WWE Youth Push

[VABurghman]

OK. I think everyone agrees that the WWE needs a big youth movement and that means younger stars need a push. I think everyone agrees that WWE is blowing storylines, how they crossover to new storylines, and pushing those youth. So where do these youth get their starts / pushes? Look at some of the youth to get a push that have really made a big splash:

Edge and Christian: Both members of the Brood. Great tag team that probably should never have been broken up but both successful at singles wrestling too.

Batista and Orton: Both members of Evolution and both successful at singles.

The Miz: Never really made it main stream until his days with Morrison.

So when you think about that small group of talent think of the youth that should have got a bigger push when the time was right and who should get a push. For beginnings, I would have Wade Barrett break away from Corre into a full singles career. Leave the Corre tag team together as their own group. I think one that the WWE really blew was DiBiase Jr. He had a great match taking Orton to the limit. At the time, he was all set for a monumental face turn and I believe would have ended up a big name in the Main Event calibre. Alex Riley should stop being a lackey and move into a sub-title scene for experience. He doesn't do anything worthwhile for the show. Get him in some US Title matches. Have Miz maybe grow a small stable of his own.

So who else has the WWE missed on and who should get a push to get the youth movement going?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Generally speaking, I think that the WWE's done a good job pushing younger stars. Guys like Wade Barrett, Sheamus, The Miz, & Dolph Ziggler have done very well over the course of the past year-year and a half. I think they got off track a little with Dolph Ziggler for a bit but the talent is there. I think his IC title run was one of the strongest of this past decade. John Morrison has seen a revival of his career over the span of the last 8 or 9 months and has become more relevant over the past 4 or 5 months than he has in the past couple of years. Cody Rhodes has been making strides steadily over on SmackDown! and his feud with Rey Mysterio has upped his career to a higher level. Alberto Del Rio has been over as a heel since his first appearance on SmackDown! and will most likely be World Heavyweight Champion sometime in 2011. Sin Cara is already getting over with fans and while he hasn't really gotten a push, he's been put into situations in which fans have paid attention. He teamed with John Cena against The Miz & Alex Riley this past Monday on Raw, getting a rub from two of the biggest stars in wrestling right now. Once he finds his rhythm within the WWE, he'll probably find himself getting a big push.

The thing is that not all of the young stars on the WWE roster is going to be a huge star. There's only so much room at the upper mid-card/main event levels. I agree that it's time for Alex Riley to strike out on his own and for WWE to try and do something with him. He has a great look, he's shown time and time again that he can cut promos, he's solid in the ring. Ted DiBiase is just as dry & one dimensional as it gets. He can put on some fun matches but he has no personality or charisma.

 

[poppycock]

I think the problem is the opposite personally. I think the WWE have been pushing some of it's young talent much too hard much too soon. Most if not all of those young superstars being pushed do have a lot of potential..infact I see more talent and potential now amongst the younger WWE generation than I have for a long time but they are being pushed without any real character/stand out gimmick..they are being shoved to the top when they are still developing and then before you know it they have nowhere to go and just seem to drift into the background then disappear. I would like to see things grow and develop a bit more between some of these young wrestlers before they even think about chasing any gold.

 

[Singin' in the Reyn]

I agree 100% with poppycock! Couldn't have said it better.

Uncle Vince gives us Joe Smith, shoves him down our throats, then locks him away in a closet with Golddust.

 

[MaxSteel]

..infact I see more talent and potential now amongst the younger WWE generation than I have for a long time but they are being pushed without any real character/stand out gimmick..they are being shoved to the top when they are still developing and then before you know it they have nowhere to go and just seem to drift into the background then disappear.

Well, that's exactly what has happened to Sheamus/Swagger:
1) WWE creative sees young talent with good potential.
2) They, of course, are too shallow to think of any decent character for that star, and naturally don't let him say his own lines.
3) They put him in one single fued to put him over as a main eventer.
4) He gets to the main even, has nothing to do there (nowhere to push him, and he by himself isn't entertaining enough).
5) Goes back to mid-card.

And that's just those who were actually pushed - Ted was on a verge of a push (and face turn) but never got it, Drew has had the same story.. None of them actually got pushed.

It seems it's a new habit with the "creative" WWE writers.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

More youth have been pushed in the last year than I can ever remember being pushed before. The Nexus pretty much ran Monday Night Raw for the last quarter of 2010, the Miz has been WWE champion since...November? I think...? Alberto del Rio won the RUmble and has a chance to win the title next weekend at Extreme Rules. Cody Rhodes has been in a great feud with Rey Mysterio for months now and CM Punk has been leading the New Nexus (albeit doing a terrible job at it) against Randy Orton. With Triple H and the Undertaker pretty much out indefinitely and Edge retiring, the only real veterans left around are John Cena, Randy Orton, Christian, Rey Mysterio, Mark Henry, Kane, and Big Show. You can...sort of...count the Rock. Almost all of them have been putting over young talent for the better part of a year. The WWE pretty much IS a youth movement right now. Yes, Randy Orton and John Cena are in the main events and are still the focus, because you still need to sell tickets, push merch, and build up the younger guys.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Well, that's exactly what has happened to Sheamus/Swagger:
1) WWE creative sees young talent with good potential.
2) They, of course, are too shallow to think of any decent character for that star, and naturally don't let him say his own lines.
3) They put him in one single fued to put him over as a main eventer.
4) He gets to the main even, has nothing to do there (nowhere to push him, and he by himself isn't entertaining enough).
5) Goes back to mid-card.

