What we learned from WWE this week: 29th May, 2017
Despite RAW having a better week than Smackdown overall, Monday night once again failed to feel like a go home show. With Extreme Rules just around the corner, not a lot of effort was put into building extra excitement towards the show. In fact, it was Smackdown that did a better job of working towards its own PPV, which is not for another three weeks.
That being said, there were some interesting developments this week in WWE and here is a look at what we managed to learn from them:
#1 WWE is, once again, embracing the art of storytelling
With the steady rise in popularity of indie wrestling since the turn of the century, the WWE have occasionally been forced to adapt their own content to suit the change in audience demands. Smaller, more athletic guys are now getting title opportunities that they would not have received in the 80s or 90s, and the company has slowly had to admit that it is possible to become a big star in wrestling without Vince McMahon’s help.
One noticeable feature of the current WWE product is a distinct lack of storytelling. In today’s WWE, you rarely get anything that stretches beyond two guys both wanting to defeat the other to show who is the bigger man. There was a time when professional wrestling was referred to as a soap opera for men.
Matches would have lengthy backstories involving love triangles, backstabbing or old family rivalries involving burning funeral homes, incest and forced marriage. While not always tasteful, these little additions to feuds would make fans more emotionally invested in the outcome and give them something to talk about with their friends at school on a Tuesday.
This week, there were some small indications that the WWE are again willing to embrace a more soap opera type feel to their product. RAW currently has two stories of interest going on right now. The first is the mysterious occurrences involving GM Kurt Angle. Corey Graves got up from his commentary booth in the middle of the show to take something to Angle which left the Olympian visibly shaken.
It’s too early to speculate as to what this was about, but at least it’s given us something else to think about other than the in-ring action. Secondly, we have the story surrounding Enzo Amore. Amore has been attacked backstage for two consecutive weeks now, and all evidence points to the Revival as the culprits. However, this appears to be far too easy an explanation. Perhaps there is something deeper going on.
It may be true that people watch wrestling for different reasons, but fans from an older generation will recognise that today’s WWE product is very heavy on the in-ring action, more so than it ever has been.
For too long, it has been hard to differentiate the WWE from any indie promotion you can easily watch online. I, for one, am hoping for more intricate backstage build up to matches, as opposed to the stale formula the company currently employs.