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Post by romanstylesiii on Feb 17, 2019 18:56:46 GMT -5
Sure the WWE is filled with its best field of pure athletes they have ever had, but at the same time the qualities of stories being told has gone in the gutter in the last few years.
There is little to no character development anymore. More or less just random matches take place now, with the extent of the stories being that each guy gets their win back.
With 50/50 booking, we are just getting the same story every time with slightly different variations.
I love Rollins, but this Lesnar feud is literally the EXACT same thing they have been doing for the last 4 years with Roman. Do something NEW.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2019 19:00:31 GMT -5
I suggested in another thread that Rollins and Ambrose should make up again, and a few weeks down the line, Brock paralyzes Ambrose and leave him in hospital, ending his career.
We get the whole Rocky vs Drago story with Ambrose being Apollo Creed.... the best thing about this? when Ambrose comes back, you have that awesome red hot feud waiting with Lesnar.
You could do a segment where Rollins is talking to a vegetative Ambrose in the hospital bed, where he promises to end Brock for good.
I think this sounds fantastic but then I realize WWE don’t really do actual stories like this.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2019 21:19:12 GMT -5
Because fans are smarky and cynical these days and they would shit on that story. It would make Rollins and Ambrose look ridiculous. People would boo Lesnar for the same reasons they already boo Lesnar and the other guys would gain nothing from it. Stories like this work in places like Chikara but WWE fans are too smarky to suspend disbelief and allow themselves to be part of the story.
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Dub H
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Post by Dub H on Feb 17, 2019 21:24:33 GMT -5
WWE seems to miss it too ,because god knows they aint using it.
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Post by Bear Skin Rug on Feb 17, 2019 21:44:42 GMT -5
People constantly turn for no reason. Wins and losses mean nothing. Babyfaces have no friends and get distracted all the time leading to losses. No one has any motivation or character consistency. Like imagine a straight threadline character such as Bret Hart from the early 90s to his 97 exit; there's a logic to everything he did, even when he was a heel. And someone here is already blaming the fans. Unreal.
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Post by HMARK Center on Feb 17, 2019 21:49:02 GMT -5
Because fans are smarky and cynical these days and they would shit on that story. It would make Rollins and Ambrose look ridiculous. People would boo Lesnar for the same reasons they already boo Lesnar and the other guys would gain nothing from it. Stories like this work in places like Chikara but WWE fans are too smarky to suspend disbelief and allow themselves to be part of the story. Honestly, I think that's more on WWE than the crowd. Lots of people are still perfectly willing to lose themselves in a pro wrestling storyline, but WWE's proven itself to be more interested in getting "shocked face" reaction shots from the crowd than they are in delivering a fully realized, developed storyline and/or character arc. When you look around other promotions today you see lots of examples of people buying into narratives and feuds; hell, there are even still promotions right now that manage to "work the smarks", but in ways that aren't insulting to anybody's intelligence (not that that's a requisite for good storytelling, just saying even particularly "smarky" fanbases still get worked well even today). It can be done, but WWE made the decision long ago that they don't really want to do the work needed to get to a really cathartic story and climax.
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kidkamikaze10
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Post by kidkamikaze10 on Feb 17, 2019 22:20:03 GMT -5
*Looks at the women's divisions*
*Looks at the last chamber match*
.... Uh, it's still there.
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Chiral
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Post by Chiral on Feb 17, 2019 22:21:46 GMT -5
So much of the company is just empty content it's depressing. They have so much content and such a bloated roster and so much of it isn't anything.
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Feb 17, 2019 22:22:30 GMT -5
Because fans are smarky and cynical these days and they would shit on that story. It would make Rollins and Ambrose look ridiculous. People would boo Lesnar for the same reasons they already boo Lesnar and the other guys would gain nothing from it. Stories like this work in places like Chikara but WWE fans are too smarky to suspend disbelief and allow themselves to be part of the story. Every time WWE puts a good story in front of people it f***ing clicks. Dean and Seth's redemption reunion was a hit. Kofi just tonight had the crowd screaming for him. The fanbase wants good stories and if you give them to them, they will love it.
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Post by Citizen Snips Has Left on Feb 17, 2019 22:24:09 GMT -5
I suggested in another thread that Rollins and Ambrose should make up again, and a few weeks down the line, Brock paralyzes Ambrose and leave him in hospital, ending his career. We get the whole Rocky vs Drago story with Ambrose being Apollo Creed.... the best thing about this? when Ambrose comes back, you have that awesome red hot feud waiting with Lesnar. You could do a segment where Rollins is talking to a vegetative Ambrose in the hospital bed, where he promises to end Brock for good. I think this sounds fantastic but then I realize WWE don’t really do actual stories like this. I was actually thinking after seeing the pics of Roman at that convention or whatever a week or so ago "Man, if Roman was healthy enough to just eat a clothesline or something simple from Lesnar, this match would go from 'Eh' to 'White-hot crusade of death' in 2 seconds..."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2019 23:02:43 GMT -5
My point was not that stories wouldn't work but that the specific story example given wouldn't work. I just don't see them being able to pass off a paralysis angle in 2019. We are too cynical these days and it takes more effort to work us. How many times have we been swerved by the guy who wore the neck brace for a month who turned out to not be injured? With the death of kayfabe and WWE openly acknowledging and even celebrating that it's all just an act, it's doubly difficult.
