On July 19th, Tuesday Night SmackDown will go live, featuring the WWE Draft. While many superstars will have a chance to restart their careers on a different show, the brand split also gives the WWE a chance to reinvent themselves. While Monday Night Raw has a stranglehold on the wrestling, or “sports entertainment” world, it’s far from perfect and could benefit from some changes. Here are a few improvements WWE can make.
Improvements WWE Can Make
Keep Champions Fresh
In order to accurately explain this step, you’d have to compare the two longest reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champions, Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar. Rollins and Lesnar both held the title for at least 220 days, but that’s where the similarities end. Brock Lesnar only wrestled four times during his reign, and each match was on a pay per view. Every time that Brock Lesnar wrestled, it had that big fight feel. It legitimately felt like Brock Lesnar was unbeatable, and it took a sneaky cash-in from Rollins to end his reign.
When Rollins was champion, it was the exact opposite. On pay per views alone, Rollins defended his title nine times in eight shows. With pay per views, televised events, and house shows? Rollins wrestled well over 100 times. As noted, Rollins actually worked twice in one night as he wrestled John Cena and Sting at Night Of Champions in 2015. Unlike Lesnar, Rollins didn’t seem unbeatable. He lost a ton of his non-title matches, and depended on cheap finishes to retain his title.
While having a beatable champion is a great plot device, it hurts the prestige of the championship. If a champion is expected to figuratively carry the show, it is only fair that he is booked properly. It has to be tough to book a champion to look respectable, but also beatable. It is a tough task, but the WWE might already have the answer.
Women’s Champion, Charlotte, rarely wrestles on television. More often than not, she comes out in street clothing and has her lackey, Dana Brooke, do all the work. Charlotte and Brooke do occasionally wrestle tag team matches, but if they lose, it’s Brooke that gets pinned. Whenever Charlotte does wrestle on television, she usually wins.
This is an approach the WWE should take with the WWE World Heavyweight Champion as well. It’s bad booking to have your champion wrestle once a month, but they don’t have to wrestle on television every week. The WWE World Heavyweight Champion should have some power, and certainly shouldn’t wrestle against the number one contender leading up to a feud. The feud between Cena and CM Punk during 2011-2013 was fantastic, and every time the two men locked up, it meant something.
Continuity
One of the most frustrating things about the WWE is that they assume the WWE Universe just forgets everything. A perfect example of this abuse is how the WWE has booked Paige recently. When Paige turned heel on PCB teammates, Charlotte and Becky Lynch, it made sense. She resented Charlotte for winning the title when she could not, despite being the leader of the stable. She had a brief feud with the then-Diva’s champion before disappearing. The next time Paige was on WWE television, she was a babyface, offering no explanation for her change of behavior.
Back at Night of Champions in 2015, there was a moment of tension between Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho after Y2J cost them the match against the Wyatt Family, but the WWE didn’t do anything with it. Even when the two finally feuded after WrestleMania, there was no mention of the pay per view encounter.
Occasionally, the WWE do follow through with the little things, and it’s always amazing. During Rollins’ run as the champion, he would frequently find himself in segments with the Tag Team Champions, The New Day. For some reason, Rollins and the faction had sensational chemistry and it never failed to get a pop. Recently, during the build to Money in the Bank, Kevin Owens referenced prior tag team matches with Jericho saying “I thought we had a good thing going“. It’s a funny moment that displays great chemistry between two exceptional superstars, and helps to suspend your disbelief.
Asking the WWE to be consistent with characters and story-lines isn’t too tall of an order for a company claiming to be “sports entertainment” instead of pro wrestling. If Vince McMahon insists on making the promos as important as the action inside the ring, then the least he can do is provide some continuity for his audience.
Give The People What They Want
Kevin Dunn, who has been with the WWE since the very beginning, must have been relieved to see Dean Ambrose win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank. After months of muting the crowd at the end of shows, Dunn was finally allowed to let the fans cheer. The WWE Universe have had a rough time lately, as they’ve been booing Roman Reigns for the last six months, but the WWE have refused to give up on him.
This isn’t just a Roman Reigns problem either. Whether it be another John Cena win, the company’s refusal to push Cesaro, or a championship match in 2015 featuring Kane, Vince McMahon doesn’t “give a damn what these people want“. There are legitimate reasons for why the modern product can’t sniff the ratings of the attitude era. During the “golden era” of pro wrestling, there weren’t thousands of channels, WCW was still runnin’ wild, and seemingly the entire WWE Hall of Fame was on the roster.
But frankly, the current product just isn’t as good. The writing is done by television writers that don’t understand the business, relying on the same plots they’ve used for a decade. Cena wins feuds, tag teams turn on each other, and the part-timers come back for ‘Mania season.
If Vince McMahon wants people to consistently tune into his show, he should give the people what they want. The casual audience isn’t tuning in by the millions anymore, and it might be time for McMahon to cater to the crowd that never left.
