Unpopular Opinion: The notion that fans shouldn’t criticize the WWE product because they don't understand the writing process is ridiculous
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Sportskeeda.
So I caught wind of the tweet that Jimmy Rave sent out yesterday, in which the former WWE creative writer states that, “Writing a 3 hour wrestling tv show every week is f****n hard”.
The current Intercontinental champion’s response to the situation was, “That’s the one thing I don’t think people understand. 5 hours of live TV every week. EVERY WEEK. Add in all the extraneous variables that affect the final outcome....and it’s a modern miracle that the shows come together as well as they do.”
Look, I don’t know it feels to write a 3 hour program each week. But I know and understand screenwriting. Is it hard? You bet it yes.
However, people only care about the final product, which has been a huge disappointment for the last several years. I’m not arguing that WWE needs to write with their fans in mind. That’s impossible. Not everyone is going to like the same thing.
The priority should always be to create a compelling narrative, and that’s where WWE continues to fall short. There’s really nothing that’s gripping the audience and keeping them on the edge of their toes on the main roster at the moment.
There’s the Becky/Asuka/Charlotte stuff that’s pretty good, and Daniel Bryan is arguably the most captivating act on the main roster; however, even those stories has its flaws.
The problem that plagues most of the main roster stems from the lack of different characters. Who is Finn Balor? Or Bobby Roode? Or Chad Gable? This is a problem with a good portion of the main roster, mostly the undercard. When you peel back the layers of the characters then they’re essentially all the same. It’s scary when those three and Dasha Fuentes are essentially the same people.
Another problem stems from characters being unrealistic. Ronda Rousey was beaten savagely by a crazed Charlotte Flair (another “turn” that came out of the blue). However the next night on RAW, Rousey comes out happy and smiling, barely selling anything from the previous night.
This goes for many babyfaces on RAW. They smile non-stop until the script demands that they be angry for a moment, but then go back to smiling as if nothing important happened. It’s amazing that Finn Balor is still over.
Dean Ambrose has turned into a cartoon villain. His turn was beautifully executed, a man who seemed conflicted by his emotions as he violently put a beating on his former friend, Seth Rollins. This was a personal rivalry that should’ve stayed personal; however, Dean decided to attack the fans for no apparent reason. How does Dean claiming that the fans smell advance the story with Seth Rollins?
This moment screamed, “Hey, I’m a villain, so boo me”. A villain is always at its best when he/she doesn’t know that they’re a villain. They believe that their worldview is correct even though it's clearly not. Dean turned into a cartoon villain the moment he started attacking the fans looking to get heat.
The booking and writing continues to be a mess. How does Drake Maverick pissing himself get AOP over as a dominant tag team? Why does Lucha House Party – the babyfaces, I guess - keep getting the advantage over heel tag team, The Revival, with Baron Corbin as your heel GM? Why is The Miz deceiving referees and talent just to be tag team partners with Shane McMahon?
The tag team division is full of wrestlers who have little to no character whatsoever. No one is really given the chance to develop their personality because they’re mostly likely sitting in the back hoping to be picked as challenger of the month.
The women’s division is filled with women who apparently love being friends and backstabbing each other. Alexa turned on Nia (and now they’re sort of friends again), The Bellas turned on Ronda, Bayley and Sasha Banks turned on each other (and now are totally friends), Becky Lynch turned on Charlotte, and Nia Jax just turned on Ember Moon.
The mid-card is given little thought, or in the case of Shinsuke Nakamura, barely any. The mid card used to groom talents to being future main eventers, but now it just exists for reasons unless someone of the caliber of Seth Rollins or John Cena decide to be part of the fumbling division.
It’s hard to get invested into a product that gives us no reason to care about the characters – whose motivations also tend to flip and flop at a moment’s notice – or stories like a man pissing himself as the catalyst.
The three hour RAW format began back in 2012, so the excuse of “ this is hard” is unacceptable. Talents shouldn’t be telling the fans that they don’t have the right to criticize a product because they don’t understand the process.
Granted, we as fans don't have the right to tell WWE exactly how write their product as well. We’re not there for the process, we’re there for the final product.
No one is expecting perfection. The audience simply wants a product with compelling narratives and intriguing or engaging characters. Of course, we understand that there will be some misses. But It’s time the company sat down and finally address the problems that has plagued the main roster for so long instead denouncing the fans.