They have no interest in wrestling.

No kids have an interest in this wrestling.

He's big and he loves to have fun. So probably

... once again; totally avoidable problem if they actually took time to build stars to look like credible threats over time instead of hotshotting nobodies or squashing anyone with unintentional momentum. Everyone looks like an undeserving clown at this point, potentially even Brock after all that "I'm a star and I don't feel like doing shit and I'm possibly going to leave again anyway" buisness.

Asuka.

The IIconics

I've gotten to the point where I just don't think it's possible. No one talks like a real person and no one knows how to carry themselves like a star. You can "build stars" all you want in terms of pushing someone to get a lot of wins, but what does it mean? What do the belts mean? The WWE Title was held by Jinder Mahal and the first two Universal Champions were Finn Balor and Kevin Owens.

Everyone who wants to be a wrestler grew up with WWF/E and in an age where kayfabe was dead. So no one ever thinks "I want to be a wrestler" and learns how to work, they think "I want to be a wrestler and go and pretend to fight in WWE." The mentality to be a star is dead.

They can push Becky Lynch as a babyface instead of fighting so hard present her as a heel, but at the end of the day she still inhabits a lame show with dance breaks and bad Australian accents. They could have never turned Braun heel, but his name is still "Braun Strowman" and he goes "RAWR!"

It's Vince McMahon's circus and everyone is a complete supplicant to his verbiage. They are an extension of his perpsectives and biases, and because a lot of them are geeks, they almost come across as self-loathing whiny geeks a lot of the time.

I seriously don't think it's possible. Wins and losses don't matter. That's dead. They've killed it. Belts don't matter. Rivalries and friendships don't matter. Everyone turns heel and everyone turns face. No one believes anyone hates anyone though, so none of it really catches.

I'm so done with modern WWE. I do not want to see another babyface betrayed by their "best friend" only for them to walk down pouty the next week, because they don't know how to be authentically mad, and throw bad working punches as "retribution for the heinous actions!"

Very thought provoking thread! :D

It will probably be Strowman or Elias, but I think it would be a mistake if that happened. Strowman’s deficincies as a wrestler will be exposed as a main-eventer while Elias would likely become boring as a face. I would move Orton to RAW and put the belt on him until someone is really truly and ready to step up.
Lashley, Strowman, and Elias aren’t ready.

Giving Braun Goldberg esque booking and keeping his matches 10 minutes and under would be just fine. People love a wrecking machine. Turn him into a steam roller as champ until you build a worthy challenger or successor.