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WWE does a lot of things wrong. They also do a lot of things correctly. But I'd like to talk about what I think is hurting WWE more than anything today: overproduction.
There's a common thread connecting the very short list of names that have truly been over in the last year. It's not talent in any one area, nor is it company backing. No, what connects Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns (at least the Roman that we've seen in the last week), Daniel Bryan, and to a lesser extent Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins is their ability to be genuine. WWE has this horrible habit of doing the television equivalent of coating their talent in glitter. They're trying so hard to do the work of getting talent over FOR the talent that fans are crucifying other stars (Roman, Batista, Orton, Cena) whenever they can see through the glitter. Roman was obviously the biggest victim of this, but it's true of the broad reaction to the WWE product lately.
Watching TLC, when Michael Cole told everyone that "THIS is why everyone calls TLC WWE's version of demolition derby," every single person I was watching the PPV with let out a literal audible groan. Nobody says that; not other announcers, not WWE superstars, nobody. No matter how many times the announcers talk about so and so's fighting spirit or the funny character or whatever the hell else they want me to think about their talent, it will never matter.
No matter how many times Michael Cole says something, it will NEVER be true until WWE's talent are allowed to take it upon themselves to make it true.
Last night, when Kalisto did a Salida del Sol off the top of a ladder, my ass fell out of my mouth and TLC suddenly became WWE's version of demolition derby. The announcers were too busy marking out to spout their overproduced nonsense, and in that moment, what they had been telling me before, over and over again, suddenly became true.
WWE fails to realize that in today's world of UFC where Ronda Rousey and Connor McGregor are hugely over by just being real, tough, badass athletes, they don't have to do anything beyond let their own stars get themselves over in their own way. Roman never should've been handed the character he was handed. People saw through that character, saw someone just doing what he was told by creative, and actively booed him for it. Heel Orton, Face Batista, and at times John Cena have all suffered for the EXACT SAME REASON.
Fans, hardcore wrestling and casual fans alike, just want to watch genuine television. I don't give a flying fuck what kind of soap opera bullshit writing they want to introduce, as long as the talent is genuine and the matches are good. Garbage writing can be overcome by talented stars allowed to find their feet and be themselves; the Attitude Era was defined by that very fact.
WWE showed last night that they might've finally figured it out, but it remains to be seen if the follow-through will be true. It shouldn't be that hard for them; NXT is over for the same reason; superstars, highly talented or highly green, are allowed to find their own feet. It's real, it's genuine, and we connect with it for that very reason.
There's a common thread connecting the very short list of names that have truly been over in the last year. It's not talent in any one area, nor is it company backing. No, what connects Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns (at least the Roman that we've seen in the last week), Daniel Bryan, and to a lesser extent Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins is their ability to be genuine. WWE has this horrible habit of doing the television equivalent of coating their talent in glitter. They're trying so hard to do the work of getting talent over FOR the talent that fans are crucifying other stars (Roman, Batista, Orton, Cena) whenever they can see through the glitter. Roman was obviously the biggest victim of this, but it's true of the broad reaction to the WWE product lately.
Watching TLC, when Michael Cole told everyone that "THIS is why everyone calls TLC WWE's version of demolition derby," every single person I was watching the PPV with let out a literal audible groan. Nobody says that; not other announcers, not WWE superstars, nobody. No matter how many times the announcers talk about so and so's fighting spirit or the funny character or whatever the hell else they want me to think about their talent, it will never matter.
No matter how many times Michael Cole says something, it will NEVER be true until WWE's talent are allowed to take it upon themselves to make it true.
Last night, when Kalisto did a Salida del Sol off the top of a ladder, my ass fell out of my mouth and TLC suddenly became WWE's version of demolition derby. The announcers were too busy marking out to spout their overproduced nonsense, and in that moment, what they had been telling me before, over and over again, suddenly became true.
WWE fails to realize that in today's world of UFC where Ronda Rousey and Connor McGregor are hugely over by just being real, tough, badass athletes, they don't have to do anything beyond let their own stars get themselves over in their own way. Roman never should've been handed the character he was handed. People saw through that character, saw someone just doing what he was told by creative, and actively booed him for it. Heel Orton, Face Batista, and at times John Cena have all suffered for the EXACT SAME REASON.
Fans, hardcore wrestling and casual fans alike, just want to watch genuine television. I don't give a flying fuck what kind of soap opera bullshit writing they want to introduce, as long as the talent is genuine and the matches are good. Garbage writing can be overcome by talented stars allowed to find their feet and be themselves; the Attitude Era was defined by that very fact.
WWE showed last night that they might've finally figured it out, but it remains to be seen if the follow-through will be true. It shouldn't be that hard for them; NXT is over for the same reason; superstars, highly talented or highly green, are allowed to find their own feet. It's real, it's genuine, and we connect with it for that very reason.
