The Current State of the WWE

[Emeye]

I know I don't post much on here, and that this is a pretty bland, shitty thread, so I'd like to apologize in advance for my yearly post being quite dull. But I digress ...

Any-whos, is it just me, or has the WWE been putting out a pretty great product lately? I'm 25 years old, so I grew up watching the Attitude Era vs. the nWo era, along with some ECW of course, which needless to say has still to this day been by far the most interesting, fun-to-watch time frame for wrestling to me. Ever since those days came to an end, and wrestling became the "PG Era", no time period has been able to draw anywhere near the attention that it did during that era. So anyway, no more WWF, no WCW, no ECW. I lost any interest I had in TNA a lonnggg time ago, but that would be a whole other thread, so I'll just post about that around the end of April next year (assuming TNA hasn't been muscled out by then). Anything else such as ROH, not my cup of tea. So the post-Attitude, PG WWE is the only wrestling show that I've been watching for the past, I'd say about 8 years give or take.

So ever since I've been only watching this"era" of wrestling, (which I have to admit, I haven't faithfully watched the shows in years, but I do always watch it when I'm home and it's on, and I always read the news, and RAW and PPV results on the front page.) it's always been kind of back and forth. Really good for two years, shitty for a year, then exciting for a few months, etc.

Anyway, I'm babbling and making this longer than it needs to be. My point here, is that I honestly think that the product from the last about three years, has been the best that I remember since the PG era began. And for these three years, in my eyes it keeps getting better and better. From Punk's title reign up until tonight's RAW has been seriously a breath of fresh air. I actually turn on RAW and watch the entire thing, and enjoy it.


Right now, the WWE is in a humongous transitional phase. Over these past three years, their image has changed drastically, and in my eyes for the better. After watching tonight's RAW, I started thinking, the WWE is really at the peak of just all-around being in a great position right now (for the record, I mean product-wise, I don't know anything about how the business side works. I'm sure the company as always is booming, but I don't want anybody reading to think that I'm taking about then peaking as a business, just talking about product). Over these three years, the storylines just continue to get better and better. The actual wrestling matches have improved big time. I don't ever remember the roster having this many extremely talented in-ring performers. Now I'm not sure exactly what role HHH plays in what we see on TV for three hours, but I do know that he has his say in what goes down. I know HHH is the King of Burying any and all, and yes he has thrown himself only the next PPV's main event and being set up for a long feud with Reigns, but honestly I like HHH right now. I enjoy him being in the storylines and lacing up the boots again. He seems like he is really handling all of this power he now has in the company very well. He did the Bryan job, he gave Taker the W's at the 'Manias, now he's going to be working with Reigns. With his position on the company, he absolutely has to play an on-screen HEEL character for a verrryyyy long time. But I honestly do enjoy him as a "fighting" boss. He still puts on a watchable match, he still plays an amazing heel, and him being in charge just opens the book for infinite storylines.

So with this extremely talented roster, and this long streak of very good booking, on top of it all, they are TRANSITIONING. They are finally doing it. Punk had that record-breaking title reign, the "keys" seem to have been given to HHH and Steph. And they successfully achieved arguably the most necessary thing - finding a long-term "face of the company". We all know the frustration caused when it comes to the WWE and pushing guys correctly. But they nailed it. You can't compete with Hogan being the original face of wrestling. You can't compete with Rock/SCSA/HHH/Taker/etc being the faces of the Attitude Era. But they are different generations, so you can never fairly compare them. I personally have never even been a John Cena fan, but when it boils down to it, they nailed it. They didn't do their most famous move, the "we don't have time to waste so we'll push this guy if he's not over in a month, mid-card". They spent years and years grooming Cena into being the man to carry the company on his back. Hate em or love em, he's the backbone.

See to me, the biggest problem with the WWE for all of those post-Attitude years, was the repetitiveness. Everything seemed stale. Don't get me wrong, I love the vets like Rock and HHH, I love it every time SCSA or The Hitman show up. And I feel the overall product is at its best when those Attitude Era wrestlers are contributing to it. But after all of those years, you can only watch The Rock flop like a fish out of water after a Stunner, or a DX comeback. The WWE were stuck in a time period where all of a sudden, all of the Attitude guys were older and part-timers, and the roster had no young stars lined up to the over. This of course led to the years of rushed angles, scrapped angles, the "audience won't even notice if we don't finish this" angles. Basically years of half-assed booking.

