Part II
Everyone talks too much!!!
Just like the Botchamania’s saying goes, for years now, I, as a wrestling fan and fan of the WWE have grown ridiculously tired of dang near every RAW and Smackdown opening with the obligatory opening promo that takes up a good portion of the first hour. In fact, I am past tired of having to sit and watch promo after promo after promo that takes time away from the matches that could be taking place.
For example, during the first hour of last night’s RAW, promos and recap videos took up twenty-six minutes—nearly half. During the entire three hours of RAW, promos took up a third of that time—and that’s not counting commercials. For any fan who watches every week, this is not going to immerse us. We have longer attention spans than just from week to week. Now I will say that the promos for some of the Smackdown Live Women’s Tag Teams were good ones because they are tag teams that aren’t on RAW, so the promos helped keep Absolution and the Iconic Duo in the minds of fans, both casual and hardcore. The Becky Lynch backstage vignettes were actually good because they moved along the main story of the night, which was will Becky Lynch apologize to Triple H and Stephanie for her actions last week or not. The Kevin Owens promo video was good. Showed some behind the scenes stuff, while letting fans know that he’s coming back soon.
On the other hand, The Bayley/Sasha and Nia/Tamina promos made no sense. We as fans (the ones who watch every week) are thinking, reasoning adults know the stakes of the Elimination Chamber. We as regular-watching fans know why they are all gunning to win the match. We can tell that when the camera focuses on those shiny new Women’s Tag Team belts. For those that are extreme casual fans, or those that are new fans, if creative immerses them enough with the match, and some of the banter from the wrestlers and the commentary team, it would more than likely make them want to go online in order to find out what the stakes are for this year’s Elimination Chamber match, if the constant images of the tag titles weren’t enough. Also, why have promos for people that are actually in the match that they were showing during? Why not just have the commentators talk about the motivations of the participants? The constant reminders are unnecessary if the commentators are doing their jobs during the match.
The Seth recap was ok if it’s going to be shown once or twice before he returns from injury or before Mania, whichever comes first. If this is going to be shown every week leading to Mania, then it’s going to get old really quick. Also, why put this well put together promo on the show, if Seth was going to actually be on the show? Honestly, I’d put this promo on the WWE YouTube channel, and do something in the ring that makes fans want to go find more information on this growing feud and on the wrestlers involved.
My question is this, why not have the majority of the story being told in the ring, with the aid of the commentary team? I understand having a promo every other week or something like that, but in the ring is where the magic happens. It’s the reason for all the talking. Why not have a feud play out majorly in the ring with commentator’s aid, instead of having promo after rehash promo after rehash promo. It really feels as if this is what WWE has been doing for the last number of years, and nothing has really seemed to change in this ‘New Era’.
Why not enough long term booking?
What I also mean by that is why not allow stories to play out over months and even years with good subplots throughout? Also, why not bring back tournaments that would allow wrestlers that aren’t normally on TV to be showcased in on-air matches? Also, why hinder natural pushes, and why force wrestlers into these cookie-cutter personas?
I know it’s been long documented that Vince McMahon doesn’t like tournaments. The thing is a tournament is a chance to put together long-term booking for more than just a handful of wrestlers that are being pushed. It allows other wrestlers who aren’t usually seen on RAW, Smackdown or even the NXTs to be seen. There are so many amazing wrestlers on the roster. The Tye Dillingers, Rusevs, and tag teams of the main roster need and honestly deserve a shot to show what they can do in the ring. Tournaments with 50-50 balanced booking can go a long way in doing that, and maybe allow some previously unused talent on-air to thrive, flourish and create a natural buzz for their characters.
For example, Tye Dillinger and his gimmick were so popular that he was number ten in the 2017 Royal Rumble, and people expected him to come out for the 2018 Rumble. As the timer counted down to zero, the crowd was chanting ‘10’, and when Dillinger’s music actually hit, the crowd went insane. If not for his in-ring talent and his ability to immerse a crowd when on NXT programming, he took a simple chant and made it beloved and relevant. When he actually got to the main roster, they immediately put him in the mid-card jobber spot—when he was actually on TV. He was losing almost all the time. If there was a more balanced booking from the start, he and his opponents would have had to put on good matches in order to garner praise from the crowd, and that’s as it should be.
Bobby Roode—he was an amazing heel in NXT. He was well on his way to being a styling, profiling heel in the vein of Ric Flair. Why change him to a bland baby face, when you move him up to the main roster? Obviously, he’s going to get a big pop when he first debuted, but after that why not establish him as the showboating heel that us fans loved to hate? Rusev Day is one of the most organically over slogans in the WWE universe right now, much to the chagrin of creative. Instead of going with this natural push from fans, creative decided to keep Rusev and Lana completely off of TV for weeks trying to quell this natural push. Why? Really makes no sense.
I love Nikki Cross. From the day she debuted with Sanity, she has established herself as one of the female wrestlers to watch with her insane persona and her unique, top-notch style in the ring. She has proved herself to be a more than a competent wrestler in the ring, and fans love her crazy, don’t give a crap attitude. At least while she was in NXT, fans didn’t know where or when she was going to show up, but when she did we knew it was going to be a fun, entertaining time. Now that she’s on the main roster, she’s a heel that got beat by Ruby Riott on RAW last night. Now don’t get me wrong, because I love the Riott Squad a lot, but Cross should have joined her fellow Sanity brothers on Smackdown, and they should be tearing it up with their chaotic ways like they did in NXT.
I don’t understand this need by the main roster to want to put their own stank on a wrestler’s persona when they’ve worked hard to get themselves over with a persona that fits them well and that’s getting them over with the fans. Why does the creative team of the main roster feel it necessary to many times almost completely change a wrestler’s persona when they move up? Especially when a wrestler has already established a persona and fan base that’s working for them. Why not allow wrestlers to move up from NXT or NXT UK and keep their character personas—at least to start, and then when creative has a storyline or feud, start to change that the wrestler’s persona? I think it would go a long way taking away this pervasive fear from that fandom that NXT stars and their personas won’t be treated well when moving up to the main roster.
Part III coming soon…
