A small list of improvements WWE needs to make.

[Zeeboe]

Oh boy, I'm gonna take a lot of brow beatings, neg points, flames, ban threats, obsolete "fat jokes" from GBF and the other Rajah boys, random you tube clips, told I type too much, cheesy Val Venis jokes, off-topic remarks to imply that no one cares what I have to post, and "zzz" pics and smiles for this one.....but I don't care. If the boys do that, it's because they know I'm right, and this cannot be debated, and this needs to be posted!

Two years ago, I read on the internet that Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H were backstage at Raw, and all three of them were watching the younger wrestlers on a monitor, and I believe it was Triple H who said something along the lines of that he's gonna have to wrestle forever in order to keep the business alive.

....That, in a way, is how I felt last night as I watched Raw. Let me explain:

I'm a total old-school WWF (not WWE) fan. From 1988-2003, I was one of the most enthusiastic, and loyal WWF fans you could come across. I retired as a fan six years ago because wrestling today became too way to stinky for me to handle, but I've recently been watching some of Raw again, and I cannot take it anymore, so I am proud to present to you what this old-school WWF fan thinks needs to be done with today's wrestling product:

1. There needs to be just *ONE* show! Just like there was in the old days! No Smackdown! No ECW! No WWE 24/7! Just Monday Night Raw, and weekend morning shows like WWE Superstars on Saturday, and WWE All American Wrestling on Sunday's to show highlights and previews of Monday Night Raw. I'd even be okay with a Sunday Night Heat type of show so the mid-card guys can have a program.

Ya see, the problem is, wrestling fans are SPOILED ROTTEN these days! They're being WAY overfed, and they''re gonna end up throwing it back up one day! In MY day, we appreciated wrestling more because we only saw it once a week, so when Monday Night Raw came on, it was a VERY big deal. I remember I would spend all day Monday thinking about Raw Is War, and what was going to happen that night. I was like a kid waiting for Christmas. You don't have those types of feelings anymore!

2. This has a been a problem for years.....but they need better control of keeping secrets off the net! The internet has played a big role in ruining wrestling in my opinion. There's no more surprises. In my day, we had no world wide web so when a older wrestler returned, or a guy turned heel or babyface, it was a big deal, and it was shocking, and it made for good TV! :y:

3. They need to cut down on the roster. There are WAY too many wrestlers on the roster, and just about anyone can get a job in the WWE these days Literally! Half of those clowns need to be fired! In my day, when you got to the WWF, it was a big deal, because you were in the big league, but now....ANYONE can get in the WWE. It's not a huge honor to work there anymore!

4. They need to make the matches longer. I use to be the guy who defended entertainment, but now there's too many skits and interviews! I always said there had to be a happy medium. Last night, almost every match I watched was less then five minutes! Do they even call wrestling, "wrestling" anymore Of course, maybe the matches are so short these days because most of the wrestlers can barely wrestle well in my view, and they don't wanna over-expose them!

5. Randy Orton took WAY too long to come down to the ring last night for the opening skit. Don't milk out the fans! Just come out the second the music starts, and don't peddle around so much!

6. They need to stop giving all the attention to the twenty-something year old kids! Those little boys need to be mid-carding right now! The older guys need to be running the show! Orton, and his stable are TOO YOUNG! They're just kids! Rookies! Babies.....who need to work on their mic skills! They're WAY too young and inexperienced to be carrying the whole company! I was just watching one of my old Raw tapes from 97', and there was a match between The Rock and Triple H. Both men were in their twenties at the time, and both men as we know would later go on to lead the company, but guess what? In 1997, THEY WERE MID-CARDING! i.e. They were LEARNING!

7. The GM, President, Commissioner, whatever you wanna call it......needs to take more of a backseat role, and not be on the show every dang week! Just every so often like when Gorilla Monsoon was president, so whenever the boss DOES show up, you know something exciting is gonna happen, and someone's probably gonna get their butt chewed out! They should set it up for where when the boss shows up, you know someone is in trouble! So when their music hits, everyone's standing up, waiting to see the heel get what's coming to them! Or is scared for the future of the babyface!

8. They need a heel play-by-play man! Jerry Lawler was so amazing back in the day, and was too funny for words. But for almost ten years now, he's been a babyface/half-butt heel. I guess you could call him a tweener, but he's more of a face in my view. I personally miss the heel play-by-play men like Jessie Ventura, Bobby Heenan, the 90's Jerry Lawler, and Paul Heyman in his 2001 run.

