Why aren't they creating more OMG Moments?

[Radical]

Something that often puzzles me about WWE programming is: why don't they create more OMG 'Shocking' moments when they have plenty of opportunities to do so?

We all know this is scripted entertainment and Creative has all the power in the world to create more OMG shocking moments that stand out for fans and help take characters to the next level but often, when I watch or read about a WWE show or PPV, I see an opportunity to make a BIG impact and they instead just make a tiny impact.

For example, they have introduced this big Braun Strowman to the WWE as part of the Wyatt Family. Okay, so he is HUGE and a beast. But yes, he's not Brock Lesnar athletic or even Luke Harper athletic but that's not what he is supposed to be.

Mark Henry was successful in the WWE and he never did a suicide dive to 'wow' the crowd. He did STRONG MAN stuff. He ripped open the steel cage door. He smashed an opponent THROUGH the steel cage to knock it down. He's bent steel over his leg. However, for Henry this took many years. WWE is different now. The world is different and they aren't as patient, so taking years to gets fans invested and impressed with a wrestler isn't usually a luxury they have anymore.

Fans are smart, they know Braun Strowman isn't the most technical wrestler. He's got lots of room for improvement BUT he could be a HUGE asset if he is built properly. One of the things that would help his character is if he was the focal point of some major OMG shocking STRONG MAN moments. Some moments where anyone can see this guy is a beast and appreciate the power. To me, Chokeslamming one guy through a table isn't a OMG Shocking moment. If they wanted to make Strowman a big deal, have him Chokeslam two guys through TWO tables at a time or have him whip someone into a table to smash it. Or, I was thinking, in a backstage segment have him ambush some babyfaces and mess them up in the locker room, trashing things and end it off by smashing them through the wall! That would be a memorable moment and show Strowman to be a beast.

This is just ONE example of ONE wrestler where I see WWE has missed many opportunities to make him look stronger. The other thing is, he needs to use a impact finisher more often. The arm trapped bear hug is okay but doesn't impress a MUCH as a high impact power move would. The one where he has the guy on his shoulder and flipped him off onto the mat is a good one and he should do it more often and/or come up with a new one.

What do you think? Is WWE missing opportunities to make more OMG shocking moments? If so, where were they and how would you have done it differently?

How can WWE make more OMG memorable moments in the future and have them happen a little more often?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Well, the problem with Braun Strowman is that he has some things going against him. There are a good deal of modern fans who seem to have an almost prejudiced attitude towards big, powerhouse wrestlers. Whenever they're in the midst of getting pushed, here come the "he's only getting pushed because Vince likes big guys" or "he's another example of Vince not caring about what the fans want" type of comments. Twenty five years or so ago, more people were in awe of the guys with these Herculean physiques and/or monster powerhouses than they are today; one of the top reasons for the shift among fans is if you look over the course of the last 15 years, I'd go so far as to say a good 70 to 75% of the best guys to enter pro wrestling over the last 15 years are guys who're between the 5'8" to 6'0'', 185 to 225 pound height and weight ranges.

That's not to say that big guys don't deserve to be pushed, it's a crock to suggest that some don't and it's nothing more than the reverse mind set that many have accused WWE officials of, inaccurately I might add, having for years. However, just because someone is big and impressive to look at isn't enough to get it done. Braun Strowman is an impressive physical specimen, but the guy hasn't even been wrestling for a year yet and being a big ol' mountain of muscle isn't reason enough for a lot of fans to want to see him as a main event level guy at some point.

As far as "OMG" moments for guys like Strowman, again, people just aren't massively impressed by strength the way they once were. That's not to say that Strowman delivering a double chokeslam to two guys through the announce table wouldn't get a pop and wouldn't look impressive but we've seen so many genuine "OMG" moments that calling that an "OMG" moment is an exaggeration of the term. A few genuine "OMG" moments are things like Jeff Hardy doing the Swanton Bomb off the top of a 20 foot ladder, Taker tossing Mick Foley off the roof of the HIAC structure, Edge spearing Jeff Hardy in the middle of the air during one of the original TLC matches, Kalisto hitting his finisher on Jey Uso off the top of a ladder through another one at TLC, Daniel Bryan and members of the Yes Movement "hijacking" Raw, etc.; these are moments that people will talk about for years to come and such moments probably shouldn't happen often for reasons ranging from practicality of keeping wrestlers as healthy as they can and just having everything just seemingly to fall into place in just the right way.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

WWE could easily create such moments, like Big Show and Lesnar's superplex that destroyed the ring. It creates a great , lasting visual. They could easily have Stroman flip out and destroy The Wyatt's, Usos and Reigns at the end of a match, he takes out Bray too who tries to calm him down....then he tears the ring apart with massive double sledgehammer shots until there's nothing but rubble and bodies everywhere. Instant Stroman moment that will last for years.

