WWE problems

[Tom Servo]

See though I don't think Orton, for instance, is anything special on the mic. Same for Batista. They got over thanks to storyline and the mic work came later. I think the problem now is that there is no compelling storyline for most guys to reach the top level. WWE's tried and true method over the last few years is "Lose a lot, win Money in the Bank, lose a lot, cash in Money in the Bank, act surprised when the World/WWE title reign doesn't go over great".

I am all on-board for a Roman Reigns megapush, I think he has all of the tools to be a franchise player. Even better is the built in storylines he has with Rollins and Ambrose when the inevitable split occurs.

[M2]

It was one of the greatest eras in WWF/WWE/WWWF history because the show was fairly comparable with what you saw on TV. It was PG in an era of PG programming. The "Attitude" era reflected an America where "Jerry Springer" was a nationwide sensation -- it was kinda trashy, habitually stepping over the line of good taste, and very funny. The product now doesn't reflect where the rest of the entertainment world is; it's inoffensive and mostly uninteresting in an era where it competes with countless reality television shows and original cable programs that aren't afraid to push boundaries.

Absolutely this. The product has to move forward with the times.

They've got a ton of talent -- the problem is twofold:

1. They don't have nearly enough guys who can handle the microphone effectively.

2. They're booking way too many guys as "tweeners" and not doing enough writing to keep feuds/matches interesting.

Problem 1 is fairly obvious when you watch the show now -- they've really only got 3 or 4 wrestlers in the entire company who really know how to come out and cut a promo, and one of those people (Cena) has a gimmick that is so completely tired that nothing he says really registers with anyone any longer.

You think back to when the WWE owned the world in the late-90s / early-00s, and they had an endless supply of dudes who they could throw out for a talking, fued-building segment with no worries: Rock, Austin, Foley, Angle, HHH, Jericho, HBK, Edge, Taker, etc. With so few guys on the roster now that can carry an entire segment in the mic, it limits what they can do creatively. Take a guy like Wade Barrett -- he's a fantastic talker, he's got a new gimmick that is over as hell, and they don't have anyone on the roster that he can get into a "war of words" to build a decent feud. So, instead, they're stuck running some stupid "#1 Contender" tournament just so he can fight RVD at a PPV.

If you have guys who can't talk, you better be scripting some incredible stuff in-show to keep people invested in what's going on.

I disagree and agree. I think they've got a solid pack of mic handlers. Bray Wyatt and Wade Barrett are brilliant. Damien Sandow has done some excellent mic work (and he can go in the ring), but they've spent the past year burying him. When they let him cut loose, Dolph Ziggler can deliver an awesome promo. Cody Rhodes has been good on the mic for years: did great work during his Beautiful Disaster phase and knows how to sell a match. Though he has a reputation for being stiff on the mic, Seth Rollins has had some really good moments on the stick during that past six months (going toe-to-toe with Piper on one Raw). The Usos cut a couple of solid promos back when they were chasing the belts, but they've barely said a word since they became champs. Del Rio and Sheamus are stuck in their characters at the moment, but they can promo. Heath Slater's always been a certain kind of goofy fun, though he'll never get a push. Bryan's all right with the talky talky, and if/when Punk comes back, he's as good as it gets. Cena I agree is a problem because we've seen him cut the same promo a zillion times. He even seems bored with himself these days. I really do think that his character effectively ended at WM29 against the Rock and we're now watching Zombie Cena. He just doesn't know he's dead yet.

Also, I think you've overrated a few of the Attitude Era folks. Austin was dreadfully repetitive. He had his schtick down and people loved it, but it's a good thing he took his ball and went home when he did. We didn't have to endure him running through the motions long after his act got tired (like Hogan and Cena). Angle was a B-level talker, maybe even B-, but he was an A-level wrestler. Taker was terrible. Roll back the eyes and make some corny death pun, barf. Edge started out rough on the mic, but turned into a great promo guy because they gave him the stick and let him develop.