I remember watching an old 2001 DVD years ago when Heyman was working with Ross, and Heyman sounded so freaking brilliant, and it was entertaining hearing Ross and Heyman argue! That's how it needs to be now. A face, and heel play-by-play men just like there are face and heel wrestlers!


Like I posted last night on the Raw thread, I recently came across my old collection of wrestling tapes. I used to record every episode of Raw in 1997, and I've spent the last four days, watching many of the episodes, and the wrestling still holds up, and are still entertaining. Especially Bret Hart's heel run/Steve Austin's face run, and it is hard to watch amazing stuff like that, then go and watch Raw today. It's absolutely horrible! :n:

[abec]

Roster

[Rammsteinmad]

Overall that's not a bad post, but most of what your saying is common knowledge, and not going to happen anyway.

One thing I never considered which you mentioned is point one. It's a basic "less is more" psychology.

And I agree with the long entrances. Some wrestlers entrances add a lot to the entertainment etc (Undertaker's for example), but others, such as Triple H, when he stands on the entrance ramp and looks around for a minute, then stands at the end of the aisle and looks around for a minute, THEN climbs on the apron and looks around for a while and spits water, TTTTHHHEEENNN climbs on the turnbuckle and poses, it's like "FOR FUCKS SAKE GET ON WITH THE FUCKING MATCH!!!".

It could also just generally be the fact that we've all grown up since those days and it doesn't seem as amazing anymore.

[Zeeboe]

It could also just generally be the fact that we've all grown up since those days and it doesn't seem as amazing anymore.

I agree with the last statement 100%. I also see many of today's wrestlers as my peers. i.e. Kids I could have grown up with. When I was younger, I saw the wrestlers as adults, men, gods, super heroes, etc. Today, I still see many of today's guys like the Undertaker, and the other older lions in the same light, but you won't ever find me wearing a Randy Orton t-shirt.

[thedamndest]

1) I would be for getting rid of ECW and reducing the on-air roster. Not because ECW is bad, but because 5 hours a week is a lot to consistently watch/write. It would also mean one less title, which would be great. But realistically, ECW's roster is looking great right now, so I would hate to see it just torn apart and thrown in the mix with Raw and Smackdown.

2) Stop reading dirt sheets.

3) I'm not sure what clowns you mean. They've already released a lot of guys and the roster is still huge because the WWE owns the market in professional wrestling right now. There are some that could stand to go, but I think it's a pretty solid roster. BTW, even back in the day they had terrible workers, so it wouldn't be a new thing that Vince hired somebody terrible new.

4) I agree, matches should be longer. I don't think they need a Diva's segment on both shows every week.

5) He's a heel who just won the WWE title over his most hated rival and destroyed the McMahon empire. That doesn't happen every week.

6) I agree with this, but back then there were only four championships on one show. It's a "faster" product today. Look how quickly Kofi won the IC title. Granted, Edge had a fly-by-night reign when he was a newcomer and then took years to actually become a solid mid-carder. Less championships all around, or they will mean nothing.

7) You pretty much have to have the GM at this point just to tell the audience what is going on because that is how it has been since the brand split started. Vickie gets much more air time because she is that much more over, but now that she is away from Edge she is already getting a bit less.

8) Agreed. Except ECW, commentary sucks now.

[dronepool]

Nice thread.

I have to emphasize on the fact that they need to stop killing so much time! Stop with the time wasting video packages! Stop with the pointless segments like the Kali Kiss cam. I'd rather have a match or an advance in an angle to use up that time instead.

On top of that list I'd like to add to bring back the hardcore title to ECW (to actually make it live up to the name and so it isn't the purgatory show with some good wrestling talent being wasted)


Bring back the light weight belt! One reason Attitude era WWF was more fun because it had more belts.

[Triple Naitch]

A small list, eh?

[Nicky Fives]

if you don't want results to info to be found on the net, don't visit dirt sheets that publish them.... It's that simple......and if WWE went to only 1 show, you know how many decent talents would have to be let go, simply because there isnt enough TV time to devote to them?!?!?!

[Steveviscious89]

Unfortunately we live in a world where there is little self control. The people who publish dirt sheets know that anyone who can get their hands on news will get it, whether it ruins a surprise or not. It use to be cool to know what was going on about ten years ago. Now it's just a drag. And Nick....I don't understand why cutting talents would be a bad thing. They would have to work somewhere else, but that would only increase business other promotions, which is what the business needs anyway.

