I asked myself last Monday, What has happened to wrestling these days? I remember watching and being entertained and enjoying the product the WWF had been pushing years ago, I now sit bored for most of the show only waiting for certain things to get me interested. I would call myself an average fan, not the hardcore follow the story line for two years trying to predict the next step. I haven’t watched religiously like I used too. I did start a couple months ago watching weekly and watching the pay per views. I just want to watch a good show, with good entertainment and athleticism that keep me interested and hope to have a few laughs each night. I now found myself wondering if I am just getting too old and my thinking has changed or if it’s just that the writing isn’t what it should be for such a big product.
I would like to say that the answer is that the writers are doing a bad job and pushing a mediocre product. I would also like to think that 70% of the fans are like myself, they don’t care if what the Nexus does has to follow some boring story line, so 2 years down the road it makes sense to the hardcore fan that has been following it forever. I use that %, because the 4 people that I text during a Monday there are the 3 that are just hoping to see some good old entertainment, and that other person I am texting who happens to be the best damn blogger on the planet, so that he can fill me in with why they are doing certain story lines, so that I can make some sense of it and pass it on to the other 3. I find reading the Iron Sheiks twitter is much more entertaining than most of the Raw program. Here are a few of my issues the last few months of watching the WWE lately that has rubbed me the wrong way.
First I am sick of the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame for the WWE is just a long waiting list of every wrestler getting an award. After seeing Hacksaw Jim Duggan going to be inducted I went and looked at who already was in the Hall of Fame. I was shocked with what I would see. You are telling me that guys like Koko B. Ware, The Fridge, and Bob Ueker are all Hall of Fame worthy? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. That would be like the MLB letting in Travis Hafner, Jack Cust, and Hideki Matsui. I can’t wait for next year when they induct the chicken suit that Pete Rose wore, or did they already? I think of Hall of Fame and I think of a group of the best wrestlers to have ever competed in the squared circle, and that isn’t close to what the WWE has done with their Hall of Fame.
Second, is the announcing as bad as it has ever been? Michael Cole and that Striker guy a pathetic excuse for color commentary announcers. They make the thought of listening to Vitale and Musberger announce a Duke game enjoyable. I could find a couple bums on the street that can’t name a wrestler and would think they could do a better job. During the Rumble, I found them getting lost in the action and arguing with each other about stuff that had nothing to do with the Rumble. Lawler was actually doing a good job and as most times he is with the action and the other two clowns were talking about stuff that had nothing to do with what was going on. Diesel comes out to the Rumble and Michael Cole is busy talking about who knows what and then 5 minutes after he was eliminated finally talks about Diesel coming back. I think of all the great announcers of the past and think what people are getting now is just embarrassing. I think Jim Ross sits at home and watches the Spanish channel with captions on the bottom so he doesn’t have to listen to Cole.
The story lines are just stupid. I am sick of the Nexus and the Core taking up half the show dealing with stuff that they will finally get around to revealing a year from now. At the Rumble I was sick of them trying to make a point of their dominance in showing them eliminate people and just sitting in the ring. I found it boring and don’t really care what 7 of the 8 will ever do. It is a royal rumble, multiple wrestlers in a ring wrestling, not king of the mountain, throwing 1 by 1 people out of the ring. I find that there are way too many divas to ever get anything going. Most of them can’t wrestle and are just a waste of time. I have no problems with looking at them, but that’s about it. I think that HHH was the champ for so long, because the writers didn’t know what to do with him. I find this true with guys like Morrison, DeBiase; these guys never get a decent push and then have new stories all the time trying to find something to do with them. That is most likely why the Da Pope had to leave; they just had no clue what to do with such talent. Instead they push The Miz, how not AWWWESOME is that. They have stars like Orton and Edge also that they don’t know what to do with. Instead they have the 2011 version of the Ultimate Warrior in Cena taking chest bumps for 25 minutes. The tag teams aren’t as good as they used to be, and when they finally get a tag team that is good it seems they break it up and those guys go to singles action and disappear. Also, how can’t they get more than 5 matches in for a taping of Raw? Oh yeah, it’s because they talk for 40 minutes an episode. More matches please and less talky.
I also question if the WWE can pull off the big matches like they used too. They send the Undertaker to a UFC event and try to get Lesnar to come back. Taker needs to stay away from the Octagon before he ends up knocked out like Lesnar did that night. I feel the WWE couldn’t close the deal and get Lesnar so they had to go backwards ten years and bring back HHH or a rematch. Big Whoop. You had me with the thought of the Rock actually wrestling, but will he? I am starting to think they will swing and miss with that also. Yes, Jericho is my favorite of all time, but I would have also liked to seen him come back and wrestle at WrestleMania. Sting would have been a great pick up lately, which looks like it won’t ever happen. So instead, no Brock, no Jericho, no Shawn Michaels, no Sting and the finally they get HHH to face the Taker. This reminds me of The University of Michigan trying to hire a football coach, the top guys go elsewhere then they say they got their top candidate. Then they bring the Rock back, but he will just be a ref? Yikes, that is awful if you think of a PPV headlined by Taker vs. Jericho and The Rock vs. Cena. Edge vs. Orton would be awesome. Instead you get Doink vs. Dink, Hornswoggle vs. the Boogie Man for the ruler of the swamp, and Booker T vs. Stevie Ray. So disappointing. Even though I would be excited to see who rules the swamp.
I also think that some of the PPV events should be free, the UFC does this, and I know the WWE isn’t the UFC, but if they had some of the lesser PPV’s for free more people would watch and lead to them watching again on Monday if they liked it. Not every PPV is worth the money. The WCW had events for free and I enjoyed watching them, it made the less stacked cards ok with me, because they were free. This would be a great time to push the Intercontinental Title holders and put together good tag teams. It would sure be nice to have those belts mean more than they do now. I really think they could and should sell those belts better than they do. They put no kind of importance on those belts which is a major mistake. This is how they pumped up greats like Mr. Perfect!!!
I hope this is just a funk in what the WWE doing, and not a fun I am in. I just truly think it’s the product and not me. I just get this feeling from the casual fans that I talk too weekly. I would think that the casual fan out numbers that hardcore fan that lives, sleeps and dreams about how that certain move during the match that will be brought up again next year between The Miz and Orton and they can say I told you so to their dork fan that also thought that was the move that would change the whole story line down the road. Who cares, just put on a good match, a good show, and good product. Just seems to frustrate me with the story lines and lack of good characters and I hope this changes soon. I guess, I have more issues with the WWE then I thought, maybe one day somebody will understand my thoughts and get hired by the WWE and turn this ship around for me.
Tell me your thoughts on the state of the WWE; I want to hear from all you casual fans in what you think the WWE could do better. Yes, I agree Chris Jericho is the greatest wrestler of all time, don’t agree, tell me! I love talking to jabronis, and love handing them over to the Iron Sheik so he can put you in the camel clutch, break your back, and make you humble. So add me on Twitter @ChrisSturgill12. See ya next week.
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