A complaint about the way WWE books its main event

[Sephiroth]

Okay, this is just a private rant, but I hope there are some who agree with my opinions on this little matter.

I have gotten more than a little tired with the way WWE likes to book a lot of their main event feuds at the moment. The first and most obvious problem is that they do not let a lot of the feuds build up the way they could. They rush them right out the gate, hoping to get the maximum result in the minimum time. If the past teaches us anything, it is the slow building feuds that get the best results, because by the time the big payoff match happens, fans are on the edge of their seats, mouths watering to finally see it take place. This is what makes ratings and buyrates go up.

Second, they tend to repeat the same matches over and over again. The best example of this would be John Cena just about all year. He took on Umaga and Khali both twice at different PPVs. A re-match can work in some cases, but the superstars involved in that storyline have to be of monumental proportions. The legendary Mr. McMahon vs. Steve Austin feud is a perfect example. Fans could not get enough of those two going at it over and over again. But there really is no comparing Steve Austin to John Cena.

And finally, they go overboard on the teaser matches. To draw an example-Jericho challenges Orton for the title. But the week before the big PPV, a match is booked pitting the two off in a tag match that sees Jericho team up with Jeff Hardy and Orton team up with Umaga. This strategy can be great way to help get fans eager to see the match by teasing them with just a taste of what the big PPV main event will look like. But they tend to go overboard on these kind of matches, and as a result I feel we have already seen just about everything these two can do in the ring together before the big payoff match has even taken place.

I suppose the best way to summarize would be to say that I think WWE's current booking method, as far as the main event goes, is a little too short sighted and impatient. But hey, I am just an internet smark. I do not know everything.

[wwerules60]

I think ending the brand split would help this problem immensely. You can have new challengers for the title every month and rematches can be spread out over the year. The problem is that we are seeing all these rematches because those are the only people who are over enough on a certain brand especially with all the injuries and stuff.

[littlenaitch]

I think they should just cross promote. Like having Jericho face Edge for the World Title for a few months and then have Batista feud with Orton.

[Sir Woodrow]

littlenaitch said:

I think they should just cross promote. Like having Jericho face Edge for the World Title for a few months and then have Batista feud with Orton.

Edge VS Jericho would be good.


Batista feuding with Orton? not so much.

[BD Punk AKA SUSPENDED!]

There are too many PPV's. There are not even close to 12 guys on each brand worthy of a world title shot. That's why you see so many rematches on PPV these days.

[TromboneMan]

Everytime I watch a RAW show I stick around and watch up until the mid-carders/IC Title division. After that I just get bored and turn off the TV. Is it wrong that I consider the mid-carders the most entertaining part of the show?

[Loki]

With 52 weekly shows (per brand) and a dozen PPVs it's statistically impossible avoiding to have the same guys facing eachother several times, even before the payoff at the PPV.

Ending the brand split won't change a thing, because if the main feud is, let's say, Orton v Batista, they'll STILL book the two rivals in some sort of tag team/triple threat match as "appetizer". And they'll still resort to run-ins and interferences, no matter who's the opponent for the night.

As long as WWE insist on keeping the same booking formula of the Monday Night Wars, with PPV-caliber matches on weekly shows, and with monthly PPVs, there's little room for improvement. A feud, regardless of the quality of the booking, will always get "boring" or stale, or "been there, done that" after 4-6 weeks of constant airtime.

Hogan-Savage lasted a whole year because we didn't have MegaPowers v Random Heel Team 15 times and Savage-Hogan confrontations week in and week out.

[Hakumental]

Agreed. And it's strange, because there are signs of this more patient booking still extant in the business.

