10 Biggest Mistakes Of WWE's New Era Thus Far
Is this just the PG Era all over again?
WWE have been throwing the phrase around since late April, but the New Era is finally taking shape. While their post-WrestleMania programming improved significantly in its first few weeks, Raw and SmackDown soon reverted to type.
Tedium and repetition took-over once again, particularly in the shows leading-up to the WWE Draft, and though the Brand Split offered a glimmer of hope, fans felt like they’d been duped again. There was little to separate the New Era from the PG Era, and June and July did little to stymie the WWE Universe’s ever-increasing apathy level.
That all changed on Sunday, 24th July. In Battleground, WWE produced one of their most exciting pay-per-views of the year, and followed it up with the best Monday Night Raw in a long time. Things hit a snag on SmackDown, but for the most part, WWE had seemingly given their product a big facelift, and things finally seemed to be heading in the right direction.
But this is WWE, and good things rarely come without some disappointment to balance them out. For all the good work WWE have done to try and improve their product lately, they’ve also made some considerable missteps throughout the New Era, and not just since last Tuesday’s draft.
Here are the 10 biggest mistakes of WWE’s New Era thus far.
10. Not Building Dolph Ziggler Up
Once the consensus “most misused” wrestler in WWE, Dolph Ziggler had reached a nadir prior to this week’s SmackDown Live. His career had been in constant decline ever since WWE completely no-sold his star-making night at Survivor Series 2014, and the fans gave-up on him. Having watched their former hero struggle for so long, the WWE Universe slowly lost interest in Ziggler’s plight, and he became little more than another name in a crowded midcard.
Installing him as Dean Ambrose’s number one contender for SummerSlam should be a step in the right direction, but it’s come far too early. While people still want to see Ziggler’s opportunities increased, nobody’s actively campaigning for it any more. The Show-Off of 2016 isn’t buoyed by the same level of crowd support that he had two years ago, because the company have given them no reason to get behind him. The Baron Corbin feud in-particular has sapped all of Ziggler’s intrigue, and his general listlessness brings very little to SummerSlam.
WWE are throwing Ziggler back into the title scene cold. With the right build-up spread-out over several months, the company had real potential to top-off a compelling redemption arc by having Dolph work his way from obscurity back to the top, but they’ve done none of that. Instead, he enters the Ambrose storyline with very little momentum. It’s a fresh match-up and they’re both talented enough to put-on a good show, but Ziggler vs. Ambrose should’ve been so much more than this.