What the hell is WWE doing with the Wyatt Family?

[Deleted]

Sept 15, 2013 8:33:44 GMT -5 mrjl said:

Sept 15, 2013 8:08:16 GMT -5 @burngun said:

Which was caused by the WWE, for years, having a 'only the main eventers matter' mindset. There's no question that between 2007 and 2012 the midcard scene was severely damaged by the lack of storylines, unique characters and titles that meant anything.

during that period we had Kofi, the In Crowd, Evan Bourne, Santino Marella, Brian Kendrick, the Spirit Squad, Umaga, The Corre(The Nexus was put in the main, but the Corre was definately midcard), the Straight Edge Society, Dashing Cody Rhodes and later deranged, Zack Ryder, Drew McIntyre as Vince's chosen one winning the IC title, Jack Swagger with his soaring eagle, The New Breed.

If a midcard feud isn't treated as as important as a main event feud then it isn't seen as important. But if it's as important as the main event feuds it isn't really a midcard feud is it?

• Kofi Kingston has been trapped in midcard hell for over five years now, and he's only ever had one meaningful storyline (vs. Orton, which he lost, and then he went back to midcard hell)
• The In-Crowd were one of the very few midcard success stories
• Evan Bourne has never had any character, or been involved in a storyline people cared about. Proven by the fact he's been gone over 18 months and nobody has bat an eyelid.
• Santino Marella was one of the very few success stories
• Brian Kendrick was buried on Raw, broke up with London for no reason, then when he finally got pushed was just as soon de-pushed, drafted to Raw and and got buried before his release.
• Spirit Squad were jobbers who were given the tag titles (for six months!) because the tag division had been destroyed at the time by lack of vision and effort. Nobody cared when they left.
• Umaga was pushed for a while before having his jets cooled. By the time he was sent to Smackdown in 2008, it was obvious creative had nothing for him.
• The Corre is a perfect example of the creative team not caring about the midcard. A stable thrown together for no reason, given no direction or storylines. Lasted less than six months before disbanding, and Wade Barrett himself admits it was the worse time of his WWE career.
• The Straight Edge Society was exactly the same as The Corre - no direction, no storylines, nobody cared about Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury - got buried by Big Show before disbanding
• Cody Rhodes was simply Orton's lackey until he broke free, became somewhat of a success but still had forgettable title reigns
• Zack Ryder did absolutely nothing of worth until he got himself over in 2011, only to be abruptly buried for no reason
• Drew McIntyre is another example of what I'm talking about - no character, no storylines, had a forgettable IC title reign before being sent to Superstars before joining 3MB last year.
• The Soaring Eagle lasted all of a month.
• The New Breed had no direction and were thrown together simply because ECW needed a storyline. They broke up, nobody cared.

I don't really know what your list was trying to prove. There's a difference between midcarders not being as important as the main event, and then not giving a damn about the midcarders at all. A good example of the former was during the Attitude Era when there were plenty of unique acts such as Val Venis, Godfather, New Age Outalws, D-Lo Brown, Too Cool etc. who were always seen as less important than the main event, but they themselves as characters were over and had storylines to work with.

You then compare that to 2007-2012. Few examples of midcarders given no direction and thus nobody cared about them - Ezekiel Jackson, Alex Riley, 'singing' Trevor Murdoch, Lance Cade, Kizarny, Ted DiBiase, Chris Masters, Kenny Dykstra. Even an example from today would be Curtis Axel - he's not devaluing the Intercontinental Championship because he's not in the main event, he's devaluing it because he never defends the damn thing. And that's what happened from 2007-2012, so many people held midcard championships and then didn't defend them for months on end, thus devaluing the belts.

[ratetankmark]

Sept 15, 2013 0:27:33 GMT -5 fart said:

They'll all end up being released by the end of the year. Stupid gimmick, medicore workers. I'm telling you, the candle is electric for a reason: symbolic falsety. The rocking chair is dull.Sister Abigail won't help. Masks are boring. Bray's finisher sucks as much as his tattos. Let's get moving on Sandow, Cesaro, and Langston instead.

