Your WWE 2011 Midterm Report

[#Classic Hi-Definition X]

OK, so we're halfway through the year. What's your midterm grade for WWE?

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

B-minus.

The in-ring action's gradually getting less and less homogenized, and the retirements and inactivity of a lot of the old guard has resulted in a lot of new stars rising. But the tag team division is still shit and some of the midcarders still need more mic time.

[Lord Bendtner]

B-. Wrestlemania buildup was too sudden and could have really started from Royal Rumble as opposed to a few weeks before. Post Mania, there seems to be a "throw everything at the wall" attitude that doesn't seem to work for most. At least they're still trying to get new people over. Good work on Riley's face turn and Henry/Truth's heel turns. So, overall, decent, has potential to do greater in the upcoming months.

[Big L]

B

[FUNK_US/BRODUS]

B. WrestleMania had a lot of crap. It had some fantastic moments as well, but mainly crap. Sin Cara and Kharma were brought in well, and some of the in ring stuff has been amazing. Rey Mysterio has been fun to watch this year.

[The Ichi]

C for Raw, B+ for Smackdown.

Overall: B-

[CJ]

C

[Citizen Zero]

I'd give it a B for the in-ring action and a D for the storytelling aspect.

[breakdownthewalls]

Solid B.

The in-ring product's really good. Punk, Truth, and Cody Rhodes are insanely entertaining right now. Nothing really feels stale except MAYBE Orton having the belt.

There are a handful of guys who need more TV time, but that's always gonna happen with only 2 televised shows.

And we're living in a world in which Mistico, Awesome Kong, and Bryan Danielson are all in the same company. That alone is pretty great.

[MolotovMocktail]

I give it a C-. It's bland, they show the same thing week in and week out, and have very few wrestlers who make me need to tune in every week to see what they do-and one of those is leaving in a few weeks. However, it's not completely awful, either. It's not like 1995 where there was consistently bad wrestling, or 2007 where all the wrong people were being pushed amidst a PR nightmare.

[Altabane]

Overall B-

Raw is incredibly stale: C
SmackDown is good, but Orton is not helping/welcome in my book: B

[Deleted]

I'll go B+, I've really enjoyed this year.

[froggyfrog]

C.

Needs more Ryder and Wrestlemania sucked

[klapaucius]

Ñ

[Madagascar Fred]

3 great PPV's (RR, EC, Ex. Rules), some really really good RAW episodes (Rock return, Edge retirement ep., Raw Roulette, Draft, 1st 2011 episode), a lot of really good Smackdown episodes (esp. in the first 3 months, after the draft it was rather disappointing)

interesting and refreshing new talent influx (Kharma, Sin Cara)

some good turns went down (Truth, Riley)

my biggest gripe is pushing Mason Ryan (well thats done for now) & Ezekiel instead of pulling the trigger on Ziggler, Swagger, Bryan or Ryder, while Cena & Orton are still portrayed as the Supermen of Supermen

B-

[Deleted]

D

Pretty much the same as last year. Tag team and women's divisions are still bad, midcarders are still treated as being irrelevant with no character development and interesting storylines. You still have the likes of Kingston/Ziggler/McIntyre/Swagger stuck in the midcard, and the likes of Ryder being criminally missued by creative. Orton and Cena still dominate the main event scene. And finally NXT and Superstars are still as irrelavant as they were this time last year.

The positives have been the in-ring action still being pretty good on a whole, a lack of anything truly horrible, Tough Enough, R-Truth's heel turn and 'that' CM Punk promo.

[babyfootball]

I gave it a C+, because I felt generous.

It's kind of the same as it's been since 2002-ish (post-Invasion, when I'd give it a solid B+)/1999-ish (when, even though it was insanely popular, I'd say D+ at best). Without nitpicking over minor details and certain wrestlers I like not getting pushed, simply looking at WWE for what it's been for the last 30 years and understanding what are realistic and unrealistic expectations for the company, I feel like, overall, they've been stuck in kind of a standstill for the last 10 or so years.

Even though the name of the company has changed (twice), top stars and TV shows have come, gone, and evolved, and even though they've gotten more and more away from what professional wrestling first originated as, it's generally been more of the same in the recent past.

Right now, the in-ring product is actually pretty good, compared to the mid-'80s when steroid monsters ruled the ring, or the late-'90s when every TV match was less than 3 minutes and filled with lame aluminum trashcan spots. Overall presentation and production is, as always, the industry leader and generally of very high quality.

The roster is solid from top to bottom, but there's this feeling that everybody's pretty close. There are no real consistent stand-out stars other than Cena. Even Orton gets relegated to the "B" show, whose ratings are continuing on a (what I believe should be alarming) downward spiral. It's yo-yo push city, and it's actually a bit similar to how they run their overall business. They're able to tread water, and turn a profit, and generally are very efficient. But it seems like from Vince on down, they're afraid to fully commit to taking a chance on anything/anyone. Maybe he feels that he's been burnt in the past and is just afraid to stick his hand in the fire. Even when they do take a big chance in booking, or when it comes to format or TV presentation, they seem to reel themselves back in eventually, regardless of how successful they could have been.

That's what accounts for the mediocre grade I have given them. Sure, wrestling is a niche audience, but I feel like WWE could, if they really got their act together and hadn't stopped making real progress 10 years ago, could be even more of a Worldwide Leader in Sports-Entertainment than they even are. They manage to keep up with the rest of the world well-enough, and at least aren't stuck in a time warp (as seems to happen to some other once-trendy "entertainment" acts over the years). But there's still so much room for growth (which, editorial moment, doesn't necessitate removing the word "wrestling" entirely from your product...)!

Even if it takes another 10 years, there's no avoiding that they'll have to break this streak of C-ish years, one way or the other.

[greeby]

D. So many times this year, WWE has zigged when to zag was the better option. At a time when the main event is ready for new faces, Cena and Orton are back on top. Smackdown is stuck on repeat, NXT is in far greater need of euthanasia than ECW ever was. Wrestlemania was like a four-hour Raw with only one great match in it.

If there's hope to be had. It's that the departures for various reasons, have spared the roster from another year of heavy cuts. Allowing some previously wasted midcarders to be rebuilt. Also, Raw two weeks ago proved that while they were certainly unprepared for the response. They are at last willing to ask the people what they want and run with it

[Shy Guy]

C. kind of lost interest in the product due to nothing new happening