[Xero]

A small list, eh?

lol

[Rammsteinmad]

Bring back the light weight belt! One reason Attitude era WWF was more fun because it had more belts.

There are more belts now than the attitude era lol.

But if I may say so, I think what you mean is that there was more variety to the title divisions back then. We had lightweights, hardcore, womens, lower midcard (Euro), Midcard (IC) and World.

Now, there are no more cruisers, hardcores, or barely tag teams wrestlers. Everyone just comes in as either a big guy or a little guy.

[GD]

Your small post baffles me.

[Kane Knight]

1. There needs to be just *ONE* show! Just like there was in the old days! No Smackdown! No ECW! No WWE 24/7! Just Monday Night Raw, and weekend morning shows like WWE Superstars on Saturday, and WWE All American Wrestling on Sunday's to show highlights and previews of Monday Night Raw. I'd even be okay with a Sunday Night Heat type of show so the mid-card guys can have a program.

cutting back that far isn't necessary. Cutting back is, however, a good idea. If they can't afford a massive roster, three plus shows is too much.

2. This has a been a problem for years.....but they need better control of keeping secrets off the net. The internet has played a big role in ruining wrestling in my opinion. There's no more surprises. In my day, we had no world wide web so when a older wrestler returned, or a guy turned heel or babyface, it was a big deal, and it was shocking, and it made for good TV! :y:

It's easy enough to avoid these rumours. Especially now that wrestling isn't mainstream anymore. If you think this is hurting your enjoyment, stop reading results or whatever.

3. They need to cut down on the roster. There are WAY too many wrestlers on the roster, and just about anyone can get a job in the WWE these days Literally! Half of those clowns need to be fired! In my day, when you got to the WWF, it was a big deal, because you were in the big league, but now....ANYONE can get in the WWE. It's not a huge honor to work there anymore!

To be fair, in your day, there was viable competition that was at least remotely in the same league. People would leave--people could leave--and that meant not only a more aggressive hiring policy was needed, but also, it meant you couldn't just snap up everyone. Now Vince is trying to outbuy the competition.

5. Randy Orton took WAY too long to come down to the ring last night for the opening skit. Don't milk out the fans! Just come out the second the music starts, and don't peddle around so much!

agreed.

6. They need to stop giving all the attention to the twenty-something year old kids. Those little boys need to be mid-carding right now. The older guys need to be running the show. Orton, and his stable are TOO YOUNG! They're just kids! Rookies! Babies.....who need to work on their mic skills! They're WAY too young and inexperienced to be carrying the whole company! I was just watching one of my old Raw tapes from 97', and there was a match between The Rock and Triple H. Both men were in their twenties at the time, and both men as we know would later go on to lead the company, but guess what? In 1997, THEY WERE MID-CARDING! i.e. They were LEARNING!

In general, WWE needs to stop trying so hard to make certain people. WWE needs young blood, but this is insane.

7. The GM, President, Commissioner, whatever you wanna call it......needs to take more of a backseat role, and not be on the show every dang week! Just every so often like when Gorilla Monsoon was president, so whenever the boss DOES show up, you know something exciting is gonna happen, and someone's probably gonna get their butt chewed out! They should set it up for where when the boss shows up, you know someone's in trouble! So when their music hits, everyone's standing up, waiting to see the heel get what's coming to them! Or is scared for the future of the babyface!

I personally like the style of a more active role. I just don't likle Vickie. And not in the "I hate her because she's a heel" sense, and more the "I fast forward her because she has the mic skills of a retarded parrot" sense. However, a face GM has to be less hands on or he doesn't work. Either he's an impotent and powerless figurehead, like Teddy Long, or he's a pandering asshat, like Teddy Long, or he's just a glorified announcer, like teddy Long.

8. They need a heel play-by-play man! Jerry Lawler was so amazing back in the day, and was too funny for words. But for the ten ten years now, he's been a babyface/half-butt heel. I guess you could call him a tweener, but he's more of a face in my view. I personally miss the heel play-by-play men like Jessie Ventura, Bobby Heenan, the 90's Jerry Lawler, and Paul Heyman in his 2001 run.

I remember watching an old 2001 DVD when Heyman was working with Ross, and Heyman sounded so freaking brilliant, and it was entertaining hearing Ross and Heyman argue! That's how it needs to be now. A face and heel play-by-play men just like there are face and heel wrestlers!

I cannot emphsasize my agreement enough. It also made those rare moments where King did the right thing and stood up for JR or whoever all the better.