 

[J.J.]

Thought there were good moments at TLC, some last Monday on Raw with The Wyatts/ECW Originals. With the severity of workers getting hurt I kinda hope they allow workers to heal up before they take bumps in the ring.

 

[oldmanfan]

Oh My God? Really? Why not Holy Crap or something like that. OMG should be reserved for something tragic,not wrestling. does anyone that uses that phrase ever go to church?oh my god could also be part of a prayer. society is so ignorant,heard a girl looking at her phone say oh my f#*&ing god,her friend said what,carrie quit smoking, Really? get a life.

 

[KromyD]

We dont need OMG moments every week but we should be dealt 1 suprise at each PPV or between just to throw a spanner in the works. Sure maintaining storylines to gain enough attention to make these moments but a couple suprise wins during the year will never go astray.

One thing i will say and i think its sort of relative to this topic is that WWE may put the 'hold' on certain feuds for 1 of the big 4 PPV's to boost those cards.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Why would they do that when their money flow stays consistent no matter how shitty and mundane the show is?

No need to endanger people when no other company is nipping at their heels or beating them.

 

[KromyD]

Why would they do that when their money flow stays consistent no matter how shitty and mundane the show is?

No need to endanger people when no other company is nipping at their heels or beating them.

Would it tho? WWE ratings have gone down recently and people are starting to realise it too, lower ratings = less fans meaning there money flow dont necessarily stay afloat as to say if they were financially stable to take more risks with 'OMG' moments.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Their financial reports do show them to making great money, yes. Ratings are down, but their tv contracts don't expire for many years.

 

[KromyD]

Their financial reports do show them to making great money, yes. Ratings are down, but their tv contracts don't expire for many years.

Of course its great money but if fans turn away than so does the money in there pockets. Sure broadcasting are decent atm but they will definitely need to maintain ratings to 'keep there money flow consistent' imo.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Not as much as you might think (clearly). Besides, pulling off stunts is only going to pop a rating for one week at best.

Is a much more sponsorship driven revenue stream these days, and you can't be trying to explain to some company why someone got hit by a car for real on the show they sponsor.

 

[Prince Vee]

I'll give a small justification why. As you can see, they're OMG moments, if we're likely to see them more they'll become a fallacy and turns into a "Oh Not Again" moments.

Regarding the OPs questions, Braun Stroman isn't an OMG moment material. To proof what Jack Hammer said, I'll be the one who deem him as Vince's favourite. But there's something really wrong about him. His face isn't scary as Luke Harper's or Erik Rowan's. Even at times, Bray Wyatt looks like a running Egg Plant while having matches again taller opponents. But perhaps that's my perspective.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

There is one company that really loved that OMG moments. OMG moments like "Fingerpoke of Doom", or having Jay Leno as legit threat to maybe most succcesfull and influental wrestler ever or even having Dewey from "Scream" winning World Title. You might remember them, they were called WCW. Or maybe you remember one company called ECW, they loved that OMG wrestling 101 OP is trying to present.

When it comes to OMG moments less is more. Eventhough its entertaining you cant do them so often because it losses purpose. And that purpose is to present them as "big thing". If you do them regullary its not that big thing. And WWE is smart to do it on small basis.

 

[EastCoastFan]

WWE is trying but I think, after being around for so long, there's very little new you can do that would have fans going "OMG!" They even re-did the Big Show being super-plexed and the ring collapsing bit a few years ago, with Mark Henry replacing Brock Lesnar.

 

[Bernkastel]

Would it tho? WWE ratings have gone down recently and people are starting to realise it too, lower ratings = less fans meaning there money flow dont necessarily stay afloat as to say if they were financially stable to take more risks with 'OMG' moments.

