining with just the mid to youngers stars.

Think about it.

Austin/Retired ''Actor''
Rock/Retired ''actor''
Hogan/Tna
Flair/Tna
Hbk/Retired

The only truly older vets in their 40's-50s are:
Triple H (41)
Taker (45)

The remainder of the roster are in their 20's/30's, Even Big show is only 38.

They tried with Tough enough, and no matter your opinions on the execution, It spawned MANY stars: (Some more productive than others)
Nidia
Christipher nowinski
Josh Matthews
Maven
Matt Morgan
Linda Miles
Jackie Gayda
John Hennigan (Nitro/Morrison, Easily Tough enoughs BIGGEST star to date)
The Miz
Marty Wright (Boogeyman)

Then you look at ALL the young stars who have been brought in prior to NXT, in the past few years:

Kofi
Evan Bourne
Dolph Ziggler
Drew McIntyre
Ted Dibease
Cody Rhodes
Sheamus
Jack Swagger
Cryme Tyme
Santino
Beth Phoenix

All of whom have been associated in one way or another with Main eventers, or are huge draws.


Then you have all of the NXT rookies, who, Im pretty sure for the most part, a majority is going to stick around past this shows conclusion (At least with NXT's current roster)

My question is, Dont look at the financial aspect (This would mean bringing up the lack of money drawing power of a Daniel bryan compared to a Undertaker)

Does it seem like Wwe, is prepping a new found feel and roster amongst its company?

 

[PedigreeTHE619Chokeslam]

Well yes, of course they have to get ready, and step up new talent and make big names, like they are in, The Miz, Swagger, so that there ready for when guys like Triple H, Undertaker, Big Show, retire they will have names to fill for them. I know guys like them will never fill the shoes that Undertaker, and Triple H leave behind, but they have to fill some of them.

 

[D-Man]

There's no question that the WWE has been going through a rebuilding phase ever since around 2004. We're at the tail end of another "New Generation" type era. Once Steve Austin and the Rock took their leave, it seemed as if the entire main event roster began to fall apart. Just between Wrestlemania 19 & 20 (2003-2004), the WWE lost Austin, Lesnar, and Goldberg. They've been rebuilding since then.

I don't think the WWE is waiting for their older wrestlers to retire, per se. Moreso, they're preparing for them to retire. The show must always go on and the WWE intends to keep it that way. But, they need to breed their new stars. Currently, they're doing the right thing and pushing all of their new talent. Granted, it took them a few years of burying this talent to humble the new generation of superstars, but now they all understand what most of the other wrestlers went through to get their current spots.

If things keep moving in this direction, the WWE will have plenty of ammo for future programming. Their stars will become household names by the time men like Triple H and the Undertaker take their leave and pro-wrestling will live on through the new superstars.

 

[dwith73]

I am betting Vince will have any of the wrestlers like Undertaker, Big Show, HHH(yes even his son n law), cryme tyme(thieves are not for pg) Kane will all be out of the company in the next year. None of these characters know how to be PG. You can pretty much eliminate undertaker's gimmic, His persona, and his entrance doesn't even fit pg. Kanes image is the same. WWE is using the pg era to force all the older wrestlers out of the company by using PG rating's. I would bet any wrestler in WWE right now that wrestled through the Attitude era must be hating what's happening.

 

[Dan E. Inferno]

I don't think the WWE is waiting for their older wrestlers to retire, per se. Moreso, they're preparing for them to retire.

This is it right here. It's obvious that retirements will occur in WWE, as wrestlers can only compete at the top level for so long. It would be unbelievably foolish for WWE to assume that HHH, Batista and Taker are going to be around for years to come, and then when they do retire, Cena, Edge and Orton can carry the company themselves. WWE have to prepare future stars and I believe that is what they are are doing at the moment.

Whether you liked Sheamus's title win or not, his title reign definitely gave him a rub and his profile and credibility have been elevated. I hope the same will happen with Swagger. Also with Miz and McIntyre being given solid pushes and Morrison and Kofi proving they have potential, WWE are doing a good job in preparing today's young guns for future stardom.

