Is "The Cena Generation" the last new fan base?

[James Steele]

It all boils down to a couple of core issues: everything is overproduced and nothing seems organic, but if something does happen organically they generally stifle it instead of building off of it. There is a major lack of grit for a product that is supposed to be based around pre-scripted violence.

[xrodmuc316]

Originally Posted by James Steele It all boils down to a couple of core issues: everything is overproduced and nothing seems organic, but if something does happen organically they generally stifle it instead of building off of it. There is a major lack of grit for a product that is supposed to be based around pre-scripted violence.

It's so true. Even Becky, after having the bloody face but still standing claiming its her show, the best thing that happened in WWE in about 5 years, WWE tried to shut it down almost instantly.

The next night they had her give the chance to fight Ronda at Survivor Series, after her whole initial momentum started when she called bullshit on Charlotte being given every opportunity.

Go back and watch that clip, the fans wanted Asuka, and Becky's character should have picked anybody but Charlotte.

Instead of JUST doing what is logical and going with the hot hand, they have to overbook everything.

That is just talking about on air stuff. How about them killing characters for petty shit. Braun Strowman was pretty red hot, but he showed up at the arena 5 hours before the show starts instead of 7 hours like protocol says.

Well WWE can't have that, so instead let's bury the guy to teach him a lesson, who cares about the millions of dollars they could make, the new fans they could have made, etc.

It is absolutely an unfathomable decision for a publicly traded company to make.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by James Steele It all boils down to a couple of core issues: everything is overproduced and nothing seems organic, but if something does happen organically they generally stifle it instead of building off of it. There is a major lack of grit for a product that is supposed to be based around pre-scripted violence.

This is part of it. I completely agree with that. A big reason behind that is Vince McMahon permeating through everything. He needs to go.

They've also been adverse to making stars outside the Vince vision. People mentioned Cesaro and and Shinsuke Nakamura. It's hard to imagine them being stars in Vince McMahon's WWE, but that's exactly the issue. Sure, Cesaro isn't the most captivating on-air promo in the world, but his booking in 2014 (it's been over four years, wow) didn't help matters. Losing to Sheamus? Being an extra in Money in the Bank? You're trying to build a world-beater, let him beat the world. Nakamura's strengths were never played to. He adapted well to "sports entertainment," but he was never allowed to bring his own DNA in, because you've got to fit the circus. The promotion no longer builds itself around what it has.

And people have lost faith. I'm not the biggest fan of the Becky or Kofi pushes, but even if you adored them both as performers, what is your first instinct? "They're gonna fuck this up." So, as a result, you don't tune in, and they don't gain any real traction. They've conditioned even their more sincere attempts to fail.

And now you've got so many people across the board. You've almost got a shadow roster of guys with amazing potential that are being largely neglected. Cesaro and Luke Harper weren't drafted. Chad Gable wasn't drafted on the night he was supposed to be. It's not just that fans get annoyed by this, but it dislocates the product from itself, like when Jinder Mahal was WWE Champion and Owens and Styles were slumming it in the mid-card. It doesn't "feel right" when you've got a roster that full and too much collecting dust. They'd be better off just letting go of those people and having something a lot more streamlined.

Because they are trying to push too many people through, in a sense. It feels like they aren't really trying with anybody, but you can't push eight different undefeated future mega-stars at once. You only need one star, but they've created an environment where they need two, so you need to create two stars, so you're splitting attention at least as much those ways.

This company is so fucking ludicrious. I was thinking the other day that the best thing that can happen is that Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Shane McMahon, Paul Heyman, Michael Cole, Michael Hayes, Road Dogg, Ryan Ward and whoever else has shares or stakes in this company need to go to Vince and say "It's time." Either Vince steps back and lets certain things be run differently and autonomously from his vision, or they're going to start selling stock and advising investors that they do the same, because they've lost faith in him. They've got to a hold a blowtorch to this guy to get him out. But that won't happen, because no one that company is really "in touch" nor do they have the balls. They also probably like their dividends too much, and that isn't going down while Vince is getting money from the networks and despots.

[Tom Guycott]

Originally Posted by DAMN iNATOR Other names that spring to mind that they had chances to make something special out of are Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Originally Posted by James Steele They have bungled Finn Balor and Ricochet.

The list is far deeper and the timeframe is far longer.

Shinsuke is a special case. On one hand, he's kinda like Owen Hart, in that he is good enough to be considered one of the best ever if he took it more seriously... but he apparently doesn't give a shit as long as he makes his money and can go surfing, he's happy. Good for him personally.

On the other, there is zero reason why he couldn't have been top tier and possibly helped carry the company. He has that intangible charisma. He has that "it" factor in spades. Even with his imperfect English promos, he wasn't getting drowned in "WHAT?" chants or other bullshit; he had the crowd quiet down to understand and absorb what the fuck he was saying, and got huge pops after. People who knew who he was from NJPW could turn to the uninitiated and be like "Hey, watch THIS shit... it's about to be an awesome match!" And the company did fuck all with it.

They have a deep roster full of talent with their own strengths that they aren't allowed to play to or show off. Everyone is background and filler and folks they just want to hold under contract so that they can't go elsewhere and generate any buzz. They ironically call people they don't want to push "flavor of the month" no matter how much they might get over, but will actually pick their own "flavor" to try to beat people over the head with. They break gimmicks with promise. They bury workhorses under piles of bullshit. And like so many of us have repeated to ourselves, they have made us lose faith.

It is hard to keep faith when you know that anyone called up from NXT will eventually mean nothing no matter how much they're cultivated and pushed and supported in Orlando. I keep thinking to the Velveteen Dream "Call Me Up Vince" tights, and hope to any god that will listen that McMahon doesn't take him up on that. He's flourishing in NXT, and main roster will inevitably fuck that all the way up in short order.