A recent one that comes immediately to mind is Batista/HHH, a.k.a., "the push Orton could have had." Say what you will about the subtlety of the angle by the end of the storyline, but it cooked for a long time, and they teased and built it over a long, LONG period of what had to be five or six months. This feud is still so memorable to me precisely because of that slow buildup. Some stages of it that still stand out in my head:

1) During a "Beat the Clock" challenge that would determine the order for an Elimination Chamber in which Triple H had to defend his title, Batista was also entered. They agreed before the match that they'd do their best to make sure Trips won his match quickest. However, Batista faced off against Rhyno, who gave him the Gore at the start of the match, and once Batista recovered, he snapped and gave him the Spinebuster/Powerbomb finish. When he saw he had Rhyno already beat, he called attention to it ("Plenty of time! ONE MORE!") and gave him another powerbomb before he pinned him, meaning the pressure was now on Triple H to beat his mystery opponent faster than Batista beat Rhyno. Trips, of course, was furious, and got in Batista's face as soon as he was back in the locker. Their conversation went something like this:

Batista: "Look, Rhyno pissed me off!"
Triple H: "Oh, Rhyno pissed you off, huh? Rhyno pissed you off?! Listen, why've you got such trouble following a plan, huh?! We BOTH agreed I walk in LAST-"
Batista: "HEY! Now you are starting to piss me off."

Batista actually delivered his lines perfectly, seething with rage, and you saw that last line register on Triple H's face during the pop. Flair whoawhoawhoa'd his way between them after a few seconds and did his best to calmly part them, with Trips still holding that expression of disbelief as the segment ended.

This got a huge pop from the crowd.

2) During that Elimination Chamber match, Orton eliminated Batista, but Triple H was still in there- and watched it happen. The next night, Orton came out as Trips was celebrating his successful title defense, and showed Batista footage of Triple H refusing to help him in the Elimination Chamber. Batista's subsequent staredown of HHH got huge chants from the crowd. You could hear the desire to see Batista haul off on him right there, and only Bischoff's sudden appearance broke the tension there.

3) During the week when Benoit was Raw General Manager for the night, Triple H and Batista basically staged a split in Evolution, with Batista finally blowing up in Trips' face after a match ("SCREW YOU") and getting another heavy pop from the crowd. But later, just as Benoit was getting into the ring for the title shot he'd been waiting for, a backstage camera caught Batista storming out of the locker room with his bags in a violent rage, and then followed his trail back to a disheveled Flair calling for help over a prone and motionless HHH in the sacked Evolution locker. They exposed it as a ploy to cheat Benoit out of a title shot that night, but not before HHH made a passing jibe at Batista that got him a lingering frown. So fans were fooled, but the tension did not attenuate.

And then it just kept building steam from there, with Batista winning the Rumble and the Smackdown/RAW tug-of-war over him, etc., you guys know the rest of the story. But whatever you may think of the wrestlers involved, look at the strength of this booking. This angle is almost indisputably what you can trace Batista's popularity back to. And what were the sources of that strength? What fueled the fire in which this steel was forged? Patience. Tension. Development. Anticipation. Putting a twist on an old story. This was not a one-against-many angle, this had a strong and well-spoken heel in his prime (HHH) being defied by the "stable muscle" that was rapidly establishing itself as an individual force (Batista), and the only thing holding them together being the wizened veteran of the group (Flair).

I'm not versed enough in buyrates and ratings to tell you if it drew, but I remember the crowd's response and, more importantly, the investment I put in this storyline. It was a GOOD storyline. Predictable? Yes. But it was a predictability offset by engaged crowds, sensical matches, utilized characters, and good storytelling. It played to the strengths of the wrestlers involved, rather than trying to strongarm them into roles they were ill-equipped to play.

Most importantly, it took its time.

This admittedly long example is not given to illustrate that all angles should take a set amount of time, but it's meant to illustrate that they should pace themselves if they want to get even half as strong of a response as this one did. Again, you can see the payoff still rolling in waves off Batista. This got him over, and it wasn't a "temporary overness" like Orton's failed push (in the same year) got him. It gave his character the foundation it needed to keep fans interested in future matches and storylines involving him.

The conclusion I draw from this is that the WWE still has the creative talent, somewhere, to book television like this. But the tendency to jump to lightspeed and hotshot feuds with a lot of potential mileage in them is back to dominating the airwaves. I can only hope we get a better-paced angle for the main event in the near future.

[Threadkiller [Classic]]

neophyte said:

Agreed. And it's strange, because there are signs of this more patient booking still extant in the business.

