Fixing WWE
- Thread starter Kaner9
- Start date
BigBadBruins7708
Registered User
Step 1: kill Vince
Step 2: fire every writer
Step 3: bring in a true booker
Step 4: no more scripted promos, you tell the talent what they need to get across in the promo and let them figure it out
Step 5: no more hokey garbage characters (aka all of them). Back to real people playing an exaggerated version of themselves
Long story short, get rid of all the Hollywood scripted aspects, let the talents be themselves. Authenticity and believability are essential and forcing talents to memorize entire promos to the word and forcing them into a role gets you the current WWE. A stilted, no emotion pile of crap that everyone can tell is overproduced and no one buys into emotionally.
Step 2: fire every writer
Step 3: bring in a true booker
Step 4: no more scripted promos, you tell the talent what they need to get across in the promo and let them figure it out
Step 5: no more hokey garbage characters (aka all of them). Back to real people playing an exaggerated version of themselves
Long story short, get rid of all the Hollywood scripted aspects, let the talents be themselves. Authenticity and believability are essential and forcing talents to memorize entire promos to the word and forcing them into a role gets you the current WWE. A stilted, no emotion pile of crap that everyone can tell is overproduced and no one buys into emotionally.
dahrougem2
Registered User
Wrestling was "cool" in the 80's, too, and it wasn't edgy at all.
What makes wrestling cool is believability. Not the phoniness WWE portrays on a weekly basis with 99% of their talent.
John Price
Bet
- Sep 19, 2008
- 373,562
- 24,645
bring back the attitude era
no one in WWE has the charisma or appeal of the old stars. Stone Cold. The Rock. Even Shane was better.
Now the best we have is boring shit like Bray or Kevin Owens feuding or some crap like how Paul Heyman is an advocate for Roman now. The storylines suck.
no one in WWE has the charisma or appeal of the old stars. Stone Cold. The Rock. Even Shane was better.
Now the best we have is boring shit like Bray or Kevin Owens feuding or some crap like how Paul Heyman is an advocate for Roman now. The storylines suck.
JackSlater
Registered User
- Apr 27, 2010
- 18,074
- 12,730
These are a good start. A few others -
- Get rid of the months "ppvs". They are poison for storyline purposes because they speed up what few storylines there are and cause the company to burn through matches. They also don't even bring in significant ppv money anymore.
- Either get rid of brand splits or do a hard brand split. Half assing it is the worst way to go. The WWE roster is not so big and talented that it can pull off completely separate brands, so I'd lean toward combining the roster. If there is a real roster split, then keep wrestlers apart for years due to the split and make jumping from one brand to another a rare and noteworhty event. This would also allow for WWE to actually have fantasy matches within its own company.
- Get a real developmental territory. NXT is a nice boutique promotion but it's pretty much been a failure as a developmental entity. Let NXT be its own brand and basically copy the model used before where developmental is run as its own promotion on a regional rather than national scale. Ideally, have two or three of these with different styles (workrate based, promo based etc.)so that wrestlers an get some variety before going to the main roster.
I don't think that WWE going back to the attitude era would work. The PG era staples need to be dropped but the attitude era doesn't really fit what most today would support, for better or worse. Let the top talents take it in a natural direction.
Rodgerwilco
Entertainment boards w/ some Hockey mixed in.
- Feb 6, 2014
- 7,355
- 6,664
Get rid of scripted matches, they must actually fight and beat their opponent to win the match.
I joke, I joke...
I'm not a big wrestling fan anymore, but my clients at work keep me up-to-date on it and I can recognize most of the big names. In my opinion, it seems like every wrestler is too cut-and-paste, and a "product" of the industry. It's like they have a check-list that they want to hit. None of them seem authentic or even THAT unique from a casual perspective.
I joke, I joke...
I'm not a big wrestling fan anymore, but my clients at work keep me up-to-date on it and I can recognize most of the big names. In my opinion, it seems like every wrestler is too cut-and-paste, and a "product" of the industry. It's like they have a check-list that they want to hit. None of them seem authentic or even THAT unique from a casual perspective.
Jussi
Registered User
Let the doofus son-in-law take over. At least he understands what works today.
BigBadBruins7708
Registered User
I'd argue Vince and the creative have failed the NXT call ups more than the other way around.
