Personal Jesus

The inability to pull this off is directly related to the stagnant creative process that you insist is just as strong as the boom period's. You are wrong. You think TODAY'S booking is stagnant? Go back and watch WCW in 1996-97 after BATB. It's the same thing every week. Every show ends with NWO beatdown and garbage. Every last one. You may get a Lex Luger/Goldberg/Sting moment every three months tops. But other than that it's just "hey, someone new joined the NWO!" and "Dammit, the NWO ruined this great match" every Nitro. And the WWE has more creative angles than WCW did in that period. WCW never really got past absolute booking 101 99% of the time. Big stable dominates! Huge winning streak! X guy is back! But the momentum from the the original NWO formation made everything seem a big deal. Even the Austin Era, the early stuff with Kane/Taker/Vince/Austin in the main event is all pretty awful IMO, and if it happened today would get shit on by most. But the momentum Austin had made everything seem like gold. The current WWE gets guys over. Guys like Hardy, Edge, Punk and Bryan now have had moments where they've about been as over as anyone in the history of the company. It's just a matter of going from over with WWE fans to over with the general public who aren't true wrestling fans to get them interested. No amount of Crash TV or great booking in the midcard or 4+ matches is going to change that. It's not a problem with bad booking or a "stagnant creative process". It's just a lack of larger than live moments, but ultimately those have the be at least semi-organic and have alot to do with luck cause otherwise people will just shit on them. That's why they try to make "classic Cena moments" almost every PPV and he still gets shitted on. Cause they never feel the least bit organic or anything more than just another wrestling. It's also why stuff like Lauper/Piper and Mr. T and Tyson/Austin saved the WWF while Rodman/Malone and Leno and every celebrity WCW ever brought in came off awful. WWF stuff came off as epic and organic, WCW stuff came off as publicity stunts that were super cheesy. Somebody on another forum put it best IMO: Cool angles and great matches please the super fan. The average guy only cares about the WWE for the individual moments, cause really that all that sticks in their mind at the end of the day. And the WWE still has super cool moments all the time (the Nexus debut, Punk promo, Rock return, etc). They just don't know how to use these moment correctly to suck people in any more. They're so self-conscious about not being "wrestling" and instead just being "sports and entertainment" they not longer do things with the pure grandeur and loudness that made stuff go from wrestling angle to worldwide phenomenon. But that's not a problem with bad booking, that's a problem with promotional tactics.

