Sign in to continue
Yeah, it's a sad state right now. I could go on for hours about it, but between agreeing with most of what you said and the strong possibility I'll be writing an article for WrestlingRumors about this exact thing, I'll keep this short for now.
I don't feel so much like I'm going back to a cheating girlfriend because as frustrating as WWE is a lot of the time, they're not doing a whole lot that really offends me as a fan. I find the product stale and uninteresting, but not that it's bad like TNA used to be. They're not taking advantage of any of their strongest features, but also not doing ridiculous swerves or putting over the wrong people. They're not pushing the GMs or pensioners as their biggest stars, they're just pushing characters that got boring ten years ago.
What I really get from WWE these days is the feeling that I'm only watching it because it's just what I do. I enjoyed the first two seasons of Heroes, and then the third was terrible. The fourth was even worse. But I watched them all because by season three I was invested and I hate dropping something in the middle. I stick with a lot of terrible TV shows long after their prime for that reason, not necessarily because I think they'll turn around and be great again, just because I'm in the routine and want to see the full story play out. WWE is exactly that right now. I've been watching for nearly 13 years solid, it's not something I feel I can drop anymore.
And the extras that come with being a wrestling fan are great, even if wrestling isn't. I really enjoy communities like 4w, I have great fun hating Raw on Twitter every week and there are some great wrestling podcasts that I can't get enough of too.
The fastest solution they could find right now is cutting Raw back to two hours. No one needs that much TV. Vince himself says the perfect length for a wrestling show is 90 minutes, he's only doing this because the third hour pays for itself and makes him a little more. Not even a lot more, just $100,000 per week. The first two hours make considerably more than that. But it's a profit, so why not? Sigh.
Well if I could make $5.2 million dollars a year by putting on 52 hours of dog shit I would too. It's not that it offends me in terms of decency but in terms of insulting my intelligence as a long time fan. Ziggler for example went on a ridiculous losing streak to top level talent over the course of the last year since winning MITB briefcase and now just because he cashed in on an injured and tired ADR to win the World title we are supposed to forget that he can't beat the guys he will be forced to defend his title against. If you are going to build someone into a World Champion, that is not the way to do it and it's insulting to me as an intelligent human to know that they expect me to forget about the past year just because he has a shiny belt around his waist now. The belt doesn't make the man great, the man makes the belt great. Edge has been the only guy to hold the MITB that they actually spent time building into a main eventer before having him cash in. It's bullshit and we just let it happen. Why? Because fuck it, that's why.
Well if I could make $5.2 million dollars a year by putting on 52 hours of dog shit I would too. It's not that it offends me in terms of decency but in terms of insulting my intelligence as a long time fan. Ziggler for example went on a ridiculous losing streak to top level talent over the course of the last year since winning MITB briefcase and now just because he cashed in on an injured and tired ADR to win the World title we are supposed to forget that he can't beat the guys he will be forced to defend his title against. If you are going to build someone into a World Champion, that is not the way to do it and it's insulting to me as an intelligent human to know that they expect me to forget about the past year just because he has a shiny belt around his waist now. The belt doesn't make the man great, the man makes the belt great. Edge has been the only guy to hold the MITB that they actually spent time building into a main eventer before having him cash in. It's bullshit and we just let it happen. Why? Because fuck it, that's why.
That's what I call the two month rule. Anything that happened more than two months ago didn't happen.
Basically the WWE logic says that if someone is a champion, or will be a champion soon, they can afford to lose all the time. The same goes for anyone on the verge of a turn, once someone turns all their previous losses don't count. Except Cena, of course, because he's never allowed to lose.
Except to CM Punk. Outside of Punk, I don't remember the last clean loss he has taken. I mean that shit is ridiculous. How long will this shit go on for? Not since Hogan has someone been so overprotected in WWE. Even Austin lost clean if it made sense for business, but when it comes to Cena it seems like Vince just gives a big "fuck you" to everyone. I have a theory that Cena is really Vince's illegitimate son because there is no other reason that you would ever protect someone like that unless they were your child.
Punk? He never beat Cena clean. Rock did at Mania, but that's really it.
I was thinking he did at SummerSlam 2011. I guess I forgot the whole foot on the ropes thing. That is all the more backing to my argument. Even with the super push Punk was given, he was never seen as being on the same level as Cena in Vince's eyes. 99% of the WWE Universe are cheering for Punk, wanting him to be "the man" and yet Vince panders to the 1% out there who think Cena is a good wrestler. Fuck that. Cena losing clean every now and again doesn't hurt him but for the guy that gets to beat him, it could mean everything. The Rock gained nothing by beating Cena.