Using the decrease in ratings as a justification for WWE losing money is pretty bad when there are several other reasons, including there being a billion other things on cable TV as compared to 10-15 years ago, as to why ratings have been on the decline. One of the eventual goals of the network, I am sure, is to move RAW off cable TV entirely and have all WWE programming on one network. Financially, as Norcal said, WWE does quite well for themselves. A decrease in ratings for their product means very little.

As for the topic, I think the OMG moments are there, but don't happen as often. Brock beating Taker at Mania and then blowing out Cena for the world title will be talked for years. Perhaps decades. Rollins winning his first world title was very memorable, as was Bryan's. The Shield's whole run was very memorable. As a stable they stand out as the best since Evolution a decade before.

Some of these OMG moments like Kalisto's bump from the ladder don't last. I thought it was ridiculous that it won a Slammy Award. It will be forgotten as soon as the next big bump happens.

 

[Azane]

While I do agree OMG moments shouldn't be a weekly thing, I haven't have a reason to watch RAW in years, I just read cliff notes, watch a coupld good matches a week, and then save my enthusiasm for the Pay Per Views which can be hit or miss.

RAW really needs to be anything can happen with OMG moments again, at least a couple times a year. If they had actually done the flaming Table Spot, I told myself I'd watch RAW for a couple months, but they just teased with no payoff, so I'm still skipping.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Because they don't have to. That's the problem. WWE can do whatever it wants to do and still make money.

It doesn't matter if fans enjoy the show. It doesn't matter if fans like the show. We're still going to watch.

The ratings don't matter. If WWE is making money, they're happy.

 

[Straightfromthehart]

Oh My God? Really? Why not Holy Crap or something like that. OMG should be reserved for something tragic,not wrestling. does anyone that uses that phrase ever go to church?oh my god could also be part of a prayer. society is so ignorant,heard a girl looking at her phone say oh my f#*&ing god,her friend said what,carrie quit smoking, Really? get a life.

Then there would have been no amazing JR commentary moments.

MY GOD MY GOD!!!!!!

 

[Mustang Sally]

Besides, pulling off stunts is only going to pop a rating for one week at best.

For sure, and the problem with trying to load each and every episode with 'Holy Shit!' moments is that they would wear thin after a short while, especially when one considers that WWE produces episodic TV with a running storyline.

It's an old subject with me, but while regular TV series have to come up with 22 one-hour episodes a year, with the rest of the time devoted to reruns or hiatus, WWE programming runs 50 weeks a year.....with no off-season or time off. Plus, while regular programs are an hour long, Raw & Smackdown require 5 hours a week of writing and continuing storylines.

Add to that other WWE programming, much of which runs off present storylines and you can see the near-impossible task WWE has in providing 'OMG' moments at all.....much less than a bunch of them for each show.

Pro wrestling is more like a soap opera than a movie...... it runs all the time and care must be taken to not burn out the product by tossing too much at the audience at once.

 

[Just Do It]

I just want good wrestling matches... like, really good ones, more often. You can't get bored of them if wrestling is what you're into.

 

[whoopin' ass]

Problem with OMG moments is they only work when people care. Let's use the classic - Austin and the beer truck. Got everyone talking, gave us a Stone Cold moment to reshow for years. Would it have worked if say Bob Holly did it instead? Would it have been "OMG, what is Holly doing?" or would it have been "this is dumb"? It worked because people were invested in Austin. Who are people invested in today? It is the same complaint we have had for years now - no one is over. You can't create OMG moment when no one cares about the characters. As well, wwe has created so many surprises just to have surprises that things don't have the same impact anymore. If they didn't try to out-think the audience all the time and throw in unneccessary and bad surprises, people might be caught off guard more often but instead it come across as weak.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

Quite simply they take a lot out of the Superstars involved. To use Kalisto and Jimmy/Jey Uso that won OMG moment of the year, yeah it was an awesome spot but I cringe when I think if the toll it took on those men, to much can end careers (just ask Edge).

That coupled with the fact they aren't needed on a consistent basis actually makes me glad we don't see them more often. This isn't the Attitude Era where WWE is competing with WCW and the Superstars looking to 1up each other every week. Vince & Co know people will watch without them.

