10 Big Lessons WWE Must Learn From 2016
6. People Want Authenticity
There’s a crippling lack of authenticity on WWE television at the moment. Roman Reigns is still shoehorned into sassy babyface role that doesn’t suit him, the Cruiserweights have been watered down, and most characters’ promos are stunted, convoluted nonsense. Almost nothing feels real in WWE’s increasingly sanitised environment, and while this hasn’t made their programming entirely unenjoyable, it prevents the audience from connecting.
The Cruiserweight Classic provided a perfect blueprint. Participants were presented as real, believable people rather than phony cartoon characters, and they were allowed to truly be themselves. The audience wasn’t huge, but it was impossible to not get behind Rich Swann as he revealed his tragic backstory. Personalities like Swann, Jack Gallagher, and Cedric Alexander shone through, and more importantly, formed a rapport with the audience.
Realism is key. Look at Daniel Bryan and the Yes! Movement, or the real-life frustrations summoned by CM Punk’s infamous pipe bomb. More recently, there’s The Miz’s infuriation towards Bryan on SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler’s impassioned career revival, and Charlotte becoming more and more like her father every week.
Wrestling requires suspension of disbelief, but WWE have been pushing the envelope for years now. Without solving this problem, it’s hard to imagine them ever reaching their old heights.