Realistically, how CAN WWE change?

[Push R Truth]

our good friend "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay already found the answer years ago

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

[Georgina's Fancy Water]

Stop being so unreasonably shit

[Aceorton]

1. Open with a match every week unless there's a REALLY good reason not to. Change the set and lighting to emphasize the ring. Dump backstage segments unless absolutely necessary. Make it about the wrestling and telling the stories in the arena.

2. Gimmicks are good. They distinguish your performers.

3. Give bullet points for promos, not scripted lines. You'll know quickly who the good talkers are. The cream will rise to the top.

4. For those who can't talk but are still valuable talents, give them a manager. Treat the managers as central characters.

5. If someone's over, strap a rocket to them. That's popularity AND it's money. It makes people come back the next week. If the crowd is not responding well to someone you're pushing, find a different role for this person that the crowd will accept.

6. Give it some time. Don't chicken out and fall back on old tropes if ratings don't shoot up immediately.

[avenger]

The problem the WWE has, is it has to keep harcores, casuals and the networks happy. Hardcores will turn up, and tune in regardless, so they end up catering more to casuals and the networks have more power than anyone. But, if we ignore that, I'd do the following:

* Bring back Raw Talk & Talking Smack. Non-scripted shows where they can improve their mic skills, and more importantly find out who doesn't need scripts (Miz & The New Day definitely don't have them), and who does (Dolph, for example).
* Rotate the rosters more. It doesn't hurt Smackdown that Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio aren't on every week. Aiden English hasn't wrestled on Smackdown since October, Gallows & Anderson weren't on for four months. Raw has about a dozen guys that only usually appear on Main Event, Try and get as much of the talent on every 2-3 weeks. Even if they're just putting others over, they are still fresh match ups.
* Have one PPV quality match each week. I don't mean give away AJ Styles v Daniel Bryan on free TV (again), but regular match ups that are showcases for at least one of the guys, like Dean Ambrose v Tyler Breeze the other week. If you watched Breeze on NXT, you know he can go, but if you don't have the Network, he's just a warm body.
* If someone gets over organically, pull the trigger on them at the first available opportunity. That's not necessarily within a week or so, it could be three months down the line.
* Antonio Cesaro. Alexander Rusev. Unless their name is gimmick dependent (Kalisto/Asuka) or having one name suits the gimmick (Bayley), give them a proper name to make them look more serious.
* Make the tag divisions more meaningful. When was the last tag team feud that didn't involve the champions. Give them something to do when they're not a champion or challenger, that way, they're more over when it's time for them to challenge.
* Merge some of the belts. Don't have a world champion for each gender for each show, or two sets of tag champs. Have undisputed champions, and allow them to appear on both shows. Just because they can appear on both shows doesn't mean that they have to.
* No McMahons. One neutral authority figure who is there to make matches. One per show at a push.
* One interview segment per show. Piper's Pit worked because it was the only interview you saw that week, rather than one of five. Have guest presenters, and name the shows, but don't have the same one. Miz TV, The Highlight Reel, The Peep Show, The Cutting Edge, The Cole Mine.

[A Platypus Rave]

They have opened raw with a promo that leads to a brawl or the main event match for like 20 years opening with a match, and have a main event advertised the week before would do a ton to make it feel fresher.

Also don't kneecap people that get over.

[tankisfreemason]

Fire all the writers, hire only a few that are experienced and actually like wrestling. Tell Kevin Dunn stop the crap with switching the camera’s every few seconds. Other than that, I’m ok.

[horseface]

Learn how to make your faces likable so your heels aren't the defacto faces.

[crowley1986]

All women on Raw for the first or last hour, this will stop the burn out or repeat of matches in the division - this time last year there were so many variations of Riott Squad V Becky/Charlotte/Naomi....Have 20/25 Women roster, convert the smackdown title to a us/ic level and have tags....have story lines and maybe like NXT you don't have to have every woman on every week

Leave the Cruisers on Smackdown and have 1 match on the show involving the Cruisers on Smackdown to give a teaser/preview to encourage the audience to watch 205 after Smackdown

Put vignettes for nXt superstars coming up to roster soon, and don't throw them up cold and without direction...also like during the first draft split where they had a 5 minute raw or smackdown rebound, have one now for the Nxt brand, just a few bits previewing the show and maybe now and again start doing a random nxt match (maybe before a takeover)

less scripted promos, its ridiculous that all heels sound similar, like using silly/irritating buzzwords or sentences e.g. "Each and everyone of you", only script if needed, just give bullet points and let the roster have their own individual voices, like you could tell Rock/Austin's/Flairs voice/speech/vocabulary instead of having 50 clones on the roster saying the same thing

Stop giving away PPV quality matches on Raw/Smackdown all the time or repeat matches like The Bar v Ambrose/Rollins where there were so many combos of matches,it dilutes the PPV - make the ppvs matter

Rotate the Roster, they're bloated as it is, you could actually give some of the wrestlers a few weeks off if scheduled right..