His refusal to let them step right into big programs or get over right away has killed many of them. Seems like the M.O. for NXT creative call ups is big debut entrance followed by storyline against mid carder followed by quick title tease then bury the hell out of them.
sabremike
Friend To All Giraffes And Lindy Ruff
Same solution Bobby Heenan one came up with for fixing WCW: Get everyone in charge into a room and roll in a hand grenade.
BKIslandersFan
F*** off
dahrougem2
Registered User
I've said for years that WWE should do away with monthly PPV's. It kills feuds. Less PPV's makes them more meaningful + it makes matches on television meaningful, too. What the **** is the point of watching any match on Raw?
Vince will never do it, nor do I think whoever takes over after he dies will do it, but ideally you go back to WrestleMania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble.
They should also just keep it at one show per week, but that'll never happen. Heck, make it 3 hours of you'd like but get rid of the 2 hour Friday show.
Get rid of the brand split, get rid of the dual belts, too. Just go with a WWE Championship, Intercontinental Championship, Tag Team Championship, and Women's Championship.
Just about making things more simple, but again, WWE will never do these things.
Vince will never do it, nor do I think whoever takes over after he dies will do it, but ideally you go back to WrestleMania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble.
They should also just keep it at one show per week, but that'll never happen. Heck, make it 3 hours of you'd like but get rid of the 2 hour Friday show.
Get rid of the brand split, get rid of the dual belts, too. Just go with a WWE Championship, Intercontinental Championship, Tag Team Championship, and Women's Championship.
Just about making things more simple, but again, WWE will never do these things.
Sega Dreamcast
party like it's 1999
Bringing back the Attitude Era would just mean the same forgettable wrestlers and shitty writing, but with a TV-13 rating.
There's no simple way to fix the WWE, although "Do everything better" would be a good start.
JackSlater
Registered User
- Apr 27, 2010
- 18,074
- 12,730
I'm not talking about how they're used when they're called up in most cases. I am talking about how NXT is at development. Almost all of NXT's best were more or less developed by the time they showed up in Florida. As a boutique brand it's fine. As development it's not done very much that is impressive. I guess someone could say that WWE's poor booking obscures some of the development but I don't see it.
Those are all good. And of course won't happen.
I don't know about the 80s, but I do know ratings peaked in the Attitude Era based on the quick Google search I found. So unless you're suggesting that the "belie ability" suddenly died in 2000 when ratings started going into a descent, it's probably due to the fact that they started moving away from the edginess that made the Attitude Era wrestling fun to watch.
Sega Dreamcast
party like it's 1999
Also, having a Network Special based upon a stipulation just because it's that time of the year to have that Network Special cheapens the stipulation and blocks the writing into a corner.
Hell in a Cell used to be the way to end a blood feud. Now it's just the October Network Special and matches will take place in it, whether it makes sense within the context of the storyline or not.
Hell in a Cell used to be the way to end a blood feud. Now it's just the October Network Special and matches will take place in it, whether it makes sense within the context of the storyline or not.
dahrougem2
Registered User
What's meant by believability is the wrestlers themselves and how they're portrayed.I don't know about the 80s, but I do know ratings peaked in the Attitude Era based on the quick Google search I found. So unless you're suggesting that the "belie ability" suddenly died in 2000 when ratings started going into a descent, it's probably due to the fact that they started moving away from the edginess that made the Attitude Era wrestling fun to watch.
In the 80's, you believed those larger-than-life wrestlers, what they said, what the feuds were about and how meaningful they made them. Ditto Attitude Era. Granted, the Attitude Era focused on a different style of star (Austin, Rock, Undertaker, Triple H) compared to the "characters" of the 80's (Hogan, Savage, Flair, Sheik, Luger, Andre, Piper, etc).
There's nothing believable - and there's been nothing believable - about WWE ever since wrestlers started to become more mainstream, "kayfabe" went out the window, and wrestlers/wrestling started to be presented like some daytime soap opera with overly scripted promos, constant focus on the WWE brand instead of the actual wrestlers themselves, etc.