A recent one that comes immediately to mind is Batista/HHH, a.k.a., "the push Orton could have had." Say what you will about the subtlety of the angle by the end of the storyline, but it cooked for a long time, and they teased and built it over a long, LONG period of what had to be five or six months. This feud is still so memorable to me precisely because of that slow buildup. Some stages of it that still stand out in my head:

1) During a "Beat the Clock" challenge that would determine the order for an Elimination Chamber in which Triple H had to defend his title, Batista was also entered. They agreed before the match that they'd do their best to make sure Trips won his match quickest. However, Batista faced off against Rhyno, who gave him the Gore at the start of the match, and once Batista recovered, he snapped and gave him the Spinebuster/Powerbomb finish. When he saw he had Rhyno already beat, he called attention to it ("Plenty of time! ONE MORE!") and gave him another powerbomb before he pinned him, meaning the pressure was now on Triple H to beat his mystery opponent faster than Batista beat Rhyno. Trips, of course, was furious, and got in Batista's face as soon as he was back in the locker. Their conversation went something like this:

Batista: "Look, Rhyno pissed me off!"
Triple H: "Oh, Rhyno pissed you off, huh? Rhyno pissed you off?! Listen, why've you got such trouble following a plan, huh?! We BOTH agreed I walk in LAST-"
Batista: "HEY! Now you are starting to piss me off."

Batista actually delivered his lines perfectly, seething with rage, and you saw that last line register on Triple H's face during the pop. Flair whoawhoawhoa'd his way between them after a few seconds and did his best to calmly part them, with Trips still holding that expression of disbelief as the segment ended.

This got a huge pop from the crowd.

2) During that Elimination Chamber match, Orton eliminated Batista, but Triple H was still in there- and watched it happen. The next night, Orton came out as Trips was celebrating his successful title defense, and showed Batista footage of Triple H refusing to help him in the Elimination Chamber. Batista's subsequent staredown of HHH got huge chants from the crowd. You could hear the desire to see Batista haul off on him right there, and only Bischoff's sudden appearance broke the tension there.

3) During the week when Benoit was Raw General Manager for the night, Triple H and Batista basically staged a split in Evolution, with Batista finally blowing up in Trips' face after a match ("SCREW YOU") and getting another heavy pop from the crowd. But later, just as Benoit was getting into the ring for the title shot he'd been waiting for, a backstage camera caught Batista storming out of the locker room with his bags in a violent rage, and then followed his trail back to a disheveled Flair calling for help over a prone and motionless HHH in the sacked Evolution locker. They exposed it as a ploy to cheat Benoit out of a title shot that night, but not before HHH made a passing jibe at Batista that got him a lingering frown. So fans were fooled, but the tension did not attenuate.

And then it just kept building steam from there, with Batista winning the Rumble and the Smackdown/RAW tug-of-war over him, etc., you guys know the rest of the story. But whatever you may think of the wrestlers involved, look at the strength of this booking. This angle is almost indisputably what you can trace Batista's popularity back to. And what were the sources of that strength? What fueled the fire in which this steel was forged? Patience. Tension. Development. Anticipation. Putting a twist on an old story. This was not a one-against-many angle, this had a strong and well-spoken heel in his prime (HHH) being defied by the "stable muscle" that was rapidly establishing itself as an individual force (Batista), and the only thing holding them together being the wizened veteran of the group (Flair).

I'm not versed enough in buyrates and ratings to tell you if it drew, but I remember the crowd's response and, more importantly, the investment I put in this storyline. It was a GOOD storyline. Predictable? Yes. But it was a predictability offset by engaged crowds, sensical matches, utilized characters, and good storytelling. It played to the strengths of the wrestlers involved, rather than trying to strongarm them into roles they were ill-equipped to play.

Most importantly, it took its time.

This admittedly long example is not given to illustrate that all angles should take a set amount of time, but it's meant to illustrate that they should pace themselves if they want to get even half as strong of a response as this one did. Again, you can see the payoff still rolling in waves off Batista. This got him over, and it wasn't a "temporary overness" like Orton's failed push (in the same year) got him. It gave his character the foundation it needed to keep fans interested in future matches and storylines involving him.