Use the lower/mid card, give them reasons to be there instead of focusing on the same 10/12 people, the attitude era did this right where from Rock and Austin to Crash Holly AND AL Snow

diffenciate Raw and Smackdown visually/titantron….it just reeks of laziness - have different looks/writers

2 max in the commentary booth - Raw, Cole and Graves, S/D Phillips/someone else (not renee/Otunga/Byron/Coach as theyre all poor) and for the women's show Renee and Beth

[Limity (BLM)]

Jan 8, 2019 11:11:08 GMT -5 mrbananagrabber said:

Much has been made about Vince’s recent promise about change

Was there really? There was one thread I can remember being about that announcement, and the thread was mostly making fun of it.

[crowley1986]

I also wouldn't mind a lower card title to give the lower level rosters do ala Euro or Hardcore title, for the likes of Tyler Breeze/Zack Ryder/Heath Slater/Mojo etc

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

Scale down the entrance stages and lights a bit, keep the focus and attention on the ring.

Commentators who aren't fed lines and who actually care about the product.

No more scripted promos. Let guys be themselves a bit more.

Make the belts mean something.

Write compelling TV. No more Mcmahon family dramas, or dodgy authority figures, or pointless bullshit, along with matches simply there to pad the show out.

No more heel and face. In this day and age it's not needed.

[Bang Bang Bart]

Jan 8, 2019 15:01:18 GMT -5 rnrk supports BLM said:

Jan 8, 2019 11:11:08 GMT -5 mrbananagrabber said:

But...how do you drastically change a wrestling show? There will always be matches, there will always be promos, there will always be commentary..what can be done that will make you think “OK..now this is something fresh and new.” It’s wrestling, how do you change it?

I'm serious. Even more than any of the actual wrestlers or their matches, Lucha Underground's biggest positive has been its complete aesthetic/stylistic overhaul of how televised pro wrestling can be presented. We've seen some similar stuff integrated into other promotions (mostly Impact, *snicker*, but WWE's been drawing on it too, to a lesser extent), and I'd love to see WWE take more cues from LU's format.

I find myself often imagining how Bray Wyatt would be done better within the Lucha Underground trappings instead of the overproduced WWE style.

[Perd]

Ease up on the nomenclature. When everyone uses the same verbiage, it makes everything seem so homogenized:

[A Platypus Rave]

Jan 8, 2019 18:47:13 GMT -5 Perd said:

Ease up on the nomenclature. When everyone uses the same verbiage, it makes everything seem so homogenized:

Yeah, I don't even mind most of the WWE's quirks to an extent... but it's... literally all they can say especially on commentary.

for instance no one can say lose the match they get "knocked off"

[bigbadbull]

The funny thing is that you might have to go back to 2000 if we want ANYTHING to resemble wild, yet logical storylines that used virtually everyone on the roster. The company has the money and talent to put on a good show, but Vince chooses not to.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

I don't think anyone wants a reinvention of wrestling, they just want a good wrestling show. It doesn't feel stale because the structure of a pro wrestling show needs to be changed, it feels stale because it's bad, dull, goes in circles with the same thing over and over without anything changing, and because there's so much empty filler. Only way the opening post works is to assume nothing can be good or bad, it just kind of is a wrestling show.

[Toilet Paper Roll]

WWE should try to get a regional deal for Smackdown. Divide the roster into a dozen or so regions. Give people a reason to cheer for their “local” guys and local champs. You expand the roster and bring back the idea that somebody might “jump ship” to a different region. Plus you don’t see the same Sox to eight segments with the same twelve to sixteen people on Raw every week.

[Deleted]

I want more continuity and logic in the stories. I want the characters to have depth and a history to them. I don’t want faces teaming up with faces and heels teaming up with heels “just because”

I want everyone to have shades of grey. I don’t want faces and heels anymore. I want the crowd to decide who they like and just run with that. I don’t like alignments and I don’t like when characters “change” when they swap alignments. For example, Elias got over as hell when he was trolling the crowd. Now? He’s doing singalongs. That’s not what got him popular! The crowd don’t like pandering.