Where I agree is your second point. They've got this whole directionless mid-card that WWE Creative apparently can't be bothered to book. What they did to Big E when he won the IC title was criminal. No one gets over. So I don't think the problem is Barrett doesn't have anyone who can talk back at him. It's that his first feud with the belt looks like it's RVD, and nobody cares about that. Give him a feud we can sink our teeth into instead. To me it's as simple as pushing Barrett, Ziggler, Cody, the Shield guys, Wyatt, Cesaro, Bryan, Big E, the Usos and Sandow. Put them in high profile feuds and make sure they all get their share of big wins. Mix them in with Evolution, figure out how to make Cena interesting again, keep Sheamus/Del Rio/Big Show/Kane viable, maybe try to resurrect guys like Swagger/Miz/Kofi/Zack Ryder, mix in rising talents from NXT (e.g. Sami Zayn) - it really isn't brain surgery. They just need to have that baker's dozen of performers I listed break the glass ceiling instead of serially saddling them with a losing streak gimmick (which never does anything but bury a guy). The problem with this era right now is they're holding back most of the talents who could define it.

[Caveat Emperor]

Where I agree is your second point. They've got this whole directionless mid-card that WWE Creative apparently can't be bothered to book. What they did to Big E when he won the IC title was criminal. No one gets over. So I don't think the problem is Barrett doesn't have anyone who can talk back at him. It's that his first feud with the belt looks like it's RVD, and nobody cares about that. Give him a feud we can sink our teeth into instead. To me it's as simple as pushing Barrett, Ziggler, Cody, the Shield guys, Wyatt, Cesaro, Bryan, Big E, the Usos and Sandow. Put them in high profile feuds and make sure they all get their share of big wins. Mix them in with Evolution, figure out how to make Cena interesting again, keep Sheamus/Del Rio/Big Show/Kane viable, maybe try to resurrect guys like Swagger/Miz/Kofi/Zack Ryder, mix in rising talents from NXT (e.g. Sami Zayn) - it really isn't brain surgery. They just need to have that baker's dozen of performers I listed break the glass ceiling instead of serially saddling them with a losing streak gimmick (which never does anything but bury a guy). The problem with this era right now is they're holding back most of the talents who could define it.

The best thing that ever happened to the WWF of the mid-90s was WCW coming along and pulling out all of the guys who were just going through the motions and looking for a paycheck. They were forced to get younger and start trying new things in order to kickstart interest in the promotion -- WCW succeeded for a while with the aging stars, but eventually the egos took over the asylum and created the same situation that the WWF is now facing (lots of young talent being blocked from the top of the card).

[Tom Servo]

Cody and Dolph have both been ready to be regular main event players since 2011, it's pretty depressing.

[Caveat Emperor]

See though I don't think Orton, for instance, is anything special on the mic. Same for Batista. They got over thanks to storyline and the mic work came later. I think the problem now is that there is no compelling storyline for most guys to reach the top level. WWE's tried and true method over the last few years is "Lose a lot, win Money in the Bank, lose a lot, cash in Money in the Bank, act surprised when the World/WWE title reign doesn't go over great".

I am all on-board for a Roman Reigns megapush, I think he has all of the tools to be a franchise player. Even better is the built in storylines he has with Rollins and Ambrose when the inevitable split occurs.

I like Reigns work a lot -- but they need to have him spending every hour that he isn't working out or performing with some kind of an acting coach or a speech coach, and they need to start writing him some interesting stuff to say.

The guy who they need to immediately capitalize on right this second is Wade Barrett. They need to start booking him as a straight, old-school HHH style heel and start pushing him up the card, because they've got lightning in a bottle with this new gimmick of his.

Creative needs to get back to scripting reasons why guys are fighting beyond just "don't like one another" / "interfered in my match" etc. It can be done, shockingly.