[Heyman]

My ideas:

1) Focus on brand identity. Let Smackdown, RAW, and ECW have their own discernable identity. A part of this identity should involve far less 'roster drafts' and very infrequent roster changes.

2) A far greater rivalry between the brands. Let their be a full blown out war at some point between the brands (it's been 8 years now since the last on screen interpromotion war and so enough time has passed).

3) More specialty PPV's. Bring back KOTR. Let Survivor Series pit the 'best 5' vs. 'the best 5' from each brand....with the winner getting a lottery pick for their brand.

4) More speciality matches on TV. Lets see more triple threat matches, fatal four ways, etc.

5) Less titles......'unique' titles. Let their be less titles in the company, but let each title be discernible in some way (i.e. a Hardcore title, a Cruiserweight title)

6) Let each title be contested at each PPV.

7) Have more 'best of 7' series' in the WWE....even between unequals. In the case of unequal matches, the inferior guy can get 1 or 2 CLEAN pinfall victories and get over that way (i.e. if Triple H defeats Matt Hardy 4-2 in a best of 7, atleast Matt Hardy can pick up 1 or 2 clean victories and hence....still establish some credibility).

[GD]

Great post Hindu but I don't agree with the all title defenses on a ppv cause that will lead to the defense of both the Women's titles.

[The Show Off]

Oh boy, I'm gonna take a lot of brow beatings, neg points, flames, ban threats, obsolete "fat jokes" from GBF and the other Rajah boys, random you tube clips, told I type too much, cheesy Val Venis jokes, off-topic remarks to imply that no one cares what I have to post, and "zzz" pics and smiles for this one.....but I don't care. If the boys do that, it's because they know I'm right, and this cannot be debated, and this needs to be posted!

People weren't flaming you because you were wrong it was because you were complaining and calling everybody idiots for watching this product which never goes over well on message boards. Not only that you keep saying "back in my day" when talking about the Attitude Era I would guess that more than half of the posters on here watched WWF during the Attitude Era, I know I was. Hell, I was posting on here during the Attitude era.

It's never smart to watch something in order to complain about it. If you don't like it (to the point where you haven watched since 2003) then God bless and don't watch it.

I can speak for myself when I say that I like today's product of wrestling, wheter it it be ROH, WWE, or TNA. But I also know none of them are perfect and though some are better than others. I honestly wouldn't waste my time on something I hated, and I certianly wouldn't waste my time being a wet blanket for those of us (and we are few and far between despite what you might think) that actually enjoy watching.

But despite that minor problem I have with the way you deliver your points I think all and all your points are apt. You make some very good critiques (and a few bad ones) just try to do a little less patronizing sometime.

[Kane Knight]

Val usually gets flamed because he's an asshat and a troll. Simple as. His post here is more reasonable than usual, which is why he isn't getting the same level of response.

It's almost like...If you don't talk like you're batshit fucking crazy, you don't get treated like you're batshit fucking crazy.

[James Steele]

I am sorry Mr. Venis, I'll get off your lawn and won't ever throw my baseball over here again, sir.

[The Show Off]

Val usually gets flamed because he's an asshat and a troll. Simple as. His post here is more reasonable than usual, which is why he isn't getting the same level of response.

It's almost like...If you don't talk like you're batshit fucking crazy, you don't get treated like you're batshit fucking crazy.

Nice summation.

[Chavo Classic]

I think Mr Venis' major problem here is not with the product himself, but with his perception of it. Other issues he has are chronic complaints in the industry and will probably never change without a major re-haul. Others are just plain pedantic.

1. There needs to be just *ONE* show!... Ya see, the problem is, wrestling fans are SPOILED ROTTEN these days! They're being WAY overfeed, and they''re gonna end up throwing it back up one day! In MY day, we appreciated wrestling more because we only saw it once a week, so when Monday Night Raw came on, it was a VERY big deal. I remember I would spend all day Monday thinking about Raw Is War, and what was going to happen that night. I was like a kid waiting for Christmas. You don't have those types of feeling anymore!

Then go back to watching just RAW. Simply because there is the choice of 3 shows doesn't necessarily mean you have to watch all three. If you enjoyed the feeling of a weekly wrestling treat, then make it just that. Hey, if you're feeling crazy you can even watch Smackdown every now and again too, just like you might have watched Nitro occassionally.

2. This has a been a problem for years.....but they need better control of keeping secrets off the net. The internet has played a big role in ruining wrestling in my opinion...