All of the hey, this guy (mostly either Cena or everybody who isn't John Cena) is not good enough/the writing's not good enough/Vince is out of touch stuff comes off as kinda just trying find somewhere to put blame. I'm not even saying these things aren't true, I'm just saying even if they WERE better, it still wouldn't make a difference. Comparing today's WWE to any of the other boom periods in wrestling (WCW 1996-1998, Attitude Era, Rock and Roll Era, etc.), there isn't anything stand out that make them actually BETTER. You may prefer some to others, or nostalgia may kick in and you look at a specific time through rose-colored glasses, but watching entire shows of today vs. yesteryear, they're now true superiority on any level for either. Some guys are great, some guys suck. Some guys are great in the ring, some can't work a match. Some are great promos, some are awful. Some angles are awesome, other suck. People may disagree, but just as a lover of pro wrestling, I've never ever felt like "hey, the acting/in-ring" was just better before than now. And even if it is, honestly it doesn't even fucking matter cause most movies and music suck now compared to earlier and it's still much more profitable. The fact is, we live in a world of fads and short attention spans. Always have, it just gets more and more obvious as we start have more and more options to choose from in every part of our lives. If a fan truly loves something, they pay attention to it as much as possible. In wrestling you have the IWC, in sports you have stats nerds, in music you have people who spend their lives roaming the internet for new obsure music. But unless you love something, for the most part, people only pay attention to it if it's something have to know about to not seem completely out of touch and have the water cooler talk. The average fan knows Tom Brady but couldn't give a flying fuck who's the back-up Right Guard for the Panthers is. But they'll still watch Monday Night Football every week cause that'll be what your buddies are talking about the next day. Or not know any songs by Radiohead but know the new Rihanna track by heart so they're not the only person in the club looking awkward when it comes on. Wrestling is no different. The average person will only pay attention when the media and the world compels them to become because they don't want to feel like they're missing out on something. For the average viewer, the details and even the quality of the show doesn't really matter cause it's lost on them regardless. You think 90% of people remember the NWO's first promo from the Bash at the Beach? Fuck no, they just knew the NWO existed and it was cool. Did most people wearing Austin 3:16 shirts in 1999 really remember/know the promo and the backstory from KOTR 96? Doubt it, all they knew was Austin was the shit. Honestly right now, nobody feels like there missing out on anything the WWE has to offer, not because of any lack of quality, but because nothing iconic is going on. It's strange, pretty much true main stream star in wrestling history has been made the same way, yet it's as if the WWE hasn't figured it out. The first stage is getting them over enough to make sure whatever they do on TV comes off as a big fucking deal, and then the second is once they have, give them a moment that truly comes off as though it transcends wrestling. Hogan was way over with crowds for years, but he became a man in the social conscious with Wrestlemania because the event and his match wasn't just another night of wrestling, it was a main stream event. NWO was big from the moment when Nash and Hall came in, but became transcendent when Hogan turned because it was just another turn, to the average person it was the loss of an American Hero. Austin was over, but he became the phenomenon that he was when he wasn't just another wrestler, he was a man who went toe to toe to Mike Tyson and earned the respect of the Baddest Man on the Planet. Even Punk, he's booked more like an upper-midcarder than a main eventer and alot of people feel like he's not a "good main eventer" cause of his size or indy background or all that bullshit. But he's the only guy on the roster that ESPN wants the interview, or has Cubs fans entering contests to win stuff with is likeness or TMZ follows and give a fuck about what he says on twitter. Because the angle with the WWE Title got him into the mainstream conscious. Not because of the promo, cause even though it was good, the average fan could give a fuck about if he's a Paul Heyman guy or if he wants to work for New Japan or Ring of Honor. But him leaving with the WWE Belt came off as a big deal not just to fans of wrestling, but average people. It was taken by people as he fucking with a huge corporate establishment, not just a 'wrestling angle' level but on a real life level. Having him come back so soon lessened that but to a good extent, but even so his name at least got into their conscious and even if they don't remember that moment, people who payed attention to that at least know his name and in a "hey, that guy's pretty cool kinda way" and not in a "is that a wrestler? You still watch wrestling, why?" kinda way for the most part. Cena is the company ace, but he's never had a moment that transcends wrestling and that's why he can't pull in anybody new that wasn't already a wrestling fan. He can beat Rock and everybody else a million times, it'll never be more than just another wrestling angle to anyone, and therefore no one feels the need to watch with him on the top of the card. I don't even think it's his character that makes him not cool, cause Rock's character isn't really cool anymore either. But Rock's a mainstream icon so when he makes a couple appearances interest peaks and people cheer cause it feels like a huge moment. Cena is just Cena the wrestler, and even if he does movies, he's just that wrestler that got that movie role for some reason. It's not really his fault, but people don't watch simply because there's nobody on the top of the card that people need to pay attention to in order to feel in the know.

Between Vince with DB, Ryback with the food guy, The Bellas with Natty and to a lesser extent even Punk with Heyman and Sandow/Cody, last night felt like the ultimate "Fuck Be A Star, Bullying is back!" night for some reason. I don't even remember seeing any BAS commercials actually, did something happen? Other than that, this was a pretty good show. It's the first time really since going to 3 hours that there hasn't really been anything that feels like pure filler. Everything has at least some rhyme or reason in terms of booking. And hey look, people are actually getting over! Strange coincidence huh?