10 Reasons Why People Who Hate WWE Hate WWE
4. Match Layouts Are Becoming Increasingly Simplistic
WWE's loaded roster is stupidly talented. The company's pay-per-view output has largely disappointed in 2017. The talent on that roster is regulated by road agents and the tunnel vision of Vince McMahon. These three factors are depressingly intertwined.
Charlotte Vs. Natalya was good, but they are capable of great. The drama centred around Charlotte's injury, but the immediate and one-dimensional nature of it cut them off at the knees, appropriately enough. We weren't given enough of a reason to get behind Charlotte, or reasons. It was more conditioning exercise than rich, multi-faceted storytelling. The structure echoed the company's perception of its fanbase. The obvious intention was to cast Charlotte in a sympathetic light - but they could not have achieved this in a more obvious way. Charlotte's brilliant selling was almost unnecessary. We were battered over the head with the gist.
Braun Strowman was another victim of these broad strokes. At No Mercy, he was an interchangeable prop thrown around by Brock Lesnar to convey the Universal Champion as a monster. Shinsuke Nakamura devolved from badass to underdog at Backlash. In the process of being normalised, Nakamura was stripped of his aura and originality. The layout was designed to galvanise the crowd, but achieved the opposite. Once more, the feeling that WWE and its fanbase exist in a constant state of polarity was unshakeable.
What's worrying is that WWE gets less nuanced by the week.