[mrjl]

Sept 15, 2013 9:02:15 GMT -5 @burngun said:

Sept 15, 2013 8:33:44 GMT -5 mrjl said:

during that period we had Kofi, the In Crowd, Evan Bourne, Santino Marella, Brian Kendrick, the Spirit Squad, Umaga, The Corre(The Nexus was put in the main, but the Corre was definately midcard), the Straight Edge Society, Dashing Cody Rhodes and later deranged, Zack Ryder, Drew McIntyre as Vince's chosen one winning the IC title, Jack Swagger with his soaring eagle, The New Breed.

If a midcard feud isn't treated as as important as a main event feud then it isn't seen as important. But if it's as important as the main event feuds it isn't really a midcard feud is it?

• Kofi Kingston has been trapped in midcard hell for over five years now, and he's only ever had one meaningful storyline (vs. Orton, which he lost, and then he went back to midcard hell)
• The In-Crowd were one of the very few midcard success stories
• Evan Bourne has never had any character, or been involved in a storyline people cared about. Proven by the fact he's been gone over 18 months and nobody has bat an eyelid.
• Santino Marella was one of the very few success stories
• Brian Kendrick was buried on Raw, broke up with London for no reason, then when he finally got pushed was just as soon de-pushed, drafted to Raw and and got buried before his release.
• Spirit Squad were jobbers who were given the tag titles (for six months!) because the tag division had been destroyed at the time by lack of vision and effort. Nobody cared when they left.
• Umaga was pushed for a while before having his jets cooled. By the time he was sent to Smackdown in 2008, it was obvious creative had nothing for him.
• The Corre is a perfect example of the creative team not caring about the midcard. A stable thrown together for no reason, given no direction or storylines. Lasted less than six months before disbanding, and Wade Barrett himself admits it was the worse time of his WWE career.
• The Straight Edge Society was exactly the same as The Corre - no direction, no storylines, nobody cared about Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury - got buried by Big Show before disbanding
• Cody Rhodes was simply Orton's lackey until he broke free, became somewhat of a success but still had forgettable title reigns
• Zack Ryder did absolutely nothing of worth until he got himself over in 2011, only to be abruptly buried for no reason
• Drew McIntyre is another example of what I'm talking about - no character, no storylines, had a forgettable IC title reign before being sent to Superstars before joining 3MB last year.
• The Soaring Eagle lasted all of a month.
• The New Breed had no direction and were thrown together simply because ECW needed a storyline. They broke up, nobody cared.

I don't really know what your list was trying to prove. There's a difference between midcarders not being as important as the main event, and then not giving a damn about the midcarders at all. A good example of the former was during the Attitude Era when there were plenty of unique acts such as Val Venis, Godfather, New Age Outalws, D-Lo Brown, Too Cool etc. who were always seen as less important than the main event, but they themselves as characters were over and had storylines to work with.

You then compare that to 2007-2012. Few examples of midcarders given no direction and thus nobody cared about them - Ezekiel Jackson, Alex Riley, 'singing' Trevor Murdoch, Lance Cade, Kizarny, Ted DiBiase, Chris Masters, Kenny Dykstra. Even an example from today would be Curtis Axel - he's not devaluing the Intercontinental Championship because he's not in the main event, he's devaluing it because he never defends the damn thing. And that's what happened from 2007-2012, so many people held midcard championships and then didn't defend them for months on end, thus devaluing the belts.

The New Age Outlaws were part of DX. Listing them separately is like listing Slaybriel separately from Nexus and the Corre. Too Cool started out as a couple of lightheavyweights who needed something to do being paired up. Then they mock a couple of opponents and get over there and they throw a guy who had failed with two previous gimmicks in and he gets over too. They broke Too Cool up with no thought you know removing Rikishi.

In the Attitude Era they threw midcard gimmicks against the wall and saw what stuck. They do the same now. The difference is in fans reactions to it.