 

[MikePhotoGuy]

I am betting Vince will have any of the wrestlers like Undertaker, Big Show, HHH(yes even his son n law), cryme tyme(thieves are not for pg) Kane will all be out of the company in the next year. None of these characters know how to be PG. You can pretty much eliminate undertaker's gimmic, His persona, and his entrance doesn't even fit pg.

Are you FREAKING kidding me? Undertaker doesn't know how to do PG? Do you forget that he has been wrestling since WELL before the Attitude era, debuting WAY back in 1990? He's been going at it for 20 years now, and many of his earlier matches, including his casket matches were in fact PG. It was pretty rare in the early 1990's to see a lot of blood in matches. There was little to no swearing, no bra and panties matches, and kids and adults could go to the events and have a good time.

Babyfaces were made into superheroes and heels like the Undertaker most often in his early career, were made into super villains. But in the old PG era one could be a super villain without having to have your opponent constantly blade themselves to sell your beat downs.

PG wrestling can work, but it involves having guys who GASP! actually know how to wrestle, and/or sell their moves, and not just put people through tables or other dumb shit like that.

I mean really after a while is CZW at all entertaining? Like for the first minute or so of Cage of Death you might be like "HOLY SHIT!" but then after a while, it gets pretty damned boring just watching guys bleed all over the place hitting each other with every object known to man. And the whole lets just sit down on two chairs and slap each other silly bit that Necro Butcher and Zandig do... I mean, come on.

 

[steveh0481]

Are you FREAKING kidding me? Undertaker doesn't know how to do PG? Do you forget that he has been wrestling since WELL before the Attitude era, debuting WAY back in 1990? He's been going at it for 20 years now, and many of his earlier matches, including his casket matches were in fact PG. It was pretty rare in the early 1990's to see a lot of blood in matches. There was little to no swearing, no bra and panties matches, and kids and adults could go to the events and have a good time.

Babyfaces were made into superheroes and heels like the Undertaker most often in his early career, were made into super villains. But in the old PG era one could be a super villain without having to have your opponent constantly blade themselves to sell your beat downs.

PG wrestling can work, but it involves having guys who GASP! actually know how to wrestle, and/or sell their moves, and not just put people through tables or other dumb shit like that.

I mean really after a while is CZW at all entertaining? Like for the first minute or so of Cage of Death you might be like "HOLY SHIT!" but then after a while, it gets pretty damned boring just watching guys bleed all over the place hitting each other with every object known to man. And the whole lets just sit down on two chairs and slap each other silly bit that Necro Butcher and Zandig do... I mean, come on.

I could not have said it any better. Wrestling can easily be done PG. Heck, when I first started watching wrestling in the late 80s/early 90s, it was PG and it was an amazing product! The problem is lazy booking right now and not enough superstars that know how to tell a story in the ring. Lazy booking like "I hate you so we are going to main event the next PPV" cannot continue.

I also agree with the ECW style of wrestling. Personally I never really cared for it. It gets stale really fast and just leaves wrestlers hurting and ending good careers sooner. Just improve storytelling, booking, and character development.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I don't think the WWE is waiting for their older wrestlers to retire, per se. Moreso, they're preparing for them to retire.

Well put. It's a wise management that looks to the future while maintaining ties to the past and present. It's ironic to see the more established wrestling company (WWE) making way for younger folks while their more recently established competitor (TNA) pushes aside the younger talent who were becoming stars in favor of people who are getting ready to file for social security.

Pro wrestling has a colorful, storied past. I think it's great when WWE features some of the old guys in a "Seniors' Lumberjack Match" at Wrestlemania. Yes, there are a lot of younger fans who could care less about that contest because anything that happened before they were born holds no interest for them, but there are plenty of guys (like Nick Bockwinkle) who I'm too young to have seen wrestle but was interested in getting to see at WM. Good for Vince McMahon for honoring the past.

Still, it's hardly as if the old guys are being pushed aside. As long as wrestlers like Triple H and Undertaker are still competing for championships and putting on great matches, there will be an exciting mix of the past, present and future in WWE.

