- 2 days ago
Survivor Series is something the fans have to go through, not the wrestlers...
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00:00Bad idea is a bad idea. You can try and dress it up as much as you want, but then you're just some weirdo trying to put thoughts on clothes. Don't do it.
00:08WWE has been going so long, they sometimes feel they can write out such things, and I'm here to tell you, they can't.
00:14I'm also Simon from WhatCulture. Please remember to eat five fruit and veg a day, and hit that subscribe button.
00:19And this is 10 Very Bad WWE Ideas That Lasted 4 Years.
00:24Number 10, The Roman Reigns Megapush.
00:26This is even worse now, because when we eventually leant into all the madness and turned Roman Reigns heel, he has become one of the best characters in ages.
00:33All that backlash for absolutely no reason.
00:35It really did get to a point too, where everybody but Vince McMahon was like, hmm, maybe we should do something here.
00:41I suppose bravo to Vinnie Mac for believing he could make this work.
00:44Given it went on for about five years though, that just seems a little bit silly.
00:48You'll scratch your head when you remember WWE already knew all of this, given The Rock went through the exact same experience, but nope.
00:54Roman would have to ignore all these boos and poes, especially at the 2015 Royal Rumble.
00:59Dwayne Johnson was even brought into that show to try and help, and you'll want to know what happened.
01:03Everybody jeered.
01:04How was this not the turning point?
01:06It wasn't, and it took a global pandemic to do it, but you know what they say.
01:10For the love of everything, just listen to the fans already.
01:13Timeless saying, that one.
01:14Timeless.
01:15Number 9, Gimmick Pay-Per-Views.
01:16I do not like gimmick pay-per-views, and as a man who is always trying to be a Mr. Positive Pete, that is saying something.
01:22The major problem with them is that it locks you into an idea, even if that idea doesn't suit the current period, plus you take your stipulations and run them into the ground.
01:30The only ones that really make sense are Money, the Bank, and the Royal Rumble, but Hell in a Cell, Elimination Chamber, TLC, Extreme Rules, and who knows what else,
01:37are so retroactively fit into what WWE needs that these matches lose their fear, especially The Cell.
01:43Remember when that one was first rolled out, people were terrified of it.
01:46Now it's just something in June.
01:48Now to be fair, WWE is set to reduce these in 2022, so we shall wait and see, but the best stories build to these insane affairs,
01:55and aren't just fitted in because that's what the calendar says.
01:57Number 8, Really Long Pay-Per-Views.
01:59I was there.
02:00WrestleMania 35, New York, it was fun, I was pumped, and seven hours later, I felt like I'd been given a little bit too much entertainment, and I wanted to go to sleep.
02:08And I know it seems silly criticising getting more bang for your buck, but I tell ya, I don't find it very fun.
02:14It's why Mania has now gone over two nights, as I suppose WWE can't help themselves, and the truth is, anything going that long is going to be a challenge.
02:21It kinda took away from the main event too, as by that time there was no energy left and we were all totally drained, and I personally even think five hours shows push it.
02:29So going an extra 120 minutes?
02:32Sheesh.
02:32We've seen numbers creeping up ever since the WWE Network came into existence, as watch time is a much desired stat, but you do have to pace these things out so most people are left wanting more.
02:42If the fan feels like they've got their fill for life, they ain't never gonna return.
02:45I don't know about you either, but the fear now is that we'll get two back-to-back seven-hour shows, and I will tell you, I cannot handle this.
02:53Number 7, Authority Figures.
02:54This was more than fine for a while, truly it was.
02:57It kind of grew to prominence during the Attitude Era as Mr. McMahon dominated proceedings, and I get why WWE wanted to keep going back to the idea.
03:05We had success with it once, so why not again?
03:07Well, the simple reason is, eventually we'd pass the point where it was still a creative endeavor, but on and on it went.
03:12It's even stranger as WWE has found the perfect way to present this role in 2022, and they fired him.
03:18William Regal was awesome at this in NXT, and while Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville do a solid job in their positions,
03:23they have now become the cliched evil bosses that try and screw over all their employees, and it's just not needed.
03:29You're also always gonna struggle given the connections Vince had to the company, Eric Bischoff used to do that role across the way,
03:35and Triple H was also tied into the family legacy, so when they were being referred to as the top brass, at least you could justify it.
03:41Really, it's become a device that has run its course, so that's an area we could discuss far more wildly with WWE.
03:46Really, it's time to hit reset on both Raw and SmackDown, given they've been the same for over 20 years.
03:51I don't think it's gonna happen.
03:53Number 6, the actual authority.
03:55And surprisingly, all this did indeed go past its peak, when we last did it on a huge scale.
04:00I wouldn't call the authority a failure by any means, but there were issues.
04:03The Daniel Bryan situation has been well documented, and there was also the fact that while Triple H would often get his,
04:08Stephanie McMahon never would.
04:10The Mega Maniac manager has to get their connuppance at some stage, otherwise there's no payoff for the audience.
04:15When the Bryan story was done too, we just took Roman and tried to repeat the magic, and we've already talked about that.
04:21For better or worse, it just didn't click, and nobody else really benefited.
04:24This wasn't a Steve Austin of the Rock situation who did come out the other side bigger than they were going in.
04:28So it was just something to do because we did it before, or a structure we knew how to work around and within.
04:33And again, I don't want to keep going on about it, sometimes you've just got to do something new.
04:37Number 5, name changes.
04:39I really don't care about this.
04:40I have so many real issues in my life, I just can't bring myself to get mad because WWE changes somebody's name.
04:46However, that doesn't mean it isn't really stupid, because it is.