You can try going back to the Attitude Era, it isn't going to work. Not with wrestlers having public social media accounts that are completely different than their WWE personas, continue with the overly scripted promos, and focus on the marketability of the WWE brand instead of the actual wrestlers themselves.
sabremike
Friend To All Giraffes And Lindy Ruff
What sent ratings down in 2001 was the disastrous decision to turn Austin heel at Mania and the horrifically botched invasion angle, not no longer being allowed to do skits like Mark Henry having sex with a drag queen.I don't know about the 80s, but I do know ratings peaked in the Attitude Era based on the quick Google search I found. So unless you're suggesting that the "belie ability" suddenly died in 2000 when ratings started going into a descent, it's probably due to the fact that they started moving away from the edginess that made the Attitude Era wrestling fun to watch.
keonsbitterness
Registered User
As long as networks and countries kept throwing money at me, I'd change absolutely nothing, sit back, and cash cheques.
alko
Registered User
So many things....I could probably write a novel about this lol.
First - you start at the top. Fans need a strong main eventer to rally around. Roman Reigns is fantastically cast in his current heel role (he was horribly booked/cast for years as a face) - but he's a heel, and fans won't rally around that. You need a strong face. You could create a new one, but that's hard and takes time, so in the short term you go with your proven commodity: Daniel Bryan.
Mount up a huge storyline/angle going into mania. Bryan wins the rumble (after shenanigans, re-involve HHH maybe even to try and block him, so his victory is even more of an underdog overcoming the odds). Bryan (face) vs Reigns (heel) is the biggest match they can do for mania. In addition to the match - book some very compelling tv angles going into mania to build hype for it. Don't throw them in random tag matches that no one cares about - instead book angles such as the time Bryan brought all the fans in the ring to "takeover" Raw. Or have Reigns go attack Bryan in his home. Try for compelling TV.
If/when Becky is able to return - and assuming Ronda is too - build towards that huge feud. It could be at mania with a rumble win - or not. But that's also a very compelling story that should be front and center.
That takes care of the top of the card.
Second - use your mega-star legends. Hulk Hogan? Stone Cold Steve Austin? Let's be honest - it's a bit sad to think that WWE isn't able to succeed on their own with today's stars without using past guys - but even though it's sad it's the situation we're in today. We need short-term help. So bring back either Stone Cold or Hogan (maybe both) to be regular characters on tv. They don't have to wrestle (though if they wanted to - 100% support it, for a big special mania match, or big event match. Can even make a 'cinematic' match to protect them if necessary). Stone Cold was great in the past as raw GM, or even 'Sheriff. Hogan could be fun as a commissioner - maybe a bit like the Jack Tunney role, where he doesn't show up every week, but shows up regularly and when he does you know it's a huge deal. Stone Cold could even be cast as a special enforcer - they bring him in to be a "special enforcer/outside ring ref" when feuds/matches get too violent, and they need someone like him to keep the law. So you'd bring him in to participate in big-time feuds only, here and there, could be a good fit. So if Edge/Orton rekindle their feud towards a 3rd match for example - bring in Stone Cold as enforcer, have him involved in some of the angles/promos leading to the match, and he's part of the match as "outside enforcer". It would certainly add to the feud.
Third - Just to be clear, long-term plan is to create new mega stars so you don't have to keep resorting to the likes of Stone Cold or Hogan for years. But in the short-term, 1-2 years, use guys like that as much as possible while you try to refresh your brand into being more popular. As for creating mega-stars - that's the obvious long-term goal, and won't go too much in detail as to how to do that here.
Fourth - So we've taken care of top of the card feud (which I think is essential to create a compelling product), we've brought in big-guns in important roles (Hogan/Austin) to bring in casuals - now the biggest thing, we have to ensure the overall show is compelling and entertaining to watch. Here's what I'd do, and it's a super simple golden rule:
Make Sure Every Single Match Has a Purpose.
I've been a wrestling fan for over 30 years, since I was a kid - and I've gotten bored with product. Too much content, and majority of matches have no meaning whatsoever, and therefore feel skippable. WWE needs each wrestler to explain why they're wrestling everytime there's a match - literally, so you can care about it.
- Is it a title match? Ok - that's a purpose
- Is it a #1 contender's match? That's a purpose
- Is it a tournament match? That's a purpose
- Is it simply a grudge match that has nothing to do with titles? Well - make sure each wrestlers cuts a promo prior to the match to explain why they're fighting. Makes you care about it more, if not it's a throwaway match. Is Miz fighting Drew? Ok - well Miz should cut a (serious) promo beforehand, explaining how even though he's had setbacks recently he knows he's still the wrestler who beat john Cena at mania and outshone the Rock - he's a 2x MITB winner and he knows he belongs at the top of WWE as the hardest working person there - and tonight on Raw he's going to beat Drew in a non-title match to prove to him he deserves a title shot and should be your future champ...or something like that. He cuts that promo - serious - all of a sudden it makes you care about the match, rather than it being a throwaway squash nobody cares about.
