10 Outdated WWE Tropes That Need To Go Away

There’s no denying that the anti-authority character or the held-down-by-the-system storylines have produced some of the most memorable moments and feuds in wrestling history. Twice, it helped usher in whole new eras. First with Stone Cold Steve Austin during the Attitude Era and then once again with Daniel Bryan where it helped solidify the current brand of reality infused storytelling.

However, as good as it has been on certain occasions, too many times, way too many times, in fact, it has absolutely fallen flat on its back. The main reason for that is the sheer number of times WWE has gone back to this well. They’ve beaten this dead horse so much, its soul in the afterlife will start to feel the pain soon.

And sure, even now when done right it can still work, as it did with Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon. But the fact is this trope is simply past its expiry date. The type of stories you get nowadays with wrestlers constantly drawing back the current and referencing real-life factors makes it so hard to invest in the evil authority figure anymore.

This really was one of the feud archetypes that relied heavily on the integrity of kayfabe. With that gone, this simply doesn’t work as well. It’s given us some of our favorite moments, but now it really is time for this trope to rest in peace.