04:50And look, there is a reason to do it here and there.
04:52If you've got a fresh-faced superstar and you want to create them in your own image, awesome, go nuts, makes sense.
04:57This isn't what usually happens though, because instead we take Walter and we make him Gunther.
05:01We tell Matthew Riddle he can't be Matthew anymore, Big E Langston loses his surname,
05:05and Brom Breaker is secretly a Steiner, but don't you dare say it out loud.
05:09You've got to treat your audience with respect, and this simply doesn't.
05:12You're being asked to just go with some flow, even though some of the individuals, e.g. Walter,
05:16have been long-running champions in the same company.
05:19It's like me being asked to be called Derek Manpower, which would be my NXT name if you care.
05:24You ain't gonna do it though, you're gonna go,
05:25shut up Simon, and then I gotta go cry in my room.
05:28Number 4, brand warfare at the Survivor Series.
05:31Aside from another idea that's simply in need of some freshening up,
05:34WWE's decision to just cross the lines of the brand split throughout the year
05:37has taken the concept in November and buried it even before you get there.
05:41I mean, how can anyone be that excited when we've seen wrestlers jump ship for the past 12 months
05:45while also telling us they don't care if they're on Raw or SmackDown?
05:48You can't just wave a magic wand and say that everyone is now ready to bleed red or blue.
05:52It doesn't work, and it falls back into that territory of,
05:54well, we always do this, so we'll do it again.
05:56No.
05:57There's also no stakes to this battle, so why would anybody put their best foot forward?
06:01It still seems strange this doesn't tie into the Rumble somehow,
06:03much as that ties into WrestleMania.
06:06But hey, it's not gonna happen now.
06:07We are too far down the line.
06:09Number 3, the DX rub.
06:11I am gonna go out on a limb and say we are probably done with this specific one now.
06:15Triple H has far more important things to worry about.
06:17Shawn Michaels is down in NXT,
06:18Billy Gunn is with AEW,
06:20Road Dogg got let go,
06:22and Shawn Waltman is just being a really good dude on the indies.
06:24So I don't think it's on the cards for a good old while.
06:27There was this prolonged period though,
06:28where almost like clockwork,
06:30DX would get back together and just wreck the stars of today.
06:33It happened to Damien Sando, The Revival,
06:35Elias, we got the opposite with Finn Balor and the club,
06:37but that was a little bit odd.
06:38I get you want the big names from yesteryear to try and shine a spotlight on the new guys,
06:42but that's never what really happens.
06:43It just becomes an avenue to do some nostalgia with some rookie being murked.
06:47Given that Goldberg beat Bobby Lashley only recently,
06:49I feel WWE will stick with this until this generation becomes the old guard,
06:53and then amazingly we'll try and switch it.
06:55You know what, 2?
06:56It's probably gonna work.
06:57Number 2, developmental.
06:59The idea of a wrestling developmental system is a very good one.
07:02I suppose this goes back to Jim Cornette's vision of what OVW should be,
07:05where he took greenhorns when it took to make it in the WWE,
07:09so that when the big leagues needed a new face,
07:11they could see who was ready to give it a go.
07:12Triple H turned this into something else with NXT,
07:15even if that did morph into a go-to promotion for awesome independent talent,
07:18but still, there was a production line of guys and girls being prepared for their futures,
07:22and the odd success would come through.
07:24That sentence was the problem, however,
07:26as it shouldn't be the odd success.
07:27For some reason, WWE seemed to think that they were pushing somebody else's talent.
07:31Before long, it literally did become a case of cutting your teeth down in Florida
07:34before you got some buzz,
07:36when Vince McMahon would change everything about you.
07:38It begged the question what the point of all this preamble was,
07:41and honestly, it helped nobody.
07:43Talent felt like they were being misused,
07:44the powers that be thought that they knew better.
07:46It was a mess.
07:47It's why NXT 2.0 will hopefully breed better results,
07:49but even then,
07:50the checklist for what makes a WWE superstar is now so specific,
07:54it takes away a lot of the fun wrestling is all about.
07:57Really, I could have summed this up in one sentence.
07:59Let's just hope with all our hearts,
08:00Bron Breaker smashes it.
08:02Otherwise,
08:03rut row.
08:04Number one,
08:04Scripted Promos
08:06WWE began scripting their promos somewhere around the year 2000.
08:10You know what?
08:10Good for them.
08:11If somebody needs a helping hand,
08:13this should be on offer,
08:14and even Bryan Danielson said recently he enjoyed the process.
08:17The problem is that this became mandatory for everyone,
08:19and that's just silly.
08:21Some birds can't have their wings clipped.
08:22They need to fly.
08:24Instead,
08:24you had to break through the ceiling to get this honor like a John Cena,
08:27but even then,
08:28he was somewhat tied.
08:29His position just meant he could riff with the material and get away with it.
08:32When you have someone like Steve Austin saying he likely wouldn't have been the star he was
08:35if he had to go through this though,
08:37how is that not enough?
08:38Some of these scripts are bizarre too,
08:40and make human beings sound like they've come from another planet,
08:42and that's just not relatable.
08:43I don't think we need to draw a line under them entirely,
08:46but picking and choosing our moments would be appreciated.
08:48I think AEW has shown that you can get some true magic when the cuffs are off,
08:52and there's plenty of WWE employees who could do this too.
08:55They're just not allowed.
08:57I find that quite odd.
08:58Know of any other bad WWE ideas that lasted for years?
09:01Make sure you let us know in the comments below,
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09:13My name is Simon from WhatCulture.
09:14Thank you very much for joining me as always,
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