Do this throughout the mid-card and undercard too. Every match. Explain to viewers why there's a match.
Fifth: Give storylines & promos more of an edge (ie - not PG)
A huge part of giving every single match a purpose is allowing wrestlers promo time before every match. And in some cases - after a match, so they can gloat. If you do that - you definitely need to lift the pg restrictions. In the 90s sex, violence and attitude sold. I don't think today would be very different, so allow more of that to be mingled into your promos.
By doing all of the above you get:
- Very strong long-term main event story at top of card
- Make use of huge legends with great star power to bring back casual (Austin, Hogan)
- Plan to build new mega-stars in future for the long-term
- Give even 3hours of raw each week compelling content - since audiences will start to care about every match since they'll be able to relate to why the wrestlers are wrestling in a specific match
- More edge/attitude - bring back some cussing, shoot promos, more sex, violence, etc. It sells. Don't have to go overboard with it - but certainly bring it back to a certain degree
First - you start at the top. Fans need a strong main eventer to rally around. Roman Reigns is fantastically cast in his current heel role (he was horribly booked/cast for years as a face) - but he's a heel, and fans won't rally around that. You need a strong face. You could create a new one, but that's hard and takes time, so in the short term you go with your proven commodity: Daniel Bryan.
Mount up a huge storyline/angle going into mania. Bryan wins the rumble (after shenanigans, re-involve HHH maybe even to try and block him, so his victory is even more of an underdog overcoming the odds). Bryan (face) vs Reigns (heel) is the biggest match they can do for mania. In addition to the match - book some very compelling tv angles going into mania to build hype for it. Don't throw them in random tag matches that no one cares about - instead book angles such as the time Bryan brought all the fans in the ring to "takeover" Raw. Or have Reigns go attack Bryan in his home. Try for compelling TV.
If/when Becky is able to return - and assuming Ronda is too - build towards that huge feud. It could be at mania with a rumble win - or not. But that's also a very compelling story that should be front and center.
That takes care of the top of the card.
Second - use your mega-star legends. Hulk Hogan? Stone Cold Steve Austin? Let's be honest - it's a bit sad to think that WWE isn't able to succeed on their own with today's stars without using past guys - but even though it's sad it's the situation we're in today. We need short-term help. So bring back either Stone Cold or Hogan (maybe both) to be regular characters on tv. They don't have to wrestle (though if they wanted to - 100% support it, for a big special mania match, or big event match. Can even make a 'cinematic' match to protect them if necessary). Stone Cold was great in the past as raw GM, or even 'Sheriff. Hogan could be fun as a commissioner - maybe a bit like the Jack Tunney role, where he doesn't show up every week, but shows up regularly and when he does you know it's a huge deal. Stone Cold could even be cast as a special enforcer - they bring him in to be a "special enforcer/outside ring ref" when feuds/matches get too violent, and they need someone like him to keep the law. So you'd bring him in to participate in big-time feuds only, here and there, could be a good fit. So if Edge/Orton rekindle their feud towards a 3rd match for example - bring in Stone Cold as enforcer, have him involved in some of the angles/promos leading to the match, and he's part of the match as "outside enforcer". It would certainly add to the feud.
Third - Just to be clear, long-term plan is to create new mega stars so you don't have to keep resorting to the likes of Stone Cold or Hogan for years. But in the short-term, 1-2 years, use guys like that as much as possible while you try to refresh your brand into being more popular. As for creating mega-stars - that's the obvious long-term goal, and won't go too much in detail as to how to do that here.
Fourth - So we've taken care of top of the card feud (which I think is essential to create a compelling product), we've brought in big-guns in important roles (Hogan/Austin) to bring in casuals - now the biggest thing, we have to ensure the overall show is compelling and entertaining to watch. Here's what I'd do, and it's a super simple golden rule:
Make Sure Every Single Match Has a Purpose.
