This is something I'll never understand about the WWE. Wouldn't it makes sense to capitalize on guys who the crowd actually want to see or have a shit ton of momentum? From psycho Orton, to Nexus Era Wade Barrett, the Undashing Cody Rhodes gimmick, to Bray Wyatt, Cesar, Rusev, Kevin Owens when he first debut on the main roster and even Zach Ryder when he was super over the WWE seems to miss golden opportunities for building legitimate stars. They do make the right call from time to time like with D Bry but fans had to damn near riot to make that happen.
As far as I can tell, WWE (Vince) has a predetermined image of WWE going forward, and many of the guys you listed simply don't fall into what Vince's ideal WWE is.
It's unfortunate that so many of his beliefs regarding the industry are archaic and outdated.
Management always have a preconceived notion of who should be given the ball to run with. It's only recently that they deviated from this mindset with Bryan and Punk but they're outliers when it comes to the grand scheme of things.
It's because Vince sees these wrestlers in a totally different context that we do. We see them on TV and from a distance, he sees them in real life. He judges them based on that, how alpha they are or whatever. We judge them on how fun they are to watch or what have you. Used to work better but I think it's tougher now that Vince is so old. He sees things differently than us, and he relates to the wrestlers differently since they're from another generation.
These days it seems Vince is too preoccupied with who looks more impressive on Good Morning America. Now why does that matters now when the WWE doesn't have a fraction of the media attention it did 15 years ago? I don't have a clue. There is a built in audience of people who would happily watch the WWE again if given a reason. It's like Vince is more interested in appealing to the people who give ZERO fucks about pro wrestling in general.
There is something to be said about that. The morning shows and such are one of the few chances the WWE has to speak to people outside the "universe". They generally only have one shot to make an impression. A company definitely wants to put it's best foot forward when introducing itself to potential new customers. I can understand Vince's logic. You don't want a soft-spoken, average looking guy standing next to Michael Strahan.
Because they want full control, if Wrestlers get to big they can do what Hogan and Warrior did and hold the company hostage. WWE wants to be sure everything is on their terms.
But appealing to casuals who don't give a damn bout pro wrestling. Is irrelogical. Surley theirs more money in targeting core wrestling fans who tuned out? Its nonsensical.
It makes sense to target the hardcore fans slightly less and let the strayed hardcore fans come back on their own. I mean think of how many people on this site say "CM Punk or Bryan bought me back". Think of how many hardcore fans "hate watch" the show because various guys they like are on the card.
It makes more sense to target an audience that is much larger, isn't on lock, and needs more than just " we have X guy from Y company " to get into the arena. If your trying to grow the company like any business owner should you try to figure out how to get new non wrestling eyes on the product.
If they just appealed to the hardcore crowd they'd be ROH or NJPW which does much less business. WWE at their lowest still makes a ton more money than promotions strictly geared towards hardcore wrestling fans so what incentive does WWE have to soley target our demographic?
If he wanted three hours of fucking tag team mud wrestling, he gets three hours of tag team mud wrestling.
The reason the guys you mentioned don't get pushed like Roman Reigns, is because none of those wrestlers are the guy Vince McMahon wants to build his company behind. He literally is the one thing stopping dozens on the main roster of achieving top guy status. And if you get over on your own? Well that's great. But if Vince McMahon only sees you as a midcard act... well your going to stay a midcard act.
A LOT is going to change once Vince McMahon either dies or finally relinquishes the reigns on creative.
Look at this way. Even Triple H, in a recent interview, didn't really have ANYTHING positive to say about his main event match with Roman Reigns. Not a damn thing. That should tell you all you need to know about who is running the show at WWE. Vince McMahon.
If he wanted three hours of fucking tag team mud wrestling, he gets three hours of tag team mud wrestling.
The reason the guys you mentioned don't get pushed like Roman Reigns, is because none of those wrestlers are the guy Vince McMahon wants to build his company behind. He literally is the one thing stopping dozens on the main roster of achieving top guy status. And if you get over on your own? Well that's great. But if Vince McMahon only sees you as a midcard act... well your going to stay a midcard act.
A LOT is going to change once Vince McMahon either dies or finally relinquishes the reigns on creative.
Look at this way. Even Triple H, in a recent interview, didn't really have ANYTHING positive to say about his main event match with Roman Reigns. Not a damn thing. That should tell you all you need to know about who is running the show at WWE. Vince McMahon.
So your trying to tell me that HHH who most likely played a big role of putting himself in another WM main event had nothing positive to say about it?...we all know Vince has final say in everything but let's not act like HHH is powerless in the WWE.
I don't see really much changing when Vince is not longer part of WWE?...the WWE still be about who your friends with and who's the bosses favorite, I see most of HHH NXT guys getting pushed to the top of the roster meanwhile the other guys might as well leave with Vince.
Sometimes there are reasons behind the scenes that aren't widely known. Back in the day, Snuka was considered for Hogan's spot - he was over big, but he also had too many personal issues. In more present day - Orton was over but had some backstage issues of his own..
That is sometimes, other times it is management wanting to prove they are right no matter what..
In all honesty WWE has no competition at all right now. They are making a ton of money..although it could be more, but still a ton. The only way they could really have any future competition is if they build up wrestlers and legitimize them and have those guys go to different organizations. Punk is their worst nightmare but for them at least he is doing nothing in UFC...but if he had gone to a promotion that could get a decent TV deal then there could start to be real competition. I do think any guy who bitches on Twitter or even backstage is damned to get no higher than mid card. Vince learned his lesson when a company almost put them under and the guys headlining he had made famous. Its actually pretty smart business sense. Anyone he perceives as disloyal he wont move past the midcard. A guy like Dolph ziggler has no shot a guy like Zach Ryder needs to be buried since he got over without WWE's help. Guys like that need to be turned into clowns by Vince in order to protect WWE's monopoly on wrestling.
Most of those guys did get a push though (Ryder's was sabotaged and Barrett's was botched). But some hardcore fans need to realize that you can get a push without getting a title or becomiing the 1 guy.
Pyscho Orton got a stable and Mania main event.
Rusev got a year long undefeated streak, a US title run, a win over Cena, and though it failed they tried to give him a notable feud post Cena
Bray is the go to upper midcard heel
Undashing Cody was IC Champ.
They capitalize on a lot, just because they don't always go over board a la Fandagooing doesn't mean they aren't pushing over acts to some degree
But what really came from all of those "pushes"? Orton has done well but everyone else has looked like shit. Aside from Orton they should be in much better spots right now. I'm not saying they should all be 6 time world champions or anything but they should at least be credible characters.
Failure to keep these guys elevated is the reason why Roman Reigns seems to have no reasonable foes or even have anybody that seems to be in his league right now.
I'm not convinced the final word is Vince's. It's a public company and the top stars are probably chosen by committee these days, with a long term plan which completely ignores what the fans or talent might want, and which won't be deviated from unless someone gets injured or worse.
Wwe is really turning into Nxt 2.0. Nothing wrong with that. But half the roster is Nxt. But that's prob a good thing. Seeing they are carrying the whole show atm.
Because their primary sources of income are corporate investment and advertising. The fans are just scenery.
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