The conclusion I draw from this is that the WWE still has the creative talent, somewhere, to book television like this. But the tendency to jump to lightspeed and hotshot feuds with a lot of potential mileage in them is back to dominating the airwaves. I can only hope we get a better-paced angle for the main event in the near future.

This entire post bears repeating.

I will add, though, that I think most of the hotshot booking comes from injury paranoia. So many people go down before their feuds can be paid off that they essentially rush through feuds and angles to get it in before they possibly go down with an injury.

It's pretty much what I've always thought TNA's reason was for booking Angle vs. Joe immediately upon Angle's arrival. The paranoia about Angle's condition gave the impression that he didn't have the time left in his career for a slow build, that he had maybe six months, a year tops. At least, that's how many posts around here made it sound.

[Kevin Hamilton]

neophyte said:

Agreed. And it's strange, because there are signs of this more patient booking still extant in the business.

A recent one that comes immediately to mind is Batista/HHH, a.k.a., "the push Orton could have had." Say what you will about the subtlety of the angle by the end of the storyline, but it cooked for a long time, and they teased and built it over a long, LONG period of what had to be five or six months. This feud is still so memorable to me precisely because of that slow buildup. Some stages of it that still stand out in my head:

1) During a "Beat the Clock" challenge that would determine the order for an Elimination Chamber in which Triple H had to defend his title, Batista was also entered. They agreed before the match that they'd do their best to make sure Trips won his match quickest. However, Batista faced off against Rhyno, who gave him the Gore at the start of the match, and once Batista recovered, he snapped and gave him the Spinebuster/Powerbomb finish. When he saw he had Rhyno already beat, he called attention to it ("Plenty of time! ONE MORE!") and gave him another powerbomb before he pinned him, meaning the pressure was now on Triple H to beat his mystery opponent faster than Batista beat Rhyno. Trips, of course, was furious, and got in Batista's face as soon as he was back in the locker. Their conversation went something like this:

Batista: "Look, Rhyno pissed me off!"
Triple H: "Oh, Rhyno pissed you off, huh? Rhyno pissed you off?! Listen, why've you got such trouble following a plan, huh?! We BOTH agreed I walk in LAST-"
Batista: "HEY! Now you are starting to piss me off."

Batista actually delivered his lines perfectly, seething with rage, and you saw that last line register on Triple H's face during the pop. Flair whoawhoawhoa'd his way between them after a few seconds and did his best to calmly part them, with Trips still holding that expression of disbelief as the segment ended.

This got a huge pop from the crowd.

2) During that Elimination Chamber match, Orton eliminated Batista, but Triple H was still in there- and watched it happen. The next night, Orton came out as Trips was celebrating his successful title defense, and showed Batista footage of Triple H refusing to help him in the Elimination Chamber. Batista's subsequent staredown of HHH got huge chants from the crowd. You could hear the desire to see Batista haul off on him right there, and only Bischoff's sudden appearance broke the tension there.

3) During the week when Benoit was Raw General Manager for the night, Triple H and Batista basically staged a split in Evolution, with Batista finally blowing up in Trips' face after a match ("SCREW YOU") and getting another heavy pop from the crowd. But later, just as Benoit was getting into the ring for the title shot he'd been waiting for, a backstage camera caught Batista storming out of the locker room with his bags in a violent rage, and then followed his trail back to a disheveled Flair calling for help over a prone and motionless HHH in the sacked Evolution locker. They exposed it as a ploy to cheat Benoit out of a title shot that night, but not before HHH made a passing jibe at Batista that got him a lingering frown. So fans were fooled, but the tension did not attenuate.

