DISCUSSION - The current WWE era and their failed strategy to "make everyone look credible."

[Heyman]

DISCUSSION - The current WWE era and their failed strategy to "make everyone look credible."

The one major difference between the current WWE era and the Attitude era, was that the Attitude era knew that only a select few stars ever have a realistic shot of being "THE" guy. In knowing that, the WWE protected those guys by having them win almost all of their matches (unless facing the top 1-2 stars of the company) while grooming them to the top of the card.


Its almost as though once the WWE knew who they wanted to push, they booked them very strongly and were extremely careful as to who and when they jobbed to.


The majority of other wrestlers on the card were simply filler - and were there to only add to the entertainment of the overall product:


For example:


In 1997 - you had Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Undertaker as your big 3 main-eventers. Once the WWE knew that they intended to push Austin, they were extremely careful in protecting his character while pushing him to the moon. You never ever saw Austin jobbing in random matches, etc.


1998-1999 - Same thing. Austin and Undertaker were your two biggest main-eventers, while The Rock and Triple H were your rising stars. The WWE chose Triple H and The Rock to be their "next guys," and did almost everything in their power to not have them job to random people. Rocky and Hunter were protected a shit tonne. Guys like Kane and Mankind also won about 90% of their matches, and pretty much only jobbed to the guys I've mentioned on this list. By keeping Kane and Mankind strong, it meant so much more to those that were actually successful in defeating those two.


Guys like Godfather, Val Venis, Al Snow, Bossman, Jeff Jarret, Ken Shamrock, X-Pac, etc., etc., etc. all had ZERO chances of becoming a main-eventer (and were deliberately booked as such), but it didn't matter - they were simply there to add to the overall value and entertainment of the show.


In 2000 - same thing. Rock and Hunter were your two biggest stars, and the WWE did whatever they could do elevate Kurt Angle. The only time Angle ever lost, was in "fluke defeats," or to Rocky, Hunter, Taker, and Big Show (while Show was still seen as a credible main-eventer).


Long story short - the WWE had an established 'internal' structure/pecking order within the roster, in terms of who was going to get pushed. You had your current main-eventers (Bret, Shawn, Taker, Austin, Hunter, Rocky), you had your 'pretend' main-eventers that won 90% of their matches and then ultimately jobbed to the selected 1-2 rising talents (i.e. Kane, Mankind, Big Show), and then you had your 1-2 rising stars (i.e. Austin, Rocky, Hunter, Angle, Lesnar, Orton, Cena). Everyone else was just there to add value and entertainment to the show.



Fast forward to today's WWE product, and it seems like the biggest reason why the WWE cannot 'elevate' their stars to the level that they need to be at, is because they aren't booked as strongly as they should. If the WWE really wants to have success in creating "the next guy," they need to book him VERY VERY strong, and not have him job to random people.


Although the WWE have finally started to "clue in" to this (i.e. outside of his loss to John Cena, Kevin Owens is flat out dominating his opponents), I can't help but feel that the WWE really missed the boat with Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, Cesaro, etc., etc.


It just seems that in an effort to "make everyone look good," the WWE kind of self-sabotaged themselves by making these superstars look less special. If you want Roman Reigns to be your next guy?!?! Great! Just don't have him job to Bray Wyatt.


Even when the WWE were pushing Daniel Bryan back in 2014, they had him job cleanly to Bray Wyatt. My question, is why?!? This would be the equivalent of having had Austin job to Owen Hart in 1998, before defeating Shawn Micahels at Wreslemania 14.




CONCLUSION: If the WWE wants to slowly get back to their Attitude era ways, a significant step in the right direction would be to


1) Pick the 1-2 stars that you want as your new main-eventers over the next 1-2 years


2) Book them strong as fuck (and ONLY make them job to your top star - i.e. John Cena in this case)


3) Do not attempt to "push everyone" and realize the reality that 90% of WWE superstars won't get to the main-event level and as result, should only be used to add entertainment value to the show, while jobbing to those 1-2 selected guys. In the Attitude era, guys like Godfather, Val Venis, Al Snow, X-Pac, Road Dogg, Ken Shamrock, Bossman, etc., etc., etc., were never going to be main-eventers, but were used in such a way that they added tremendous value and entertainment to the overall show.