Those are just some small changes. For me, the biggest changes I want are in the production and overall “feel” of the show.

I want new commentators. I don’t want Cole. I don’t want Saxton. I don’t want Phillips. I want over enthusiastic commentators like Mauro who get invested in the match and make it sound better than it probably actually is.... Jim Ross, Mauro, Matt Striker, Joey Styles and even Vince himself made you CARE about what you were watching.

As for the feel of the show... it’s too clean for me. I don’t like the HD stages, I don’t like the camera work, I don’t like the repetitive formula they use week after week.

Every Raw and SD starts the same. Promo in the ring which leads to the main event... people get sick of this. Let people know the card BEFORE the show and maybe you’ll attract some ratings and enough with the goddamn tag team main events. Give us something interesting as the main event even if it’s something like Tyler Breeze vs Seth Rollins. Everyone on the roster should have enough credibility to be thrown randomly in a match like that. That’s how it was in the 90s... I just watched a Raw from 1995 where The Stalker faced a young Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Give me more of that. The “big” wrestlers don’t have to wrestle every Monday. Make it more special when they do and if the crowd paid to see them, well that’s what dark matches are for. This is why Raw needs to be 2 hours again. Maybe even 1 hour would be enough.

Lastly and this might be a little controversial... I want the trashyness back. I want blood back. I want sex, cursing and an overall adult themed show. This is just my personal preference. I would be content and happy watching Raw every week if it was booked and produced like NXT is. But I feel like we need blood and edgier stories and characters back. Even if it’s fake blood, give me SOMETHING. It adds so much to the show when done right.

I think that’s it.

[Deleted]

They can but they won’t. There’s to much money in the tv deals.

Raw is stuck at 3 hours due to the USA deal. The awful brand split will continue due to the Fox deal.

They have the “best and largest” roster in history. But dividing them into threes or four touring companies/shows. Which makes them more money, we’re stuck with the same bullshit each week.

[Dub H]

Jan 8, 2019 19:31:14 GMT -5 @negan said:

I want more continuity and logic in the stories. I want the characters to have depth and a history to them. I don’t want faces teaming up with faces and heels teaming up with heels “just because”

I want everyone to have shades of grey. I don’t want faces and heels anymore. I want the crowd to decide who they like and just run with that. I don’t like alignments and I don’t like when characters “change” when they swap alignments. For example, Elias got over as hell when he was trolling the crowd. Now? He’s doing singalongs. That’s not what got him popular! The crowd don’t like pandering.

Those are just some small changes. For me, the biggest changes I want are in the production and overall “feel” of the show.

I want new commentators. I don’t want Cole. I don’t want Saxton. I don’t want Phillips. I want over enthusiastic commentators like Mauro who get invested in the match and make it sound better than it probably actually is.... Jim Ross, Mauro, Matt Striker, Joey Styles and even Vince himself made you CARE about what you were watching.

As for the feel of the show... it’s too clean for me. I don’t like the HD stages, I don’t like the camera work, I don’t like the repetitive formula they use week after week.

Every Raw and SD starts the same. Promo in the ring which leads to the main event... people get sick of this. Let people know the card BEFORE the show and maybe you’ll attract some ratings and enough with the goddamn tag team main events. Give us something interesting as the main event even if it’s something like Tyler Breeze vs Seth Rollins. Everyone on the roster should have enough credibility to be thrown randomly in a match like that. That’s how it was in the 90s... I just watched a Raw from 1995 where The Stalker faced a young Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Give me more of that. The “big” wrestlers don’t have to wrestle every Monday. Make it more special when they do and if the crowd paid to see them, well that’s what dark matches are for. This is why Raw needs to be 2 hours again. Maybe even 1 hour would be enough.

Lastly and this might be a little controversial... I want the trashyness back. I want blood back. I want sex, cursing and an overall adult themed show. This is just my personal preference. I would be content and happy watching Raw every week if it was booked and produced like NXT is. But I feel like we need blood and edgier stories and characters back. Even if it’s fake blood, give me SOMETHING. It adds so much to the show when done right.

I think that’s it.

That is the reason no matter how people shit on Mauro and Striker I still love then,they always seem like they genuily love the show and are always excited and giving a vibe it is really good.