WWE Bad with Endings?

[Jappa121]

It seems like more often than not the WWE doesn't know how to end storylines, They are usually just poorly thought out endings that come out of no where. The WWE seems to think that if you could see how a situation may pan out its bad, well maybe it isn't everyonce in a while. Surprise endings may be good everyonce in a while but they should be well thought out instead of being a surprise because they are completely random.

This problem for me seems to have started with the whole "Who is Vince's son" angle. At the time this storyline really grabbed my attention. For weeks I watched, waiting to figure out who his son was, then we figure out it was someone on the roster! Once again WWE grabs my attention again. Then They announced they will release the information about who his son is. After what seems to be a well thought a storyline, youd think they would take care in ending it as good as it has gone so far they end it as a joke, hornswoggle is the son

The Recent Kane angle, It seemed to begin as a well thought out angle, but it just started to make less and less sense, only to climax as Rey Mysterios mask is pulled out of a bag, thus making the last 3 or 4 weeks non sensical and a waste of the viewers time once again.

They seem to forget about good storylines in favor of tired old ones, while at the same time claim to be trying to do new stuff. They constantly neglect new talent in order to focus 85% of time on Cena, Batista, HHH.

Even one of my favorite wrestlers Edge seems to be over used when the WWE has so much other talent they could use to increase the quality, and variety in there product. They need to improve soon, before they become a mere shadow of what they once were.

Does anyone else see this trend? or do any of you have examples of storylines that had extremely disapointing and or poorly thought out closures?

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

After what seems to be a well thought a storyline, youd think they would take care in ending it as good as it has gone so far they end it as a joke, hornswoggle is the son

Kennedy was supposed to be the son, but he got suspended 2weeks b4 they did the big reveal. He was supposed to be behind the limo explosion but Benoit's death screwed that up.

The Recent Kane angle, It seemed to begin as a well thought out angle, but it just started to make less and less sense, only to climax as Rey Mysterios mask is pulled out of a bag, thus making the last 3 or 4 weeks non sensical and a waste of the viewers time once again.

What did you think was going to be in there? Kane's mask was the obvious choice, and they knew we'd all suspect that, so to throw this swerve at us is great imo. Everytime they do an angle where Kane does something truly crazy it usually works out well. Like when he took the mask off and just attacked people at random. He set JR on fire, tombstoned Linda Mcmahon on the rampway, and started a great fued with Shane, that immediately led on to him screwing Taker in his Buried Alive match with Vince and set us up 4 WM20.

They seem to forget about good storylines in favor of tired old ones, while at the same time claim to be trying to do new stuff. They constantly neglect new talent in order to focus 85% of time on Cena, Batista, HHH.

That's true, but you can't deny that that trend is changing. Look who the WHC is for god's sake! Punk's gonna keep that belt for another month at least. Kofi Kingston is a title holder after such a short while. Team Priceless have been in the Raw main event 4 weeks in a row now!

Even one of my favorite wrestlers Edge seems to be over used when the WWE has so much other talent they could use to increase the quality, and variety in there product. They need to improve soon, before they become a mere shadow of what they once were.

Smackdown is weak for storylines anyway imo. They tend to have one storyline that centres around the title, and then one other fued involving Taker, which usually involves him putting over someone new. The past two years however, taker's been in the title picture and in the past 2 years, has had 2 great lengthy fueds with both Batista and Edge, so there's been no veteran on SD to put over new talent.

Does anyone else see this trend? or do any of you have examples of storylines that had extremely disapointing and or poorly thought out closures?

Yeah, the whole Burchill/Kennedy fued. I know Ken got drafted but they started that fued with a legit reason, and then did nothing but have a couple of matches between the two and then nothing. A waste of both talent's time and effort imo. Ken shud have stayed on Raw and hopefully moved up to the main event tier with Punk and not shoved back into the mid-card on SD.

 

[Jappa121]

Kennedy was supposed to be the son, but he got suspended 2weeks b4 they did the big reveal. He was supposed to be behind the limo explosion but Benoit's death screwed that up.


What did you think was going to be in there? Kane's mask was the obvious choice, and they knew we'd all suspect that, so to throw this swerve at us is great imo. Everytime they do an angle where Kane does something truly crazy it usually works out well. Like when he took the mask off and just attacked people at random. He set JR on fire, tombstoned Linda Mcmahon on the rampway, and started a great fued with Shane, that immediately led on to him screwing Taker in his Buried Alive match with Vince and set us up 4 WM20.



That's true, but you can't deny that that trend is changing. Look who the WHC is for god's sake! Punk's gonna keep that belt for another month at least. Kofi Kingston is a title holder after such a short while. Team Priceless have been in the Raw main event 4 weeks in a row now!



