Lariat's take on fixing the WWE

[It's...Baylariat!]

How to Fix the WWE: Lariat’s Take​

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST MIGHT OFFEND SOME FANS OUT THERE. GOOD. BECAUSE LAST TIME I CHECKED, HAVING AN OPINION ISN’T AGAINST THE LAW. SURE FOLKS MIGHT MAKE SOMEONE LOOK STUPID, BUT OUR OPINIONS AND THOUGHTS ARE WHAT MAKE US SO DIFFERENT. THIS IS MY PERSONAL TAKE ON HOW TO FIX THE MENUCIA THAT IS THE WWE AND TO HOPEFULLY PUT THE WWE BACK ABOVE A 3.0 IN THE RATINGS. ENJOY THE SHOW…

Now, onto the topic at hand…

The most recent ratings for the WWE have shown a steep decline in viewership. Monday Night Raw lost close to 400,000 viewers from the 5/1/2013 edition of Raw. More importantly, the ratings for this past Raw were a 2.9. Want to know how bad that is? The very last edition of WCW Monday Nitro was a 3.0 in the ratings. Some folks might not take this seriously, but what the WWE’s doing isn’t working. The first hour of Raw lost its most viewership since extending to a 3-hour format. And the competition isn’t as fierce as, say Monday Night Football and Fall TV.

Sure the NBA playoffs are intense and NHL’s playoffs are going on, too – but last time I checked, that didn’t matter when the WWE was doing things right. Raw flourished during the days where Jordan was dominating basketball and when the NHL was much more competitive.

Before I offer my fixes to help Raw, let’s go over what I believe is the downfall of Raw at this point.

1) Overexposure – Nothing hurts a product more than overexposure. Seeing too much of anything will make it less appealing. Big Bang Theory somehow transcends that, but the rest of the TV universe does not. The WWE has Raw, Smackdown, Superstars, Main Event, and Saturday Morning Slam, plus a PPV each month, and a website full of classic matches. Too much of anything will eventually make you sick. It’s science.

2) Three Hours of programming – One of the many things that lead to the downfall of WCW Monday Nitro was being on the air for three hours. Back then, Nitro done this to make sure they had a head start on Raw by airing unopposed for an hour to build their card so fans wouldn’t click over and watch the WWE. So why is the WWE doing this? There’s no competition on Monday Nights. The 9PM title slot is Raw’s signature. And if the extra hour would put more wrestlers on TV, then I’d be for the move, but all they use that extra time for is recapping every stupid thing that happens over and over again. It’s a waste of money and talent to add an hour to programming and not be productive with it.

3) Social Media – The last thing any wrestling promotion should do is embrace anything to do with being ‘social’. Wrestling was founded on being a mysterious event that was entertaining. We knew that Flair and Rhodes never had drinks together. We knew that Hogan and Sting didn’t go eat dinner when they were in WCW. It was what’s called ‘kayfabe’ – something the WWE’s completely lost touch with. Vince McMahon’s never been a fan of ‘wrasslin’ as he likes to call it. He’s in the sports-entertainment industry. Many documentaries and interviews have stated that Vince hates wrestling in the traditional sense. His wrestlers are ‘superstars’ and the fans are called the ‘WWE Universe’ – a rather contrite thing to do, I might add, to name your fan base. Because being just a WWE fan isn’t enough. You have to be encompassed into the UNIVERSE! Now, what Vince has done is have his cronies create an app for smartphones to catch action during commercials and to see ‘backstage’ activity that they wouldn’t see on actual television. I’ve got news for you; no one is sitting on their couch with an iPad in one hand, a computer with a webcam in front of them, while watching Raw on TV. And if you do such a thing, please do yourself a favor and find the nearest wall and hit your head against said wall as hard as you can. The average fan wants to simply watch the program and be left out of the loop on certain things. It’s what makes the world of pro wrestling so unique. Instead, Vince McMahon wants to break that fourth wall and pretty much let everyone know what goes on, even if it exposes the inward workings of the business.

4) Talent – I’ve watched the WWE full time since 1987, and I can tell you that I’ve never seen such a lackluster amount of talent in the WWE at one given time. During the ‘Attitude Era’, any number of wrestlers could have taken the ball and ran with it. You had Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Kane, Kurt Angle, and numerous others that could draw a crowd to the arena. Now, you have John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Ryback, Daniel Bryan, Kane, CM Punk, and Chris Jericho. Out of the names mentioned, who would you trust to take the WWE to the next era? Now, there’s some potential with certain superstars, but it’s worrisome to see a lack of depth when it comes to main event talent. And on top of that, part time wrestlers like The Rock, Undertaker, HHH, and Brock Lesnar are your biggest money drawing wrestlers. That’s not good.

Now that I’ve gone on a tangent about what’s wrong with the WWE, here’s how it can be fixed.

1) Less is more – I know that Vince and the WWE want to generate as much revenue as possible, but something has to be dialed back. What I would do is take the first hour off of Monday Night Raw and put it back to 9PM, do away with Main Event and put Superstars on ION TV instead and keep Saturday Morning Slam for the kids. I would also do away with the behind the scenes bullshit on the WWE app. Break news if you want to, but no more backstage stuff and no more watching what is going on during commercials. Also, TouT has to be gone. It makes no sense to have software that lets you ‘tout’ what you want to say for 15 seconds. The WWE apparently invested five MILLION dollars into TouT. I can think of so many different places where that money would have been put to better use. I’d also have the wrestlers tweet NOTHING but kayfabe stuff. No more ‘insider’ talk or anything like that. Stick to the script. No interactions with faces or heels unless it’s one of them telling the other that they’re going to rip them apart. Protect the business.

2) No more scripted promos! – Nothing is dumber than seeing a member of the WWE flub a line or look at cue cards when they’re trying to convey an emotion. We’re asking too much of wrestlers to have to read a certain thing on a cue card. In the old days, you were given bullet points to hit, and if you hit them, you got the point across. You were given 2-3 minutes to cut a promo and that’s it. No remembering lines or rehearsals. Speaking from the heart is what made guys like Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock so great. Now, it’s making the current wrestlers look unprofessional and untalented. Teach the right way of doing things.

3) More talent development locations– You know that five million dollars spent on TouT? That could be used to open up at least three to four new training facilities across the country. It’s a simple concept – open a territory in California, Texas, Florida, and either New York of Philadelphia. You make the talent travel as if they’d be traveling in the WWE, give them titles to defend and teach them the ropes of the business. And have one show featuring ALL the territories! Have them cut promos, wrestle enhancement talent, and learn how to make it in the business. Teaching new wrestlers how to handle the daily grind of the road will go a long way into making better superstars.

