What is a good storyline?

[mojmass]

Throughout the WWE lifetime we saw so many feuds and so many storyline some of them good ,some of them bad ,some them great ,and some of them disaster.
What makes a storyline so good or so bad?
my opinion of a good storyline is that both part of feud should be almost equal, inside the ring and have almost the same level of reputation.
Sorry if my examples are repetitive and you saw them in my former posts but right now that's all I have in my mind.
let's start with punk/ryback feud. I call it a bad and an almost awful feud due to some reasons. first that time we know that CM Punk have to stay champion until Royal Rumble to face the Rock so his reputation was higher than the newcomer ryback and on the other hand we had the monster ryback and we know there is almost no way a little guy like punk defeat him but because punk was going to face the rock at RR he won in any way he could.
another example punk/rock feud we knew rock waited a long time to have this title match and many people wanted to see him as champion and punk had an already long reign as champ so there was no question that the rock should win.
another example of a very good feud: shaemus/big show ,both evenly matched both same level of reputation and more important than these no matter who won the match the outcome would be great.
but you can't always have perfect feud cause then it will be all the same you must have bad things to appreciate your good things.
so my chosen elements for a good feud: unpredictable result, both guys have same level of skill and reputation. and you can't deny good promos sometimes promos are more entertaining than the matches.
What will it be for you guys?

 

[D-Man]

Good storylines need three things in order to be considered "successful."

1. They need to generate interest.
First and foremost, if you don't have something that sparks the interest of the audience, you're lost. After all, the ultimate goal is to entertain all of us and convince us to watch the storyline unfold.

2. Possible character enhancement.
The ultimate result of character enhancement is about building up fictitious characters' popularity to the point where the audience will either buy their merchandise, purchase PPV's to see them perform, or sell tickets to live events. None of this can happen unless the audience gives a crap about them. So, good television puts storylines in place that spark interest in said characters.

3. There must be a payoff.
Like I said in #2, the wrestling business is all about one thing and one thing only: MAKING MONEY. If a storyline unfolds, a character isn't enhanced, no interest is generated and no money comes as a result, the storyline is a failure.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Personally I think a good storyline is a storyline that is coherent, makes sense and enhances the talent involved in said storyline. I don't want to go with a storyline that's interesting because interesting is dependent on the person watching but if a storyline has a purpose, is somewhat entertaining to watch and helps all involved I would call it a good storyline.

Storyline's should be used to grab the audience's attention and not let go, keep the people enthralled until the very end. Sometimes storylines start strong and end weak, some start weak and end strong, but at the end of the day if there's no purpose to a storyline then its a waste of television time. Overall though I believe it all depends on what the story does for the audience and for the people involved, if it makes things better at least for somebody then the storyline can be considered good. Lastly you want an ending to the storyline, you want there to be a conclusion. All stories need a beginning, middle and end or its not a story.

 

[kdb1612]

One of my favourite feuds in recent years was Christian v Orton in 2011. It was the perfect feud in every way for me. It had multiple angles throughout, first with Christian winning and losing in 5 days, failing to win it back and ultimately snapping (and turning heel), then winning it back in a heel manor. The 'I know I can beat you Randy' promos acknowledged that Orton was the better of the two, but you could believe a Christian win. They got you emotionally invested. The matches themselves were some of the best of the year (bar maybe the one Christian won it back) as both guys are pretty flawless in the ring. I guess the big picture is it told a complete story from beginning to end in an exciting and unpredictable way, so that's the things I'd like to see in future feuds.

The most interesting thing is it was face v face (although Orton was the 'heel')...

 

[#heel420]

To me it must keep your attention and always have you waiting for whats gonna happen next. Character advancement adds a lot.

Some examples of what I think were good storylines.
-The brotherhood of Undertaker & Kane 1997-2010
-The Summer of Punk 2011(Until he started feuding with HHH & Nash then I lost interest)
-The CM Punk/Jeff Hardy rivalry from 2009 was fantastic.
-Randy Orton Vs. Undertaker 2005 Legend Killer Vs. The Legend that just won't die.
-HHH Vs. HBK 2002-2005 Best friends turned to bitter enemies.

 

[edgefan14]

good storylines MUST generate interest from the fans although it doesn't have to be positive

Good storylines usually use high end mid carders or the best in the fanchise

a characters place must rise or fall as in yoshi tatsu goes from knowboy to mid carder or elite

the storyline must make sense and advance to new stages having many of the same matches doesn't work out(example cena and punk 2011) but if you add stipulations or a third point like hulk hogan and andre the giant were it advanced from a normal match to a mania main event

Finally the WWE must make a lot of money off of it profits is what this company is about

Steve Austin vs The McCmahon worked for a solid 3 years
HHH vs HBK was great i culdnt stop watching
Kane and Undertaker would probably still work today
Batista and anybody who stood in his way after he joined forces with the mcmahons
as #heel420 said randy orton vs Undertaker 2005. Legend Killer vs Legend

 

[TJWWE]

What makes a good feud?

Chemistry:
The first thing.. they need to have chemistry in the ring as well as being able to bounce off each other in promos in which allows it to feel like they actually hate each other and not making it feel like it's forced.

Story Buildup:
The feud has to be able to progress from start to the payoff match. The feud has to be a mix of matches (tag, 6 man tags) that involve both stars, promo work and character build.

