5 Ways to Improve Wrestling

[Misanthrope]

I'm sure I'm not alone in liking to fantasy book when something about wrestling frustrates me.

If you had the power to make five changes to WWE and/or TNA, what would they be?

These can be a simple hiring, a change to PPV setup, or something more sweeping. Curious to see people's thoughts.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

1. Less scripted promos. Thats a given.

2. Adopt a more realistic style of in ring action ala Joe/Angle at Lockdown. I think a Pancrase-esque style would draw in the fans who have jumped ship to MMA and would alsoi reflect the change in the times.


3. If a wrestler has a character from a previous organisation, use it. Im already cringing at what theyre gonna do with Joe at NXT.


4. Give the women time. If they cant go 10 on TV or 15-20 on PPV, then get rid of them. Same goes for tag teams.


5. Get back to basics in terms of hyping rivalries, less is more.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

1. Same as MM, less scripted promos. You can tell it's the same guys scripting shit for everyone with the constant cheap pop references, the now cringe worthy "each and every one of you" lines we've heard a million times from 50 different wrestlers

2. If a title match is scheduled it's the main event. That simple. Ratings aren't the be all anymore so whether or not the tag title match goes halfway through the show or at the end isn't as important, but in the eyes of a fan saying "this match is important" says a lot. This is one area where I wouldn't mind adopting a UFC approach where title matches are scheduled and organised beforehand so fans know what's coming up. The "spontaneous" promo (see point 1) where the authority figure randomly decides on the spot what the main event is going to be has gotten stale.

3. Following on from point 2. PPV's aren't the money makers they used to be, especially now with the Network in full swing. I would like to see 6 genuine PPV's per year with maybe 6 other "specials" to replace the missing PPV's (not sure how the specials would air/run and cbf figuring it at the moment, but they would be the gimmick PPV's obviously like MITB, Hell in a cell or Elimination chamber etc.). That would also force point 2 to a certain extent if they enforce the 30 day defend the title rule (outside of being Lesnar). would also make the PPV's feel like genuine events.

4. I think each "division" (Tag, Diva, WHT, Intercontinental/US Title) should have its own creative team (or at least head dedicated to that area). Nobody would want to put out a bad product so this would help ensure there's someone focusing on each area again, helping to enhance point 2 and make each division main event worthy.

5. Variety in matches and more sports realism. It seems like every match is the same formula of "hit your key moves" and then someone wins. Switch it up, use more moves and alternate moves to show something resembling strategy depending on opponent. As for sports realism, you know what, sometimes big upsets happen, sometimes the result doesn't go the way "it should". I wouldn't mind more of a feel where anything can happen in the matches. KOTR was a perfect example, you could tell who was going to win a lot of matches based on who won previous matches. This is just lazy for outcomes to be "that" obvious.

 

[Swarzey]

Don't watch TNA so I'll stick with the 'E.

1. Restructure the PPV calendar. Between Wrestlemania and Summerslam, Summerlsam to Survivor Series there is a massive lack of noteworthy PPV's that fail to give me any reason to tune in to see. MITB COULD do that job but I can't stand such gimmick shows, it should be scrapped for a King of the Ring tournament/week. Round one on Raw, Round two on a live edition of Smackdown, Round three and the finale at the show. It would mean Extreme Rules remains as the fallout from Wrestlemania, you have a buffer PPV to perhaps give the Intercontinental championship or US title the chance to shine, KOTR, Battleground as the buffer and then Summerslam. Keep fans engaged, make sure that there's something worth looking forward to every two months at least. When it comes to gimmick matches; drop them. MITB match can be part of Summerslam to set up a push going into the back end of the year. Drop Hell In A Cell. I miss the days when it was announced it actually meant something instead of a match for the sake of having it. Make Survivor Series tag matches mean something again. Could go on for hours about this one...

2. Drop the overwhelming saturation of product. I really, really don't need another two more shows in Main Event and Superstars where talent just fall into irrelevance for a while. Keep them but as dark matches and constantly swap them out week to week so they don't become forgotten. Also, three hours needs to end. It's all just to gain more revenue from commercials but it's doing so much more damage. Writing that middle hour does seem to be extremely painful.

3. Tighten the screws on scripted promos. I understand some or even most talent needing them but when you look at someone like Reigns who is being murdered by the creative team with the promos he cuts yet is still looked at as the next top guy. The sad part is when he's relaxed and he's not going word to word he's excellent. I'll also throw this in here but the commentary. Childish, immature, far from professional, barely calls the action in the ring. Axe them or make them call the matches and the show from a professional standpoint instead of being a disgrace.

4. Just be more creative, don't insult your fans. I think that speaks for itself. Having your target demographic is one thing, but their lack of effort to create a balance show is pathetic. They simply don't try anymore.