I've been a wrestling fan for over 30 years, since I was a kid - and I've gotten bored with product. Too much content, and majority of matches have no meaning whatsoever, and therefore feel skippable. WWE needs each wrestler to explain why they're wrestling everytime there's a match - literally, so you can care about it.
- Is it a title match? Ok - that's a purpose
- Is it a #1 contender's match? That's a purpose
- Is it a tournament match? That's a purpose
- Is it simply a grudge match that has nothing to do with titles? Well - make sure each wrestlers cuts a promo prior to the match to explain why they're fighting. Makes you care about it more, if not it's a throwaway match. Is Miz fighting Drew? Ok - well Miz should cut a (serious) promo beforehand, explaining how even though he's had setbacks recently he knows he's still the wrestler who beat john Cena at mania and outshone the Rock - he's a 2x MITB winner and he knows he belongs at the top of WWE as the hardest working person there - and tonight on Raw he's going to beat Drew in a non-title match to prove to him he deserves a title shot and should be your future champ...or something like that. He cuts that promo - serious - all of a sudden it makes you care about the match, rather than it being a throwaway squash nobody cares about.
Do this throughout the mid-card and undercard too. Every match. Explain to viewers why there's a match.
Fifth: Give storylines & promos more of an edge (ie - not PG)
A huge part of giving every single match a purpose is allowing wrestlers promo time before every match. And in some cases - after a match, so they can gloat. If you do that - you definitely need to lift the pg restrictions. In the 90s sex, violence and attitude sold. I don't think today would be very different, so allow more of that to be mingled into your promos.
By doing all of the above you get:
- Very strong long-term main event story at top of card
- Make use of huge legends with great star power to bring back casual (Austin, Hogan)
- Plan to build new mega-stars in future for the long-term
- Give even 3hours of raw each week compelling content - since audiences will start to care about every match since they'll be able to relate to why the wrestlers are wrestling in a specific match
- More edge/attitude - bring back some cussing, shoot promos, more sex, violence, etc. It sells. Don't have to go overboard with it - but certainly bring it back to a certain degree
Centrum Hockey
Registered User
- Aug 2, 2018
- 2,092
- 728
The product should have more in depth and complex stories they don't need to go back to the attitude era but it shouldn't as dumbed down as the super cena era either.
BigBadBruins7708
Registered User
Big thing too is the storylines and feuds. They are way too short.
There's no long term feuds anymore. Used to be you'd get at least a year out of a storyline with multiple big matches. That's how you got fans invested in it then you get the giant payoff. Think VonErichs and Freebirds, Hart and Michaels, Vince and Austin
Now it seems like feuds don't even last a month. No one has time to give a shit about it before it's ended
There's no long term feuds anymore. Used to be you'd get at least a year out of a storyline with multiple big matches. That's how you got fans invested in it then you get the giant payoff. Think VonErichs and Freebirds, Hart and Michaels, Vince and Austin
Now it seems like feuds don't even last a month. No one has time to give a shit about it before it's ended
These Are The Days
Oh no! We suck again!!
The biggest problem with WWE is all they give a shit about is "entertainment" and it barely qualifies as a sport. You need to make it like a sport
A few quick fixes
- Nuke the shitty gimmicks. Vince would look at a Chris Benoit today and think "Let's make him the goon's son! BRING BACK THE HOCKEY PLAYER!"
- Stop wasting so much energy on production value. It doesn't add to the product's legitimacy. Congratulations you've got the shittiest product in history and all you have to show for it are f***ing ring posts that are LED now
- Stop watering down the promos
- Stop the gimmick PPV's people liked Raw and Smackdown 20 years ago because they DIDN'T have to subscribe to a network to watch someone get slammed through a table and get their ass beat. If you need to bring back "In Your House" or something like Armageddon then do it. Making a "Hell in a Cell" PPV with some watered down version of the most violent match in WWE history ever is the stupidest thing I've ever seen
- Make the championship belts look like actual championships again not this whored out corporate emblem
Let the adults actually act like adults
1. Love affairs
2. The occasional calling the boss a POS
3. Resorting to ACTUAL violence -which goes back to a few points ago about not having to pay to watch someone go through a table
4. To further that point the announcers literally warn the TV audience what is going to happen "Ladies and gentlemen discretion is advised on this one. This match is going to be violent. This is going to be bloody. This is going to be barbaric" and the color commentator puts it over saying "Oh yeah Cole. This is gonna get nasty in a hurry. Anything goes in these situations. I can't stress enough that not everyone is gonna want to be part of this."
