[Riddle101]

Does anyone else feel this way? Ever since Royal Rumble i've found it hard to get into the World Heavyweight Championships scene. The reason being is partly due to WWE hyping the fueds/storylines. They just aren't putting enough energy into bulding up the WHC title scene. Daniel Bryan and Sheamus's fued/story going into Wrestlmania sucked. As fans, WWE are supposed to try and sell the fued/story in order to get us interested so that we buy the ppvs, that's part of the process. But not once did the booking of Bryan/Sheamus make me feel compelled to watch Wrestlmania even if I did watch it anyway. But that was for other reasons. It's not just that either, but I just can't get into any of the stories surrounding Sheamus and the WHC title either, because it's just dull booking as far as I'm concerned. You would think they'd put a lot more priority into a World title tbh. Then you also have this Big Show/John Cena story. What the hell is going on? This week on Raw we had Cena and Micheal Cole with Lord Tensai involved, I mean shouldn't it have been Big Show interfering instead of Tensai. This Cena/Show build up also sucks. Finally you have the WWE title. After CM Punk won the title back, you had his little thing with Alberto Del Rio, and Miz being put into the title match just like that. Then afterwards they have him fued with Dolph Ziggler. Now I know the IWC seems to like Dolph but his fued with Punk sucked as well, the build up was boring and dull and in actual fact they gave more focus to Punk/Johnny Ace then they did Dolph. Nonetheless I wouldn't have felt compelled to get Royal Rumble for Punk/Ziggler, if it wasn't for the fact that it's the beginning of the road to Wrestlmania and the Royal Rumble I wouldn't have given it a second thought. Then you also have Jericho's return and his fued with Punk. Now personally I felt they did it wrong. They had Jericho make his return and not talk until after Rumble which was a bit of a let down. People say he was trolling us but really, him not talking killed a bit of his momentum I felt. Then the run up to Wrestlmania where they had Jericho win a battle royal and get a shot at Punk was silly. They should have just had Jericho/Punk begin their fued straight after Elimination Chamber, they didn't need a silly Battle Royal, and the fued was quite boring as well. They had a one good promo but it seemed to drag on a bit with both Punk and Jericho saying the same thing, as did Undertaker/HHH/HBK which is another build up that was disappointing as well.

My point being is this. I've always felt build up was an essential factor in wrestling. If there is not enough build up in a fued, then I wouldn't be interested. Some could say just watch the match, but again part of the magic of wrestling is build up, the storylines and fueds make for entertainment and give a reason to watch a match. But I just feel like WWE has gotten bad. Which is a suprise because i've always felt WWE were great promoters. Some could argue that Rock/Cena and Cena/Lesnar was a good build up. But it was Rock and Cena who were building up the fued all year round. WWE didn't do as much until the Road to Wrestlmania, and Lesnar/Cena is the only notable thing that WWE actually built up good. But things aren't great there either, becuase Lesnar has disappeared killing a bit of his momentum in the process and Cena after seemingly being taking out by Lesnar has returned to WWE and has since been working ever since, making Lesnar look even worse because Lesnar was supposed to have come out looking strong at Extreme Rule by looking like he destoryed Cena but Cena coming on next Raw and smiling again, and returning to the ring two weeks later was shit.

But hey what else can I say, I suppose you can just add this to the long list of things that WWE is sucking at right now.

 

[scrilla]

I said it before and I'll say it again. WWE can't slow build anything anymore. Anytime they're not hotshotting their build is terrible. Just look at Summer of Punk. They caught lightning in a bottle. It did a pretty guy buyrate increase for a B-Show although nothing mindblowing, but shortly after they fucked it up. I believe that was a 3 week build, out of nowhere after Punk's like 15 month PPV losing streak prior to his win over Mysterio. Had they had more time they would've fucked it up BEFORE MITB, much like they fucked it up by SummerSlam by having Punk doing duelling poses and being a smiling babyface like a week after his return.

They fuck it up more as each week goes on past like 2 weeks. That's why pretty much all of the WrestleMania feuds climaxed way before the go home show. They just can't do even a 4 week build anymore, much less a 4 month build. I think part of the blame goes on the writing staff, but the majority has to be put on Vince. He's become notorious for being bi-polar which is likely what leads to these awful last minute changes and no long term vision. It's pretty impossible to build something when you're booking from week to week instead of booking backwards from the PPV or whatever your goal is.

 

[James1o1o]

I said it before and I'll say it again. WWE can't slow build anything anymore.

They almost got Rock vs Cena perfect. It was only in the 3 weeks before Wrestlemania did everything get pushed down our throats, stuff that they could have easily skipped. It was almost perfect including have the Rock as a tag team partner at Survivor Series, I thought that added alot without any words spoken. Cena knew he was amazing in the ring and even as his enemy, still needed him.

But yeah you are 100% right. Can't think of the last time a "fued" was built correctly. The entire Kane, Punk and Bryan thing seems thrown together in 2 weeks. Kane is just so irrelevant its amazing how anyone could think its good in the Creative office.

 

[scrilla]

^ Maybe if you ignore the god awful Cena/Rock teaming because Rock's twitter followers asked him too. The whole Survivor Series thing besides the match was pretty bad. I agree though a few weeks before Mania I was ready for the match the feud climaxed, then they killed it. There was also a great Taker/Trips/HBK angle that happened like 2-4 weeks before the actual PPV that got me really looking forward to the match, then they did nothing great to follow it up until the PPV.

