I really don’t know anything about their storyline but I have now watched Ciampo/Gargano all of two times, New Orleans Takeover and tonight, and god damn it is great entertainment.
What is WWE’s justification for the different crowds? I don’t really mean that in an incredulous “I’m an angry and dissatisfied customer” way, but in a purely curious way. When Gargano was whipping Ciampo over the back with that belt the crowd was chanting “you deserve it!” at Ciampo. The crowd genuinely hates the heel and they genuinely love the baby face.
As Roman Reigns was taking his 3rd or 4th F5 from Brock Lesnar the crowd was chanting “this is awful” and giving the loudest cheers for beach balls. The crowd shots after tonight’s finish was fans with their jaws on the floor because of what they just saw. At the last WWE PPV the crowd shots after the finish was fans sprinting to the exits.
How does WWE explain this disparity not necessarily to the fans, but how do they explain it themselves? Is it the economics of the roster size? WWE with SD and Raw are simply too big to tell effective stories? Is it the target audience? They tone all the combativeness down for the more kid marketed main roster?
It can’t ONLY be because Triple H is running NXT and he is really smart. Vince isn’t a moron. Surely he wants the WWE crowds to respond as appropriately and enthusiastically and NXT crowds do because that makes for a better television product.
Too many writers. Too much done with marketing and sponsors in mind rather than what makes sense.
... That and once again, I think the problem with the NXT system, (Which is not a problem for NXT at all, but rather the main roster) is that you watch the characters' evolution and development in NXT.
Put it this way, how many movies or TV shows or books are about the celebration AFTER reaching the destination and how many are about the journey itself. NXT is the journey, the WWE Main Roster is the destination. For example, you don't make Remember the Titans a two hour movie about the team's celebration after winning it all. You make it an hour and 50 minutes about their struggle to reach the summit and 10 minutes about the celebration when they get there.
In entertainment the money is in the journey. The destination is the final payoff, but it's short lived. That's part of the reason people like Balor and Bayley and Bobby Roode set the world on fire in NXT and flame out on the main roster. You want somebody who's super talented to make the main roster, but once they've reached their destination and you've seen the payoff, you begin to lose interest. It's also why the most successful NXT to main roster talents weren't exactly featured talents in NXT. You got to see their journey unfold in WWE rather than NXT, thus making them far more interesting. (See Braun, Elias, Alexa Bliss, and KO)
Unfortunately, once you reach the main roster, there is no destination, therefore there is no payoff, therefore there is no journey. Everybody just treads water. That's the consequences of playing hot potato with the title and giving it to guys like Jinder just to make some money in India while a guy like Rusev jobs out on a nightly basis. The company, with Roman Reigns in particular, has told fans they don't give a f*** what you think, they're gonna push who they want. So why should people bother rooting for anybody when the company pre-determines who's going to reach the summit?