[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by #1-wwf-fan Cornette makes a good obvious point about the sympathy thing. They try to get everyone over the same way. There's no thought of "does this work for this specific guy" anymore. Outside of Lesnar, every heel has to be a chicken shit at least occasionally and every face has to be sympathetic. Reigns should not be getting his ass kicked constantly to get over as a face. Cena should not have been getting his ass kicked constantly to get over as a face. It doesn't fit them. It fits a Daniel Bryan type. Let the smaller guys get the sympathy and the muscled up beasts be muscled up fucking beasts.

Everybody works the same. It's a massive, massive problem, and it's not exclusive to the WWE. I had to switch off the one EVOLVE show I built because all the guys were doing indy strong style. Everyone in the WWE does it. I don't understand why wrestlers think they will stand out doing the same shit as everyone else. I actually just don't get it at all.

Originally Posted by The Dastardly One They're obsessed with heat. I think Alvarez harps on it a lot. Steve Austin while having to "overcome odds" always delivered comeuppance. Very rarely did he just flat out get his ass kicked without there being severe repercussions on the same show.

I heard Alvarez say that the other day, so I think you're right -- except they are scared of genuine heat. It's this faux-heat where it's really just the antagonist getting their way, or the babyface failing. It's often because the babyface is stupid, falls for obvious shit, doesn't wear a cup, is distracted by shiny things and presents themselves, etc. They want guys to constantly lose in their hometowns, and this is supposed to get heat, but it's that "I'm a fictional character in a fictional show and I am actually friends with Hometown Wrestler" heat that doesn't go anywhere or mean anything.

I wish they were obsessed with heat, to the point that they let heels be heels and actually build relationships with audiences and feuds with faces that get people excited to see them get their ass kicked, instead of them just getting a turn to win with a school boy and a handful of tights this week.

Originally Posted by Damian Rey 2.0 Austin was an ass kicker tho. Getting comeuppance and refusing to stay down fit his character. I wonder if Roman still has that physique at this point. He's older now, and maybe they cover him up for a reason.

Reigns should be an ass-kicker. He shouldn't be selling for dudes like Sami Zayn and acting like everyone he gets in the ring with is an obstacle, because they can simply beat him up and put him in a chinlock for five minutes. Do they not realize how dumb this makes babyfaces look? That they go out there when they are supposed to fight, but because they're fixed on this certain match structure, it is necessitated that they simply aren't very good at the start of every match? Imagine how much more interesting everything gets if Reigns takes some initiative over how he works, and decides "Hang on, I'm a bad-ass and I outweigh you by 50lbs, so instead of you putting me in a headlock, I am going to tackle you and toss you right out of the ring," and every match attempted to tell its own story.

I've heard Court Bauer, who is allegedly very close with the Samoans, suggest that Reigns does cover up for a reason. He is probably genetically predisposed to being a big boy. That being said, this is the guy that you've chosen to invest 10 years in and you knew that going in. I don't understand why you wouldn't a) factor that in; b) give a fuck. Samoa Joe doesn't wrestle in a shirt, and he looks 10x cooler than Roman Reigns, because he does not give such a self-conscious fuck. He's supposed to be tough, not look like a Ralph Lauren model. If he's big -- good. If he looks like a Greek god? That's even better. It's much better than him playing fake army man by himself.

Also coming from Bauer though are stories about how hard Jim Barnett had to work to get Vince to take a shirt off Cena too. Barnett thought it was insane when they were doing the rapper thing that they were getting him to cover up the shape he was in. Grabbing Vince and pointing out that people wanting to fuck his top star is good thing is apparently something that needs to happen.