4) Bring back some realistic elements – When someone takes violent shots throughout a match, bruises and aches and pains take place. If your head is rubbed into a cage or meets a folding chair, it’ll cut you. If you’re put in a submission hold and you tap out, that appendage should hurt for a few days. My point is that those elements are done away with for the most part. Bring back some occasional blood in cage or hardcore matches, or have someone miss TV time or be unable to wrestle because of an injury. It’s those little things that can make a huge difference in fan experience.

That’s my personal take on what I would do to fix the WWE.

 

[CM Steel]

Dude if you have problem with the product you don't have to watch it. If there was a way for the WWE to hear their fans outside of the soical media then do you think that we as wrestling fans would have found a way to be heard by the WWE? Vince McMahon and company are the one's putting the strings in the promotion. And I'm pretty sure that their not into the whole "put the fans in the stands" thing these days. This is no longer the attitude era Lariat. It's not so much that the WWE is broken, the product just needs an upgrade.

Like the saying goes, "if it isn't broken don't fix it". And if you have a problem with the WWE just remember, your TV has more than one channel. Does it?

 

[JVel]

Dude if you have problem with the product you don't have to watch it. If there was a way for the WWE to hear their fans outside of the soical media then do you think that we as wrestling fans would have found a way to be heard by the WWE? Vince McMahon and company are the one's putting the strings in the promotion. And I'm pretty sure that their not into the whole "put the fans in the stands" thing these days. This is no longer the attitude era Lariat. It's not so much that the WWE is broken, the product just needs an upgrade.

Like the saying goes, "if it isn't broken don't fix it". And if you have a problem with the WWE just remember, your TV has more than one channel. Does it?

Because some of us are fans of the business and WANT to see them succeed. And he has a lot of points.

The creative team is sorely lacking, especially for as much content as they have each week. The move to a 3 hour RAW I feel is largely bad because they're not actually making effective use of that time. We get the same amount of actual content on the three hour that we did on the two, but get a lot more silliness or recap segments. I swear it feels like 45 mins of every RAW is sitting through recaps.

When it comes to the roster, the WWE is in a weird spot right now. They have a tooonnn of actual talent, and even more in NXT, but very little in true star power currently which I partly blame on creative. They have a lot of guys who have the goods, but simply aren't being given the ball or have been given so many stop/start pushes or poor booking that it hurts them longterm. Guys like Cesaro, Sandow, and Barrett are three that they could do a whole lot more with, while they have undercard guys with a lot of potential like Justin Gabriel who just aren't being utilized. Instead, we get Sheamus and Mark Henry arm wrestling. Or Fandango and Khali having a dance off.

The only real interesting thing going in the WWE right now is The Shield. Punk being out is definitely noticable each week. They have guys like Kane, Daniel Bryan, and Ryback who are doing the best with what they're given, but you can still feel that lack of star power every week. Creative just doesn't seem like they can create stars anymore. A wrestler can be charismatic as hell but if they don't have creative on their side, they aren't going anywhere.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Dude if you have problem with the product you don't have to watch it.

And if you have a problem with my thread, don't read it.

If there was a way for the WWE to hear their fans outside of the soical media then do you think that we as wrestling fans would have found a way to be heard by the WWE?

Being heard and shoving it down our throats are different. We can make our voices heard in different ways, and we can use social media, but for the WWE to ignore old school ways of doing business is BAD for business. Then again I said that in my original post - a post you obviously didn't read.

Vince McMahon and company are the one's putting the strings in the promotion.

Didn't say anything about Vince seceding power to anyone. He's the one that's overseeing a now sinking ship.

And I'm pretty sure that their not into the whole "put the fans in the stands" thing these days.

So what's the point of having a business if you don't cater or entertain the customer?

This is no longer the attitude era Lariat.

Gee, I had no idea. Thanks for reminding me.

It's not so much that the WWE is broken, the product just needs an upgrade.

Like what?

Like the saying goes, "if it isn't broken don't fix it". And if you have a problem with the WWE just remember, your TV has more than one channel. Does it?

So what you've done here is say the product needs an upgrade, yet offered me an 'if it isn't broke, don't fix it' response when asked about changes. Is that right?

You've proven to me that you are not very intelligent. When you come in here and act like you know what the hell you're talking about and then you show me no reasonable answer to my post, I'm going to call you out on it. And you sir, don't know a damn thing about wrestling. I'm starting to think you really don't know a lot about anything and that you may be a special needs kid, which if you are, I'm sorry and I'll donate money to whatever foundation supports your mental disorder. I'm generous like that.

So do yourself a favor and just quit while your ahead. You can't hang with me in any shape or form when it comes to posting on these forums. I've forgotten more about wrestling than you currently know and that's with having a hectic life to deal with.

Avoid further embarrassment and simply start reading more of my threads instead of posting in them.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

1) Overexposure – Nothing hurts a product more than overexposure. Seeing too much of anything will make it less appealing. Big Bang Theory somehow transcends that, but the rest of the TV universe does not. The WWE has Raw, Smackdown, Superstars, Main Event, and Saturday Morning Slam, plus a PPV each month, and a website full of classic matches. Too much of anything will eventually make you sick. It’s science.​

Aside from SmackDown!, none of the other shows come remotely close to equaling what Raw usually does. Considering that the production costs of Saturday Morning Slam, Superstars & Main Event are pretty much nothing, WWE makes almost pure profit from running the extra shows. Superstars doesn't have a television deal and Saturday Morning Slam is a half hour show that's part of a Saturday morning cartoon block. As for Main Event, as I pointed out, it's another show that has little to no production costs that ION pays money for that frequently outdraws Impact Wrestling. So, I'm not really seeing how these three additional shows, two of which are completely inconsequential, have a negative impact on things.

2) Three Hours of programming – One of the many things that lead to the downfall of WCW Monday Nitro was being on the air for three hours. Back then, Nitro done this to make sure they had a head start on Raw by airing unopposed for an hour to build their card so fans wouldn’t click over and watch the WWE. So why is the WWE doing this? There’s no competition on Monday Nights. The 9PM title slot is Raw’s signature. And if the extra hour would put more wrestlers on TV, then I’d be for the move, but all they use that extra time for is recapping every stupid thing that happens over and over again. It’s a waste of money and talent to add an hour to programming and not be productive with it.​

I agree that the three hour format for Raw has run its course. It's been nearly a year and the addition of a third hour to the show hasn't led to an increase in viewership. Almost always, the third hour is the least watched hour of the show. It's an experiment that WWE tried but, as a whole, it hasn't panned out. While I've enjoyed Raw, the three hour format does feel like its too much most of the time.