Smackdown is weak for storylines anyway imo. They tend to have one storyline that centres around the title, and then one other fued involving Taker, which usually involves him putting over someone new. The past two years however, taker's been in the title picture and in the past 2 years, has had 2 great lengthy fueds with both Batista and Edge, so there's been no veteran on SD to put over new talent.



Yeah, the whole Burchill/Kennedy fued. I know Ken got drafted but they started that fued with a legit reason, and then did nothing but have a couple of matches between the two and then nothing. A waste of both talent's time and effort imo. Ken shud have stayed on Raw and hopefully moved up to the main event tier with Punk and not shoved back into the mid-card on SD.

Was it confirmed Mr. Kennedy was going to be his son? and just because Kennedy got suspended doesn't mean scrap the whole story and replace him with a joke character

Kane has had tons of storylines just randomly end, the bag storyline was just a disapointment that sparked my hatred for some of the WWE writers

Unfortunatly, IMO I only think Punk won the title because A. HHH wanted to go to smackdown and B. There couldnt be two belts on Smackdown. C. CM Punk had the MITB

It shouldnt be accepted as normal that Smackdown has weak storylines, WWE should have some kind of drive to improve its product.

The Burchills in general are good example of the WWE messing up, Do they realize that they make the Burchills seem like they can never win? Has Paul won a match yet?

 

[Dysturbed]

just because Kennedy got suspended doesn't mean scrap the whole story and replace him with a joke character

If they felt that he wasn't worthy of the story that they built for him based on the suspension then to them it probably did mean it. Also if they kept the angle going throughout the duration of the suspension a lot of people would have probably complained that it was dragging on for too long. So either way it was a no win situation. It sucks that it didn't go as allegedly planned but sometimes circumstances lead to change, good or bad.

Kane has had tons of storylines just randomly end, the bag storyline was just a disapointment that sparked my hatred for some of the WWE writers

Unfortunatly, IMO I only think Punk won the title because A. HHH wanted to go to smackdown and B. There couldnt be two belts on Smackdown. C. CM Punk had the MITB

Or it may have had to do with the pg thing and wanting to have, for the time being at least, someone for their new target audience to get behind other than having it be Cena again. (with Cena being the other guy that caters to the younger crowd, although a lot of older people like him as well.

It shouldnt be accepted as normal that Smackdown has weak storylines, WWE should have some kind of drive to improve its product.

I agree that they should but at the same time how easy is it to have the drive that people expect when each show airs 52 weeks a year in the case of Raw and Smackdown for a long time. When other scripted primetime merican shows, which air a lot less episodes per year ,start to lose their creativity and become repetitive or stale they end up off the air or go off the air before those things can happen but WWE keeps on going. So the lack of drive was always inevitable and even when things start to look up for those who dislike it, it's inevitably going to become stagnant again based on the aforementioned reason.

The Burchills in general are good example of the WWE messing up, Do they realize that they make the Burchills seem like they can never win? Has Paul won a match yet?

I believe that he won a few weeks ago but even if he continues to lose a lot for awhile, as long as he's portrayed as a legit threat to win each or most of the matches that he's in, he doesn't "look weak" imo like people like to say about wrestlers. To me how someone "looks" is how we choose to perceive it but in the case of the Burchills I see things as I just mentioned meaning that it could be worse. I definitely understand why you feel differently but pretty much everything has a good and bad side but if anyone is going to primarily look at only the bad, as opposed to being aware of it but also being aware of the opposite, then pretty much everything that WWE does is bound to potentially suck especially the odd decisions that sometimes have a good reason behind them.

That's not to say that WWE doesn't make a large number of questionable decisions cause they definitely do and I don't think that too many people would disagree. It is to say however, like I said, that sometimes there's a pretty legit reason behind questionable decisions and other times the crappy treatment that some wrestlers get really isn't that crappy at all if the big picture is viewed. Sometimes it is but not always. These days we're conditioned to expect people to get pushes as fast as possible and be as consistent as possible. These days it's expected for wrestlers to get to points very quickly that used to take years. Just about everyone gets a title within a year or two of joining Raw or Smackdown. If someone like Burchill takes longer than the average person to reach a certain point, I say so be it, especially when, as mentioned he's still made to look legit in every match even if he happens to have the few bad seconds that it takes to get pinned.



I would have liked to have seen a more defined conclusion with Kennedy and Burchill but it's possible that they didn't plan on Kennedy moving to Smackdown. in that respect I understand the abrupt ending but that's the thing...WWE should plan things out further ahead (if they don't) and should have contingency plans in case someone gets suspended or injured in the midst of a push. Then again they probably do have them but they need better ones. Still, whether they go with the original one, have to change it, or choose to change it, any plan they go with isn't fool proof and will have it's lovers and haters.

