Are we expecting too much from the WWE?

This is the common question that every WWE Fan around the globe faces today. Useless shows, absence of key superstars and practically NO storylines are common for this company now.

For the company who took WCW and ECW out of business, this is a sorry state to be in. But is the condition really so bad or are we just expecting too much from them?

Lets take a look at how the things have changed in WWE over the years.

Firstly, WWE is being plagued by absence of “Big Names” who could draw people to watch the Pay-per-views. In order to cope up for this, the management is forced to depend on part-timers like Brock, The Undertaker and recently Batista. These guys may be able to draw crowds to WWE shows, but then both the WWE Universe and the guys back in the locker-room know that this is just a temporary arrangement.

This is one of the reasons why people like CM Punk and Mick Foley openly criticize the WWE think tank. Not even a single wrestler has been provided continuous push for quite some time now. If they could develop a strong bench of Superstars on their own, there would not be a need to look for part-timers. Guys like Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler ave been sent to a back seat after an initial push. Word is that The Shield is soon to be dis-membered. Now that is not the way an average WWE Fan would appreciate.

Another problem which they are currently facing is lack of resource management. Lets take the example of Kane.

He always had an image of a Demon who was full of mystery, just like his half-brother The Undertaker. The fans never really connected with the unmasked Kane. So it was seen as a refreshing move when WWE decide to re-incarnate him to the masked persona. His villainous traits reminded us of the Attitude Era. But what happened then? They made a mockery of him by aligning him with Daniel Bryan and forming team Hell No.  And now we find him as a jobber for The Authority.

A similar case happened with Christian. For a man as talented and experienced as him, he could have been involved with important storylines. But he was made to wait for 3 months before he could return on-stage and that too without any relevant storyline. Is he even a part of WWE’s future plans? I guess no.

And what about giants like the Big Show and the Great Khali? Khali has been reduced to a mere entertainer and has not been involved in any important pay-per -view for a long time now. Can we expect some better storylines  in store for them?

The Corporation(Mr. MacMohan, Shane & Steph) were successful in entertaining the crowd because they had a strong opposition in the form of Stone Cold and D-Generation X. If Triple H and Stephanie want to re-live the same scenario then they must realize that it is equally important to create an anti-pole. Probably a union of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan along with an emerging team like The Rhodes Brothers or The Usos could have done the job. And to add a twist to the tale John Cena could have turned heel just the way Hulk Hogan did once.

Lastly and probably the most strong factor of the above is Lack of Storylines. There have been no storylines in WWE for quite some time now. Rivalries are pitched in haste before pay-per-views and matches are decided at random with practically no background to support the cause of this match. One of the reasons why we always appreciate the Attitude Era is presence of stories to build up a rivalry or a reconciliation.

Also a fact which fascinated the crowd back then was the uncertainty factor. Every Monday night used to be different from the others, with new incidents and developments on the storylines. As a result people would glue themselves to their TV sets. Something different needs to be done if WWE really wants to get it fan-base back. There are a lot of different types of matches and stipulations which can be used to get the crowd on their feet. Actually do you remember when was the last time you saw a Street Fight or a Lumberjack match?

Probably why we don’t see such build up today is because WWE think-tank is clearly not giving importance to the weekly shows like Raw and SmackDown. At least these shows can be used to develop a storyline, which would then culminate at a pay-per-view. These shows can be used to connect the fans emotionally to the Superstars. Also, they can serve as an excellent stage for guys like The Usos or The Wyatts to take control and can provide people like Sheamus, Rey Mysterio or may be 3MB to change their role and  enhance their skills.

If WWE could somehow tackle the above issues and devote more time to what resources they already have, then we as fans can be sure that once again WWE would be as interesting to watch as it once was.