3) Social Media – The last thing any wrestling promotion should do is embrace anything to do with being ‘social’. Wrestling was founded on being a mysterious event that was entertaining. We knew that Flair and Rhodes never had drinks together. We knew that Hogan and Sting didn’t go eat dinner when they were in WCW. It was what’s called ‘kayfabe’ – something the WWE’s completely lost touch with. Vince McMahon’s never been a fan of ‘wrasslin’ as he likes to call it. He’s in the sports-entertainment industry. Many documentaries and interviews have stated that Vince hates wrestling in the traditional sense. His wrestlers are ‘superstars’ and the fans are called the ‘WWE Universe’ – a rather contrite thing to do, I might add, to name your fan base. Because being just a WWE fan isn’t enough. You have to be encompassed into the UNIVERSE! Now, what Vince has done is have his cronies create an app for smartphones to catch action during commercials and to see ‘backstage’ activity that they wouldn’t see on actual television. I’ve got news for you; no one is sitting on their couch with an iPad in one hand, a computer with a webcam in front of them, while watching Raw on TV. And if you do such a thing, please do yourself a favor and find the nearest wall and hit your head against said wall as hard as you can. The average fan wants to simply watch the program and be left out of the loop on certain things. It’s what makes the world of pro wrestling so unique. Instead, Vince McMahon wants to break that fourth wall and pretty much let everyone know what goes on, even if it exposes the inward workings of the business.​

The mystery surrounding pro wrestling has been obliterated long before social media was even a twinkle in someone's eye. The internet let the genie out of the bottle a long time ago and there's no putting it back in. Ignoring social media would hurt rather than hinder WWE at this point. WWE has developed a strong presence via social media and it could help them once Nielsen implements changes to its ratings this fall. If people do watch WWE programming using laptops, cell phones & tablets, those viewers are going to be calculated & added in as well. I don't know exactly how they do it, but these changes are going to be implemented beginning with the fall TV season. The fourth wall has major cracks in its foundation decades ago when people found out that pro wrestling was staged and the internet shattered the wall altogether. Simply trying to pretend that it's all 100% legit won't work. That especially goes for internet fans who have reveled & pointed that out for a decade and a half.

4) Talent – I’ve watched the WWE full time since 1987, and I can tell you that I’ve never seen such a lackluster amount of talent in the WWE at one given time. During the ‘Attitude Era’, any number of wrestlers could have taken the ball and ran with it. You had Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Kane, Kurt Angle, and numerous others that could draw a crowd to the arena. Now, you have John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Ryback, Daniel Bryan, Kane, CM Punk, and Chris Jericho. Out of the names mentioned, who would you trust to take the WWE to the next era? Now, there’s some potential with certain superstars, but it’s worrisome to see a lack of depth when it comes to main event talent. And on top of that, part time wrestlers like The Rock, Undertaker, HHH, and Brock Lesnar are your biggest money drawing wrestlers. That’s not good.​

I do agree that WWE needs to put more focus on existing talent rather than part timers. While it can be entertaining, it's ultimately just putting off a problem until later rather than addressing it head on. However, I think you're really, really hyping the talent of the Attitude Era to a near ridiculous level. What made the AE so successful was not only the talent but the fact that pro wrestling was portrayed in a light that had never been seen before. The Attitude Era was part of a time when controversy was encouraged all over television. When I was a teenager, the sight of two women passionately making out on network television during prime time was a major happening. Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet on her own sitcom in front of the world. NYPD Blue featured graphic language & nudity that you'd typically only see in an R rated movie. WWE featured segments with a wrestler getting his penis cut off by a katana, Steve Austin committing sodomy on a "hospitalized" Vince McMahon, Triple H molesting a "corpse" named Katie Vick, The Undertaker performing "satanic" rituals featuring "blood" sacrifices, Big Boss Man crashing the "funeral" of Big Show's "father" and desecrating the body by chaining it to the back of a truck & driving out of the "cemetery" with it. The nudity & lesbian stuff was cutting edge in the late 90s, but it's become part of common culture these days. No real controversy to be found. As far as WWE goes, look at the tons of criticism they've gotten for doing certain Attitude Era inspired segments in which controversy popped up. WWE was accused of fostering racism with the Jack Swagger & Zeb Coulter characters by everyone from fans to wrestling insiders to well known political commentators. Fans were outraged when CM Punk & Paul Heyman made fun of Lawler's heart attack the night he returned to Raw, despite the fact that Lawler himself approved the segment weeks earlier. Many actually commented, on these forums, that it felt like Punk & Heyman were slandering a beloved family member who'd died of heart troubles. People cried outrage when CM Punk poured what were supposed to be Paul Bearer's "ashes" out of the urn all over a prone Undertaker, and even rubbed some on himself. As with the Lawler segment, Bearer's two adult sons gave their permission for WWE to go through with the segment. Culture has changed and so have many fans. Otherwise, why hasn't the various appearances of The Rock taken WWE's ratings back to the glory days of the Attitude Era? The Rock is every bit as cutting edge on the mic as he ever was, still every bit as charismatic and personality driven as he was when he was in his late 20s & early 30s. Yet, Raw & SmackDown! ratings haven't jumped up into the 5s and 6s. They've been consistent with where the shows normally draw. I'm not going to say that guys like Austin & Rock had nothing to do with the success of the AE. That'd be a flat out lie, not to mention ridiculous. But they were pioneers during a pioneering time. What's to be done when pretty much everything that can be done has been done? The envelope has long since been pushed as far as it'll be allowed to be by the TV police, aka the Federal Communications Commission. I think there's a ton of talent on the WWE roster with a lot of untapped potential.

1) Less is more – I know that Vince and the WWE want to generate as much revenue as possible, but something has to be dialed back. What I would do is take the first hour off of Monday Night Raw and put it back to 9PM, do away with Main Event and put Superstars on ION TV instead and keep Saturday Morning Slam for the kids. I would also do away with the behind the scenes bullshit on the WWE app. Break news if you want to, but no more backstage stuff and no more watching what is going on during commercials. Also, TouT has to be gone. It makes no sense to have software that lets you ‘tout’ what you want to say for 15 seconds. The WWE apparently invested five MILLION dollars into TouT. I can think of so many different places where that money would have been put to better use. I’d also have the wrestlers tweet NOTHING but kayfabe stuff. No more ‘insider’ talk or anything like that. Stick to the script. No interactions with faces or heels unless it’s one of them telling the other that they’re going to rip them apart. Protect the business.​

As I said earlier, social media is part of the future. I personally don't like it either. I've never sent out a tout, put anything on YouTube or written anything on Twitter. Unless something drastic happens, I never will. But, frankly, I'm in a pretty small minority these days when it comes to how I view social media. It's not for me personally, but it is the future and I think simply ignoring that would hurt WWE with all the various changes that social media & mobile devices are bringing to how TV ratings & viewership are going to be measured. Just as Vince saw that cable & syndicated television was the future for wrestling, social media will probably be shown to play a big part in wrestling. Ignoring the future is a huge part of what led to the demise of all WWE's contemporaries during the 1980s.

