Is the era of the “polarizing” top star over?

[Deleted]

For the last nearly 20 years, WWE has seen two of what they like to call a “polarizing” figure at the top of the show in John Cena and Roman Reigns, and even maybe to a lesser extent Charlotte Flair…but I don’t know about that considering she was a heel for the most part. People who are supposed to be the all conquering and beloved hero, yet doesn’t click with a large portion of fans. The company (Vince McMahon) refuses to budge on changing course and it has led to bleeding of ticket sales and television ratings over the years. Hell there was a period where fans were hijacking shows and boycotting.

With Vince seemingly out of the picture for good and a new circle of minds looking to be established, could we see the end of this for good? The early stages of this possibility seems to have been the downplaying of Cena and turning Reigns heel.

I don’t know who will come to replace Roman Reigns, but I think it will come about a lot differently than it has in the past, and in a positive way.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Triple H's affinity for certain guys like Kross worries me. I don't think it will ever get as bad as Roman when he was a top face but we'll still inevitably have sustained pushes that fight the audience.

[King Devitt and the Woke Mob]

I hope so.

I can even tolerate someone like Kross, as long as I don't have to live through what Cena did to wrestling for me ever again.
It was not fun. And I stopped watching b/c of him.

Well actually Vince, but you know what I mean.

[tirtefaa]

It's not an era...that's how it's always been. There's plenty of guys who were polarizing after they were made the top guy in their company. WWE just happened to roll ahead with their agenda anyways after they decided to go all in with Cena. I can't really blame them since even Cena's most critical fans were still paying money to go to the events, buy merchandise and talk about the product. Unless the money dried up, Vince had no incentive to change course.

[Mozenrath]

I kind of figure a lot of this kind of thing is cyclical.

[Feyrhausen]

My worry with H is long boring heel reigns. And not polarizing, just everyone hating the champ, the faces looking like losers and dopes, and a short face reign just to move the title onto the next heel for another long boring reign.

Only thing worse is the Russo (then TNA picked it up) obsession with having a face win the title then turn heel because the championship corrupts him.

[King Devitt and the Woke Mob]

I don't think it became cyclical until Cena then into Reigns following the same exact formula b/c Vince figured it worked before, the fans would shut up and take it again.

While I didn't like Austin. He wasn't polarizing.
As a kid I hated Hogan. He wasn't polarizing.
The Rock. Not polarizing.

Polarizing to me means the fanbase itself is rebelling.

HHH is as close as we get, and that's due to shitty booking/backstage stuff more than it is Vince telling the fans "this is what you like, shut up" which is how it becomes polarizing.
For the most part the casual fans accepted HHH. It wasn't until Cena that it became what I assume the OP is describing.

Every top star is going to have detractors, but for the most part Vince went with the flow (one could argue HBK in the 90's as well, but dude had enough talent that it wasn't full on backlash. It's not like Shawn was pushed before he was ready, and couldn't carry the ball when it was given to him). Sure he'd try something, or push his "new big tall guy", but for the most part Vince continued to go with the flow until he didn't have to anymore, and pushed his guy the way he thought a face would be. Which was so detrimental that it divided the fanbase, and while they were still making money, a lot of interest, and fandom (such as myself) dwindled, and vanished.

It then seemed to become people watching more out of habit (as we could see from demo #'s and the older fanbase keeping the company looking good in numbers), than actual "oh man, I need to watch this show!"

At least that's how I interpret all of this.

[mistery]

While I think the era is (mostly) over, I do think that there are signs of discontent growing with some stars. Bianca being the biggest example. She's over with live fans right now, but we don't know how much longer that will last. Her character is stale and actively harms anyone she is feuding with, because WWE is too afraid to ever make her look even slightly weak.

[stoptheclocks]

Sept 27, 2022 22:44:39 GMT -5 King Devitt and the Woke Mob said:

I don't think it became cyclical until Cena then into Reigns following the same exact formula b/c Vince figured it worked before, the fans would shut up and take it again.

While I didn't like Austin. He wasn't polarizing.
As a kid I hated Hogan. He wasn't polarizing.
The Rock. Not polarizing.

Polarizing to me means the fanbase itself is rebelling.

HHH is as close as we get, and that's due to shitty booking/backstage stuff more than it is Vince telling the fans "this is what you like, shut up" which is how it becomes polarizing.
For the most part the casual fans accepted HHH. It wasn't until Cena that it became what I assume the OP is describing.

Every top star is going to have detractors, but for the most part Vince went with the flow (one could argue HBK in the 90's as well, but dude had enough talent that it wasn't full on backlash. It's not like Shawn was pushed before he was ready, and couldn't carry the ball when it was given to him). Sure he'd try something, or push his "new big tall guy", but for the most part Vince continued to go with the flow until he didn't have to anymore, and pushed his guy the way he thought a face would be. Which was so detrimental that it divided the fanbase, and while they were still making money, a lot of interest, and fandom (such as myself) dwindled, and vanished.

It then seemed to become people watching more out of habit (as we could see from demo #'s and the older fanbase keeping the company looking good in numbers), than actual "oh man, I need to watch this show!"

At least that's how I interpret all of this.

I don't think you can compare past eras - the internet not being what it is, kayfabe not being 100% dead, the relative newness of the WWF, the fact The Rock and Austin retired early.

It's not a set of circumstances they can choose to go back to.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Sometimes the polarising top guy was fun

Much of the time it was exhausting

I would like most of the time for the fans to just be into the show, you know??

[GodzillaIsMyMonster]

Why do people act like this is new?

Shawn Michaels was pushed harder than Cena & Roman combined.

Difference is they actually drew. Which is why thier pushes continued.

[Deleted]

Having top faces like Drew and Cody who are cheered by like 95% of the audience has been nice.

[Bo Rida]

I don't think the conditions are the same these days, the most vocally hostile will have found alternatives or drifted away from wrestling by now.

People also seem happier to go with the face/heel dynamic as presented these days.

Vince going also may allow heels to get more heat and faces be more sympathetic.

Will be interesting to see how a quieter discontent will play out over time, in many ways it's worse than a polarised crowd.

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

Cena got backlash because he was dealing with a toxic crowd, pure and simple. The “rebellion” was always overstated.

[Alice Syndrome]

No?

I mean there's clearly people still into Roman but this crap is so boring it's made me stop watching altogether until he drops the belt.

[Deleted]

Was the whole "the brand is the star" a Vince thing, or was that someone else?

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

Ask again when we are years into the Women's Champ Aurora Helmsley era.

[theironyuppie]

I think some of it is the rise of AEW giving that kind of antagonistic fan something else to watch, and some of it is WWE themselves leaning into smark perceptions, because part of Becky's rise was cleverly exploiting their stereotypes of wrestling to get further behind her.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Sept 28, 2022 8:54:15 GMT -5 @wvguitar said:

Was the whole "the brand is the star" a Vince thing, or was that someone else?

I figure any directive between 1982 and two months ago was a Vince thing.

[dbrussel]

Maybe, but only cause the lack of a top star at the Cena/Roman level