And long term that is a bad plan because what happens when these old stars are done? No no one is left to take their place. If they had actually used their old stars to make new ones they wouldn’t need the old ones to sell wrestlemania
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This is easier said then done.
It’s not all their fault. They tried hard with Roman. They sold everyone (brock/cena/UT) to put him over. Yet the fans won’t take to him.
It’s just really hard for them. I think the issue is a lot of their fan base hates the company. They watch bc they are addicted but they are basically old 55yr old grumps who are mad at the WWE puts out and reject a lot of stars
They only two people to get over in recent memory (Bryan and Becky) were bc the fans supported them since they thought the company overlooked them.
With that logic being the only thing that works it makes sense what they are doing to guys like a Riccochet
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It was probably bound to happen considering they’ve basically booked the McMahon family to be the top heels for the last 20 years.
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Kofi also got over but then was booked like crap. They did a bad job with Roman, it took him too long to beat Brock. Undertaker wasn’t what he once was when Roman went over him and then rather than being the guy who retired taker, he is just another guy because taker keeps coming back. They never changed up his character, never turned him heel etc. They have also gotten really bad at backing the hot hand rather than their chosen one. Regardless of who they pick though everyone seems lesser when old stars come in an beat the unbeatable guys of this era. I mean Goldberg Squashed Brock in their first meeting and it took Roman like 4 matches to eek out one win. I don’t disagree that it is hard for them to make stars they have a number of long term self imposed hurdles to jump. But always putting legends over new “stars” is one of them. For me the Fiend is dead. There is literally nothing interesting left about him. He was already borderline terrible, but at least there was maybe an angle about figuring out his weakness. That is gone now. So I have no interest in a wrestler tha is not great in the ring, and no sells.
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Other companies don’t seem to have a problem making stars. Even impact made Tessa Blanchard look like a star. In the men’s division. Beating men. Yet WWE can’t book an over guy (Rusev, Nakamura, Rollins, Owen’s, etc.) To be the top guy…
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It’s bc the fan base here hates the company. Literally they make stars by beating people down so fans think that they are being anti establishment and cheering.
It’s weird and stupid but that’s the reality.
This is a company that made huge stars in Austin and Rock and even Cena. They can’t suddenly forget - it’s a little bit of a souring audience that hates the owners and then not changing with the times and continuing to push bigger wrestlers like Corbin
You can’t blame our tiny corner of wrestling fandom for inept booking. We are a very small minority. But we have seen good storylines, we have seen blood feuds built on hatred. To blame us because we don’t think the Corbin reigns feud is interesting (how did it even start? Why is it still a thing?) Is completely missing the point
Im not for that. More for the constant rejection of Roman when he’s actually good.
It is because they aren’t good at reading the fans and picking their moments that isn’t the fault of the fans.
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Again, we are only a small percentage of the audience.
Look it’s not the fans fault.
It’s their fault for turning their fans into people who hate them. However look at the evidence.
The only two stars they have made have been bc they were beaten and left behind and the fans wanted them to succeed to stick it to management.
This is not up for debate. The fans got behind Bryan and Becky bc they thought management hated them and beat them too much.
So if you are WWE and you want to make a star why wouldn’t you follow this formula and beat the down?
I mean, look at what happened when Daniel Bryan came back. He was white hot. Then he went directly to the mid card. Or when Reigns came back from his cancer treatment. White hot. Directly to the mid card. All the times Rusev got over, straight to the mid card. Really, the only people who got good booking has been the New Day ( as a group) because vinny doesn’t care about tag teams
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I’m not sure fans thought management hated Becky, they just wanted to see her used more. Fans were behind people like Seth at times too. The problem was all the booking after the fans were behind him. Same with Kofi. Fans were behind Roman at one point too. The problem is how they tell stories which has nothing to do with fans. They over expose talent, and don’t tell compelling stories. The talent is also required to act now, and many aren’t great at it. Beyond that my impression is that the writers for whatever reason are crap.
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I am simply saying in the WWEs minds the best way in 2020 to make a star is to beat them down and have the fans organically turn them into a star. Thats kind of what happened with Kofi.
If they push someone they don’t think it works. If they de push them sometimes it does. So for right or wrong that’s what they do
It didn’t really happen with Kofi though, they told that story after he was already hot. They told a good story in the gauntlet match with him, and then again in the Chamber. Then they over booked on the way to mania but didn’t do too badly. They may think they need to do it, but what they really need is to just pay attention to the fans and run with what is getting over. As I said there is a lot standing in the way of them developing stars. I’m not arguing what they do I’m saying what they do is wrong and they don’t understand why people get over, or how to build characters. Given that presenting their current characters as lesser is bad.
Shit, how easy would it have been to make Strowman into the top guy a few years ago. They just had to pull the trigger when he was hot. And then they would have a top babyface. Instead, he jobbed out to brock, and went back to the mid card. This isn’t that difficult, but yet WWE can’t do it.
Again, Impact was dead in the water. And they still built Tessa as a legit star.
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Yup WWE basically never pulls the trigger that is their major problem. They get too stuck in their heads about what needs to happen a certain way: Roman beating Brock, Seth Beating Brock, Charlotte at mania last year, Fiend Main eventing HITC around Halloween, the finish to that match… the list goes on. The only time the pull the trigger is with people who are already stars, like Brock, Goldberg, Ronda…
I mean if they wanted to make Kofi a star (people bag on his run but it was essentially a glorified IC title run if you look at his opponents, other than Orton and we all know how well his matches do.), have him beat Roman, they kept Roman away from the picture but had him facing the top card heels with Shane and Drew (have Kofi beat those guys too.). Have Brock cash in on Kofi and take the title, then have Kofi battle back to reclaim it. In stead we got Ziggler/Owens/Orton and a 10 second loss to Brock.
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Yeah, they gave Kofi a half assed run as champ. Dolph is his big threat? Wow…nobody needed that feud. It’s like they screw these things up on purpose, just they can say that they gave us what we wanted, and we’re still not happy. And this has been going on forever. Remember C.M. Punk?
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Another guy who needs to leave WWE is Wyatt. They are never going to go with him and this loss cements that. He’s never recovered from losing to Cena at Mania.
He’s a creative guy so he needs to go to a promotion that will allow him the chance to flex that muscle. The Fiend run started out with promise but creative destroyed it.
I have to admit - I belly laughed. Still have tears in my eyes by reading tweets.
WWE 101.