2) No more scripted promos! – Nothing is dumber than seeing a member of the WWE flub a line or look at cue cards when they’re trying to convey an emotion. We’re asking too much of wrestlers to have to read a certain thing on a cue card. In the old days, you were given bullet points to hit, and if you hit them, you got the point across. You were given 2-3 minutes to cut a promo and that’s it. No remembering lines or rehearsals. Speaking from the heart is what made guys like Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock so great. Now, it’s making the current wrestlers look unprofessional and untalented. Teach the right way of doing things.​

This will almost certainly happen once Triple H takes over. In NXT, Trips has done away with scripted promos. Talent are told to be sure that they bring up certain points in their promos, but that's it. The rest of it will simply be them in their own words.

3) More talent development locations– You know that five million dollars spent on TouT? That could be used to open up at least three to four new training facilities across the country. It’s a simple concept – open a territory in California, Texas, Florida, and either New York of Philadelphia. You make the talent travel as if they’d be traveling in the WWE, give them titles to defend and teach them the ropes of the business. And have one show featuring ALL the territories! Have them cut promos, wrestle enhancement talent, and learn how to make it in the business. Teaching new wrestlers how to handle the daily grind of the road will go a long way into making better superstars.​

This is something that WWE could possibly do in the future. WWE is currently in the process of securing a TV deal for NXT. If it's successful and is really able to produce big future stars, then it's not impossible that it could lead to other opportunities in which WWE could expand its developmental program into possibly other developmental brands & locations across the country.

4) Bring back some realistic elements – When someone takes violent shots throughout a match, bruises and aches and pains take place. If your head is rubbed into a cage or meets a folding chair, it’ll cut you. If you’re put in a submission hold and you tap out, that appendage should hurt for a few days. My point is that those elements are done away with for the most part. Bring back some occasional blood in cage or hardcore matches, or have someone miss TV time or be unable to wrestle because of an injury. It’s those little things that can make a huge difference in fan experience.​

Again, I think this is something that Triple H could implement once he takes over. Triple H has more of an old school mentality as far as certain formats & content. I might be completely wrong but based on various information I've read, Triple H comes off like someone that can integrate an old school mentality & feel with the modern age. Although, to be fair, it's not uncommon for WWE to still use injury angles during feuds. Del Rio & Swagger, for instance, nursed an "injured knee/ankle" and "injured" shoulder within the past few weeks in which they sold the effects for a week or so. However, I do get where you're coming from as a whole. I don't look for Triple H to do hardcore or cage matches on a regular basis but when they happen under his watch, I do think it's likely that there'll be blood. However, it needs to be planned well in advance so wrestlers can be tested to make certain that they don't have any infectious diseases that can be transmitted.​

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[Chicago1989]

Another thing that I think can help the product is separating the wrestlers that are passionate about making it from the ones that don't care about making it. I believe that there are alot of wrestlers in the WWE that only care about being on TV and not ascending to the top. Those wrestlers either have to step it up or be cut.

Wrestlers are also lacking intensity. Most of them are just phoning it in and going through the motions, cutting bland promos with their bland characters. Back in the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Era, most of the wrestlers were getting themselves noticed by their hard work and their passion to succeed. You don't see that these days...

 

[Septumus]

How to Fix the WWE: Lariat’s Take​

3) More talent development locations– You know that five million dollars spent on TouT? That could be used to open up at least three to four new training facilities across the country. It’s a simple concept – open a territory in California, Texas, Florida, and either New York of Philadelphia. You make the talent travel as if they’d be traveling in the WWE, give them titles to defend and teach them the ropes of the business. And have one show featuring ALL the territories! Have them cut promos, wrestle enhancement talent, and learn how to make it in the business. Teaching new wrestlers how to handle the daily grind of the road will go a long way into making better superstars.

I just would like to add to this. Don't just do it in the US. Add training places in the UK and Canada, as well as elsewhere like Japan(possibly). WWE has loved its Canadian and UK wrestlers, let them train closer to home as well as earn some untapped income in places that get hit twice a year. WWE barely ever hits the west coast in BC, thus I've never been to a show, well, a WWE one. WWE needs to steal Albert Wesker's plan of Complete Global Saturation.

 

[thatotherguy]

A few points...

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST MIGHT OFFEND SOME FANS OUT THERE. GOOD. BECAUSE LAST TIME I CHECKED, HAVING AN OPINION ISN’T AGAINST THE LAW. SURE FOLKS MIGHT MAKE SOMEONE LOOK STUPID, BUT OUR OPINIONS AND THOUGHTS ARE WHAT MAKE US SO DIFFERENT. THIS IS MY PERSONAL TAKE ON HOW TO FIX THE MENUCIA THAT IS THE WWE AND TO HOPEFULLY PUT THE WWE BACK ABOVE A 3.0 IN THE RATINGS. ENJOY THE SHOW…

I'm honestly not sure why you put this at the top seeing as you didn't say anything all that controversial. Although you did get Mack Swagger upset so…good for you?

1) Overexposure – Nothing hurts a product more than overexposure. Seeing too much of anything will make it less appealing. Big Bang Theory somehow transcends that, but the rest of the TV universe does not. The WWE has Raw, Smackdown, Superstars, Main Event, and Saturday Morning Slam, plus a PPV each month, and a website full of classic matches. Too much of anything will eventually make you sick. It’s science.

To a certain extent I agree with you. To a certain extent. Superstars probably has no relevance anymore, but I don't think anyone is watching it. Saturday Morning Slam is only watched by kids (and a few admirably hardcore fans) and is only a half hour so I can't say it's causing too much overexposure. I haven't been on the website itself in years and I don't think I'm alone in that regard. The problem I see it is the main dose of television programming. 6 hours a week that contribute in major ways to storylines. That's a lot of time. I wouldn't even call that overexposure so much as making it far too time consuming to be a wrestling fan. I'd say that the real problem here is that these 6 hours are just too much for me to invest my time in. Which pretty much covers your point two so I won't bother with it.