5. This isn't much to most, but just go back to basic staging. I understand they have budget issues but surely what they were using in 2007/2008 at the end and start of HD would be fine with some tweaks. There isn't any need to ensure the sets look like one giant screen littered with lights. When you watch NJPW, you watch AAA, they don't need light filled arenas to create an atmosphere and neither does the WWE.

There's a few other things I would like to see happen such as using challengers and contenders, regardless if they're heel or face, right but I know that point will never, ever sit well with Western fans.

 

[Eelementary]

Just one (two, really) thing: stop pushing the wrong people, and stop f**king them over by changing their movesets or de-pushing them.

 

[The Cobra]

Make all the Divas wrestle naked!!

 

[Bulldog Force]

1. The brand split was the best thing to happen in WWE as there was focus on rivalries and Raw/SD. Now, SD is so utterly shit and boring, it's not watchable. Bring back the split having equal talent spread across Raw and SD. This includes titles and the draft. All the titles that were merged over the years - unmerge them and spread them equally across the brands again. And bring back the Draft.

2. Raw moving to a 3 hour slot was meant to be good. Instead, it's only made it too long and boring with the extra space being filled in by nuffy matches no one cares about that go for 3 mins. Move it back to the 2 hour slot - less is more in this case.

3. Bring back the Attitude Era - this goes without saying. The PG shit now has had it's time in the sun, move it back to the glory days of the late 90s.

4. PPVs. Fans love good, interesting PPVs. Make them all have a theme however. Eg, WWE Fastlane was the worst possible boring, useless, themeless shit we've seen in years - and it came at the expense of Elimination Chamber which was one of the best. Also fan interaction - Cyber Sunday - that was good. Stop changing the PPV schedule and make every PPV have something unique and interesting to look forward too.

5. NXT must go. What's the point of having a bunch of new wrestlers every season? Why not have them work behind the scenes in promotions like Ohio Valley or Florida Championship Wrestling to make their eventual WWE debut more mysterious rather than something that the fans see coming.

6. Not as important, but ENOUGH with all the psycho looney bing characters - it's not fun anymore, there are too many of them - Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Eric Rowan, Dean Ambrose, Goldust, Stardust, Bo-lieve idiot, Paige - it's ok to have one of two, but packing the whole roster full of them is f**king absurd!

 

[Shaun Hewitt]

Bear in mind I don't watch the product much to none at all (other than keeping up with results and watching the matches of interest on the tube of you)

For me.

1) Get rid of the PG era. I see why they do it. Dollars speaks volumes.

2) Someone else mentioned it, the look of the arenas. I quite like the steel gate type railing as opposed the black railing they use. Just cosmetic, I know.

3) As I think it was BF said, brand split. Bring back the draft. This also helps fill out struggling PPVs as you can have the champs vs champs, brand pride on line, GM/GM type scenarios

4) Bring back realism. Thats why the nWo was intitally successful. I understand with the advancement in technologies since that period, it may be difficult to reach those heights. We need a shock factor too. For far too long, we can sit back and pretty much pick out the result, even some cases the ending for most of the show. Basically, wrestling is a soap opera with men in tights. Would our wives/girlfriends be able to pick out who has an affair with whom? (probably).

5) For me, stables. My favorite periods of wrestling circled around stables and stable fueds. Dungeon of Doom, 4 Horsemen, Ravens flock, nWo, nWo wolfpac, DX, DOA, the corporation, NOD, LWO, Job Squad etc etc.

6) I know this thread is 5 but we'll make it 6. Given the E has the rights to WCW, USE THEIR PPVS! You have such a lul between WM till about Survivor Series. Put in War Games, World War 3, Road Wild. THERE ARE PLENTY OF OPTIONS!

 

[Misanthrope]

Get rid of NXT? That'll do me. Best thing about the company and BF wants to kill it :crazy:

 

[Bulldog Force]

Get rid of NXT? That'll do me. Best thing about the company and BF wants to kill it :crazy:

It's not so much not liking NXT, but adding to the mystery of wrestlers debuts when working behind the scenes in FCW or OVW - that I miss. That's pretty much erased now with NXT.

 

[Misanthrope]

To the hardcore fans, sure. NXT isn't so universally known that people in attendance all immediately know who a new guy is, though.

 

[redvscotty]

LOL, get rid of NXT.

Anyway, I would in WWE:

1. Stables. Needs more good ones and less New Day. They had so much potential but the WWE really dropped the ball on them and their gospel shit.

2. Force Cena into retirement.

3. Implement something like the X division. Riley, Balor, Itami, Bo Dallas, Slater, Kalisto, Kofi, The Miz, Neville, Kidd, Woods. Get them competing regulary on Raw + Smackdown.

4. Turn Ziggler heel for life. Then give him multiple belts.

5. Realism. I like the gimmicky characters (Stardust, Wyatt, etc) but you can still use them in real storylines. It's been done before and will be done again hopefully.