I find myself most invested in WWE when they aren't trying so hard to drive a narrative and they let the stories tell themselves. The Mae Young Classic had 16 different workers and 16 different stories. Each worker had a promo before the match and then told the rest of their story in the ring with the help of the announcers. It was a simple recipe, but riveting entertainment and I felt that I understood the basic persona and motivations of every wrestler after seeing them one time. This is the type of story telling that we used to see in wrestling, but WWE doesn't give their talent a chance to breathe and be the stories anymore, so they are more difficult to relate to in and believe in. I root for who I like in spite of how WWE has used them, rarely because WWE has actually done a good job presenting them.
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Post by thegame415 on Feb 18, 2019 0:04:13 GMT -5
Me too.
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Bang Bang Bart
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Post by Bang Bang Bart on Feb 18, 2019 0:06:08 GMT -5
I guess the WWE Title Chamber Match where the story of a beloved veteran wrestler coming oh-so-close to achieving the one title that's eluded him after all these years doesn't count?
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schma
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Post by schma on Feb 18, 2019 1:11:15 GMT -5
I get what people are saying in that there are some genuinely awesome stories going on right now, the elimination chambers being great examples. I also get what the OP is saying because let's face it, most of us have complained about a midcard with nothing to do, about a raw main event with nothing to do because their champion is always off hunting or some shit, about a women's division on raw where we rarely see the focus on any women not in a title feud (though that may be shifting with the tag titles). That said there are still some great nuggets of story to be found but we shouldn't have to search for them. Remember post brand split when top to bottom Smackdown was killing it? It's doable, totally doable and there is no reason we should be seeing the exact same people fighting week after week after week with next to no variation.
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Post by 2 time pro bowler Fred Dryer on Feb 18, 2019 2:26:51 GMT -5
I suggested in another thread that Rollins and Ambrose should make up again, and a few weeks down the line, Brock paralyzes Ambrose and leave him in hospital, ending his career. We get the whole Rocky vs Drago story with Ambrose being Apollo Creed.... the best thing about this? when Ambrose comes back, you have that awesome red hot feud waiting with Lesnar. You could do a segment where Rollins is talking to a vegetative Ambrose in the hospital bed, where he promises to end Brock for good. I think this sounds fantastic but then I realize WWE don’t really do actual stories like this. Is this a serious idea, or no? either way it's hilarious.
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Post by romanstylesiii on Feb 18, 2019 2:55:09 GMT -5
i pick the one night where there was genuine good storytelling in the two chamber matches. My point remains though
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Post by romanstylesiii on Feb 18, 2019 2:56:10 GMT -5
I guess the WWE Title Chamber Match where the story of a beloved veteran wrestler coming oh-so-close to achieving the one title that's eluded him after all these years doesn't count? I posted this before that match. Lame troll attempt
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Post by HMARK Center on Feb 18, 2019 6:47:44 GMT -5
I guess the WWE Title Chamber Match where the story of a beloved veteran wrestler coming oh-so-close to achieving the one title that's eluded him after all these years doesn't count? I posted this before that match. Lame troll attempt Relax; like you said, poor timing, but let's not get snippy with each other. Good on WWE for what appears to be some good storytelling last night; sometimes they actually do get their shit in gear in the lead up to WM. It'll be incumbent that they follow through and have plans for what comes after, of course, which is usually where the trouble lies.
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Post by Rolent Tex on Feb 18, 2019 8:13:57 GMT -5
Pulling a good story out of their ass every once in a while doesn’t mean they still have it. Lie to me and tell me Kofi suddenly catching fire was planned by creative. Tell me they’ll do something interesting in the end and have Kofi win at Mania.
He should. He probably won’t unless Daniel Bryan heavily advocates for it. He of all people knows WWE is tone deaf when it comes to this exact scenario. They just flat out don’t know how to not only tell a story, but they have no idea how to end them when a great story falls into their lap. Their midcard rivals that of late 90’s WCW in my opinion but at least the WCW midcard had some decent feuds and angles to sink their teeth into. These poor fools don’t get crap.
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schma
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Post by schma on Feb 18, 2019 8:15:30 GMT -5
Pulling a good story out of their ass every once in a while doesn’t mean they still have it. Lie to me and tell me Kofi suddenly catching fire was planned by creative. Tell me they’ll do something interesting in the end and have Kofi win at Mania. He should. He probably won’t unless Daniel Bryan heavily advocates for it. He of all people knows WWE is tone deaf when it comes to this exact scenario. They just flat out don’t know how to not only tell a story, but they have no idea how to end them when a great story falls into their lap. Their midcard rivals that of late 90’s WCW in my opinion but at least the WCW midcard had some decent feuds and angles to sink their teeth into. These poor fools don’t get crap. This might be wishful thinking but I'm thinking this is one of those rare times where they look at the writing on the wall and actually adapt their plans to what they should do.
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