3) Social Media – The last thing any wrestling promotion should do is embrace anything to do with being ‘social’. Wrestling was founded on being a mysterious event that was entertaining. We knew that Flair and Rhodes never had drinks together. We knew that Hogan and Sting didn’t go eat dinner when they were in WCW. It was what’s called ‘kayfabe’ – something the WWE’s completely lost touch with. Vince McMahon’s never been a fan of ‘wrasslin’ as he likes to call it. He’s in the sports-entertainment industry. Many documentaries and interviews have stated that Vince hates wrestling in the traditional sense. His wrestlers are ‘superstars’ and the fans are called the ‘WWE Universe’ – a rather contrite thing to do, I might add, to name your fan base. (...) Now, what Vince has done is have his cronies create an app for smartphones to catch action during commercials and to see ‘backstage’ activity that they wouldn’t see on actual television. I’ve got news for you; no one is sitting on their couch with an iPad in one hand, a computer with a webcam in front of them, while watching Raw on TV. (...) The average fan wants to simply watch the program and be left out of the loop on certain things. It’s what makes the world of pro wrestling so unique. Instead, Vince McMahon wants to break that fourth wall and pretty much let everyone know what goes on, even if it exposes the inward workings of the business.

The inward workings of the business have, or at least appear to have been, exposed for a few years, and Vince was well behind accepting that. Let's face it, wrestling companies today have an impossibly difficult task in front of them. For you see, they have to make a product that will please both the hardcore fan and the casual fan. But I'm going to stop rambling for a second because you've identified at least three separate problems here, one of which is not really connected to the other two.

1. Vince's distaste for "wrasslin'". In one sense this is a huge problem because he's in the "wrasslin'" business. In another sense this is what made wrestling popular. His desire to make wrestling more movie-like, heavier on stories, lighter on simplicity eventually turned the WWF, then WCW into a massive entity. Well that and Vince's desire to buy every territory in the country.
2. WWE's vocabulary problems. Personally, I've never cared what you call it. Call it "sports-entertainment" (okay, the term is far too unwieldy for my taste) call them "superstars" I don't particularly care. But at the same time it's a symptom of problem (1) – Vince doesn't like stuff associated with "wrasslin'". And why not call it wrestling? Why not call them wrestlers. It's so much easier that way. So far I'm with you.
3. The WWE's obsession with social media. All right, I do see how you've connected this to points (1) and (2) but I don't think the connection is so strong. There came a point where WWE realized that people were tweeting (and yes this precedes WWE's obsession with twitter by quite a bit) about their shows and decided to make a thing of it. And boy did they make a thing about it. In fact they took it way too far. But as far as being connected to Vince's distaste for "wrasslin'". Sorry, don't see it.

As far as your point about the mystique of wrestling (not the word you used, but I think it's the right word in this case), I think wrestling lost its mystique a long time ago and as long as the internet is a thing, it's never getting it back. WWE's going to have to accept that the outside world is talking about them in a way they may not like and make the best of it.

4) Talent – I’ve watched the WWE full time since 1987, and I can tell you that I’ve never seen such a lackluster amount of talent in the WWE at one given time. During the ‘Attitude Era’, any number of wrestlers could have taken the ball and ran with it. You had Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Kane, Kurt Angle, and numerous others that could draw a crowd to the arena. Now, you have John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Ryback, Daniel Bryan, Kane, CM Punk, and Chris Jericho. Out of the names mentioned, who would you trust to take the WWE to the next era? Now, there’s some potential with certain superstars, but it’s worrisome to see a lack of depth when it comes to main event talent. And on top of that, part time wrestlers like The Rock, Undertaker, HHH, and Brock Lesnar are your biggest money drawing wrestlers. That’s not good.

Oy. OY!. I hate this one, I really do. Because it's all on WWE. Swagger, Ryback, Del Rio, Ziggler. These are guys that could easily take WWE forward. But WWE hasn't invested the time into them. Let's face it, with the exception of Ryback, WWE hasn't made a concentrated effort with any of those guys, and even with Ryback, the time they spent on him was limited to a few squash matches before losing main events. Of course no one takes those guys seriously. The WWE never took them seriously.

[quote1] Less is more – I know that Vince and the WWE want to generate as much revenue as possible, but something has to be dialed back. What I would do is take the first hour off of Monday Night Raw and put it back to 9PM, do away with Main Event and put Superstars on ION TV instead and keep Saturday Morning Slam for the kids. [/quote].

I'm with you all the way on this. I don't really care one way or the other about the "insider stuff" so I'm not going to make a big point of it. The only other note I'd make is I think Main Event is a better fit for the WWE than Superstars, but honestly, I'd get rid of both of them.

2) No more scripted promos!

Again no argument, but a note that they are doing that on NXT and I believe the idea is to integrate that into the WWE. They do need to do it slowly mind you. People used to working off of scripts aren't going to learn to improv overnight.

3) More talent development locations– You know that five million dollars spent on TouT? That could be used to open up at least three to four new training facilities across the country. It’s a simple concept – open a territory in California, Texas, Florida, and either New York of Philadelphia. You make the talent travel as if they’d be traveling in the WWE, give them titles to defend and teach them the ropes of the business. And have one show featuring ALL the territories! Have them cut promos, wrestle enhancement talent, and learn how to make it in the business. Teaching new wrestlers how to handle the daily grind of the road will go a long way into making better superstars.

It's an interesting idea but I don't think it will do a lot for the WWE. I agree that teaching them about life on the road could be useful but other than that...I don't think it would be worth the money. That being said, I can't exactly think of a better place for it so…I guess that would be fine, on balance.

4) Bring back some realistic elements – When someone takes violent shots throughout a match, bruises and aches and pains take place. If your head is rubbed into a cage or meets a folding chair, it’ll cut you. If you’re put in a submission hold and you tap out, that appendage should hurt for a few days. My point is that those elements are done away with for the most part. Bring back some occasional blood in cage or hardcore matches, or have someone miss TV time or be unable to wrestle because of an injury. It’s those little things that can make a huge difference in fan experience.

Yes and for more realism, let's have them not do high flying moves!

I kid, but if you're looking for realism, wrestling is not your thing. Blood...I'm fine with bringing it back if it's heavily regulated, but I don't want to see people bleeding in every match. I want the blood to mean something. I think selling an injury from a submission hold beyond the date it occurs, which while realistic, would honestly hurt the product. The WWE relies on their guys looking as fresh as possibly in every match. That being said, more kayfabe injuries would be a good thing. Cena's Achilles, whether it's a work or not (hint: it is, or they wouldn't have him in a match this month) is a brilliant move in this respect. They've managed to incorporate that fully into the story they're telling.

