10 Reasons Why Old School Fans Struggle With Modern WWE

5. The Ubiquitousness Of John Cena And Randy Orton

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WWE.com

The lack of competition means that the days of Lex Luger appearing on Nitro 24 hours after his last WWF appearance are long gone. There is only one viable game in town - and that is WWE. Consequently, if management there likes you well enough, you're pretty much set.

Look no further than John Cena and Randy Orton. Neither man has anything left to achieve after a decade on top. Both might be experiencing an upswing in popularity, but their recent injury-enforced absences might have something to do with it. The current direction of the Orton character is so removed from anything he's ever done that he feels new again. Similarly, the very last naysayers of Cena's in-ring work crawled into the woodwork almost to the second Cena reduced his schedule - but that a re-ignition of their protracted feud has been teased to widespread dread underlines how perilously close both men are to irrelevance.

The problem isn't limited to Cena and Orton, but in fairness to WWE, it is slowly being corrected. The Big Show, Mark Henry and Kane - once the evil trinity of WWE - are rarely seen on television in 2017. Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler have been around for aeons, but are more tolerable in their current incarnations.

The stench of familiarity is slowly dissipating. It is one struggle with an end in sight.

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!