And then it just kept building steam from there, with Batista winning the Rumble and the Smackdown/RAW tug-of-war over him, etc., you guys know the rest of the story. But whatever you may think of the wrestlers involved, look at the strength of this booking. This angle is almost indisputably what you can trace Batista's popularity back to. And what were the sources of that strength? What fueled the fire in which this steel was forged? Patience. Tension. Development. Anticipation. Putting a twist on an old story. This was not a one-against-many angle, this had a strong and well-spoken heel in his prime (HHH) being defied by the "stable muscle" that was rapidly establishing itself as an individual force (Batista), and the only thing holding them together being the wizened veteran of the group (Flair).

I'm not versed enough in buyrates and ratings to tell you if it drew, but I remember the crowd's response and, more importantly, the investment I put in this storyline. It was a GOOD storyline. Predictable? Yes. But it was a predictability offset by engaged crowds, sensical matches, utilized characters, and good storytelling. It played to the strengths of the wrestlers involved, rather than trying to strongarm them into roles they were ill-equipped to play.

Most importantly, it took its time.

This admittedly long example is not given to illustrate that all angles should take a set amount of time, but it's meant to illustrate that they should pace themselves if they want to get even half as strong of a response as this one did. Again, you can see the payoff still rolling in waves off Batista. This got him over, and it wasn't a "temporary overness" like Orton's failed push (in the same year) got him. It gave his character the foundation it needed to keep fans interested in future matches and storylines involving him.

The conclusion I draw from this is that the WWE still has the creative talent, somewhere, to book television like this. But the tendency to jump to lightspeed and hotshot feuds with a lot of potential mileage in them is back to dominating the airwaves. I can only hope we get a better-paced angle for the main event in the near future.

Excellent post. Sums up how I felt about that entire storyline.

[PTBartman]

beast147 said:

neophyte said:

Agreed. And it's strange, because there are signs of this more patient booking still extant in the business.

A recent one that comes immediately to mind is Batista/HHH, a.k.a., "the push Orton could have had." Say what you will about the subtlety of the angle by the end of the storyline, but it cooked for a long time, and they teased and built it over a long, LONG period of what had to be five or six months. This feud is still so memorable to me precisely because of that slow buildup. Some stages of it that still stand out in my head:

1) During a "Beat the Clock" challenge that would determine the order for an Elimination Chamber in which Triple H had to defend his title, Batista was also entered. They agreed before the match that they'd do their best to make sure Trips won his match quickest. However, Batista faced off against Rhyno, who gave him the Gore at the start of the match, and once Batista recovered, he snapped and gave him the Spinebuster/Powerbomb finish. When he saw he had Rhyno already beat, he called attention to it ("Plenty of time! ONE MORE!") and gave him another powerbomb before he pinned him, meaning the pressure was now on Triple H to beat his mystery opponent faster than Batista beat Rhyno. Trips, of course, was furious, and got in Batista's face as soon as he was back in the locker. Their conversation went something like this:

Batista: "Look, Rhyno pissed me off!"
Triple H: "Oh, Rhyno pissed you off, huh? Rhyno pissed you off?! Listen, why've you got such trouble following a plan, huh?! We BOTH agreed I walk in LAST-"
Batista: "HEY! Now you are starting to piss me off."

Batista actually delivered his lines perfectly, seething with rage, and you saw that last line register on Triple H's face during the pop. Flair whoawhoawhoa'd his way between them after a few seconds and did his best to calmly part them, with Trips still holding that expression of disbelief as the segment ended.

This got a huge pop from the crowd.

2) During that Elimination Chamber match, Orton eliminated Batista, but Triple H was still in there- and watched it happen. The next night, Orton came out as Trips was celebrating his successful title defense, and showed Batista footage of Triple H refusing to help him in the Elimination Chamber. Batista's subsequent staredown of HHH got huge chants from the crowd. You could hear the desire to see Batista haul off on him right there, and only Bischoff's sudden appearance broke the tension there.

3) During the week when Benoit was Raw General Manager for the night, Triple H and Batista basically staged a split in Evolution, with Batista finally blowing up in Trips' face after a match ("SCREW YOU") and getting another heavy pop from the crowd. But later, just as Benoit was getting into the ring for the title shot he'd been waiting for, a backstage camera caught Batista storming out of the locker room with his bags in a violent rage, and then followed his trail back to a disheveled Flair calling for help over a prone and motionless HHH in the sacked Evolution locker. They exposed it as a ploy to cheat Benoit out of a title shot that night, but not before HHH made a passing jibe at Batista that got him a lingering frown. So fans were fooled, but the tension did not attenuate.