Finally, thank you for putting this enormous amount of effort into your post.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

A good start would be to quit having your damn midcard champions lose all the time. It makes absolutely no sense and that's why nobody can ever advance up the ranks consistently. Everybody is always skpetical that guys like Kingston and Barrett can never be stars. Well, if they lose all the time then they can't be. Vince and the WWE needs to realize that Cena is not going to be around forever and that goes for Taker and HHH. They need to start making new stars and having guys that can actually win even as midcard champions on a regular basis would be a great start instead of having them lose every single week.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

1) Overexposure – Nothing hurts a product more than overexposure. Seeing too much of anything will make it less appealing. Big Bang Theory somehow transcends that, but the rest of the TV universe does not. The WWE has Raw, Smackdown, Superstars, Main Event, and Saturday Morning Slam, plus a PPV each month, and a website full of classic matches. Too much of anything will eventually make you sick. It’s science.

I agree and disagree. The WWF has had many hours of TV since "In Your House" started expanding the PPV schedule, many of which were recap shows. The issue I see these days is that the company seems to give the impression that the only show that matters is RAW. The main example of this is the use of guys like the Rock and Brock Leanar, both of these guys have strong links to SmackDown (it was named in the Great One's honor, for Pete's sake), yet how many times has either appeared on the blue brand from they returned? Likewise, compare the amount of times Cena, Trips or Vince appears on SD in comparison to RAW and yet SD's top guys are on EVERY RAW. If the WWe doesn't care about it's subsidiary shows - why should we?

2) Three Hours of programming – One of the many things that lead to the downfall of WCW Monday Nitro was being on the air for three hours. Back then, Nitro done this to make sure they had a head start on Raw by airing unopposed for an hour to build their card so fans wouldn’t click over and watch the WWE. So why is the WWE doing this? There’s no competition on Monday Nights. The 9PM title slot is Raw’s signature. And if the extra hour would put more wrestlers on TV, then I’d be for the move, but all they use that extra time for is recapping every stupid thing that happens over and over again. It’s a waste of money and talent to add an hour to programming and not be productive with it.

Actually, I have nothing against the 3 hour format - it's the use of it that irks me. Back when Nitro was good, the first hour was used to provide us with the Cruiserweight Division - without it we wouldn't have had Eddie, Y2J, Rey etc. This was fresh, innovative and introduced us to new guys who didn't have roots in the "Big 2". Surely it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to attempt similar things now? Why have NXT on WWe.com when it could give it's guys exposure during the first hour.

3) Social Media – The last thing any wrestling promotion should do is embrace anything to do with being ‘social’. Wrestling was founded on being a mysterious event that was entertaining. We knew that Flair and Rhodes never had drinks together. We knew that Hogan and Sting didn’t go eat dinner when they were in WCW. It was what’s called ‘kayfabe’ – something the WWE’s completely lost touch with. Vince McMahon’s never been a fan of ‘wrasslin’ as he likes to call it. He’s in the sports-entertainment industry. Many documentaries and interviews have stated that Vince hates wrestling in the traditional sense. His wrestlers are ‘superstars’ and the fans are called the ‘WWE Universe’ – a rather contrite thing to do, I might add, to name your fan base. Because being just a WWE fan isn’t enough. You have to be encompassed into the UNIVERSE! Now, what Vince has done is have his cronies create an app for smartphones to catch action during commercials and to see ‘backstage’ activity that they wouldn’t see on actual television. I’ve got news for you; no one is sitting on their couch with an iPad in one hand, a computer with a webcam in front of them, while watching Raw on TV. And if you do such a thing, please do yourself a favor and find the nearest wall and hit your head against said wall as hard as you can. The average fan wants to simply watch the program and be left out of the loop on certain things. It’s what makes the world of pro wrestling so unique. Instead, Vince McMahon wants to break that fourth wall and pretty much let everyone know what goes on, even if it exposes the inward workings of the business.

Totally agree, everybody today (except possibly children) knows that wrestling is a work. What we don't need is that fact rammed down our throats constantly - I don't want to see heels like the Big Show being nicey nicey, get a face to fill that roll at public appearances. Likewise this seeing 'behind the curtain' also grates, do shows like the 'Big Bang Theory' constantly remind you that they're fictional? What infuriates even more is that this doesn't apply across the board, Big Show is a nice guy away from the ring but the Undertaker is the 'Dead Man' 24/7?

4) Talent – I’ve watched the WWE full time since 1987, and I can tell you that I’ve never seen such a lackluster amount of talent in the WWE at one given time. During the ‘Attitude Era’, any number of wrestlers could have taken the ball and ran with it. You had Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, HHH, Undertaker, Kane, Kurt Angle, and numerous others that could draw a crowd to the arena. Now, you have John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Ryback, Daniel Bryan, Kane, CM Punk, and Chris Jericho. Out of the names mentioned, who would you trust to take the WWE to the next era? Now, there’s some potential with certain superstars, but it’s worrisome to see a lack of depth when it comes to main event talent. And on top of that, part time wrestlers like The Rock, Undertaker, HHH, and Brock Lesnar are your biggest money drawing wrestlers. That’s not good.

Again, I wholeheartedly agree. We're not long removed from the longest reign in a quarter century and the most blatant thing I noticed about it was that the guy who had it was only moved into the main event slot when he was thrown up against the Rock! Since the early noughties it can be very reasonably argued that the only proven headliner created is John Cena, ONE guy in over a decade... that's a scary thought.

Now that I’ve gone on a tangent about what’s wrong with the WWE, here’s how it can be fixed.

1) Less is more – I know that Vince and the WWE want to generate as much revenue as possible, but something has to be dialed back. What I would do is take the first hour off of Monday Night Raw and put it back to 9PM, do away with Main Event and put Superstars on ION TV instead and keep Saturday Morning Slam for the kids. I would also do away with the behind the scenes bullshit on the WWE app. Break news if you want to, but no more backstage stuff and no more watching what is going on during commercials. Also, TouT has to be gone. It makes no sense to have software that lets you ‘tout’ what you want to say for 15 seconds. The WWE apparently invested five MILLION dollars into TouT. I can think of so many different places where that money would have been put to better use. I’d also have the wrestlers tweet NOTHING but kayfabe stuff. No more ‘insider’ talk or anything like that. Stick to the script. No interactions with faces or heels unless it’s one of them telling the other that they’re going to rip them apart. Protect the business.

I agree with the removal of anything removing the mystique, I want to believe that the Big Show is a cold calculating bully.

