Some WWE matches and feuds don't feel special because of the way WWE books them.

[AegonTargaryen]

Some matches we've seen in the last year, felt "special" and did actually deliver, like the Roman Reigns-AJ Styles matches.

But some matches and feuds to me feel to be lacking in Mystique or big-time feel, such as the KO-Jericho feud.

Could it be that because they were in the ring so often every single week, it just didn't feel any special?

Even the AJ Styles vs Chris Jericho match for the first time ever was booked on Raw following the Rumble, JUST LIKE THAT.

By the time they faced each other on WM 32, it was the FOURTH TIME. I still scratch my head thinking of why they would make them face one other on Raw, on Smackdown, then on Fastlane, and then on WM, instead of pairing them up as a tag team, then having Chris turn on AJ and have the dream match at WM 32, the way they booked Styles-Cena later.

Remember when Kurt Angle debuted in TNA and they treated the Angle-Joe match as "Only in TNA" dream match? Which of course it was. I'm sure it was booked for a PPV and not rushed.

Styles-Jericho had all the elements of being such a match, but when they wrestled at Mania, it just didn't feel special. Whereas Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho at WM 19 felt like a BIG DEAL. Special.

What does that tell you?

Shouldn't the WWE be treating some feuds and matches as big deal?

Is it just my own perceptions or WWE has been doing something wrong?

Also, I'm specifically thinking about Chris Jericho's stint in the WWE right now and if he were to stay, he could have matches with Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, and depending on if Shinsuke Nakamura debuts on the same show as Jericho, him. Also, I don't remember Jericho and Seth Rollins having a proper feud, and I vaguely recall them having matches, which means they were just matches on TV and not treated as anything "special".

Shouldn't these sorts of matches feel like a big deal?

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I think it should but with the way wwe is right especially with raw we're they have to feel time, they seem like sometimes they don't have any imagination n how to tell a story so they just have those guys face each other over and over again until you just don't care when the big ppv match happens.

The best exemple would be the sasha banks/charlotte feud and bayley vs charlotte afterward. The fact that they face each others so much made the big matches means less and that happens alot on raw. Reigns and owens had the same problem going into the rumble we're they face each other so many time going toward their universal title match at the rumble.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

It's just the way things are now. With the network they no longer have to sell a PPV. We can see a PPV match that we've seen twice on RAW the month leading up to it. They'll give away things like Orton/AJ on TV for free in hopes for maybe a ratings spike for that week. It's why aside from the big shows, all PPV's feel like a bloated RAW or Smackdown. Even the big shows take a hit because we've seen a lot of the matches before and not just before but in the pretty recent past.

I don't know if I'd say they're doing things "wrong"... I mean it's a lot less pressure from a business standpoint knowing you don't have to worry about selling a PPV because you're gonna get $16 million a month regardless and you don't have to put in that effort anymore. But from a fans perspective it sucks.

 

[Azane]

I know exactly what you mean, I saw this for most feuds in the past couple years, seeing them fight a full length, often clean finish match on free tv, then 2 weeks later they're wrestling at a "ppv" event. There's 2 ways this works, either I stop caring about Free TV, or I stop caring about the monthly events. I've taken the stance of not watching most RAW/Smackdowns now, I get cliffnotes and rewatch some key points, but I don't have 6 hours a week to watch the main Wrestling content between the 3 main shows anymore if there's not going to be an "anything can happen" atmosphere.

It's sort of like in NXT when they had Nakamura and Joe fight 4 times, or Joe and Finn fight 8 times, it's why when people brought up Joe coming to main roster to fight Joe, I cringe, I've seen this match too many times recently. PPVs being rematches from RAW shouldn't be the norm, sure there's some storylines that work from Rematches either respect or heel beatdowns, or something, but I'd rather not see Dolph and Miz fight for 9 weeks straight, then have a PPV match like they did last year.... all over a KFC Commercial.

I know you're speaking of the main event scene and big matches, but it's something that has plagued the midcard to death in the last few years too. They keep booking feuds like it's from WWE2k16 where feuds just meant you wrestle the same guy every week until PPV then you win or lose the feud, and nothing happens.

Another thing that they keep doing wrong, is having champions retain on PPV and then having a rematch the next night and a title change, this has kind of happened like 6 or 7 times in the past year.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Things were always the same... it's just WAY more noticeable now as they're diluting the talent pool into 5 hours of Main Roster TV, 6 Hours of PPV and NXT/205 on top. It's matches to have content and fill time rather than to be memorable.

