Too many people in main event scene

[Cousin Judge]

There are too many in or around the main event scene and it's ruining the undercard. Back in the day you had Hogan/Warrior and opponent and Austin/Rock and oppenent. Since the DX storyline there has been at LEAST four people hovering around the main event. Now there's Cena, Basista, Edge, HBK, Undertaker, HHH (noted for his absense) and to a certain extent via association so is Randy Orton. I know that not all are main eventing WM but all are main event talent and built as such.

I think they should cut the M.E field down and bolster what would be (and is) a weak undercard of Umaga and Johnny Nitro.

[Rick Mad]

I definitely disagree. Remember, "back in the day" was only one brand. Raw has a serious lack of people in the main event scene IMO - one show has HBK, Cena, Orton, Edge, and thats about it for now, and the other has Batista, Undertaker.. uh, erm, uh.. Kennedy, I guess... and thats about it.

Four legit main eventers on one brand isn't a whole lot.

[STMP]

areyouready said:

There are too many in or around the main event scene and it's ruining the undercard. Back in the day you had Hogan/Warrior and opponent and Austin/Rock and oppenent. Since the DX storyline there has been at LEAST four people hovering around the main event. Now there's Cena, Basista, Edge, HBK, Undertaker, HHH (noted for his absense) and to a certain extent via association so is Randy Orton. I know that not all are main eventing WM but all are main event talent and built as such.

I think they should cut the M.E field down and bolster what would be (and is) a weak undercard of Umaga and Johnny Nitro.

No, back in the day you had.

Hogan, Warrior, Savage, Flair (for a short time), Ted Dibiase (pretty much main event heel), Andre the Giant and people coming in to challenge Hogan (Earthquake, Sid, Undertaker).

Stone Cold, Rock, Triple H, Mick Foley, Undertaker, Kane (at times upper midcard), Big Show (same as Kane, but most of the time main event) and Vince and Shane McMahon taking up valuable time. Especially Vince during his feud with Stone Cold.

It's a good thing the main event scene is finally growing. The lack of a good main event was the reason Cena's title reign failed so badly. He had pretty much only one challenger (Angle or Jericho, within his feud with Bischoff). That's not very exciting television.

The big weakness is WWE's undercard. They are shaping up, with adding more and more talent. But not enough good strong feuds and the tag team title scene is still too weak.

[j-man]

areyouready said:

There are too many in or around the main event scene and it's ruining the undercard. Back in the day you had Hogan/Warrior and opponent and Austin/Rock and oppenent. Since the DX storyline there has been at LEAST four people hovering around the main event. Now there's Cena, Basista, Edge, HBK, Undertaker, HHH (noted for his absense) and to a certain extent via association so is Randy Orton. I know that not all are main eventing WM but all are main event talent and built as such.

I think they should cut the M.E field down and bolster what would be (and is) a weak undercard of Umaga and Johnny Nitro.

It was never just Rock or Austin at the top versus one other guy. Guys like Taker, Kane, Foley, Jericho, Benoit, Angle, and Triple H just to name a few were always involved in the top storylines. Go look back at some of the PPV cards from 99-01 and you'll see many shows with multiple main event matches.

[amsiraK]

I don't mind the upper card being so heavy... but it's all over the place.

And what's up with that? Mania's supposed to be the end-zone for storylines. This one's like a pot-luck dinner without rhyme or reason. The only match with any real background (that I can think of) is that detestable Trump-McMahon mess.

[Loki]

I think the problems are:

* ALWAYS THE SAME PEOPLE switching from Main Event to Upper Midcard and back.

* Only TWO people feuding for the belt, while the other (usually 4) flounder aimlessly in the upper midcard, either feuding with eachoter for no good reason (i.e. NOT for the #1 Contendership) or feuding with midcarders just to stay on TV.

The most recent addition to RAW main event is Edge, november 04... You do the maths.

Umaga was used as throwaway rival (a la Earthquake, but with less time), and that's all.

Last year, when Triple H was going after Cena, Edge was stuck against/with Foley, Orton was ... can't remember what he was at . HBK was teaming up with God against Vince and Shane.
Then Edge got the belt and he feuded with Cena, while Orton got Hogan, and D-X finally re-re-reunited.