Simples: don't come to TPWW or other sites. And if you do, remember that the SPOILER warnings are for a reason. If you would like to feel like a mark whilst watching, then treat yourself like one.

3. They need to cut down on the roster... Half of those clowns need to be fired! In my day, when you got to the WWF, it was a big deal, because you were in the big league, but now....ANYONE can get in the WWE. It's not a huge honor to work there anymore!

I think the talent pool is stronger and with more depth than it has been for a long while. I'm not sure which 'clowns' you refer to, but I'd pay to see anyone on ECW's current roster. If you think that Paul Burchill, Jamie Noble or Scotty Goldman (RIP) is a 'clown', then you need to brush up on your knowledge.

4. They need to make the matches longer.

Agreed, but it's no worse than the Attitude days.

5. Randy Orton took WAY too long to come down to the ring last night...

Again, agreed. But I'm not seeing how any of this is going to galvanise the business.

6. They need to stop giving all the attention to the twenty-something year old kids.... The older guys need to be running the show. Orton, and his stable are TOO YOUNG!...

The Rock and Triple H. Both men were in their twenties at the time, and both men as we know would later go on to lead the company, but guess what? In 1997, THEY WERE MID-CARDING! i.e. They were LEARNING!

To be fair, Orton has been in the main roster for years, and was a world champion more than 3 years ago. If he's still not considered main event material after several years, especially after a lengthy stint in the most significant stable in recent memory, it's not because he's a kid or inexperienced, it's because he's been booked wrong or just isn't doing it right.

Further more, Rhodes and DiBiase aren't main eventing every week. They're lackeys - like Blue Meanie and Richards to Raven, brought in for the occassional run-in or tag match.

I don't see your point at all. At the start of your rant, your moaning how HHH and other veterans dismissed the young talent, and then you're bitching that they're too young when they get television time. Focus instead on the young talent that have been successfully farmed by the WWE, such as Cena, Edge, Shelton, MVP and to a degree, CM Punk.

7. The GM, President, Commissioner, whatever you wanna call it......needs to take more of a backseat role, and not be on the show every dang week!

This is a hangover your 'your day'. I couldn't agree more that the superior/subordinate angle has been done to death. However. the McMahons' collective egos mean it's difficult for them to stay away from the spotlight, and I don't see why TNA continues to fall into this trap.

8. They need a heel play-by-play man!

Heyman was great, but he was unfortunately a needle in a haystack. I'd love to see WWE take another route however and bring in a knowledgeable and competent voice such as Goldberg from the UFC. The good cop/bad cop tandem on commentary is certainly a tried-and-tested method, but I'd like to see what a team of Goldberg, and someone with charisma and 'wrasslin-character' like JBL would bring to the announce team. Take it in a new direction for a while, and see what happens.

I'm guessing what they probably attempted with Adamle, but the guy just wasn't good enough.

[St. Jimmy]

They could fix the budget problems if they fire the Mid Card.

[Gerard]

They need to stop relying on cheesy angles which result in explosions, that for some reason WWE don't think people have noticed look exactly like their wrestler entrance pyro effects.

They also need to take a look at their script writing, how many times in the last few years have you heard a heel say "each and every one of you" when referring to the crowd? Literally hundreds of times easily. heard that last night on raw with orton and near slit my wrists.

[Chavo Classic]

They need to stop relying on cheesy angles which result in explosions, that for some reason WWE don't think people have noticed look exactly like their wrestler entrance pyro effects.

I was genuinely shocked at the conclusion of the main event on Sunday, bearing in mind that such a 'hardcore' spot is being used during a time when the WWE is trying to be family-friendly.

However, how else are are the booking team going to remove John 'Superman' Cena without tarnishing the image that they have laboured hard to create - a wrestler who is indestructible (within reasonable bounds) and tenacious?

Spots like this are being used less frequently. Take a look at how often WCW liked to utilise these methods to wrap up some of their main events in the late-nineties for example.

[Mooияakeя™]

Everything about small posts is true. WTF is that about Venis? - I came in here with the intention of a short read as I am off out, but as it was like a mile long, I'll answer constructively.

I agree with most of it and disagree with some of it.

[Gerard]

I was genuinely shocked at the conclusion of the main event on Sunday, bearing in mind that such a 'hardcore' spot is being used during a time when the WWE is trying to be family-friendly.

However, how else are are the booking team going to remove John 'Superman' Cena without tarnishing the image that they have laboured hard to create - a wrestler who is indestructible (within reasonable bounds) and tenacious?