 

[SSJPhenom]

Does anyone remember watching wrestling as a kid? I do and the best OMG moments back then were not big spots in matches but they were usually suprise returns or surprise run ins (like when SCSA ran in to help Foley win his first title), things like that. I mean, Hardy doing a Swanton off the top of a 20 ft ladder, 'Taker throwing Foley from the top of the HIAC, or Lesnar and Big Show destroying the ring from a superplex certainly qualify. Do you really want to know why we don't see more OMG moments, though? It's because of the INTERNET!!!!!

Let's face it people. The internet has ruined the aspect of the surprise in professional wrestling. For example, when Lesnar came back after Wrestlemania 28, there were reports on the internet saying that he was coming back. One can say, "Well don't read spoilers". That's fine, however, the moment was still ruined because those in the crowd that did read the spoilers were all chanting his name all night long. That could have been and should have been a great OMG moment, but no.

As far as OMG moments in matches goes; it's already been said that we can't have an OMG moment on every episode of WWE programming. After awhile it'll become a "Oh they're doing this again moment". So I think the fewer the better because when we finally do get one, it'll mean that much more and be that much more shocking.

 

[Teddy Irving]

My opinion is that it has become harder and harder to create an OMG moment. I believe this because we have seen so much in the last 2 decades. We seen a man get thrown off a hell in the cell. We seen 1 man (Jeff Hardy) do so many crazy spots that were huge wow factors that now when we see things close to them they aren't as wowing to us.

If I hadn't seen Edge spear Jeff from a hanging belt or jeff swanton bomb from such crazy heights I might have been more wowed by kalisto.

These moments are harder to make every time you make one. Show and Lesnar broke the ring. I was wowed big time when I seen that, few years ago Henry and Show did it, not as wowing as I had seen it before. Still popped but not as much.

Seeing people get speared through the time keepers barrier was a big one a few years ago almost common place now. We grow used to seeing these things and they stop being shocking.

Remember at one point the clothes that Sunny wore were considered wowing sure you'd see that on a regular night out these days, and it was so common place in WWF that to get a massive pop they had The Kat strip.

You can only shock people so many times before it starts getting difficult.
Returns can be very shocking but the internet has ruined them quite a bit. Remember when Cena returned at the rumble when he was still thugonomics? HUGE POP. No way in hell his cover isn't blown before the entrance these days

 

[Azane]

Does anyone remember watching wrestling as a kid? I do and the best OMG moments back then were not big spots in matches but they were usually suprise returns or surprise run ins (like when SCSA ran in to help Foley win his first title), things like that. I mean, Hardy doing a Swanton off the top of a 20 ft ladder, 'Taker throwing Foley from the top of the HIAC, or Lesnar and Big Show destroying the ring from a superplex certainly qualify. Do you really want to know why we don't see more OMG moments, though? It's because of the INTERNET!!!!!

Let's face it people. The internet has ruined the aspect of the surprise in professional wrestling. For example, when Lesnar came back after Wrestlemania 28, there were reports on the internet saying that he was coming back. One can say, "Well don't read spoilers". That's fine, however, the moment was still ruined because those in the crowd that did read the spoilers were all chanting his name all night long. That could have been and should have been a great OMG moment, but no.

As far as OMG moments in matches goes; it's already been said that we can't have an OMG moment on every episode of WWE programming. After awhile it'll become a "Oh they're doing this again moment". So I think the fewer the better because when we finally do get one, it'll mean that much more and be that much more shocking.

Fewer is good, having none for around 5 years, just makes the program too tame.

Debuts like Jerichos initial WWF Debut (the best in any modern era imo) I still rewatch and look back occasionally, but the real OMG Spots, Are things like the entire Edge + Christian v Hardy feuds, and sure, it may be that they set the bar so high, nobody can reach it. A big part of me things that Safety is way bigger a concern nowadays, things like Taker vs Foley at KOTR in a Cell, Vince himself said, that if that happened today, theres no way they would of let that match continue past the first move of the match.

Tame and safety, while a great thing for wrestlers, and the human part of me commends the WWE for putting safety up there, the choreography of a staged sport needs to keep itself interesting, and the watered down style of WWE can't stand on it's own without strong writing, and I think it's super obvious theres nothing creative going on at WWE HQ, so what's left? Trying to save all the OMG moments, the only big names left are part timers that only show up for a few PPVs, and almost no writing.

It's ironic to me, that once they started calling the things OMG moments, they stopped having them.