However, I have no issues with the programming PROVIDED it is constructively utilized. With the programming they have available there is no reason to consider the World Title a lesser belt; there is no reason why the IC and US belts are regarded as jokes; there is no reason to decry the Tag or Womens Divisions and there is no reason why the WWe could not have a thriving Cruiserweight Division... and yet all of these things are current issues. When 4 of the last 5 bouts at your marque event feature at least one guy who isn't full time you are NOT utilizing your workforce.

2) No more scripted promos! – Nothing is dumber than seeing a member of the WWE flub a line or look at cue cards when they’re trying to convey an emotion. We’re asking too much of wrestlers to have to read a certain thing on a cue card. In the old days, you were given bullet points to hit, and if you hit them, you got the point across. You were given 2-3 minutes to cut a promo and that’s it. No remembering lines or rehearsals. Speaking from the heart is what made guys like Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock so great. Now, it’s making the current wrestlers look unprofessional and untalented. Teach the right way of doing things.

3) More talent development locations– You know that five million dollars spent on TouT? That could be used to open up at least three to four new training facilities across the country. It’s a simple concept – open a territory in California, Texas, Florida, and either New York of Philadelphia. You make the talent travel as if they’d be traveling in the WWE, give them titles to defend and teach them the ropes of the business. And have one show featuring ALL the territories! Have them cut promos, wrestle enhancement talent, and learn how to make it in the business. Teaching new wrestlers how to handle the daily grind of the road will go a long way into making better superstars.

I think these two points can be addresses together, it's no secret that the greatest superstars that the WWF have ever produced were exaggerations of who they actually are. Why mess with that? Many of the top new guys on the Indie and International scenes have actually followed this model and yet, what does creative do when they get hold of them? Rename them and remove much of what made the talent scouts notice them in the first place.

For me, it doesn't seem that complicated. Let them earn their stripes in the Indies, then bring them in and work with (not against) what makes them stand out. FCW should be used to remove the 'bad habits' (stiffness, over reliance on cussin etc) NOT to brainwash.

4) Bring back some realistic elements – When someone takes violent shots throughout a match, bruises and aches and pains take place. If your head is rubbed into a cage or meets a folding chair, it’ll cut you. If you’re put in a submission hold and you tap out, that appendage should hurt for a few days. My point is that those elements are done away with for the most part. Bring back some occasional blood in cage or hardcore matches, or have someone miss TV time or be unable to wrestle because of an injury. It’s those little things that can make a huge difference in fan experience.

Chair shots to the head are abolished and I, personally, stand over this being the case having been affected personally by blunt force trauma to the head. Color, like it or not, is also unlikely to return in the current kid orientated format. That doesn't detract from guys selling though, like him or loath him at the time but you could honestly feel that 'New Generation' HBK was being killed in bouts without him having to go all Naitch blood mask. With the amount of legitimate injuries these guys get surely playing Ricky Morton really shouldn't be that tough... Jeez, hire the man himself as a trainer and he'll show them how to do it!

That’s my personal take on what I would do to fix the WWE.

And a very respectable take it is... and rumor has it that the WWe is looking to take new views on board. The IWC might possibly be the most maligned fan base ever (even behind Twihards and Beliebers) but for all the "Cena sux" and "Push generic midcarder" idiocy that do proliferate these style of forums and the like, there is intelligent and sensible posters... it mightn't hurt some wrestling big wigs to possibly consider some of the suggestions. After all, had it not been for radical thought WCW would not have surpassed the WWF and the WWF would not have reacted with even greater restructuring.

 

[EastCoastFan]

I agree with a lot of your points. I've been saying WWE is overexposed for years. I fully understand they want the $ that goes with additional programming, but there comes a time when there's too much. I'd scale back to Raw (2 hours only), Smackdown, and maybe NXT & Saturday Morning Slam.

Doing away with pre-scripted promos should be interesting. I know Triple H wants to get rid of them, but his wife Stephanie was the one who implemented them in the first place!

Social media isn't really a bad thing. I understand WWE is keeping up with the times and using what's popular to their advantage, but they go to ridiculous lengths to plug their social media.

 

[Judah's Lion]

Finally, thank you for putting this enormous amount of effort into your post.

100% agree here. Lariat and Jackhammer both put forth a lot of time, effort and intelligence in their posts and i really appreciate it as a fan of wrestling and these forums.

i've really enjoyed reading the OP and the responses thus far and would like to touch on a previous point made and add one of my own...

1. the talent roster. Jackhammer created a thread earlier this week asking if WWE had "too much talent". i couldn't articulate my thoughts at the time and so never responded to that thread, but i'll try here. WWE definitely has the talent pool available. they have the potential. that potential, though limitless, seems mostly untapped at this current point in time, but the potential remains.

i agree that WWE should focus more on the full-time guys. not only are they putting forth the work at house shows and on tv, but they're younger and so have the time to put in and take WWE to the next era. what happens in a few years when Taker, Kane, Big Show, Mark Henry, Rey Mysterio, Triple H, Brock and Rock are all gone? in fact, most of those guys hardly work a full schedule as it is now.

another thing i've noticed about today's roster is the lack of characters. the best word i can use to describe it is a tie between "generic" and "vanilla". Alex Riley, Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, Antonio Cesaro, Wade Barrett, Mason Ryan, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan, etc. guys on the roster just seem to have basic names and ring attires. i'm not suggesting that every superstar have a name like Ultimate Warrior, Sgt. Slaughter or Jake the Snake. but i think more characters and gimmicks would help talent to stand out. Ryback is a pretty decent example. forget the terrible booking and his 5 straight ppv losses. his name, look, move set and catch phrase is simple but effective. it's larger than life. few others in the WWE can say the same.

2. championships. one of the things that the Attitude Era had going for it, in both the WWE and WCW, was that there was a place for most people on the roster. there was a division for them to hang around in and a championship for them to hold or chase. Crash Holly had the Hardcore Title. Dean Malenko had the Cruiserweight Title. Too Cool had the Tag Team Titles.

i think the WWE should unify some titles: the World Titles should be one belt. the IC/US Titles should be one belt too. so now you've got one World Title, one Mid-Card Title and the Tag Team Titles. i get that in this PG Era, the Hardcore Title might be a huge stretch and never to happen again. i have accepted that and lost zero sleep over it. but a Cruiserweight Title would be so helpful to so many guys on the roster.

when you unify the titles, you instantly double the talent that chase the title. this keeps feuds fresh. it adds depth to the divisions.

to be honest, my plan is to sit back and enjoy the show the best i can as long as i can for the time being. i actually think that we might see some of these changes we're all hoping for once Triple H takes over from Vince. he seems to genuinely care about the wrestling business and its fans.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

My point in Social Media is not to do away with it as a whole, but to make it more toward the character development and keep in kayfabe as opposed to having the wrestlers break character and chastise fans or treat them differently than they would if they were on TV.