And then it just kept building steam from there, with Batista winning the Rumble and the Smackdown/RAW tug-of-war over him, etc., you guys know the rest of the story. But whatever you may think of the wrestlers involved, look at the strength of this booking. This angle is almost indisputably what you can trace Batista's popularity back to. And what were the sources of that strength? What fueled the fire in which this steel was forged? Patience. Tension. Development. Anticipation. Putting a twist on an old story. This was not a one-against-many angle, this had a strong and well-spoken heel in his prime (HHH) being defied by the "stable muscle" that was rapidly establishing itself as an individual force (Batista), and the only thing holding them together being the wizened veteran of the group (Flair).

I'm not versed enough in buyrates and ratings to tell you if it drew, but I remember the crowd's response and, more importantly, the investment I put in this storyline. It was a GOOD storyline. Predictable? Yes. But it was a predictability offset by engaged crowds, sensical matches, utilized characters, and good storytelling. It played to the strengths of the wrestlers involved, rather than trying to strongarm them into roles they were ill-equipped to play.

Most importantly, it took its time.

This admittedly long example is not given to illustrate that all angles should take a set amount of time, but it's meant to illustrate that they should pace themselves if they want to get even half as strong of a response as this one did. Again, you can see the payoff still rolling in waves off Batista. This got him over, and it wasn't a "temporary overness" like Orton's failed push (in the same year) got him. It gave his character the foundation it needed to keep fans interested in future matches and storylines involving him.

The conclusion I draw from this is that the WWE still has the creative talent, somewhere, to book television like this. But the tendency to jump to lightspeed and hotshot feuds with a lot of potential mileage in them is back to dominating the airwaves. I can only hope we get a better-paced angle for the main event in the near future.

This entire post bears repeating.

I will add, though, that I think most of the hotshot booking comes from injury paranoia. So many people go down before their feuds can be paid off that they essentially rush through feuds and angles to get it in before they possibly go down with an injury.

It's pretty much what I've always thought TNA's reason was for booking Angle vs. Joe immediately upon Angle's arrival. The paranoia about Angle's condition gave the impression that he didn't have the time left in his career for a slow build, that he had maybe six months, a year tops. At least, that's how many posts around here made it sound.

What's Ironic is that it was actually injuries that made the best feud of the year so far. First MVP needing to get his Heart condition under control then Matt's freak appendicitis has dragged that feud out into an old school slow burn.

[Loki]

The Batista-HHH feud is the proof that WWE still can book a feud in a proper way, BUT... the nature of that particular feud helped a lot.

It was two allies slowly becoming rivals for the title. Sort of MegaPowers Explede, sans the soap opera bits.
Booking such a feud, where the to-be rivals are allies is "easier", as hinting some problems between two superstars takes more time than booking two guys who can't wait to beat the crap out of eachother.
In the latter case, you have to resort to the usual mixed tags, pick your poison, random tag teams, ambushes formula, and that can go on for some weeks, but sooner or later you've gotta let the two rivals go at it BEFORE the PPV.

In a "breakup" angle, you can possibly go on forever

[longdogga]

gotta remember they booked benoit rumble and title shot from mid-october when he lost the match to lesnar and being told he will never get another shot at the wwe title

[Red 'n' Black Reggie]

i totally agree. like nowadays, when edge was champ (the last time) batista would beat the crap out of him every week on edge's talkshow. but if we hate edge so much and want to see him get his ass kicked, why not drag it out and have him manage to escape batista, so the tension between the two never relaxes, as edge is scared but angry, and batista is pissed off because he cant get his hands on edge. therefore when he does get his hands on edge, everyone would love it. everyone loves tripsy versus batty, because even though they hardly laid a finger on each other until match time (i'm kinda glossing over the bit where batista threw triple h through a table), you still knew that they hated each other.