[An Old Villain]

Sept 15, 2013 1:21:30 GMT -5 Ryback on a Pole! said:

I don't know why they don't just feud them with a midcarder or two. Have Santino get caught mocking them backstage, Bray and the family attack him, The Usos come to Santino's aid.

There we have it. Santino and The Usos vs The Wyatt family. A nice little feud, gives The Usos something to do and kills time until WWE come up with a big feud for the Wyatts rather than having them pointlessly beat opponents again and again.

To me, an extended feud -even if just enough to roll through a PPV- with Santino or The Usos would be akin to drinking bleach for a newcomer.
Im not saying any of the 3 are bad....but The Usos aren't over and if they look like a threat youre dead in the water, and Santino is over but its going to drag them into a goofy comedy role whether its intended or not.

I think "pointlessly beating opponents" is the thing to do tbh. Keeps the group unorthodox, and makes them seem that much more off balance.




Im noticing a trend in this thread... it seems that too many people are stuck on formulaic storylines.
The Wyatts joining the 'New Corporation' doesn't make sense. Everyone is lookin for the nWo where EVERYONE was just mashed together in one big festering group without individuality, folks that's what killed WCW. Solid idea for a takeover when it was freshly debuted WWF guys comin in, and guys like Hogan and Savage made sense because they were still somewhat seen as "WWF guys" but by the time everyone is in on it its just ruined.

Not every storyline needs to be intertwined. Let characters be individuals, with different stories to tell and diverse skills/qualities that will appeal to a broader audience...not just one lumped up mess.

Taking something like writing Cody Rhodes off TV for awhile is simple and it gives the top heel something to do without any interaction with his current foe. Cody doing his best promo work ever as he exits was probably unexpected, but it opened up an awesome storyline where we could get a short run from Dustin...and now Dustys getting face time and its all just wonderful. Its a solid story to tell, gets the heels over and when Cody returns theres an automatic feud that maybe JUST MAYBE gets folks invested enough to move him up the card.
With that said, ive seriously seen folks calling for other guys (past and present) to join up with Dusty until the roster is split down the middle into a 'business vs 'rasslin' (not wrestling, im talkin good ol Southern rasslin)feud. Crazy. Not everything needs to be an nWo rehash.

The other thing I see too much here is 'roster equality'. While I loved the fact that everyone in Heymas ECW seemed to have a purpose and a role, and wish that the same was true for every fed ever, some folks go overboard.
Jack Victory was never going to beat Taz.
The Maestro wasn't suddenly going over Kevin Nash on Nitro.
Gangrel shouldn't have even been in the ring with The Rock on RAW is WAR.
And for the love of God, there is absolutely no reason The Shield should ever feud with guys like 3MB.


Blah.
N

[Deleted]

I'm glad they're not just wrestling a bunch of 6 man tag matches or doing 3 on 1 beatdowns. That's what I feared, this really unique gimmick gets mashed into formulaic booking. On the other hand, they're not really doing much of anything right now. I'm okay with that, as long as they do something big eventually. I do fear that creative will lose interest or something.

[MichaelMartini]

Sept 15, 2013 11:33:35 GMT -5 An Old Villain said:

Im noticing a trend in this thread... it seems that too many people are stuck on formulaic storylines.
The Wyatts joining the 'New Corporation' doesn't make sense. Everyone is lookin for the nWo where EVERYONE was just mashed together in one big festering group without individuality, folks that's what killed WCW. Solid idea for a takeover when it was freshly debuted WWF guys comin in, and guys like Hogan and Savage made sense because they were still somewhat seen as "WWF guys" but by the time everyone is in on it its just ruined.

The nWo didn't kill WCW. It was the stable that helped finally beat WWF in the ratings for more than a year. Sure, they ran it into the ground but they were long gone by the time WCW died. They failed because of asinine panic booking, the inability to create new stars and no support from Turner.

[Essential1]

Their main course will come so let them chew some jobbers for a bit. If they are still the same in 6 months then I would be worried. They do seem a little try hard at times but I don't expect these guys to big major players long term. Bray will get WHC run at some point but his gimmick will evolve a little and he won't be the main focus. He most likely will be a decent upper midcarder.