 

[OIL]

The Recent Kane angle, It seemed to begin as a well thought out angle, but it just started to make less and less sense, only to climax as Rey Mysterios mask is pulled out of a bag, thus making the last 3 or 4 weeks non sensical and a waste of the viewers time once again.

How was the last 4 weeks a waste of time? Everyone thought it was Kane's mask, yet the WWE comes out with something TOTALLY unexpected and you bitch? I wasn't happy when I watched, but then I realised this storyline isn't over. Give the WWE some time to further the storyline, it's not finished yet. It could make for some very interesting TV if Kane goes back to the monster that we all knew, because when he was that monster, his character was maxed. Insane dude out on the rampage, plucking at the emotional parts of everyone.

 

[Ozzy33090]

WWE is indeed, terrible with endings and conclusions to feuds. More and more these days, I see abrupt endings to feuds- proving once again that creative uses increasingly more spontaneous booking.

Burchill/Kennedy is a perfect example of that. While Burchill was literally Regal's replacement, he still played a very good role in that brief storyline, as did Kennedy. Since then, I don't believe Burchill has touched a mic once. For him to get over, he needs to be given time on the mic- consistently.

Not only did ending the storyline hurt Burchill, but it hurt Kennedy even more. Kennedy (injury or not) is drifting away into nothingness on Smackdown. They teased a feud with MVP, then Umaga ends up squashing him a couple times. The injury could be a blessing in disguise for Kennedy, as hopefully the main event scene will start to clear up. By the time Kennedy returns, HHH vs the Giants will have concluded, and who knows where they go after that set of re-runs.

Wouldn't have a Kennedy/Burchill feud lasting a couple months been good stuff? Their brief program was entertaining, and it easily could've lasted until Regal got back to RAW. Regal could have resumed his feud with Kennedy, and Burchill would have continued to be showcased in more matches with Kennedy. Whether it be tag or singles. Each man has suffered because of the WWE's spontaneous booking. Now, Burchill is left out of the IC title scene, waiting for the Santino/Beth storyline to run its course. Keep in mind, Kofi Kingston is also taking a backseat to this storyline, especially if Santino/Beth get into their own conflict with the IC title.

And if WWE doesn't cut it out, more guys are going to suffer because of a lack of foresight. They seem to write programs so abruptly, and don't think it through. Guys like Kennedy and Burchill have enough talent to stick around, but before you know it, they'll have lost their chance.

 

[Dead Kennedy]

I agree with the posters' main point here. WWE have at times dropped the ball with the way they end their feuds. The Rey Mysterio/Kane thing was just stupid. I'd expect TNA to do something like that, but WWE? Gimme a break. Everybody and I mean EVERYBODY wanted to see Kane return to his ownage masked character, and we see the mask of a guy who hasn't been entertaining since he returned from his injury last year? Stupid...

I hate abrupt endings to storylines, even if the feud didn't get over or just plain sucked, especially when they happen without explanation. I can't complain too much over the Kennedy/Burchill feud ending when KK got drafted, because staying on Raw would be a waste of his time. His SmackDown return has been pretty much good, but couldn't he at least have had a win over Umaga before the feud ended? WITHOUT ANY EXPLANATION.

It shouldn't be too hard to end a feud over a short period of time if both workers are capable, like Burchill and Kennedy. WWE's, and especially Raw's creative writing has really taken a turn for the worse as of lately, while the in-ring action has been nothing but great since the Draft. They should be able to write better endings.

 

[DeadmanInc.]

I hate abrupt endings to storylines too. They're like a slap across the face after tuning in weekly to see how it continues. It makes it really obvious that Creative had no idea what direction to take.

The whole McMahon illegitimate son angle really drew my interest. I tuned in every week to see where the angle would go and who the son would be, since I knew that whomever it was would be getting a HUGE push. Then to have the storyline end as a joke was a huge disappointment. I understand that Kennedy was the intended "son" and that he was suspended. However, there must have been at least a weeks notice of his suspension, much like with Regal. Creative could have drawn out the storyline longer until Kennedy returned. Did they ever show the mother of the child? No. WWE could have brought some woman in to keep interest while Kennedy's suspension ended.


The Kennedy/Burchill feud's abrupt ending wasn't that bad considering that the draft was around the corner. Kennedy's move to Smackdown was really needed. However, it was a big setback for Burchill since he hasn't had any mic time since their feud. Hell, Katie Lea gets more time on the mic than he does lately.