But now, the transition has been made. I, like everybody else, was shocked at the streak ending at Wrestlemania. I do 100% think that there were way better choices to go with, storyline wise, but all in all, even though they passed up on probably the all-time easiest, instant main event rub in wrestling history, it was best for the product. Sure we lost out on a huge Mania moment by having someone end it who was involved in an amazing storyline leading up to the match, or was just the "right guy". But honestly, especially with Taker getting banged up so quick in their match, I think most of us doubt that he could possibly deliver in another match. Every year, it was getting a little bit closer and closer to being hard to watch. I'm glad that the streak ended before Taker's ability to deliver did. Plus let's not forget, Lesnar could at some point be persuaded or just find some reason and decide to become a full-timer. Probably won't happen, but just saying, he wasn't the best choice to end the streak, but he was far from a terrible choice. It wasn't a push for Lesnar, more of another accommodation, another moment to add to his resume.

Ya see even though no wrestler got the rub of ending the streak, it just wasn't really needed at the time. In the same night Bryan and Cesaro won, and Bray and Reigns had phenomenal moments during their matches/time in the ring. Wrestlemania 30 will go down as one of the most pivotal Wrestlemanias ever. They tested the waters, they gave an Indy, non-juicehead wrestler in CM Punk a legendary title reign. They put a shirt and tie on HHH, cut his hair, and finally put him and Steph "in charge". They saw a crowd reaction to the rebel vs. the authority figure, and thought "Austin/McMahon 2". Punk left, which blows because he was really becoming a mega-star, but in the luckiest turn of events, they just so happened to have the perfect replacement, the perfect underdog, rebel to go up against the authority figure. Daniel Bryan not only fit the description perfect, but he made it more magic then Punk. Punk is my favorite wrestler. Even though he was mega-over and would have made the build-up and the match itself magnificent (say what you want about Punk, but he ALWAYS delivered in the ring AND on the mic), Bryan worked out better. He was already on the verge of, if not, more over then Punk. Bryan was at his peak at Wrestlemania. I love Punk, and I know he would have delivered, but nobody could have delivered a moment like Bryan. The crowd NEEDED it.

Well, this ended up being way more then I intended on writing, I apologize, but am in no way, shape, or form responsible for any boredom-related deaths by any readers.
I'm conclusion, the WWE has consistently been putting it a great show. Great storylines, great in-ring competition, hell they're even doing a better job with the Womens Division, with the he'll of Total Divas. They have NXT. The WWE Network is just, every wrestling fan's dream. The legends are still around, but the show now rightfully belongs to the younger guys (in the same night that we saw The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and Stone Cold Steve Austin all in the ring together, we saw Daniel Bryan defeat Triple H, and then Bats and RKO to walk out if the biggest stage of them all as Champion. That's a perfect example of still including the vets, but finally passing the torch).

I've loved so many of the recent story lines. They are finally showing balance. Cena is already cemented, so giving other people the spotlight doesn't hurt their core piece. They give the proper amount of the vets (Rock, Austin, etc), not too much but not too little. These mega-pushes for all of these guys at once (Bryan, Cesaro, Reigns, Wyatt, etc), and the shots being given to new wrestlers, especially though NXT (Rusev, Rose, even the not "brand new" guys like Fandango). The roster is stacked with talent, they are being booked correctly AND being put into interesting storylines. I'm diggin' it.

So, I just rambled for a half of an hour.

- How do you feel about the current product of the WWE?
- What recent storylines and matches did you enjoy (anything say in the past 1-3 years)
- Pretend you're a writer for WWE. Make up a storyline.
... Anything, I just want to know how everybody feels about the current state of the WWE, abs if people are really enjoying it like I am.

[Mercenary]

TATANKA!

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

THE WAY TATANKA SEES IT TO MAKE TL/DR POST WITH NO PARAGRAPH SPACES

Amsel Dominique WAS SUCCESSFUL.

[Tazz Dan]

What the fuck did I just not read?

[Volare]

Noid fan?

[Anybody Thrilla]

I read this, but I'm not happy about it.

[Ruien]

The product is very good right now but they are lacking one large aspects. They have no idea how to give a mid card face any personality. Cesaro and Swagger is the only real, mid card, feud going on and they are both heels. Same thing for tag teams that are faces.

[Heisenberg]

[Shisen Kopf]

RIP Vicky Venom

[XL]

WWE's current state: Pennsylvania.

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by Ruien The product is very good right now but they are lacking one large aspects. They have no idea how to give a mid card face any personality. Cesaro and Swagger is the only real, mid card, feud going on and they are both heels. Same thing for tag teams that are faces.

Agree and would argue that problem goes beyond just midcard faces. Even when they do have some sort of personality or story going on, it either gets suddenly dropped or watered down very quickly.

Del Rio's face turn and Sandow's post-MitB case as some recent examples.