In the 80's you still had "dull" PPV matches... they weren't booked particularly better, but they had the gloss. Take Summerslam 91 - chock full of dull matches like IRS v Greg Valentine or LOD v Power & Glory... no real feud behind them but WWE could hide it with a last minute interview and the odd face off on TV. Take those longer Wrestlemanias like 6 and 7 that had 14 matches in 2 1/2 or 3 hours... most were "filler" feuds rather than killer ones, but I'd prefer that to this 5 hour crap that they do now with kick offs.. just have the 14, shorter matches.

Attitude Era diluted it somewhat as you started getting proper "main events" on TV and now it's really hard in today's WWE to make a match special, however it is booked...when you know the reality is you'll see the rematch for free on TV 9 times out of ten. Even if not, you've seen most possible "big matches" as a throwaway to fill TV... Say AJ moved to RAW and Zayn stays... we've already seen them fight last year so there's no build up to it as a feud. Most of the roster have been fed to Strowman already... Remember when there were matches you'd NEVER seen happening quite regularly? Those days are long gone and that hurts as much as anything when it comes to building feuds... AJ/Jericho went some way last year to righting that but they seem to have lost their way again a bit.

NXT Takeovers kind of have it right... cos they're only every 2 months or so you get time to build matches, introduce new characters etc... in reality thats what most WWE PPV matches were in the day - introducing the majority of fans to talents properly. You might have caught IRS on Superstars in July/August 91... but you defo caught him at Summerslam and thats what NXT is doing well that the main roster isn't.

This week at Mania, the Hardyz come back... win the titles and realistically Jeff could be on Smackdown by next week in the title picture... you'll see all that play out on RAW and Smackdown rather than PPV.

The PPV's aren't special anymore and thus the feuds have to be VERY special... even Jericho/Owens didn't seem THAT big a deal on the night...not sure it was booked wrong, but it just didn't have that "big match" feel because it wasn't for the big belt.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Hard to argue that any fourth match can be big or more important than a first match. Especially when you have two popular veterans working. Styles and Jericho probably wasn't supposed to be an event that mattered that much at Mania 32. It was on the card to please the smarks, not put the butts in seats. WWE did not have as much with Styles at that point. It all has built since then.

That all said, yes, not all feuds feel that important. This Mania had an amazing card full of incredible talent. Probably the greatest talent ever. Most matches had a story yet I never felt all that emotionally attached to anything.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Styles vs. Jericho was really good the first time it happened on Raw. It was also good the second time it happened on Smackdown. Then they had another match at Fastlane. And another match at WM32. And another match on Raw the next night to finally end the feud. By that point, it didn't matter how good the match was. After happening five times in just a couple of months, you can't expect any matches to feel special.

WWE needs to find a way to build matches without having the wrestlers wrestle over and over again. Ridiculously enough, they had a perfect way to do this: Y2AJ. It was a great idea, but they scrapped it after 2-3 weeks. The team should have lasted until after Fastlane. Then have Jericho turn on Styles before Styles wins the third and final match at WM32. Or we could have wrestle over and over until no one really cared.

Like most other problems in WWE, booking is to blame. We see the same matches over and over again. You can attribute some of this to the TV schedule. They have to fill 5 hours a week plus a PPV (sometimes two) each month. Obviously not every match can be fresh and a huge deal, but they need to come up with different ways to build feuds.

 

[ShinChan]

AJ Styles Vs. Roman Reigns was fun to watch because the matches at Payback & Extreme Rules were awesome. Kevin Owens Vs. Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania 33 wasn't. Bray Wyatt Vs. Randy Orton was nowhere near being good.

It does depend on the booking stuff but also on the match quality. Seeing a match a couple of times already before Wrestlemania immediately decreases the interest in the next match like AJ Styles Vs. Chris Jericho last year.

AJ Styles Vs. John Cena was awesome as well. Be it promo wise or match quality wise. They have faced each other a multiple times.

Money In The Bank, Battleground (Tag Match), Summerslam, No Mercy, Royal Rumble & Elimination Chamber. So many times but I won't mind another match because quality trumps quantity here.

 

[Avalanche™]

nothing feels special anymore because its the same people fighting over and over again week in and week out. guys like Owens, Zayn, Bray, and Ambrose are on TV way too much.