Quote:
Originally Posted by xrodmuc316
I think the fundamental flaw WWE has is they haven't tried to make anybody new with long term in mind.
They need to debut somebody at 24-25, build/protect them for 2 years, then follow through when it's time for that person the become a top guy.
It's what they did with Cena.
It's incredible to think that is the dying days of the attitude era, they essentially made their 2 top guys (Cena and Batista) and and got a solid 5 years out of Batista who is older, and about 12 years out of Cena.
Nowadays, there is no looking forward. It's why they have to keep hotshotting legends.
AJ Styles is the last new guy that they have truly pushed as a top level guy consistently, but he was whatsoever 38 when he came to WWE.
They need to pick a handful of young guys and invest in them for the long term.
Akam, Rezar, and Otis are like the only main roster guys under 28. That is an issue.
To truly create a new fanbase, you need a guy young enough to be at the top of the card and booked well for 10+ years, not a guy they kind of push, then bury, then gets over big, then gets buried again because he got over, then push again long after anybody cares.
So to answer your question, yes they probably wont be able to create a new fan base with how they run the company today.
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And even your initial point is a rosy view. WWE didn't give a solitary fuck about Cena. Even Vince himself publicly admitted he didn't see "it" initially, even when he was getting over. Pushing him and Randy Orton was an "experiment" because they were kind of in a spot as a company and had a rapid exodus of top-tier names around the same time.
All the other stuff helps, but you don't neccessarily "need" certain things to have a top star. That's a problem WWE already has: they figure this shit is formulaic, repeatable, and predictable, and that anyone can be instantly plugged into success. Look how many YEARS it took for them to FINALLY get the type of reacton they wanted for Roman Reigns - a reaction they could have organically gotten to years ago with a heel turn and a subsequent redemption, mind you - and they were just being stubborn with his push.
You know who else they were stubborn with? Jinder Mahal. And again, a large part of his failure wasn't even his fucking fault. They had spent so much time letting him languish as a comedy fodder jobber and a shithead, then they expected us to buy he goes from jerking curtians to main eventing inside of four weeks? Even Vince Russo would say that's pretty bad fucking storytelling.
They want SO BAD for Baron Corbin to be the next big thing that they blinded themselves to why he's not. At the same time, they could have just MADE Kofi with a legitimizing win over Brock... not a seven second steamrolling loss that killed him quicker than a clean loss did to Samoa Joe. The Fiend (wicked annoying, change the channel heat garnering appearance screeches aside) was something new and exciting... for awhile. But now, it's back to the same shit he's been facing since Husky Harris days: counting lights. He's basically a career jobber, and every time they freshen him up, they have him lose more, so the facelift becomes useless. He could have been a top guy by now, and instead, he has been a waste of a spot through little fault of his own.
Not saying it wouldn't help, but youth in and of itself isn't neccessary to make a new star. They just need to... well... make the goddamn stars that get made and roll with it, and not try to shoehorn someone ad nauseum or suddenly lose interest in someone two weeks into a push.
I will say again that I don't see "it" personally with Keith Lee and Dominic Dijakovic. I still see the same two "bums" I saw in Ring of Honor, except Dijak doesn't look nearly as clumsy anymore, but they are over in NXT. I'm not blind to that fact. They obvously have something. So here is what is likely to happen: they get called up to the main roster, forced into a tag team that initially squshes, but then starts losing to some bullshit team they throw together and hotshot to a tile run, they break up, have one more critically acclaimed feud series, and then fall off the planet inside of six months. No sustained push. No repackage. Just flights around the world to sit in catering until they're needed to job to Roman, because that will still be a thing.
And even if I'm wrong, and they decide to push one of the two more up the card, there is no telling if things are even going perfectly, that one day it will just... stop. Or they get saddled with some stupid gimmick just for "Vince's stamp". Or that one of them will trip and fall and now they become comedy forever and constantly compared ON AIR to Titus O'Neil.
I've lost too much faith in the company to come across the next big thing, and I honestly believe that even if they accidentally fell into finding a good looking, naturally athletic, bodybuilder built, tall, dubiously ethnic, highly charismatic guy who is a natural, fast learner in the ring, that they wouldn't
somehow fuck that up by not pushing him, giving him an insurmountably dumbass name and/or otherwise batshit gimmick, or otherwise just not grooming him to be "the guy" because for whatever reason, he's not "the guy" in Vince's eyes, but he's too valuable to let go to AEW - NWA - ROH - TNA - AAA - MLW - NJPW or anywhere else that could gain exposure from that person. So, they'll warehouse him in a contract for a good 5 years so that he can't help any other fed, and he'll be paid enough money not to bitch so much about it, but it wouldn't do him, WWE, nor the business as a whole a lot of good in the long run.