Spots like this are being used less frequently. Take a look at how often WCW liked to utilise these methods to wrap up some of their main events in the late-nineties for example.

To me it would have looked better if he was just tossed through it, the explosion (very obviously) came from the outer housing of the light and just looked hokey. I mean he gets tossed into a "7000 watt" light, and wwe would have us belive he was in the middle of the explosion as well. Why not have a helicoptor gunship descend from the rafters and riddle him with kryptonite fused armor piercing rounds while we're at it.

I think wwe are getting simpsons syndrome with everything exploding, im waiting on the ring exploding after a powerbomb eventually.

[Chavo Classic]

At least they didn't lower the arena lighting to exaggerate the ELECTRIC SHOCK - a faux pas made during Rock and Mankind at the Rumble a few year back when Foley took a tumble on a couple of generic electric boxes. Didn't TNA fans jeer something similar during an electrified steel cage match between LAX and 3D recently?

Anyhow, it's not in the WWE's plans to cast aside Cena without fireworks, both in the metaphorical and literal senses. It gets the kids talking and, if they book Cena's vengeful return into a meaty feud with Edge/Show well, quite a ratings winning!

Or they could have Cena get stabbed again? It turns out it was Carlito's jabroni bodyguard? What a stinker.

[Theo Dious]

1. There needs to be just *ONE* show! Just like there was in the old days! No Smackdown! No ECW! No WWE 24/7! Just Monday Night Raw, and weekend morning shows like WWE Superstars on Saturday, and WWE All American Wrestling on Sunday's to show highlights and previews of Monday Night Raw. I'd even be okay with a Sunday Night Heat type of show so the mid-card guys can have a program.


That is retarded. The company is so full of top-level guys that if you cut back to one show, the entire thing will be nothing but the top guys. Or do you have an idea for a way you can cram Edge, HHH, HBM, Undertaker, Orton, Batista, the Big Show, Cena, et all into one show?


2. This has a been a problem for years.....but they need better control of keeping secrets off the net! The internet has played a big role in ruining wrestling in my opinion. There's no more surprises. In my day, we had no world wide web so when a older wrestler returned, or a guy turned heel or babyface, it was a big deal, and it was shocking, and it made for good TV! :y:


Impossible. It's not WWE's fault, it's the age of information communication that we now live in. They might be able to keep a lid on a thing or two here and there, but it's impossible to book past a week and keep secrets down.

3. They need to cut down on the roster. There are WAY too many wrestlers on the roster, and just about anyone can get a job in the WWE these days Literally! Half of those clowns need to be fired! In my day, when you got to the WWF, it was a big deal, because you were in the big league, but now....ANYONE can get in the WWE. It's not a huge honor to work there anymore!


Again, if what you prescribe was done, half the midcard and the entire undercard would be axed and you'd be left with a bloated main event and no way for new talent to grow.

4. They need to make the matches longer.


Agreed.

5. Randy Orton took WAY too long to come down to the ring last night for the opening skit. Don't milk out the fans! Just come out the second the music starts, and don't peddle around so much!

You might not want to look at Orton for whatever reason, but that was grade-A character building stuff. That was the conqueror's triumphant march with the head of his slain opponent. Don't knock something that was actually done right. If you want to trim that segment, cut Vickie's time instead.

6. They need to stop giving all the attention to the twenty-something year old kids! Those little boys need to be mid-carding right now! The older guys need to be running the show! Orton, and his stable are TOO YOUNG! They're just kids! Rookies! Babies.....who need to work on their mic skills!


Yeah, because the mid-card is so great right now? Orton is exactly where he should be, and Rhodes and DiBiase are in the best place to learn. With the current pace of wrestling, if you don't start a guy young, he will have no shelf life by the time he hits the main event.

7. The GM, President, Commissioner, whatever you wanna call it......needs to take more of a backseat role, and not be on the show every dang week! Just every so often like when Gorilla Monsoon was president, so whenever the boss DOES show up, you know something exciting is gonna happen, and someone's probably gonna get their butt chewed out! They should set it up for where when the boss shows up, you know someone is in trouble! So when their music hits, everyone's standing up, waiting to see the heel get what's coming to them! Or is scared for the future of the babyface!


Somewhere about halfway beteen where it is and where you want it is probably the best place.

8. They need a heel play-by-play man! Jerry Lawler was so amazing back in the day, and was too funny for words. But for almost ten years now, he's been a babyface/half-butt heel. I guess you could call him a tweener, but he's more of a face in my view. I personally miss the heel play-by-play men like Jessie Ventura, Bobby Heenan, the 90's Jerry Lawler, and Paul Heyman in his 2001 run.


