Quote:
Originally Posted by hb2k
Well that's completely missed the point of what I said.
I didn't once say they didn't have long term plans. At all. To the audience, even if they do, they clearly aren't hooked by the directions they've been going, because the numbers say so. That's it, the crux of my point in a nutshell.
Reigns/Wyatt has been ice cold for the vast majority of its run. Taker/Lesnar 3 has been promoted poorly considering the interest after the Summerslam finish. Rollins/HHH might be going somewhere eventually but they're doing such a balls up job with Rollins that people aren't itching for something to happen on that front by any means. You have no hot top heels and no babyface that feels on the cusp of a breakthrough, and for all the directions they've taken, they've bred a malaise in the audience that has resulted in the numbers falling to the lowest in 18 years. If you feel differently, I'm happy you're enjoying Raw.
I love wrestling and will watch it forever, but the television show is flat, and I'm not suggested they get crazy reactionary, I'm just saying that doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results is a well known definition, and it isn't of genius.
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You said they seem directionless
I am disputing that. I think your issue is that you dont care for the direction they are going. I think one of the problems is that WWE is on the cutting edge of technology, and their fans connect with them in ways beyond your father's cable TV. They are often first is a wide variety of social media outlets. If they were not connecting, those numbers would be low as well.
Specific programs are going to a matter of personal opinion. I'll give my take on some of the programs:
Taker vs Brock - If you go back to the angle they shot leading into Summerslam, that was one of the best angle WWE has done, maybe ever. The crowd was into it big time. I feel they have done a masterful job, of almost building their matches in a UFC style manner. Not the normal weekly face to face promos, just constantly reminding fans about the reasons why these guys want to fight each other. The program is a little hampered by the fact that Taker is limited, but if you just look at the marketing of the match, I think its been masterful.
Wyatt-Reigns. Almost the direct opposite of Taker-Brock. This is your classic modern day feud like a HHH-Rock or Cena-Orton, where it feels like they have fought 250 times over 4 months. I still the crowd gets behind them enough to justify the length of the program, especially. Reigns doing long promos is not smart, but that has nothing to do with this program specifically. From a long term planning perspective, I feel like this program was meant to keep Reigns away from the WWE Title picture and still keep him hot. In the meantime, for better or worse they put over a new talent in Strowman. We'll get the old school cage blowoff on Sunday.
HHH-Rollins. I think I'm one of the only people who can see the forest for the trees when it comes to this. All the way back to the booking of Sting-HHH, I think this program has been slowly simmering. When they do pull the trigger, and I dont think it will be anytime soon, it will be good stuff. Rollins using the Pedigree is a cool touch. Rollins beating Sting on his own. Rollins slowly starting to take matters into his own hands and win matches on his own. Its the right way to build a guy you expect to be a futue babyface headliner.
For me, I just dont expect wrestling writing to be as good as something like The Sopranos or Breaking Bad. Its simplistic. Its something to turn on once or twice a week, have some laughs, and move on. There are some guys I would like to see pushed a little more, but you can only push so many guys to the top at once. Right now its Rollins and Reigns turn. We'll see how they work out. Someone else will get the chance next year. When that starts to happen, I'l enjoy watching that journey play out.