Jericho/Punk started out with a great promo about being the best in the world/Punk copying him. Then it became some "lol ur dad is an alcoholic" Jerry Springer type shit.

 

[The-Rock-Says]

The whole build up to Rock/Cena was kinda of a mess. One week they were cutting serious promos. Then one week one was cutting a serious promo and the other was a laughing goof. Then the next they were doing comedy skits rapping and singing. Then they were serious again.

The WrestleMania promo was the best thing about the build.

 

[Jobberwacky]

Same thing happened with Cena/Ace, and also with Punk/Y2J. One week/moment they were personal, the next we had comedy segments. In the end it was hard to tell what they were truly fighting about, too many themes were threw at the wall. Similar to Rock/Cena, the 'once in a lifetime' and 'generation vs generation' parts weren't defined and fleshed out.

Again with Taker/Trips, all the groundwork was laid but how many people were still asking, even after the match, what exactly the 'end of an era' actually meant. Even after they'd spent weeks going round in circles.

Although, i think that was meant to be left open. Look at Kane/Cena, that one wasn't revolved at all. It also suffered from the un/intentional comedy with Eve/Ryder being inserted. Even Brock/Cena had that long Brock promo that ended up being un-intentionally funny to many.

They don't seem able to deliver convincing and consistent, detailed, and compact stories, with the right amount of intensity and at the right times. A fluid and logical beginning/middle/end, and a payoff with lasting consequences that impacts on future character development. Cena, being the obvious major culprit.

They often get the right elements, but have trouble balancing them out, knowing when to focus in on something and progress it and when to hold it off and pan it out. Just the basics sometimes, yet they always find ways to undo and downplay an angle, instead of maximise and follow through to it's potential.

There's not enough storylines for a start, that would be the biggest problem. They too often seem like they don't know who they are catering towards, so end up trying to appease everybody and satisfying less. The way comedy has to be inserted so much and that we recap a lot, suggests that they have their eye on the younger audience too much and sometimes the live crowd, at the expense of other avenues.

We can only hope they are learning from mistakes and improving again in the future, although there doesn't seem to be a turnaround coming anytime soon. The creative needs a serious overhaul.

 

[Timber Timbre]

The problem is this. WWE relies heavily on a team of writers with conflicting ideas, thus never having a clear vision for the product. They constantly have to re write the RAW script which is a clear indication that they have no confidence in whatever direction they're headed. Right now, they're throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping for something to stick, all the while trying to remain image conscious.

They've relied heavily on the marketing power of their old stars such as the Rock and Lesnar to come in and bring awareness to their stale product. The consequences of pitting the Rock against John Cena was that it dwarfed their top star in comparison, to the point where they were forced into booking him as a complete loser. Now, the creative direction seems to be all about rebuilding Cena's cred, which comes at the expence of everyone else on the roster. They're slowly trying to build other guys towards main event level, but they're prudent not to give these guys too much exposure in fear of overshadowing whatever Cena is doing. In turn, the storylines suffer and they don't sustain the interest of the viewer.

The WWE needs a new company model, and a clear direction cultivated through fresh ideas. Once business picks up on that front, everything will fall into place. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you're going through the motions every single week, not a single soul will stick out.

 

[Booze]

They almost got Rock vs Cena perfect. It was only in the 3 weeks before Wrestlemania did everything get pushed down our throats, stuff that they could have easily skipped. It was almost perfect including have the Rock as a tag team partner at Survivor Series, I thought that added alot without any words spoken. Cena knew he was amazing in the ring and even as his enemy, still needed him.

But yeah you are 100% right. Can't think of the last time a "fued" was built correctly. The entire Kane, Punk and Bryan thing seems thrown together in 2 weeks. Kane is just so irrelevant its amazing how anyone could think its good in the Creative office.

No, Rock/Cena had a terrible build compared to how it could have been.

 

[dxbender]

Really don't know what's been going on in WWE for past few months. They've really been lacking in storyline buildup, or storylines in general(they've rarely had storylines to begin with,but now it's gotten so sad with the lack of storylines). And the ones they do have, we don't really see any good video packages(if we have any at all) for them.

 

[LINK]

Wow the build ups can go to hell look at all the typing.

 

[Jupiter Jack Daniels]

Be honest, do fans these days have the patience to sit thru a long build up towards an angle/match/turn?

 

[Riddle101]

Be honest, do fans these days have the patience to sit thru a long build up towards an angle/match/turn?

If done right I would say yes. The build up to HBK/Undertaker II was great. Right from the moment HBK accepted the Slammy award for best match. Everything was laid out, and the fans knew something was going to happen. The run up to Rumble was great, with HBK trying to get Undertaker to face him at Mania only to be denied by Taker himself. Making him focus on winning the Rumble in order to face him for the World Heavyweight title because he believed it was the only way he could face him. Then after being eliminated at Rumble he went a bit crazy, acting obssessed with the streak while also letting it be known that it was really effecting him which of course led to the screwjob at Elimination Chamber. Finally the story leading up the mania after Elimination Chamber was pretty exciting and HBK putting his career on the line was the cherry on top. That's the best example I can come up with for a good long build up to a match. But my point is, that WWE have the tools to do it they just can't seem to get it right anymore.

 

[dxbender]

Be honest, do fans these days have the patience to sit thru a long build up towards an angle/match/turn?

There's 3-4 weeks inbetween PPVs, so 3-4 weeks of build really isn't that long. Small feuds should get 3-4 weeks of build, average feuds should get 7-8 weeks(spanning 2 ppvs) and long feuds should get 10+ weeks.