And that's just those who were actually pushed - Ted was on a verge of a push (and face turn) but never got it, Drew has had the same story.. None of them actually got pushed.

It seems it's a new habit with the "creative" WWE writers.

Agreed. Sort of. You should read Jericho's new book, or some other wrestling book. It changed my perspective of creative and pushes and stuff like that. It's not creative who decides who gets pushed. They come up with ideas and pitch them, but overall it's Vince who pulls the trigger, for better or for worse. Every idea for every character goes through his office before we see it on TV. Like, with the Usos they had a great gimmick and a ton of potential and Vince didn't understand the "smart Samoan" gimmick. So he pulled the plug and we haven't seen them since. Also, it's not that creative is too shallow to think of things for a superstar. Jericho came up with 50% of his own angles, and 100% of his own character. If the superstars can't come up with their own material, they deserve to wait in line until creative comes up with something for them to do.

 

[Fenris]

I think the problem is the opposite personally. I think the WWE have been pushing some of it's young talent much too hard much too soon. Most if not all of those young superstars being pushed do have a lot of potential..infact I see more talent and potential now amongst the younger WWE generation than I have for a long time but they are being pushed without any real character/stand out gimmick..they are being shoved to the top when they are still developing and then before you know it they have nowhere to go and just seem to drift into the background then disappear. I would like to see things grow and develop a bit more between some of these young wrestlers before they even think about chasing any gold.

I was just about to say similar. The youth movement is part of the problem with wrestling and the WWE right now. Time once was if you brought in a 21-24 year old you kept them a midcarder into their late 20's/early 30's racking up achievements and becoming known and THEN gave them a push. Then when you had a Rock or Warrior or Lesnar who came out of nowhere it was special, meaningful.

Look at over the last decade as it became increasingly bland and watered down. 2002 John Cena and Randy Orton enter the WWF. By 2004 they're top guys. Now we have guys like Shaemus or Barrett being in the WWE for less than a year and top guys. That's part of the problem. Cena shouldn't have peaked into a Main Event guy until 2007, Orton should have just reached that level within the last two years. They're in their early 30's and look at how it is now, their eras are already old and stale and the WWE is scrambling.

The problem with this youth movement crap is you don't have the time anymore to care about a gimmick or watch it grow. Take Steve Austin for example. Most of us got to watch this guy start out as a guy with long blonde hair and neon speckled attire into Stone Cold. We witnessed him toil away in the WCW midcards and tags collecting belts, we watched him become Stone Cold in the WWF and collect midcard and tag belts then we got to witness him run as THE guy. We witnessed countless great matches for years before that moment, great promos and got to witness his skills improve and peak.

It meant something, and he got a huge rub via working programs with the top names for years before taking over. He was built correctly. It is either lazy booking or lack of creativity but that doesn't happen anymore and it's part of what's hurting the business. Like I said, we should just barely be into the Cena and Orton eras in 2011, not 3/4 of the way through them.

 

[ChickenWaffles]

I was just about to say similar. The youth movement is part of the problem with wrestling and the WWE right now. Time once was if you brought in a 21-24 year old you kept them a midcarder into their late 20's/early 30's racking up achievements and becoming known and THEN gave them a push. Then when you had a Rock or Warrior or Lesnar who came out of nowhere it was special, meaningful.

Look at over the last decade as it became increasingly bland and watered down. 2002 John Cena and Randy Orton enter the WWF. By 2004 they're top guys. Now we have guys like Shaemus or Barrett being in the WWE for less than a year and top guys. That's part of the problem. Cena shouldn't have peaked into a Main Event guy until 2007, Orton should have just reached that level within the last two years. They're in their early 30's and look at how it is now, their eras are already old and stale and the WWE is scrambling.

The problem with this youth movement crap is you don't have the time anymore to care about a gimmick or watch it grow. Take Steve Austin for example. Most of us got to watch this guy start out as a guy with long blonde hair and neon speckled attire into Stone Cold. We witnessed him toil away in the WCW midcards and tags collecting belts, we watched him become Stone Cold in the WWF and collect midcard and tag belts then we got to witness him run as THE guy. We witnessed countless great matches for years before that moment, great promos and got to witness his skills improve and peak.

It meant something, and he got a huge rub via working programs with the top names for years before taking over. He was built correctly. It is either lazy booking or lack of creativity but that doesn't happen anymore and it's part of what's hurting the business. Like I said, we should just barely be into the Cena and Orton eras in 2011, not 3/4 of the way through them.

Whilst I agree with you, I don't think the WWE had too much choice. Some of it was their own fault but this is how I see it.

1. They created two (and at one point, 3) brands. They needed main event talent across all those brands.

2. Guys like The Rock, Lesnar, Benoit, Guerrero, Angle and Jeff Hardy (to name some) have all for one reason or another left when they should have been the main guys.

3. Due to this (I'm aware some left after Cena's rise), they needed to supplement the main event scene. All those guys up there were either natural main eventers (e.g. Lesnar) or had been built up the way you described (e.g. Jeff Hardy). Prior to the recent push for youth, the only new guys to have got to the top have been Cena, Orton and Batista anyway. Other new main eventers in that time span such as Edge, JBL, Rey Mysterio were built up the way you described anyway.