10 Quick Fixes For WWE In 2019

5. Maximise The Superstar Shake-Up

Kevin Owens Tattoo
WWE.com

WWE botched last year's Superstar Shake-Up.

RAW was always Vince McMahon's show; in 2018, it became the most Vince McMahon show to ever Vince McMahon, awash with obnoxious, limited heels, precious few super-workers, and a litany of guys he initially perceived as amusing (the B Team) or heels in his preferred image (Mojo Rawley). Without any long-term commitment to characters only he saw real value in, we were left with an undercard nobody cared about - promoter or punter. The shorter SmackDown meanwhile featured too many acts people cared about, resulting in the demotion of Andrade 'Cien' Almas and the disappearing act of SAnitY.

Suffering both macro and micro problems, WWE undermined the very premise of the big refresher by neglecting to separate the Usos and the New Day and Sasha Banks and Charlotte, resulting in diminished returns of great rivalries (or, in the case of the latter, something that was barely a programme). Both wildly uneven and counterintuitively stale, WWE being WWE in 2018 couldn't even apply a bandage correctly. If WWE cannot effect genuine change, and they cannot, the illusion will have to do - but a repeat of 2018's coin-behind-the-ear will not.

To remedy this, simply replace Vince McMahon with an algorithm, one able to compute which acts haven't wrestled one another a million times.

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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!