Cena got the belt back and feuded with Umaga (IIRC), Edge and Orton teamed together against D-X.

Now it's HBK-Cena, Edge and Orton are waiting to turn on eachother...

See a pattern there?

SmackDown! is slightly different because of injuries and general lack of credible main eventers, but it's about Batista, Taker, Booker T, Kennedy. With Kane, Finlay and Benoit and MVP as backup plans.

The midcard is lost in that neverending "musical chairs" game because there are as many chairs as Main Eventers. Nobody loses, no new guy can take his spot.

[Deleted]

They need lots of people in the main event scene, because each person is furiously jobbed repeatedly and thus needing replacement in a short period.

[KingPopper]

Royal Rumble 98 to I think sometime in 03 every ppv mainevent had either The Rock, Austin, Triple H, or The Undertaker in it.

[Dr. T is an alien]

The fact that only one guy at a tiem seems to aim for the WWE title seems extremely stupid to me. At least people gun for the ECW and WCW titles.

[KingPopper]

It makes a title seem important when a lot of people are gunning for it.

[bob]

if anything they is too few in the main event

let's take a look

RAW: John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Triple H, and Randy Orton

SD: Batista, Undertaker, and Mr. Kennedy

ECW: Bobby Lashley and Rob Van Dam

[SmarkyMark]

kingpopper said:

It makes a title seem important when a lot of people are gunning for it.

Amen to that. It also makes for more intersting and varied shows. Each brand should have at least 3 or 4 guys rotating in the main events every week IMO. RAW's good, Smackdown! should add Kane and King Bookah instaed of having them feud against each other for no good reason and ECDub needs to get Marcus Cor Von [Only guy I can think of. ] in their main event mix rather than heat vacuums like Holly and Test.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

I like having more guys as Main Event guys. It gives whoever champion is different opinons as challengers. It a lot easier to keep a champion you want to have the belt for a long time fresh when you have different guys to challenge him. Why you Hogan was successful in the 80s. Each big card or PPV had a different challenger or feud. There was Piper then Andre, then Savage, and ext. It worked. Austin as Taker, Rock, Kane, and Dude Love. Later add HHH. It made things fresh.

[lethaldosage50]

i totally disagree with the original poster. lets take a look at the main events we have right now:

RAW:
Umaga (who will take main event slots)
Cena
Edge
Orton
HHH (who is inactive)
HBK

ECW:
Lashley
RVD
Snitsky

Smackdown:
Batista
Undertaker
Kennedy (although now he seems to be fluttering away from being a main event)

It's not like we've seen anyone pop out at you as a perennial new main eventer in a while. You know, one that you don't know if he'll win the title or not.... one that is good for business. when was that last guy? cena? New guy, first time main-eventer, I'm saying. Kennedy was nice for a while, but we all knew he wouldn't win. Same with Umaga. Bringing up one of these "new guys" would add spice to the show, which doesn't have many main-eventers anyway.

The undercard is bad because:
1) The US Title is a hot-potato, and hasn't been defended for a while.
2) The same two people were fighting for the IC title for a long time, and got incorporated to the point where the IC title wasn't the main issue anymore storylinewise.
3) We all know Umaga won't defend the IC title.
4) The Cruiserweight Championship isn't defended. Hopefully that'll change with Chavo.

Not just midcard titles; Whenever you see a mid-show match (like the matches in the middle of RAW), the match itself isn't being hyped; the Main Events later on that night are.

[H-Fist]

I actually see Umaga making the IC Title worthwhile again. Umaga is being shifted to the midcard in the hopes of re-elevating him to the main event of either Raw or Smackdown some time in mid-late summer. The idea is to get Umaga over as a monster who, while beatable, absolutely destroys anything in his path. This gives Umaga a chance to keep getting over and show what he can do as a performer instead of just jobbing out to Cena. This also means that we'll see a lot of midcarders, lowcarders and new faces vying for the IC Title. Therefore, the WWE is now trying to build new babyfaces. The guy who 1) gets over as a mid-card babyface and 2) beats Umaga for the IC Title becomes the new babyface chasing the title when Cena turns heel and HBK goes to get his body healthy.

So it seems that Umaga is the key to Raw's future right now. Like it or not, Umaga is how we'll get a good main-event scene in the future.