[Tom Servo]

Yeah I am all on board the Barrett train, his in-ring skills have developed greatly since his first aborted main event push in 2010 and the Bad News gimmick has gotten over great. Plus he's like a God to WWE fans in England.

[M2]

So many "future main event players" were never given a chance to run with the ball, and the fact that Randy Orton vs. John Cena headlined the last PPV of 2013 is mind-boggling to me.

I didn't have a problem with that, though I think they made some major mistakes with it. First was not building up Orton as the ultimate big game player. He became a prop in the Bryan-Authority story prior to Cena's return and too often he was whining about meaningless garbage instead of being cocky and backing it up. Walking around with those two belts, he should have seemed unbeatable right up until WrestleMania. Meanwhile Cena forced the title unification bout, which really was a clash of the titans. Then he lost with apparently no lingering regrets or anger over his self-inflicted wounds. When he got a rematch at the Rumble, Orton was 100% right that it violated the "winner takes all" billing of their TLC match. Storywise, Cena played inside baseball twice and failed. That's Heel 101 and it never got addressed or worked into Cena's character at all.

I am all on-board for a Roman Reigns megapush, I think he has all of the tools to be a franchise player. Even better is the built in storylines he has with Rollins and Ambrose when the inevitable split occurs.

I'm down with a Reigns megapush, but I'd be happy for the Shield to stick together for the foreseeable future. Someday they'll have monster feuds, but I'd wait until all three have taken a turn with the WWE title as Shield members. These guys have been so good together that I'd throw away the standard faction breakup playbook. Let these guys progress down a completely different trail.

[M2]

Yeah I am all on board the Barrett train, his in-ring skills have developed greatly since his first aborted main event push in 2010 and the Bad News gimmick has gotten over great. Plus he's like a God to WWE fans in England.

He nearly ripped the roof off the arena last night.

[Ravenlord]

I think for a lot of guys the biggest problem with the mic is over scripting. they're wrestlers, not necessarily theater majors who can remember a bunch of lines very quickly. the scripting causes many of them IMO, to have severely underdeveloped abilities in crowd interaction and improvisation. and because so much of it involves controlled dialogue from the very beginning, guys who don't spend a crap ton of time in the indies or are natural gifted at it are generally sunk before they hit the water.

[dougdirt]

I will just chime in with this: I am a big fan of several WWE Films. They make pretty good thriller/scary movies.

[cincrazy]

For what it's worth, I believe Jericho and Foley have both chimed in on the art of the promo nowadays. Apparently one of the times Jericho came back from sabbatical, he was going out to do a promo and was handed a script to read from. Because of the clout he carries he was able to convince Vince to let him do the promo without memorizing a script, but unfortunately most don't have that luxury.

For instance, take a guy like Big E. If you follow him on Twitter, you'd know he's a pretty charismatic and funny guy. Granted he's not very good on the mic right now, but neither was the Rock when he first started. The Rock was given leeway to find his style and get his legs under him. Guys nowadays don't really have that luxury and it's a shame.

I think the in-ring work is as good as ever, in my mind even better than it was during the Attitude Era. The difference is, it's not as compelling television. Mic work isn't great, and the story-telling is just awful most of the time. Even stories with promise such as Punk vs the Authority in 2011 and Wyatt vs. Cena this year don't reach their true potential because of awful creative ideas.

[Caveat Emperor]

Wyatt v. Cena is a dead-end storyline because Creative won't turn Cena full-heel (which is the logical outcome to this storyline -- either the Wyatts push Cena heel or Cena swerves and joins up with Bray Wyatt to take on the rest of the WWE). They're content with the status-quo on Cena because he sells tons of merch to kids and is a great PR figure doing "Make a Wish" type stuff as a babyface.

Bray Wyatt is, literally, the most compelling thing going on in the company right now -- and it's by several orders of magnitude over anything else going on right now. It's being completely wasted on this dead-end storyline.

It all falls on Creative; they keep churning out garbage gimmick after garbage gimmick and putting guys into programs with no storyline other than "wrestler X doesn't like wrestler Y."

