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During the mid 90’s, the WWE was under pressure to survive when WCW basically raided their roster and took their biggest stars. What did the WWE do to regain control? They did what every wrestling company has to do to stay in business – they built new and exciting, young stars.
Gone were the days when we had to watch big slow men who had 5 moves in their arsenal. Instead, we had men like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, The Rock, Owen Hart and Steve Austin. These stars provided us with great entertainment, along with putting on excellent matches that had us on the edge of our seats.
The WWE poked fun at WCW who, at the time, were using their former stars – guys in their 40s. While WCW were winning the ratings battle, the WWE were working hard to push their younger stars and preparing them to be main-eventers who would be able to carry the company.
We all know how it worked out in the end – WCW folded and WWE went on to become the biggest wrestling company in the world. The young stars that the WWE spent time building became some of the most well-known wrestlers in the world, not just in the wrestling industry.
Right now, the WWE don’t have any real competition, but they still need to survive. These days, we have an unlimited number of ways to watch anything we want, at any time we want. If we miss a TV show, we can catch up quickly and easily through a variety of ways, so we don’t have to be in front of the TV when our favourite show is on.
The WWE’s biggest competition right now is themselves.
They want us to watch Raw live every week on our TV to increase their ratings, but for us to want to do, that they have to produce exciting storylines and matches, as well as develop fresh new talent.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen part-timers come and go, we’ve seen HHH take up as much of the spotlight as he could possibly get, and now we have the return of Batista.
On top of that, we’ve had to put up with John Cena and Randy Orton bore us with the same old routine stories and matches that we’ve seen a thousand times.
The Rock came back to try to boost the ratings and while it was entertaining at first, it quickly turned into the same old shit we’d seen 10 years before that. RVD’s return was underwhelming and I still don’t understand what the WWE were aiming to achieve by bringing him back. Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho come and go, and The Undertaker comes back once a year.
Apart from Lesnar and ‘Taker, do the WWE really need to rely on part-timers and superstars who are past their prime?
The reason I say apart from Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker is because they still bring something special.
Lesnar is rough, tough and mean. He has the intensity that every superstar should have. He’s able to put on entertaining matches that will make us chant ‘Holy Shit!’ and he has one of the greatest managers of all-time alongside him in Paul Heyman.
The Undertaker returning once a year is a special attraction and, for some people, it sells WrestleMania to them. Will we ever see the streak end or will The Undertaker retire with one of the greatest unbeaten streaks in sports history? No-one can deny just how good ‘Taker is at WrestleMania so it’s important to have him at the biggest show of the year until he retires.
So have the WWE failed to produce new stars capable of carrying the company in the future, and who make us want to tune in every Monday night?
We have CM Punk, The Shield, The Wyatt Family, Cody Rhodes, The Real Americans, Big E Langston, The Usos and of course the biggest star in the company right now – Daniel Bryan.
I don’t think the WWE has failed to produce new stars. But…they are lacking the drive they once had to make them believable, future main-eventers (apart from Punk and Bryan).
Nothing’s ever going to change until someone grows a pair and tries to change things.
Stop shoving Triple H, John Cena and Randy Orton down our throats. Stop relying on middle-aged men who we’ve had to watch for the past 10-15 years.
The time is now for the new generation to shine, for the management to help turn them into stars and to make us fans believe in them. That’s what’s ‘Best for Business’.
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