10 Bad Habits WWE Must Kick In 2019

7. Ignoring Talent

Andre The Giant HBO Vince McMahon
WWE.com

WWE, in response to World of Sport, ALL IN, and now All Elite Wrestling, has intensified its raid of the Independent circuit. This is such rank capitalism. It’s pure greed, it’s pure spite, and it’s not particularly effective, either; with every new face WWE signs, WWE invites a meme:

How are WWE possibly going to f*ck this guy up?!

In response to RAW's dismal critical reception, the Young Bucks tweeted, in response to the continued f*cking up of The Revival, “One day we’ll wrestle The Revival & everyone will rejoice. Remember this tweet.”

Dash Wilder didn’t just remember; he responded: “One day we’ll wrestle The Young Bucks & everyone will rejoice.” He can justify this as working—this one tweet made him more relevant than the creative team could ever hope to—but there’s a definite subtext to all this. The Revival know d*mn well that they cannot revive tag team wrestling in such an inhospitable environment. Along similar lines, Xavier Woods recently lashed out at fans he deemed ungrateful for criticising the main roster product at large—and Tye Dillinger, in defensive contrast to an old “Remember when I used to wrestle?” tweet, recently responded to a suggestion to jump ship with a stream of money bag emojis.

Bluntly, the roster knows how sh*t it is, and have markedly different ways of processing this information…not that what they think actually matters. Never have performers enjoyed less autonomy than they do now.

This all-fronts assault pisses off the fans and talent alike—and if WWE sends fans away, All Elite will welcome them. This isn’t 2001 anymore.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!