Make The Fans Care:
When a feud is built, they have to make me care and invest. Examples of feuds that make me care are feuds that have a babyface that is being bullied by the heel and I want the babyface to win the feud by beating them clean. Also, with feuds, if i'm not a fan of either star/team, then I won't be invested in it. In addition, if the stars don't have charisma, then it won't make me care and i'd rather watch a dry painted wall.

 

[CubsFanFrank]

I hate to say it, but most of the best, or at least most successful angles are simply re-treads. Considering that RAW is essentially an ongoing action series, they can't be expexcted to be original year after year;

1. The Mega-Heel Stable
-4 Horsemen
-NWO/Wolfpack
-The Corporation/Corporate Ministry
-(I forget the name, but at some point, young WCW Wrestlers were banded together vs. "the Millionaires Club" when Vince Russo first took over. Epic Failed.)
-Evolution
-Nexus
-The Shield
All varying degrees of power here. They pick apart faces one by one, until the faces get the sudden epiphany to band together and fight back.

2. The Phenom on a Rampage
-Ahmed Johnson
-Goldberg
-Brock Lesner
-Bobby Lashley
-Ryback
Sometimes a heel, sometimes a face. This guy usually comes out of nowhere an tears through mid carders before being catapulted to the main event. Sometimes they have a specified target from day 1.

3. The Unstoppable 1 Man Wrecking Machine
-Giant Gonzalez
-Kane
-Rosie & Jamal (2 guys, but operated as this type of a force)
-The Great Khali
-Umaga (I know, he was Jamal 1st)
Similar to the unstoppable stable, this is a 1 man destructive force that comes out of nowhere and tears through popular mid card faces before a top tier face steps up to stop them, or else has a specific target from the beginning, but first tears destroys mid card faces to generate heel heat regardless.

I was on a Rasslin hiatus in the early-mid 90s, and I think that Undertaker, Yokuzuna, and The Giant originally appeared as either catagory 2 or 3. Not sure though.

4. The Lone Wolf
-Stone Cold
-Sting (vs. NWO)
-John Cena

An uber-popular face who has the odds repeatedly stacked against him, both by The Bosses and Heel wrestlers. Always manages to come out on top.

 

[edgehead113]

I think the key is to have 2 guys with opposite characters, and then the guys just need to go out and have chemistry and help the story evolve as the feud builds. Titles can help enhance good feuds or simply give 2 guys something to feud over. I'm only 20 so I don't remember much attitude era stuff, but even in this 21st century there've been some great feuds/storylines, but most happened before 2009ish when I think things have gone sour except the Punk/Cena feud and the Nexus storyline, not much else has been that memorable to me. Some of the great mid 2000s stuff that comes to mind for me:

- JBL vs. Cena- Arrogant heel vs. up and coming face with charisma
- Booker T vs. Chris Benoit- their 7 match series for the US Title was the greatest thing I've ever seen hapen to it.
- Matt Hardy vs. Edge- Fighting over Lita, not even kayfabe
- Cena vs. Edge- Superman vs. the cheating heel
- Cena vs. Kurt Angle- the height of Cena's powers as a face everyone still liked. Kurt Angle is just gold.
- Randy Orton vs. Undertaker- already mentioned by some posters..
- Batista vs. Undertaker- one of the best WHC feuds of the era.
- HHH vs. Ric Flair- even if Flair was past his prime, it's still an incredible story they told.

 

[Mr. HD]

To make a storyline good, and successful, it needs to meet these criteria IMO.

1) Substance

I need to know why these superstars are fighting each other.

Did the underdog face pin the heel in a tag match and he's upset?

Did the heel boast as being the best and a face come down and tell him otherwise?

Does the heel not like the face and how he carries the title and wants to take it from him and bring prestige back to it?

Did the heel/face win a #1 Contenders match and now has the confidence that he can beat the current superstar?

Why?



2) Promo Intensity

This is KEY in a feud.

Once the feud has been established, we need to hear both sides and generate interest within the crowd and see what both men have to say about each other.

And it's not enough to just talk, we need to hear the Intensity in the superstars' voices. Make us feel like we're watching an Oscar worthy scene and not a bad Soap Opera episode.

When Triple H would cut promos on Rock and Austin, he sounded like he really HATED them. When Edge would cut promos on John Cena, you could tell Cena was literally driving him insane.

Great promo work, Intensity, and more importantly, Realism. If you can't sell it, I don't care about it.

Ex: Wade Barrett and Bo Dallas. How cool would it have been if Barrett was running down Dallas in the ring, Dallas comes down and puts him in his place? BAM! We now care about Bo Dallas and Wade should feel threatened about losing his title.


3) Buildup

This is also important in a feud.

Week in, week out, we need to see these characters interact with each other. And NO, I don't mean sitting at the announce table, standing up, and then just showing the opponent their title. We need to go deeper than that.

Backstage promos/segments.

Jumping them in the middle of their match.

Matches; maybe with the person their feuding with or a multiple man tag match.

Make it PERSONAL. Involve someone's girlfriend, talk about their character, or family, etc. The more personal, the better the build.


4) Payoff

Like D-Man said, the payoff must be good.

Does the face conquer the odds and topple the heel?

Does the heel prove his dominance and win?

Is there a turn of some sort?


If all of these questions are answered after the other criteria have been met in spades, then the feud is a success.

 

[Cvaldezjr04]

Look at TNA and do the exact opposite! Lol lol lol just kidding. In all seriousness though, TIME, GOOD PROMOS (best ones in history have not been scripted), CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, and a good payoff, hopefully not too predictable will make for iinteresting stories