 

[ccotreau1]

Dave Batista is also 41 years old. Jericho will be 40 by the end of the year. So by the end of 2010, you will have 4 guys in the 40s in the WWE

 

[VintageWWE]

WWE is definitely preparing younger talent to take the veteran's place upon their retirement. I see that as a great thing because eventually age will catch up to a wrestler and new talent have to be groomed to be in the main event. This is the grand tradition of wrestling, wrestlers going out on their back pushing the young guys to take their place. It's good that WWE is looking to the future in terms of talent unlike what TNA is doing.

 

[HBk All the way]

It's not about the pg rating! I'm starting to lose all interest in wwe now that shawn has left and I've been watchin tna this past 4 months and I love it because it has what wwe are missing... Characters there are no longer any good new characters that you can love or relate to he'll it was kool to have kofi in there as the jamacan with the accent give him a bit of personality but now he lost it and he got boring to me. The reason for the the likes of hogan flair and even steve Austin they will be remembered because of their character one of the worst things the wwe did was make a mockery out of kurt angle one of the best wrestlers of all time he is a god in tna and could have been the same in wwe only they took an american hero and made the Americans chant you suck that's just a slap in the face and cannot do anything with a superstar that you have put down for so long so wwe I think needs to just get better characters in i even miss the backstage segments where they would be interviewd now it's just vena saying the champ is here and kids go mad as a fan of wrestleing I have just grown out of the kiddie wwe and joined the more adult tna boat simply because of these reasons and the fact that it's aimed at my age group think about it if you where ten years old u would love it but I'm 22 and tna is just more entertaining.

 

[AllanC]

ehh i have to disagree with you, Rock and Austin are making a ton more money with the movies, Rock left a long time ago had nothing to do with the WWE trying to weed out the older guys....and Austin is just not in shape and/or in ring condition....The new guys, what do you expect, these old guys to continue wrestling forever?? No dont think so, Hogan and Flair cant wrestle anymore, apparently as you seen Hogan has major back problems and can hardly stand, and Flair "retired"...The sure thing is to go with the Swagger's, The DH. Smith's, and the Dibiase's of the WWE, its how they keep the company going, its how they keep us watching, and its how they make more money....

 

[WWE Manster03]

D-Man, once again you make one hell of a good point. As I said in another post, wrestling is a cycle. Your stars start as rookies, work their way up using established stars as a platform to reach for the stars, they become established, then they work with rookies to boost them to the stars. All of this happens for a good SUPERSTAR in about 5-8 years. I don't mean good wrestler because I would of included Shelton Benjamin/Charlie Haas/etc. I honsetly think Hulk Hogan said it best on BTLS radio show last week, and that was when he was watching WWE he saw Randy Orton's babyface turn and realized that he had been with the company 10 years. What is Randy, like 34? He still has a good 10 years left in him at least if he would chose to go that long. Point is, wrestlers today can take alot of time to build up their "brand" to the public. It took Orton 10 years to reach superstardom(if you don't think he is there yet, listen to the pops he gets when Voices hits the speakers. It's sick) and he will only get better.
With these guys like Taker, HHH, Batista, and Kane getting up in age WWE will still hover them near the main event, but I see them starting to do more of what HHH did at Mania. Move down the card and give the rub to the new guys. Jericho will be 40 later this year, but those few years he took off could extend his career if he so chose, as he is more popular now then he ever was before. WWE going to a PG rating will definately extend the careers of their guys also. You don't see any of the older guys like Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko, etc not able to get out of bed in the morning, when there are people from the Attitude Era of pro wrestling that can't seem to make it past 45 years old because their bodies are so fucked from the crazy stuff they have to do that they start popping pain killers out of habit and end up overdosing. Hell, Flair is 60+ and he can still go out and wrestle, although he should just stay in his wheelchair, because his body didn't get put through the crazy shit that Terry Funk/Mick Foley/Sabu/etc put theirs through.
So the way WWE is building their new guys up, as well as protecting them, is definately a good thing and I am excited for the future of the company.