What Happened?
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What Happened?
I think it’s safe to say that the WWE is at a low point in its history. Ratings are down, fan interest is down, targeted audiences are not working out as planned, and people are being drugged and dying. What happened? Why is the WWE doing this?
Ladies and gentlemen, I haven’t got a clue. The WWE, in my opinion, is currently in a state of depression. The company lacks something that it had back in the mid 1990’s, better known as The Attitude Era, that saw a great amount of success globally. What was it that made the WWE so great back then?
The WWE was the ‘in’ thing in the 1990s. They had old talent and new talent coexisting, all while keeping storylines intact and developing with twists and turns to keep the fans watching. ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon, The Undertaker, Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and countless others were the face of sports entertainment during this period. Not to mention, the WWE had the greatest stables of all time coming through. DeGeneration X was in, The New Age Outlaws, The Hart Foundation, The Nation of Domination, The Ministry – all of these stables created much, much more exciting material for fans, giving them more than just one-on-one action or tag-team matchups. The WWE was also getting destroyed by the WCW, both rival brands who were at the pinnacle of sports entertainment. WCW, more specifically, WCW Monday Nitro, topped the WWE Monday Night RAW program, head-to-head on Monday with the same primetime slots, for 84 consecutive weeks. How did this better the WWE? Well, the only way to beat your competition is to pull out all the stops. Firing hot-dogs and t-shirts at the WCW arena, charging their grounds with a tank all do the trick, but the most important element is the consistency of wrestling and storylines within the company (just don’t tell Eric Bischoff that).
The WWE, now reeling of the deaths of Sherri Martell, Bryan Adams, Eddie Guerrero, and more recently, Chris Benoit, is struggling to make a comeback as the only real source of professional wrestling on television. Total Nonstop Action (TNA) is slowly rising, currently fighting for a 2-hour timeslot on Spike TV, and is the only possible competition that WWE has for what seems like quite some time. TNA, however, has bigger problems than the WWE, and is truly not a concern until something ridiculously drastic occurs.
Most recently, WWE has had some problems with Congress, Sports Illustrated, and others with recent steroid and doping scandals which have surfaced since the deaths of Guerrero and Benoit. Why do people care about who takes what in a fake wrestling gig? I know not. Steroids are useless in the WWE – if they proved to help people, Chris Masters would be the WWE Champion. But he isn’t, because he lacks the ability to put over his opponent, the ability to sell injuries and moves, and lacks main-event charisma. THAT, ladies and gentlemen, gives you WWE stardom. Power, strength, size, and speed do not win you anything in sports entertainment – this isn’t professional sports, and this isn’t the Olympics. This is fake wrestling, a soap opera, a show of entertainment – not an athletic competition. Don’t believe me? Ask Shawn Michaels. The dude has very little muscle physique, but is still employed for a number of reasons; he’s a WWE Legend; he can work well with absolutely anyone, and has been known to train wrestlers climbing up the rankings in the WWE such as Brian Kendrick and Paul London; he sells injuries like nobody’s business; he isn’t selfish when it comes to winning matches or championship shots; and he makes his opponent look good…ALL THE TIME. Still don’t believe me? Watch HBK vs. John Cena at WrestleMania 23 – look at how well that match was written and executed, and then, watch a match with John Cena fighting someone like The Great Khali, Batista, Lashley, and many others. It just isn’t the same.
So, what does the WWE need to do to regain some worldwide exposure? Well, for starters, start pulling out all the stops. Special matches don’t always have to be for Pay-Per-Views; RAW and SmackDown! can have a TLC match once in a while, or a cage, or a ladder match. It’s ok to keep ratings up for brand shows. Speaking of brand shows, why is ECW still around? I would be in favour of collapsing the ECW brand and resurrecting the WCW brand, and making ONLY the WCW guys have the option of going there: Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho (if and when he comes back), Guerrero/Benoit/Malenko (a man can still dream), Finlay, Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan, The Big Show, etc. Wouldn’t you rather watch that as opposed to a ‘freak show’ on ECW (The Boogeyman, Viscera, Kevin Thorn, etc.)? Making three strong brands can lead to inter-brand feuds. Remember when RAW invaded SmackDown! like two mintues into the SmackDown! main event and had a HUGE all-out brawl, which saw Taker and Kane put Batista through a table? THAT was OUTSTANDING! Having Mr. Kennedy run over and interfere in SmackDown! and do something like hit Batista with a chair when he’s not looking and pulling Hornswoggle over him for the win would be great. Remember how great it was when WWE purchased the WCW and ECW divisions and had a WCW and ECW Alliance vs. Team WWF? THAT there was GREAT wrestling.
And speaking of interbrand feuds, why not have a few stables? WWE was going in the right direction by creating Evolution, the past, present, and future of WWE wrestling under one roof (HHH, Ric Flair, Batista, Randy Orton), which could have dominated the WWE for longer than they did. Of course, all good stables have to come to an end sooner or later, but Evolution was scrapped far too early. Creating another now like stable (not literally nWo, but a stable that was fairly large in size) would help too. I have heard that the WWE is bringing back The Hart Foundation as babyfaces, which should be fun to see, as those in it are all related to the original Hart Foundation members.
All in all, the WWE seemed to begin turning things around up until the steroid scandal, which really screwed up everything with suspensions and what not. I have no idea what is happening with Vince’s kid now – originally, it had been Mr. Kennedy, but now that he is being suspended, he remains an option, but HHH and Stone Cold also appear to be in the mix, as does The Great Khali. Storylines are also starting to go down the drain – the Umaga/Jeff Hardy match that saw Jeff win (9/4/07) was poorly done, and on this Tuesday’s ECW show (10/4/07), John Morrison is scheduled to lose to CM Punk for the ECW Championship, where both belts have been dropped due to WWE’s Wellness Policy (also known as Unnecessary 101). Why does Vince have to care what people put in their bodies? Wanna smoke dope? Here’s a joint. Wanna do drugs? Here’s an Oxy Pad for your back acne. Who cares, really?
Guerrero and Benoit died from drug overdoses because they were stupid. Plain and simple. Was it, for either one of them, such a unfathomable concept that maybe, at some point or another, that taking all these unnatural drugs would come back and haunt you? Was it impossible that you may not only be hurting yourself, loved ones and others around you? Would you not like to see your children grow up and live a prosperous life? Do you not want to grow old with your wife and enjoy the life you have created for yourself and your children? I just don’t understand the logic of what these two guys were thinking. It’s like banging your head on the wall. The first time may seem like fun, but after so many hits to the noggin, don’t you think you may get hurt? Your head can only take so much damage before you get a concussion, go into a coma, or fracture your skull, or better yet, die altogether. Size does not equal fame. Rey Mysterio, Paul London, Brian Kendrick, HBK, Randy Orton, Mr. Kennedy, CM Punk, and many others are not big guys, but work ethic, responsibility, and loyalty get them to the top of the heap.
I guess that’s it for me. Just thought I’d vent a bit after seeing so many poorly done RAWs, SmackDown!’s, and after being reminded about how poorly Saturday Night’s Main Event was (again). Let’s hope Vince McMahon listens to some advice and does something to benefit the company again and bring them back to the glory days of the 80’s and 90’s.
