Competition isn’t the problem. People think that because there is no viable competition for the WWE that they are going to slack off and give us a shit product, well they are, but I wouldn’t have thought it was for that reason. They still have to draw in viewers, so instead of tuning in to watch their competition if they had any, people will just watch something else, because that’s what 70% of the wrestling fans today are, casual fans they don’t really care if they watch it or not. I think some people have hit the nail on the head with creativity, but I want to touch on something else as well.
Building credible wrestlers. Since the departures of the likes of The Rock, Austin, Hogan, Foley etc… the WWE has been poor at best at building new stars. They built up Lesnar only for him to leave the company, not their fault really. Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Rey Mysterio in my book don’t count, they are just wrestlers that were already over that they pushed, they didn’t create them. Now the two people they built up are now being mis-used beyond belief or being shoved down our throats every single show (Batista and Cena). Batista only got over because of Triple H, we all know that. Cena on the other hand is possibly the only binified Main Event player they have built up themselves. Now they see fit to have him go over the entire roster, to the point where the marks even hate him. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Cena, its not his fault, it’s the way he is being booked. Now you look at the roster and their three most over wrestlers have all been there over ten years… Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Triple H (when he returns anyway) so what happens when they hang up their boots and they will sooner or later? Actually I missed someone, Edge has been built up perfectly, to the point where I mark out every time I see the guy.
I really think the WWE needs to look back on how they have booked their Main Event players. When I first really got into Wrestling in 2000, I was a mark plain and simple, and watching The Rock vs. Triple H feud that spanned almost six months all I wanted was for The Rock to win, but not in a bad way, The Rock would constantly get beaten down, but he would still keep coming back and eventually he’d get one over on them, only to miss out on the title by a hair, then when he finally won it, it was almost amazing. Now think about this, reverse the rolls there, say The Rock was the Champion, and he continually went over people, never even got beaten down, he was always standing tall at the end of every show, wouldn’t that get boring really quickly? That’s what I’m getting at, the fact that it isn’t Cena, it’s the way he is being booked.
Then you have to look at the fact that nothing really big ever happens on the shows anymore. I mean it would be okay if the Raw’s and Smackdown’s were average if they were putting on stellar Pay Per Views like they did in 1999 and 2000. Its all just so standard and who wants to watch a show where they know exactly whats going to happen?
Basically the WWE need to look at the way things are booked. The fact is that every Wrestling storyline is a hash of an old storyline from somewhere, but it’s the way its presented and booked that gets our asses on those seats.
Building credible wrestlers. Since the departures of the likes of The Rock, Austin, Hogan, Foley etc… the WWE has been poor at best at building new stars. They built up Lesnar only for him to leave the company, not their fault really. Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Rey Mysterio in my book don’t count, they are just wrestlers that were already over that they pushed, they didn’t create them. Now the two people they built up are now being mis-used beyond belief or being shoved down our throats every single show (Batista and Cena). Batista only got over because of Triple H, we all know that. Cena on the other hand is possibly the only binified Main Event player they have built up themselves. Now they see fit to have him go over the entire roster, to the point where the marks even hate him. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Cena, its not his fault, it’s the way he is being booked. Now you look at the roster and their three most over wrestlers have all been there over ten years… Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Triple H (when he returns anyway) so what happens when they hang up their boots and they will sooner or later? Actually I missed someone, Edge has been built up perfectly, to the point where I mark out every time I see the guy.
I really think the WWE needs to look back on how they have booked their Main Event players. When I first really got into Wrestling in 2000, I was a mark plain and simple, and watching The Rock vs. Triple H feud that spanned almost six months all I wanted was for The Rock to win, but not in a bad way, The Rock would constantly get beaten down, but he would still keep coming back and eventually he’d get one over on them, only to miss out on the title by a hair, then when he finally won it, it was almost amazing. Now think about this, reverse the rolls there, say The Rock was the Champion, and he continually went over people, never even got beaten down, he was always standing tall at the end of every show, wouldn’t that get boring really quickly? That’s what I’m getting at, the fact that it isn’t Cena, it’s the way he is being booked.
Then you have to look at the fact that nothing really big ever happens on the shows anymore. I mean it would be okay if the Raw’s and Smackdown’s were average if they were putting on stellar Pay Per Views like they did in 1999 and 2000. Its all just so standard and who wants to watch a show where they know exactly whats going to happen?
Basically the WWE need to look at the way things are booked. The fact is that every Wrestling storyline is a hash of an old storyline from somewhere, but it’s the way its presented and booked that gets our asses on those seats.