I find a lot of what I hate about it at the moment comes back to lack of realism and feeling in promos and matches or the staleness of the product. Kane and Bigshow featuring prominently - case in point. Ugh.


Bonus musing: Can't bring back the Attitude Era. Will never happen and it will always come off as trying to hard to be like the old product. Did you love the TMNT turtles movies when you are 12 and then watched it when you were 26 and thought it was garbage? Think like that.

 

[Shaun Hewitt]

7) rebuild the tag team division, with actual tag teams not 2 superstars strung together that you know will be, forever has been and is currently a stop-gap measure ala Rated RKO. What happened to the days of the likes of LOD, Dudley boyz, Hardyz, Edge and Christian, NAO etc. Introduce individuals as tagteams then split them up, don't introduce them to us as individuals and glue them together just to split them up for a fued.

 

[Scott Gourley's Lovechild]

For TNA:

- Be the alternative. Going from being the main NWA territory to a stand alone entity was the right move. Bringing in Bischoff and Hogan to become WWE-lite was not, and it is something the company is still struggling with. Moving to more serious storylines and feuds is a must. Lose Feast or Fired. Prioritise the X Division again and let them show what smaller wrestlers can do.

- In ring product. This is something that TNA has improved on quite a bit recently, but they still have some way to go. The matches themselves have been good, but less screwjob finishes. Clean victories at the top of the card are what is needed badly, rather than DQ finishes seemingly every 1-2 weeks.

- Veterans. TNA lost a lot of their top veterans over the last 12 months, and there is a better than 99% chance they won't be back again. However, bringing in guys like Low Ki, Matt Hardy, and Homicide full time helps bring back legitimacy to a promotion short on top names. This gives younger guys someone well travelled to work with, while giving the audience names they know either from TNA's past, the indies + Japan, or the top of WWE.

- Taping schedule. I get that they like taping big chunks of TV at a time to save $$$, but it makes it hard to get excited for a show when you know the results 2 months out from the event happening. As an example, Rockstar Spud is currently a bald headed wrestler, a face, and the X Division Champion. But whenever he appears on Xplosion or the One Night Only PPV's, he still has a full head of hair, no championship, and is a heel. This can make it quite confusing to casual fans.

- Promote from within. The only wrestlers TNA has promoted from bottom to top is Bobby Roode and Eric Young. The rest were already on top (or near to) in WWE or ROH before arriving. They have an opportunity to do so with EC3, and who would of thought Derrick Bateman from NXT could have been that good? But they really do need to focus on building their roster up, giving them good storylines, and getting them over and on top.

 

[Misanthrope]

I was surprised by just how small (in both size and name value) TNA's roster feels these days. Without the likes of Bully Ray, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe etc, it feels very indy.

 

[canberra_raiders2k2]

1 - M rating is required. The story arcs could open greatly and allow for better character development across the brand.

2 - legit factions. It doesn't have to go overboard like NWO towards the end or the attitude Era when everyone was in a faction lol. But the shield were a good idea for that very reason. They had enough members to be a force but not too much that it became a distraction.

3 - less big men. The pinnicle of my watching experiences have always been from the overall technical wrestlers such as HBK, Bret Hart, Angle and etc. The big guys do have a place but I'd rather not have to go through an episode of raw watching a body slam followed by fisticuffs. Christian is an example of a guy that could have been a mega superstar but the company opted for the inbred Cena and his terrible array of moves.

4 - Titles regardless of what they are need more relevance besides the heavy weight. Remember when the intercontinental belt was considered a sign of greatness? Or tag teams that actually were made of a team and not to random wrestlers that needed to be booked in some aspect. The belts these days mean shit all.

5 - less shows. Over saturated the market big time that not only is the talent over stretched but the saying is quality over quantity. It was different when WCW and ecw were around as each product could offer something different now it's the same crap programming across all WWE programs.

 

[lafai]

I don't really agree with point 1. I mean NXT is pg and its perfect. I just want better storylines and better booking but we probably won't get that as long as Vince is their. I'll just keep watching Lucha Underground, TNA, NJPW and the Indy's.

 

[Special K]

Stable fueds. Easy way to get a bunch of guys over quickly. Oh and make stables more than 3 bloody members.

 

[pennywisealfie]

Stable fueds. Easy way to get a bunch of guys over quickly. Oh and make stables more than 3 bloody members.

agreed 100%

 

[Bulldog Force]

Stable fueds. Easy way to get a bunch of guys over quickly. Oh and make stables more than 3 bloody members.

That's something I agree with... so sick of the 3s... New Day, Wyatt Family, Shield, 3MB... have an army of sorts like the Corporation vs DX days. Heck even the JOB Squad was 5 members!