[Shisen Kopf]

Originally Posted by Iginfest Cause where I am IT'S TIME TO DISCOOOOOOOOO

[Cool King]

Originally Posted by Amsel Dominique I know I don't post much on here, and that this is a pretty bland, shitty thread, so I'd like to apologize in advance for my yearly post being quite dull. But I digress ... Any-whos, is it just me, or has the WWE been putting out a pretty great product lately? I'm 25 years old, so I grew up watching the Attitude Era vs. the nWo era, along with some ECW of course, which needless to say has still to this day been by far the most interesting, fun-to-watch time frame for wrestling to me. Ever since those days came to an end, and wrestling became the "PG Era", no time period has been able to draw anywhere near the attention that it did during that era. So anyway, no more WWF, no WCW, no ECW. I lost any interest I had in TNA a lonnggg time ago, but that would be a whole other thread, so I'll just post about that around the end of April next year (assuming TNA hasn't been muscled out by then). Anything else such as ROH, not my cup of tea. So the post-Attitude, PG WWE is the only wrestling show that I've been watching for the past, I'd say about 8 years give or take. So ever since I've been only watching this"era" of wrestling, (which I have to admit, I haven't faithfully watched the shows in years, but I do always watch it when I'm home and it's on, and I always read the news, and RAW and PPV results on the front page.) it's always been kind of back and forth. Really good for two years, shitty for a year, then exciting for a few months, etc. Anyway, I'm babbling and making this longer than it needs to be. My point here, is that I honestly think that the product from the last about three years, has been the best that I remember since the PG era began. And for these three years, in my eyes it keeps getting better and better. From Punk's title reign up until tonight's RAW has been seriously a breath of fresh air. I actually turn on RAW and watch the entire thing, and enjoy it. Right now, the WWE is in a humongous transitional phase. Over these past three years, their image has changed drastically, and in my eyes for the better. After watching tonight's RAW, I started thinking, the WWE is really at the peak of just all-around being in a great position right now (for the record, I mean product-wise, I don't know anything about how the business side works. I'm sure the company as always is booming, but I don't want anybody reading to think that I'm taking about then peaking as a business, just talking about product). Over these three years, the storylines just continue to get better and better. The actual wrestling matches have improved big time. I don't ever remember the roster having this many extremely talented in-ring performers. Now I'm not sure exactly what role HHH plays in what we see on TV for three hours, but I do know that he has his say in what goes down. I know HHH is the King of Burying any and all, and yes he has thrown himself only the next PPV's main event and being set up for a long feud with Reigns, but honestly I like HHH right now. I enjoy him being in the storylines and lacing up the boots again. He seems like he is really handling all of this power he now has in the company very well. He did the Bryan job, he gave Taker the W's at the 'Manias, now he's going to be working with Reigns. With his position on the company, he absolutely has to play an on-screen HEEL character for a verrryyyy long time. But I honestly do enjoy him as a "fighting" boss. He still puts on a watchable match, he still plays an amazing heel, and him being in charge just opens the book for infinite storylines. So with this extremely talented roster, and this long streak of very good booking, on top of it all, they are TRANSITIONING. They are finally doing it. Punk had that record-breaking title reign, the "keys" seem to have been given to HHH and Steph. And they successfully achieved arguably the most necessary thing - finding a long-term "face of the company". We all know the frustration caused when it comes to the WWE and pushing guys correctly. But they nailed it. You can't compete with Hogan being the original face of wrestling. You can't compete with Rock/SCSA/HHH/Taker/etc being the faces of the Attitude Era. But they are different generations, so you can never fairly compare them. I personally have never even been a John Cena fan, but when it boils down to it, they nailed it. They didn't do their most famous move, the "we don't have time to waste so we'll push this guy if he's not over in a month, mid-card". They spent years and years grooming Cena into being the man to carry the company on his back. Hate em or love em, he's the backbone. See to me, the biggest problem with the WWE for all of those post-Attitude years, was the repetitiveness. Everything seemed stale. Don't get me wrong, I love the vets like Rock and HHH, I love it every time SCSA or The Hitman show up. And I feel the overall product is at its best when those Attitude Era wrestlers are contributing to it. But after all of those years, you can only watch The Rock flop like a fish out of water after a Stunner, or a DX comeback. The WWE were stuck in a time period where all of a sudden, all of the Attitude guys were older and part-timers, and the roster had no young stars lined up to the over. This of course led to the years of rushed angles, scrapped angles, the "audience won't even notice if we don't finish this" angles. Basically years of half-assed booking. But now, the transition has been made. I, like everybody else, was shocked at the streak ending at Wrestlemania. I do 100% think that there were way better choices to go with, storyline wise, but all in all, even though they passed up on probably the all-time easiest, instant main event rub in wrestling history, it