Agreed, but fuck you for leavng out JBL.

You make a few decent points, but very little of what you are saying a) would ever fly with the modern audience, and b) could possibly happen without a drastic restructuring of how the business currently works.

[dronepool]

There are more belts now than the attitude era lol.

But if I may say so, I think what you mean is that there was more variety to the title divisions back then. We had lightweights, hardcore, womens, lower midcard (Euro), Midcard (IC) and World.

Now, there are no more cruisers, hardcores, or barely tag teams wrestlers. Everyone just comes in as either a big guy or a little guy.

Yeah, thats it. Now it doesn't even feel like there's more belts. More divisions is more interesting and it gives the lower guys something to go after and try to prove themselves to get a better belt.

Someone like Evan Bourne would make a great light weight champ and having him fued with guys like Rey or some of the newer lighter guys who can jump around would be interesting.

[Kane Knight]

I was genuinely shocked at the conclusion of the main event on Sunday, bearing in mind that such a 'hardcore' spot is being used during a time when the WWE is trying to be family-friendly.

However, how else are are the booking team going to remove John 'Superman' Cena without tarnishing the image that they have laboured hard to create - a wrestler who is indestructible (within reasonable bounds) and tenacious?

Spots like this are being used less frequently. Take a look at how often WCW liked to utilise these methods to wrap up some of their main events in the late-nineties for example.
The Cena spot was indeed awesome.

[DAMN iNATOR]

My personal counter-points to Mr. Venis' original post:

1.) As thedamndest mentioned, I'd be all for getting rid of ECW. WWE as of now is airing 6 hours per week of wrestling shows, not to mention an average of 3-6 hours of Pay-Per-Views in a given month (i.e., June, for example will have WWE Extreme Rules on the 7th and then The Great American Bash on the 28th), which is roughly 24-27 hours per month. Something needs to be cut, and soon.

2.) Nobody forces you to read wrestling related articles on the web. Sure professional wrestling has been affected by it as much as anything else. But if you don't want to know ahead of time what will be happening, ignore all the articles, don't read posts that leak spoilers, and if anyone tries to tell you what they have seen online about a future wrestling event, politely tell them you'd rather find out on your own.

3.) Well, I don't know what clowns you are talking about, but WWE has made who knows how many cuts already this year just to cut costs. I think the roster size is fine where it is.

4.) There are superstars who deserve the spotlight longer than others, and those who do not. If every match was turned into a 20-minute or half-hour reversal-, counter- and/or spot-fest, nobody would give a damn anymore, and we'd all be tuning in to other programming.

5.) Um, yeah...Orton took his time before speaking at the beginning of RAW Monday, because he won his 4th overall world championship at Backlash, and I applaud him for giving himself time to think about what he had accomplished. I don't think he was trying to feed his ego at all, just taking pride in himself (which is not feeding his ego), and I can't fault him for that.

6.) The reason there are so many twenty-something superstars in WWE trying to make a name for themselves can be summed up in a single word: Demographic. In case it hadn't occurred (sp.?) to you, WWE is looking to attract mainly males within the 18-49 demographic. Nobody is going to watch 60- and 70- year olds and older wrestle. This is why I take issue whenever I see Mae Young or used to see Moolah on television. It was ridiculous, and disgusting, and nobody wants to watch a sex-crazy, elderly woman in her late 80's gyrate in the ring and throw herself at the young guys.

7.) GM's help maintain some semblance of control on the shows, and Vince has only made 2 visits to RAW over the past several months. I have no problem with Shane and Stephanie right now getting air time. They are part of a storyline that is one of the main ones right now, and we will see where it will all lead. Hell, if need be, I'd even support Linda showing up eventually to nip it in the bud. But ONLY after the storyline has run it's course.

8.) RAW and SmackDown! need heel commentators, ECW has Matt Striker. However, if ECW were miraculously discontinued in the future, I'd like to see Striker get a promotion to SmackDown! and see if he would be any good paired with J.R.

[Kane Knight]

6.) The reason there are so many twenty-something superstars in WWE trying to make a name for themselves can be summed up in a single word: Demographic. In case it hadn't occurred (sp.?) to you, WWE is looking to attract mainly males within the 18-49 demographic. Nobody is going to watch 60- and 70- year olds and older wrestle. This is why I take issue whenever I see Mae Young or used to see Moolah on television. It was ridiculous, and disgusting, and nobody wants to watch a sex-crazy, elderly woman in her late 80's gyrate in the ring and throw herself at the young guys.