And the superstars deliver something out of ECW
Actual fixes aka: adapt to the fact people know wrestling is scripted. You need to blur the lines of reality again you f***ing idiot
- Sudden/unexpected endings to matches that DO NOT involve finishers. An example is a match finishes with a sudden inside cradle and the winner just "stole it"
1. Does not rely on finishers
2. It WILL catch the audience off guard
3. If you establish that matches can end at a moment's notice, the near-fall will become a tense work of art and any pinning situation will be seen as legitimate
- Bring back blood maybe 3 to 5 times a year. Ya know? Cuz athletes actually bleed in combat?
- Gear the commentary back to match strategy i.e "Weight advantage versus speed advantage" "Working on a limb to lead into a submission" all you get is pumping whatever drama. It would almost be as if people were watching a sport! Gotta give big kudos to Jim Ross for always doing this. Reason 300 why he is GOAT announcer
- Re-institute the time limit. You get a 2 minute warning and it will appear in the corner of the screen and a countdown begins
1. It will allow matches to actually go to a draw. Holy shit... like an actual sport!
2. It will produce tremendous heat for heel champions who "run out the clock"
3. Will allow for babyface "buzzer beater" moments
4. Will allow for 5 star non-title matches between 2 top talents without the need to resort to some shitty gimmick that "protects the talent" to put someone over. All you'd get is 30 minutes of "This is awesome!"
- Injuries
1. People get hurt in sports literally every day. Imagine if wrestlers "got hurt." People would no longer tell the difference between what is and is not happening
2. Can add a sympathy element to talent who may need it
3. An "injury" that stops a match suddenly can provide a finish that does not require any "protection" shenanigans in booking
- "Chokes" versus "Triumphs"
1. Find a way to book matches so that a talent "falters under pressure" or commits very serious mental errors. Examples can include outright missing an attack from the turnbuckle or forgets she/he set a table up in a corner and pays the price for it or drops their chair when going for an attack
2. Every now and again, guys just get it done in real life.
-An example of this is a mid-card talent not only kicks out of one finisher but then the match drags on. He's hit with another finisher and still has the wherewithal to grab the bottom rope. By this point the whole arena is gonna go f***ing crazy. "He's gonna do it! He's gonna do it!" is the mood and whaddaya know he actually pulls off the upset.
Tell me guys. How often do we see this in real life?
Is it REALLY that big of a deal if Roman Reigns loses a #1 contender's match in this fashion to a mid-card who needs to get over? The answer is no. You can do "clean as a whistle" upsets in WWE programming twice a year. It adds to the legitimacy of the product
I've carried on long enough. The point is wrestling needs to imitate what we see in real life. This recipe of 1995 wrestling with modern day athletes is not working. You can literally run a WWE product circa 2002 instead of the Attitude Era and you'd probably find the sweet spot in all of this
A few quick fixes
- Nuke the shitty gimmicks. Vince would look at a Chris Benoit today and think "Let's make him the goon's son! BRING BACK THE HOCKEY PLAYER!"
- Stop wasting so much energy on production value. It doesn't add to the product's legitimacy. Congratulations you've got the shittiest product in history and all you have to show for it are f***ing ring posts that are LED now
- Stop watering down the promos
- Stop the gimmick PPV's people liked Raw and Smackdown 20 years ago because they DIDN'T have to subscribe to a network to watch someone get slammed through a table and get their ass beat. If you need to bring back "In Your House" or something like Armageddon then do it. Making a "Hell in a Cell" PPV with some watered down version of the most violent match in WWE history ever is the stupidest thing I've ever seen
- Make the championship belts look like actual championships again not this whored out corporate emblem
Let the adults actually act like adults
1. Love affairs
2. The occasional calling the boss a POS
3. Resorting to ACTUAL violence -which goes back to a few points ago about not having to pay to watch someone go through a table
4. To further that point the announcers literally warn the TV audience what is going to happen "Ladies and gentlemen discretion is advised on this one. This match is going to be violent. This is going to be bloody. This is going to be barbaric" and the color commentator puts it over saying "Oh yeah Cole. This is gonna get nasty in a hurry. Anything goes in these situations. I can't stress enough that not everyone is gonna want to be part of this."