[Gallen5862]

The WWE finally signs Sting but have yet to put him on TV. I am a huge Sting Fan. They need to have him come in and challange the authority. Form a faction with Cena and the Shield. Have him make an appearance at Payback and help the Shield win.They still owe The Rock a championship rematch from his loss to Cena from Wrestlemania 39. They do a poor job remembering who still has championship rematches.

One match I wish they would do is the all titles on the line in a Tripple Threat tag team match. The tag team champions would face the team of the United States Champion and the Intercontinential Champion vs the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and the new money in the bank winner. Whoever got the pinfall or submission would win the belt or money in the Bank that the loser had.

IN WCW they had the United States Champion Lex Lugar who was also one half of the Tag team champions tagged with his tag team championship partner Sting vs the world Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and his partner The Giant Aka Big Show. Big show kept trying to pin his partner Flair for the World Belt and Sting tried to pin lugar to keep their tag team titles but lso to get the united States title.

Another good match would be to have a any former World Champion could compete in the ladder match for the WWE World Heavyweight championship. It could be an open invitational so that they didn't even need to be in the ring when the bell rung to climb the ladder to get the belt. Imagine ric Flair or harley Race or Sting etc showed up from nowhere to get the belt or jBl or they count Jerry "The King Lawleres AWA Championship and they let him climb the ladder to get the belt.

Another cool idea would be have all the belts hanging up above the ring along with money in the Bank. The match would continue as long as belts or the briefcase was still there. Someone could grab as many titles or brief cases as he could. He would be guarenteed to keep whatever he grabbed before getting thrown off the ladder.

[5TimeWSChamps]

The WWE finally signs Sting but have yet to put him on TV. I am a huge Sting Fan. They need to have him come in and challange the authority. Form a faction with Cena and the Shield. Have him make an appearance at Payback and help the Shield win.They still owe The Rock a championship rematch from his loss to cena from Wrestlemania 39. They do a poor job remembering who still has championship rematches.

True. I'm still waiting for Zack Ryder to get his US Championship rematch from when he dropped the belt to Swagger in about 2 minutes back at the beginning of 2012

[Gallen5862]

For what it's worth, I believe Jericho and Foley have both chimed in on the art of the promo nowadays. Apparently one of the times Jericho came back from sabbatical, he was going out to do a promo and was handed a script to read from. Because of the clout he carries he was able to convince Vince to let him do the promo without memorizing a script, but unfortunately most don't have that luxury.

For instance, take a guy like Big E. If you follow him on Twitter, you'd know he's a pretty charismatic and funny guy. Granted he's not very good on the mic right now, but neither was the Rock when he first started. The Rock was given leeway to find his style and get his legs under him. Guys nowadays don't really have that luxury and it's a shame.

I think the in-ring work is as good as ever, in my mind even better than it was during the Attitude Era. The difference is, it's not as compelling television. Mic work isn't great, and the story-telling is just awful most of the time. Even stories with promise such as Punk vs the Authority in 2011 and Wyatt vs. Cena this year don't reach their true potential because of awful creative ideas.

The old NWA and WCW guys did not use scripts they were able to improvise. The Four Horsemen were formed by accident.


http://ringthedamnbell.wordpress.com...four-horsemen/

The Horsemen began when an impromptu tag team interview threw Flair, the Andersons, Tully Blanchard and Dillon together. During this interview Arn Anderson stated “The only time this much havoc had been wreaked by this few a number of people, you need to go all the way back to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” From that moment on the comparison and the name stuck.

From the beginning the four men ran roughshod over the NWA. The Andersons were in tag team title contention, Tully was the National Champion and ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair was the NWA World Champion. Their biggest nemesis during this era was unquestionably Dusty Rhodes. The most famous incident of this feud, and indeed during this era, was when they followed Rhodes’ car and filmed themselves breaking his arm with a baseball bat.