Another was the Kane and Impostor Kane angle. I can see why WWE axed it since their match sucked, but there should have been some sort of explanation. We never found out who "he" was.

Then the recent "dead or alive" angle really drew my interest since Kane's psychotic storylines are always interesting. This got so many people talking. Even Paul Bearer's website traffic suddenly spiked because everyone was wondering who Kane was referring to. This past RAW's anti-climatic ending to the storyline made no sense at all. I thought Kane would be in line for a huge push but this angle was nothing more than a way to remind fans that Rey Mysterio still exists. What a waste. I'm hoping that Kane replaced the original contents of the bag with Rey's mask. That better be the case because a Rey Mysterio/Kane feud has all the potential in the world to be a stinker.


WWE Creative is just too scared to try anything different. Storylines with a lot of potential, such as the above ones, are continuously axed for the short and play-safe "Who is the better man?" storylines we keep seeing. The Cena/Batista and Cena/Triple H feuds are prime examples of this. The only good storyline as of late has been Shawn Michaels/Y2J and Edge/Taker/Vickie.

 

[Darkshot77]

The WWE creative team on RAW is hit or miss, they are good here but bad there, essentially they did their job with the Kane story line, it got us talking. But that doesn't mean it was good. To me good successful angles need to be interesting and exciting. when it comes to the mystery story lines they have had in recent history some have worked some have failed here are 4 examples.

1.Jericho's code breaker promos: Here we were trying to figure out what this all meant. Week after week new clips showed new clues, and by the time it all came to a head we knew who it was and the fans got what they want. This was both interesting to figure out and was made exciting by the return of Jericho. Here the creative team gets an A

2.RAW's new GM: For weeks a lawless RAW was what we were treated to talk of old GM's returning new GM's getting the chance to shine. By the time it ended the decision was up in the air. The creative team threw us a curve ball and BOOM! we get Mike Adamle this was interesting only at first but became somewhat exciting about what he might do. So over all it worked. B+

3.The Bastard McMahon: This was some good TV. Everyone was interested. As time passed Mr. Kennedy was the front runner. But due to a suspension that was out of the question. This raised more of a ruckus and the creative team in a spontaneous planning session settled on Hornswoggle... This was well deserving of Wrestlecrap.com's Gobbledegooker award for worst gimmick of the year for sheer ruined potential. And for it being forced down our throats like it was a good idea and for it to be abandoned abruptly without later reference. There were much better choices Santino could have been plausible and a lot less annoying. This was not interesting at all and had negative excitement. Here they get and F and by that I mean a 12%

Which brings me full circle and back to the matter at hand
4.Kane's bag/Is he alive or dead: This was promising and and we all had guesses and we were talking. Was this going to usher in the return of psycho masked Kane. This was especially exciting for me have never seen masked Kane. The fans wanted psycho Kane back, but instead of giving us what we wanted like Jericho we got a swerve and now Mysterio is involved. While this remains interesting it lost all its excitement value and is reduced to another awkward Kane story line. Right now have a D- this can still be redeemed, but they are gonna have to try hard

 

[Joaquim Akaem]

Its not so bad yet, I mean, we've only seen Kanes side of that storyline so far, it would be interesting to see how a returning Mysterio handles this feud. What did Kane say exactly, the man who wore the mask was scarred and burned and tortured, or smtg like that, Thats got me guessing we could se a psycho Rey Rey.... probabally wouldn't have the same effect as a psycho Kane, but whatever the case, this story has not yet even begun. Yeah... the secret is out of the bag, but where the feud continues from here is the real story.

Granted, I wasn't the fan of the Vinces son angle, but I think it was progressing quite well until they announced who it was. After that the angle went downhill, nothing became of it except some childish skits and gimmick matches. At least we got to see a couple of decent Finlay brawls out of it.

On the other side tho.. Look at Shawn Michaels. He has gone from Ric Flair to Batista to Jericho with no gap in between and all following on smoothly, thats how storylines should be done.

But too many times, a feud with potential just seems to come down to an impromptu match, with no emotion or hype, and its never mentioned again. Just like Burchill and Kennedy, just like Hardy and Benjamin. And I imagine Batista and Cena is gonna be the same deal too.

 

[Jappa121]

The Jericho code promos were another thing that just stacked up on top of the mcmahons son angle, It wouldve been so cool if any of the numbers meant anything, but in the end it just was random stupid crap,

The thing is, I know the wrestling business is somewhat unstable, People getting suspended, fan reactions, amongst other factors. This shouldnt be an excuse to not take chances, The same storyline over over is what is going to kill the WWE, not if they try new things that dont work.