And the superstars deliver something out of ECW
Actual fixes aka: adapt to the fact people know wrestling is scripted. You need to blur the lines of reality again you f***ing idiot
- Sudden/unexpected endings to matches that DO NOT involve finishers. An example is a match finishes with a sudden inside cradle and the winner just "stole it"
1. Does not rely on finishers
2. It WILL catch the audience off guard
3. If you establish that matches can end at a moment's notice, the near-fall will become a tense work of art and any pinning situation will be seen as legitimate
- Bring back blood maybe 3 to 5 times a year. Ya know? Cuz athletes actually bleed in combat?
- Gear the commentary back to match strategy i.e "Weight advantage versus speed advantage" "Working on a limb to lead into a submission" all you get is pumping whatever drama. It would almost be as if people were watching a sport! Gotta give big kudos to Jim Ross for always doing this. Reason 300 why he is GOAT announcer
- Re-institute the time limit. You get a 2 minute warning and it will appear in the corner of the screen and a countdown begins
1. It will allow matches to actually go to a draw. Holy shit... like an actual sport!
2. It will produce tremendous heat for heel champions who "run out the clock"
3. Will allow for babyface "buzzer beater" moments
4. Will allow for 5 star non-title matches between 2 top talents without the need to resort to some shitty gimmick that "protects the talent" to put someone over. All you'd get is 30 minutes of "This is awesome!"
- Injuries
1. People get hurt in sports literally every day. Imagine if wrestlers "got hurt." People would no longer tell the difference between what is and is not happening
2. Can add a sympathy element to talent who may need it
3. An "injury" that stops a match suddenly can provide a finish that does not require any "protection" shenanigans in booking
- "Chokes" versus "Triumphs"
1. Find a way to book matches so that a talent "falters under pressure" or commits very serious mental errors. Examples can include outright missing an attack from the turnbuckle or forgets she/he set a table up in a corner and pays the price for it or drops their chair when going for an attack
2. Every now and again, guys just get it done in real life.
-An example of this is a mid-card talent not only kicks out of one finisher but then the match drags on. He's hit with another finisher and still has the wherewithal to grab the bottom rope. By this point the whole arena is gonna go f***ing crazy. "He's gonna do it! He's gonna do it!" is the mood and whaddaya know he actually pulls off the upset.
Tell me guys. How often do we see this in real life?
Is it REALLY that big of a deal if Roman Reigns loses a #1 contender's match in this fashion to a mid-card who needs to get over? The answer is no. You can do "clean as a whistle" upsets in WWE programming twice a year. It adds to the legitimacy of the product
I've carried on long enough. The point is wrestling needs to imitate what we see in real life. This recipe of 1995 wrestling with modern day athletes is not working. You can literally run a WWE product circa 2002 instead of the Attitude Era and you'd probably find the sweet spot in all of this
xtra
Registered User
1: let stars that get over on their own keep doing what they are doing. Doesn’t mean they need to be pushed as main event stars but for example zack Ryder could have had a decent run as an ic title holder
2: merge the brands and end the roster split
3: keep a main title - ic title and us title so everyone has something to aim for.
4: ppv every 2 months and no branded ppv like HiAC. THose matches should be a surprise not an every October match.
5: don’t be rigid in who you want to be the main star let the fans decide. Imagine if after Austin won KOTR they decide to stop pushing him cause it was HHH that was supposed to win that year.
6: consistent long term story lines that make sense.
7: make wrestlers less stupid. Like Jericho said to MJF “ I saw you; I watch the show”
8: realize that the monster of yesterday (Lars) is not as interesting as the monsters of today (Keith Lee) who can actually wrestle
2: merge the brands and end the roster split
3: keep a main title - ic title and us title so everyone has something to aim for.
4: ppv every 2 months and no branded ppv like HiAC. THose matches should be a surprise not an every October match.
5: don’t be rigid in who you want to be the main star let the fans decide. Imagine if after Austin won KOTR they decide to stop pushing him cause it was HHH that was supposed to win that year.
6: consistent long term story lines that make sense.
7: make wrestlers less stupid. Like Jericho said to MJF “ I saw you; I watch the show”
8: realize that the monster of yesterday (Lars) is not as interesting as the monsters of today (Keith Lee) who can actually wrestle
