Last week’s special 900th episode of Monday Night Raw was held back by several bizarre occurrences. If putting most of the storylines on hold for a week wasn’t bad enough, many Smackdown superstars were on the show and did nothing to fuel the drama. Instead, they either barely held their own weight or they dragged the show even further into the mud.
With Smackdown heading over to SyFy in a few weeks, who knows where some of these guys will end up. Perhaps the reasoning behind the merging of talent was less of an anniversary thing and more to prepare the likes of CM Punk and Jack Swagger for runs on RAW, which would definitely boost the in-ring product. However, at the same time, who wants to listen to either one of these guys cut a promo? While Punk has legitimate charisma, his current heel persona is a snooze fest. That’s still better than listening to Swagger trip his way through a promo though. He’s like Ben Stein for wrestling fans. There’s no doubt though that the kid can wrestle.
Nevertheless, much like Sheamus, it’s crazy to think that after barely any miles on his career’s engine that he’s worn the World Title around his waist.
Imagine if you will, a wrestling fan that decided to not watch WWE programming for two years or so. Imagine how they’d feel to see the WWE pushing these youngsters so quickly, guys that don’t fit the mold of the company, guys that have zero charisma. While WCW was chastised for not pushing any young talent, the WWE needs a wakeup call here for pushing these kids too fast.
When I see someone like Swagger or even Wade Barrett talk smack in the ring, I don’t get excited, I laugh. Not because they’re not talented, but because they have no credibility yet. It’s like the entire company decided to turn all their youngsters into what Randy Orton was, a legend killer. However, that angle worked for Orton because he was bred to be in this sport and had both the charisma and ability to back up all his jibber jabber, and he did a lot of it.
At the same time, he was put in the ring with people who could get him over and workers that knew what their job was. The problem is that right now, the WWE doesn’t have any workers. They have jobbers that are thrilled to have a job and superstars that don’t want to share the spotlight with anybody. What that breeds is a mediocre product and limits the creative choices the writing crew has, creating a product that in addition to being average, has no room to grow.
Seeing a guy start from the bottom of the barrel and win the Intercontinental or United States Title, maybe even win a tag team strap along the way to becoming a star is important. It allows the fan base to attach themselves to that star and become a true fan of their work, to the point where the guy won’t even need a belt to make money.
I can speak personally for how I felt when guys like Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Benoit and Christopher Daniels won titles. Following them throughout their careers, I was jacked to see them walking down the isle with something that showed just how talented they were.
Today, the WWE is like a horny teenager, rushing through the development process for a quick high, just enough to get their rocks off. Because of this, creatively, the company has hit rock bottom.
Don’t agree? Anyone that saw the lights go out a billion times in a five-minute span [it was like the writers fell asleep drunk watching old ECW pay per views], without seeing Bret Hart even attempt to wrestle and the laundry list of other nonsense that occurred on that show would have to disagree.
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