The state of WWE right now has to be hands down the worse I have seen it in, well, ever. It’s pretty sad. In this editorial, I’m going to attempt to explain why WWE needs a revamp, and what could be done to make it better. As always all views written in this piece are my own and do not reflect the overall views of this website, it’s owner, or other writers.
WWE has a long history, stretching way back to it’s founding in 1979. Meaning in 2019 the ‘E will be 40 years old. It was founded by Vince and Linda McMahon, but it’s history goes further than that. WWE was actually Capital Wrestling Corporation, which was founded by Vince McMahon’s grandfather, Jess McMahon. He founded CWC with Toots Mondt back in 1952. His son, Vincent James McMahon, Vince’s father, took it over after his death in 1952. and renamed it World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). Later they would drop “Wide”, and then even later during the “Get the F out” campaign, changed F to E, to what we now know as WWE. We’ll touch on history in another article. For now, let’s look at some of the era’s of the ‘E, and how they rank up to today’s. We wont go too deep into each topic as I want to compare wrestlers of “Then” with “Now”, so we’ll start with everyone’s favorite. The Attitude Era! The lights, the money, we’re in this together….
During the Attitude Era, we had some of the most insane story lines. But they were riveting, and we were engaged week after week. We as fans tuned in each week to see what The Rock and Austin, Undertaker, Kane, DX, etc, were going to do that week. Unlike today, the belts were defended week after week, all over the place. Even the hardcore title was defended 24/7 in some of the most memorable matches in history.
Today, we have a part timer with the belt, over Braun Strowman. The belt was exchanged at WWE’s Saudi PPV Blood Money. No, I will not call it by it’s name. The story lines are jokes on the mane roster, and the “B” show is the “A” show by far. RAW can’t hold a candle to Smackdown. Three hours, I think, is way too long.
What is WWE doing? They have such amazing talent in NXT. Then they move them up, and they’re ruined. Ascension, Asuka (Don’t tell me she’s being used right, because she’s not), Sasha Banks, even Bailey has a lot of talent, but it’s wasted. Finn Balor, another example of misuse. Sure he has the “Demon” once in awhile, but other than that, he’s been wasted ever since he won the first ever “Universal Championship”. Stupid name. He was taken out due to injury right after winning it, sadly, and has never been booked the same.
The saddest thing I saw was Ronda winning the womens belt. The boos. The angry crowd. The outrage. Oh you thought they were happy? Oh no. Nope. The crowd was livid. They piped in fake cheers to drown the boos, then you note the camera angles? They very rarely showed the crowd. The few glimpses we got, was of a very angry crowd. Ronda didn’t deserve that title. Not for a long time.
Then we have Brock Lesnar. What in the actual F? Why? WHY with all the outrage, the anger, did WWE give this cash cow the title again? Is he in bed with Vince? Maybe he got it the same way the Bella’s got their run and shows, by who they were screwing. Let’s face it, Brock is a beast, yes. But Brock is a has been. If the man was full time and could do more than a German suplex, then sure, great, yeah he deserves it! I mean he almost died, he was undefeated for awhile in UFC, the man is, legit, a beast. But he’s a part time beast. He’s so part time, that we’re all sick of him. I think I speak for a lot of fans when I say that.
The Ascension. They’re the running joke of the WWE lately. These two were monsters in NXT, even holding the NXT tag belts for quite awhile. They were amazing, and very well used. I would have loved to see them go against the likes of AoP, or Big Damo (I don’t care what his name is now, he will always be Damo to me). These two men have great tag chemistry, and they’re wonderful together as a team, one of the best I’ve seen in awhile. But instead, we’re pushing AoP with Drake Maverick, who is the GM of 205 Live, who has no business on the main roster.
Theres other things like Lashley, a monster of a man. He can easily stand alone in WWE, but they have him with Lio Rush? I think Lio is more of a heel than Lashley at this point, because we’re all tired of “Lash-Ley, Lash-Ley” every week, and Lio is an amazing wrestler on his own, but WWE stuck him as a manager.
Let’s not even talk about forcing people to be a heel when they are the most over face of the company. What can WWE do to fix this?
First of all, a roster shakeup. Why do we have a split brand? Re-merge the rosters, merge the bels together again, and put the belt on Strowman. Have him decimate Lesnar. When I say decimate, I mean absolutely destroy him with no help from the outside. Put Lesnar out of commission. Make Braun the Monster among Men again. Then you pair him with the Bludgeon Brothers, and Bray, and reform the Wyatt Family. Give them the tag titles, and put the IC on Bray. Give them all the gold. Make them a force to be reckoned with. Then, you bring back SaNiTy, including Nikki. Oh right ,they’re supposed to be on smackdown aren’t they? That’s the ‘E dropping the ball again. Imagine that feud, Wyatts vs Sanity? Braun vs Damo? Good lord!
Women wise, enough with this battle royal shit. Give us Sasha vs Bailey finally! Give us some Ember Moon, make Asuka a heel, and put them together in a feud. The way Asuka is booked now is a joke. Such an amazing talent. Bring up Kairi Sane and put her in there, or put her with Asuka, though making Kairi a heel would be tough to do, she’s so loved. The way they could do it, is to have her attack Becky Lynch. That would probably work, since Becky is so beloved. I’m not talking a quick run in, I mean a match, Becky vs Asuka. Asuka is beating the hell out of Becky, and Kairi comes in and seems to stand up for Becky. Then, she turns, and nails Becky with her wheel or chest or something, and they proceed to beat Becky down.
The titles are a mess as well. Too many for not enough superstars. They need to recombine the tag titles into one. Keep the IC and US. Merge the WHC’s into one, give the women a unique belt that’s not a copycat. Bring up some women from NXT, give us womens tag belts. It worked great in TNA, why not do it? These could all fix the current disaster state WWE is in, and bring it up to a fan favorite again. Oh and, no more Blood Money PPV’s until this shit in Saudi is sorted. Shane McMahon is a GM, not a wrestler, get him out of the ring. Get rid of HHH and HBK, Undertaker, let Kane go back to being a mayor. Little things. I feel if that was done, WWE could be a fan favorite again. Until such time, well, I’d grade WWE a big fat D right now. If I were to grade individual brands, Smackdown would get a C, RAW an F, and NXT an A.
That’s my opinion. Lets hear yours, @ me on twitter, @LaurenCR3.