WWE is aiming for a younger market than that. 18-34 and highers don't want Supercena and companies. They don't want safe, Rated G entertainment.

Hell, I'm betting a three hour "Steve Austin interrupts every match to stunner everyone and drink beer"special would be more over with the 18-49 crowd than another iteration of Cena v anyone not a big star from the Attitude Era.

[DAMN iNATOR]

WWE is aiming for a younger market than that. 18-34 and highers don't want Supercena and companies. They don't want safe, Rated G entertainment.

Hell, I'm betting a three hour "Steve Austin interrupts every match to stunner everyone and drink beer"special would be more over with the 18-49 crowd than another iteration of Cena v anyone not a big star from the Attitude Era.

True. I don't want any part of either group (supercena's or old farts) in WWE tbh. But yeah, Austin would draw anytime anywhere.

[Kane Knight]

I think I'd have less of a problem with Supercena if there weren't so many Supermen of late. I mean, this is clearly over the stretch of a few years, but Batista, Black Lesnar, Cena, DX, Triple H solo, and an asterisk next to the Undertaker because he's not strictly the Superman formula, but has spent a lot of time close to it. And there are probably more I'm missing because I haven't watched as much Smackdown and ECW as it would take to make a real pattern.

And that's a lot of dominant faces. Cena gets a lot of shit because he's the face they've put on the company, but when that many guys have been overcoming the odds, it's clearly not just a Cena thing.

Anyway, long story short, I agree. I'd rather not have Supermen in WWE, but I could live with the occasional superman push. We had like four at once at one point. That's fucktarded. I also don't want old farts, but again, I could probably live with one or two (unless they're really old, like the afforementioned Mae and Mulah).

Since most old fans will eventually move on and most young fans will probably watch anyway, not to mention the 18-34 demo is the one with the largest disposable income, appealing to the aging market or to the kids market may not be the best anyway. I mean, there's a good argument to appealing to kids, but I'm also pretty sure they can boost their child viewership without completely alienating the 18-34 market like they've been doing. For example, there isn't a very strong correlation between ratings and merch sales. That means you can sell WWE Pokémania toys and still have a product adults like on TV.

Hell, you could book one show as more adult anyway. People have suggested ECW, which seems the logical choice, though it's the least watched show and on the channel the least people get, so it's probably a bad idea. I liek Raw as the adult show, since it's not network, but it still has a large installed adult viewerbase. Kids, like people with less discretionary income, tend towards the broadcast shows.

It really does seem like WWE can "have their cake and eat it too," so to speak.

And if they keep marketing to kids, they will find themselves competing with kids shows full time, and they'll probably end up losing. Kid culture is notoriously fickle, and there's so much dedicated product that a future in kids marketing without an installed adul base is uncertain. Hard to say that means they're wrong, but it certainly does question current and conventional wisdom.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I read the first paragraph and though "Is this me posting?" but it turned out that Val Venis believes very different things to me. Not stupid things, but different things.

This is far from the biggest thing, and it is far from the most pressing, but it has been on my mind recently. How long the WWE gives certain matches really pisses me off. This week on RAW, you had The Brian Kendrick and Kofi Kingston wrestle for about 3 minutes. You also had The Colons face ChaNoble in a 4-minute match. While I am glad all those deserving guys got a showing, don't get me wrong, and while both matches were good for the time allowed, I would have much rather have seen the WWE put Kofi Kingston versus The Brian Kendrick on Superstars, or something.

Kofi Kingston just faced Edge in a losing effort on Superstars, so it could be seen as a follow-on that Kofi continues to be showcased on Superstars, and he faces a mid-card RAW guy. With only three matches for the hour, Kingston and Kendrick could have worked a really fucking solid match and told an actual story. Kingston would have gone over, and bounced back from his loss against the man who is now the World Heavyweight Champion the previous week.

The WWE could have then given the three minutes Kingston & Kendrick got to the tag team match, and those guys would have been given a total of seven mintues to work something resembling a serious tag team match.

And when it comes to the PPVs -- shit like The Great Khali kissing Santina Marella does not need to be on there. Make that a WWE.com skit. That time could have been given to a John Morrison vs. The Miz match. MVP and Dolph Ziggler had a story set-up for the PPV. It just pads things out with quality a bit more, rather than quality of wasting time instead of using it.