Maybe Vince McMahon has finally lost his grasp on what the people really want. Maybe it’s time he finally steps down. Maybe things won’t be any better with, as CM Punk so accurately put it, his idiotic daughter, his doofus son-in-law, and the rest of his stupid family in charge. All I know is that for a while this company has been on a downward spiral the likes of which hasn’t been seen since WCW went out of business. People no one cares about are getting pushed and the storylines are ridiculous. Granted, I am as big a part of the problem as Vince and his “creative” team are. I continue to watch Raw and Smackdown week in and week out. I watch the ppvs, but I wouldn’t spend one dime of my money on them. Thanks internet!! The reason I watch is because I love this business. I love the athletics, comedy, wrestling, characters, and so much more. At this point I feel like I am the stupid boyfriend of a slutty girl who cheats on him all the time. No matter what they do to me as a fan, I continue to come back hoping that things will be different this time around but the reality is, unless something drastic happens, it’s not going to change. Just look at their champions and you can see who they value and who they don’t and how bad they book the people who are supposed to be at the top of their field:
WWE Champion: John Cena – Oh where to start? I hate to keep quoting CM Punk’s infamous “pipe bomb” speech but I feel it necessary due to the simple fact that it was all true. I hate the idea that Cena is the best. At anything. At all. He has marginal talent and top notch athleticism that can be carried to excellent matches with the right opponent. Punk and HBK have pulled 5 star matches out of him in the past. However, the majority of the time he can’t break 3 stars in most people’s eyes. When booked against guys like Ryback, Mark Henry, Del Rio, and many more, he just doesn’t excel. It’s obvious that the opponent is only half the problem. HBK could pull a great match out of a mop and make the mop’s offense look believable while Cena just doesn’t have the ability to do that.
On the mic, he panders to the kids in the audience with his constant poop jokes and elementary humor. On the rare occasion where his opponent crosses the PG line, Cena can be found delivering his best mic work. I understand that he is the Make a Wish king but is that publicity worth destroying your product and abandoning the audience that made you a success? The 18-34 year old male demographic used to be the key demo to hit during the Attitude Era, which was the most successful time period in wrestling history. Now if you say the word “Bitch”, you most likely have a fine coming your way. I understand the limitations put on the talent should force them to find another way to convey the same message without vulgarity but in the real world, there aren’t ratings to limit what one can or cannot say. If your entire business is based upon the premise of suspended disbelief, how “real” does it look when a grown man makes jokes about poop instead of trying to cut deeper like a real person would in an argument.
Either way, Cena is booked to be Super Cena and everyone knows it. He almost single-handedly killed The Shield because they didn’t want him to look weak going into his match with Ryback. I understand the concept of protecting your champion but Cena is the only one who benefits from that style of booking. The Shield have run over everyone in the company at even 3 on 3 odds and we are expected to believe that an injured Cena can take them all out on his own? I could go on for days on what’s wrong with the booking of John Cena.
World Heavyweight Champion: Dolph Ziggler – For every reason that Cena is booked to be a dominate champ, Ziggler is booked to look as weak as possible and rely on Big E and AJ to win all his matches. I can’t remember the last Ziggler match that he won clean. Anyone help me out with that? He is in my top 5 of current in ring talents. He is the best sell in the business. He’s athletic as hell. He looks like a million bucks. His mic work can be great if he’s allowed to because his segments on Z!TLIS were excellent. He needs to drop the stable and run solo. I see him being turned face soon because that’s what they do with a great heel that has unlimited potential. With his concussion, it’s hard telling how long he will be out. I prey to god that this isn’t another Bret Hart situation where this ends his career too soon.
Intercontinental Champion: Wade Barrett – Oh god how they have fucked this guy so many times. He should have been the champ during the Nexus run. If anything, he was a solid gold main eventer after that and they squatted down and took a huge shit all over him. The Corre was an absolute joke. It was like the end days of the NWO where they tried to recapture the greatness of the original. Since the Nexus ended, he has enjoyed 3 different IC title reigns but the first two reigns were ended poorly. In fact they took the title from him at Wrestlemania only for him to win it back the next night with no real pay off. Miz came back and hasn’t even looked at Barrett. WTF? This guy has the tools to be a star heel but they keep just messing with him. They build value in him then take it away. Rinse and repeat.
United States Champion & World Tag Team Champions: The Shield – This storyline must have taken the collective brain power of everyone in WWE’s creative department combined because it has been nearly flawless. Short of Super Cena basically beating them all on one foot, they have been booked perfectly. They have been hot since the start but they didn’t over book them to win all the belts right away because at that point the only place to go is down. They are a team in every sense of the word. Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns all have superstar potential. Ambrose is a mouthy heel in the mold of a Roddy Piper. Rollins screams babyface to me. He looks like he could make a comeback like a true underdog. Reigns is just a beast. I’m still up in the air on him because he is the least talented on the mic but with the right mouthpiece he could go far. Together they have almost endless potential but at some point they will break this group up.
Diva’s Champion: Kaitlyn – They pushed her hard to the belt and then just have done nothing of any importance with her since. Classic booking with no end game. They book someone to a title win but then have nothing for them past the belt. Now your champ looks stupid because they are doing PPV pre shows, here's looking at you Wade Barrett. They have this stupid secret admirer story going. Can’t they just book her to wrestle? Why do we need the constant reminder that she’s a girl and someone likes her? The more she is on my TV not wrestling, the more Khali is on my TV and that equals nothing but badness. In a bad way of course.
Then there are guys on the roster that are so misused that they deserve their own topic. Guys like Cesaro, Christian, Rhodes, Sandow, Justin Gabriel, Prime Time Players, DiBiase, Tyson Kidd, and my god what they have done to Zach Ryder is a borderline crime. The point is that things need to change for the future or they won’t have a company once Cena is done.