Twitter can be useful if the superstars don't break character. TouT is not useful to anyone. And Facebook should simply be a 'fan site' with random updates from the WWE and not the actual wrestlers themselves.

I'm an advocate of old school and believe that protecting real and reality is something that the WWE should hopefully try to bring back.

 

[#IndyRules]

The whole opinion is great.

But

I have a few things to add, some are like what some have said before me.

1. More characters - In the last 5 years how many good gimmicks or characters have been introduced to the fans ? In my opinion maybe 1, that being Ryback. Back in the Atittude Era you had the likes of Kane (back when he was a monster), The Godfather, Goldust, Undertaker, Gangrel and of course the three characters portrayed by Mick Foley. These were all interesting characeters. Nowadays you only have Ryback.(Of course you have Kane, Big Show adn Undertaker but there old news) WWE seriously need to step it up and make more interesting characters.

2. Bring back the Brand Split - If they brought this back it would mean that every title has its place and allows wrestlers the chance to go after something exclusive on there own brand. For instance the WHC is a Smackdown! title but is seen on Raw every week when was CM Punk ever on Smackdown! with the WWE title. With Punk not there it meant if people wanted to see the WWE champ they had to wait for Raw where as people had two bites of the cherry when it came to the WHC which was on RAW all the time. Make titles and theres holders exclusive and must see to bring legitimacy back. Tangent there but the point remains valid. With superstars being exclusive to brands it allows less used talents on either brand to fill the gap that there Raw or SD counterparts left when they went back to there own brand therefore giving them more air time.

3. Bring back either the Cruiserweight division - Lets face it the majority of people watching WWE are kids. Kids love there superheroes don't they ? They see them flying about and it makes them want to watch that more and that brings me to the point of cruiserweights. Let's say 11 years back you had a thriving cruiserweight division that consisted of great high-flyers and technical wrestlers like Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman and Chavo Guerrero. These guys literally flew around the room. Look at Rey Mysterio, all his biggest fand are children who love his high-flying offensive and some even liken him to a superhero.

Sooner Triple H is the head of the business the better !​

 

[byrnside]

Sooner Triple H is the head of the business the better !​

This. In a nutshell, Triple H has made so many strides over the last couple of years. Triple H is a wrestler and he's a wrestling fan. People have already documented that Vince isn't a "wrestling" fan. Don't get me wrong, I have an enormous amount of respect for Vince, but he's losing his touch. He's taking the WWE too far into the "entertainment" aspect. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with getting in the 3's as far as ratings go. I also think it's hard to compare Nitro to RAW for many reasons, mainly how WCW was run at the time. I'm not positive, but I think because of DVR and the likes of Hulu, YouTube and hell, even WWE.com shows you classic matches for free, it's tougher to gauge ratings now versus 2001.

I will definitely agree that more often than not, 3 hrs is too long for RAW. Believe me, I recap it for RadioInfluence.com (Mick Foley plug.) Without a Monster Energy or a couple of strong cups of coffee, more often than not, I'm getting restless. They either need to get rid of the third hour, or start utilizing it. I was telling someone recently that Smackdown needs to go. I know, it's "the wrestling show," but why the hell can't RAW be the wrestling show? I think they should keep RAW and Saturday AM Slam. Those Saturday morning shows are what bring in new fans, plain and simple. At least WWF Mania was a big reason why I started watching. I would even say they can keep Superstars as a WWE.com-based show. Lastly, and I know this will probably never happen, but I think they should cut down to 8 pay per views a year. The problem is that all of these shows generate money. So why not make the money?

I also think they should merge the US and IC titles. There are too many titles on a roster that is already stretched so thin. These titles need to mean something again, and if everyone has a title, what's the point?

I really like Lariat's idea of essentially having territories for developmental. I've heard countless veterans and huge stars say that a HUGE thing that is missing from the WWE is that so many of these new guys get brought in and have very little experience. How the "old-timers" got the experience was through traveling to various territories and honing their craft. Jake Roberts spent over ten years in wrestling, traveling the territories before he became "The Snake."

I also think the WWE should be hiring several more ex-superstars to become agents. I know guys like Malenko, Steamboat, Dusty, Arn Anderson, Roaddogg, and Billy Gunn are all signed on, but I think there should be more. Jake Roberts says he'd like a shot. I say give him one. What about guys like The Honky Tonk Man? Didn't he just sign a Legends contract? Why not utilize some of his talents? I'm not suggesting The Rock or Stone Cold come in and work as agents, that's unrealistic. But there are tons of overlooked and underrated wrestlers that were masters of their craft that probably could use a job. These young stars need to learn things like psychology, and I think Triple H is trying his hardest to get that done. Lastly, and Lariat covered this, the scripts have got to go.

 

[Nyce18]

Ive been a fan since 1988 and like many of you, have weathered the storm with WWE (and WCW for a certain time) through its highs and lows. It seems to me that wrestling as a whole goes through cycles of popularity, but for quite some time now I feel we find ourselves at a low, creatively, though it seems business is still "booming" for them. Now here goes a few short and simple ideas I feel would benefit WWE and somewhat appease its fans (or this one at least). First and foremost, if they arent going to do anything beneficial with pushing new talent consistently, get rid of the 3rd hour. 2 hours seemed to be becoming too much as it was, nevermind adding an additional 1. Secondly, reduce the amount of ppvs from every month to maybe 5 or 6 a year. This does two things. It allows for the "pay off" matches to have more build and a special feel and it gets us interested more in seeing a pay off after 2+ months of build as opposed to throwing a feud together to culminate after 3 or so weeks. 3rd and quite possibly most important to me at least, bring back the jobbers. How many times are we going to watch an Orton/Big Show match,for example, on free tv 12 times throughout the year to really truly care about dropping $ to watch it on a ppv?! Or how many times are they going to waste a talent such as Cesaro dropping matches to Orton on free tv when that match for example is a prime example of a quality ppv match with the right storyline? Instead, build Cesaro through jobbers and mic time. Also, this makes main events each week on raw and SD feel more special and want us to tune in because we know matches like that wont occur all the time on raw. Instead we get Cena vs Jericho, Cena vs Punk, Punk vs Ziggler, Ziggler vs Bryan... all matches that should feel special whether on raw or on a ppv... instead reduced to a match we see every week, every month and then 2 ppvs later at Summerslam!