was best for the product. Sure we lost out on a huge Mania moment by having someone end it who was involved in an amazing storyline leading up to the match, or was just the "right guy". But honestly, especially with Taker getting banged up so quick in their match, I think most of us doubt that he could possibly deliver in another match. Every year, it was getting a little bit closer and closer to being hard to watch. I'm glad that the streak ended before Taker's ability to deliver did. Plus let's not forget, Lesnar could at some point be persuaded or just find some reason and decide to become a full-timer. Probably won't happen, but just saying, he wasn't the best choice to end the streak, but he was far from a terrible choice. It wasn't a push for Lesnar, more of another accommodation, another moment to add to his resume. Ya see even though no wrestler got the rub of ending the streak, it just wasn't really needed at the time. In the same night Bryan and Cesaro won, and Bray and Reigns had phenomenal moments during their matches/time in the ring. Wrestlemania 30 will go down as one of the most pivotal Wrestlemanias ever. They tested the waters, they gave an Indy, non-juicehead wrestler in CM Punk a legendary title reign. They put a shirt and tie on HHH, cut his hair, and finally put him and Steph "in charge". They saw a crowd reaction to the rebel vs. the authority figure, and thought "Austin/McMahon 2". Punk left, which blows because he was really becoming a mega-star, but in the luckiest turn of events, they just so happened to have the perfect replacement, the perfect underdog, rebel to go up against the authority figure. Daniel Bryan not only fit the description perfect, but he made it more magic then Punk. Punk is my favorite wrestler. Even though he was mega-over and would have made the build-up and the match itself magnificent (say what you want about Punk, but he ALWAYS delivered in the ring AND on the mic), Bryan worked out better. He was already on the verge of, if not, more over then Punk. Bryan was at his peak at Wrestlemania. I love Punk, and I know he would have delivered, but nobody could have delivered a moment like Bryan. The crowd NEEDED it. Well, this ended up being way more then I intended on writing, I apologize, but am in no way, shape, or form responsible for any boredom-related deaths by any readers. I'm conclusion, the WWE has consistently been putting it a great show. Great storylines, great in-ring competition, hell they're even doing a better job with the Womens Division, with the he'll of Total Divas. They have NXT. The WWE Network is just, every wrestling fan's dream. The legends are still around, but the show now rightfully belongs to the younger guys (in the same night that we saw The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and Stone Cold Steve Austin all in the ring together, we saw Daniel Bryan defeat Triple H, and then Bats and RKO to walk out if the biggest stage of them all as Champion. That's a perfect example of still including the vets, but finally passing the torch). I've loved so many of the recent story lines. They are finally showing balance. Cena is already cemented, so giving other people the spotlight doesn't hurt their core piece. They give the proper amount of the vets (Rock, Austin, etc), not too much but not too little. These mega-pushes for all of these guys at once (Bryan, Cesaro, Reigns, Wyatt, etc), and the shots being given to new wrestlers, especially though NXT (Rusev, Rose, even the not "brand new" guys like Fandango). The roster is stacked with talent, they are being booked correctly AND being put into interesting storylines. I'm diggin' it. So, I just rambled for a half of an hour. - How do you feel about the current product of the WWE? - What recent storylines and matches did you enjoy (anything say in the past 1-3 years) - Pretend you're a writer for WWE. Make up a storyline. ... Anything, I just want to know how everybody feels about the current state of the WWE, abs if people are really enjoying it like I am.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I find it really surreal that three of your top five babyfaces at the moment are Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black and Jon Moxley.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh, and it's arguable that Claudio Castagnoli is up there, although his face/heel status is less defined. He'll be the face at Extreme Rules when he beats Jack Swagger and swings Zeb Colter around, but he could be back to his villainous ways very soon after that.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm liking the old-school ways things are being booked at the moment. Who knows if that will hold up, but I like the way that if Barrett is the one getting a push, Barrett is the one that will win the match, no matter who his opponent is. Guys seem to be on a bit of a rotation to see who does enhancement work. Sheamus, for example, seems to be more focused on losing to guys like Bad News Barrett and Batista than winning meaningless matches at the moment, simply because they are the ones that are involved in the active angles.

[voncouch]

[dronepool]

I'm liking the direction since WM. Masked Kane seems random but yeah, besides the goofy stuff with the bull or Santino it's pretty cool.

[James Steele]

I don't mind the comedy bits as long as they aren't given too much time and it stays in the undercard. Comedy gimmicks have a place in wrestling, especially in a product that is trying to appeal more to kids.

[James Steele]

I could die happy if I never saw another lame photoshop skit again though.

[Theo Dious]

Originally Posted by James Steele I could die happy if I never saw another lame photoshop skit again though.

Seriously. The Cena/Wyatt photoshop skit was every bit as awful as the Cena "this is your life."