10 Solutions To The Hot Mess That Is WWE Creative

6. A Reprieve From The Repetition

Brock Lesnar SummerSlam
WWE.com

Watching the same matches over and over and over again is exhausting. Dean Ambrose and Sheamus, who wrestled on RAW this week, have shared a ring since SummerSlam. It's Christmas in about a month. It's also counterproductive; as the same old faces occupy the same slots, the feeling that those waiting in the trenches simply do not matter - and this is particularly problematic on SmackDown Live, on which Tye Dillinger is as relevant now as he was in OVW.

WWE, despite an army of writers, is simply unable to craft absorbing storylines outside of the title picture. Wrestling matches are booked via wrestling matches. Flagship programming is a Möbius strip of meaninglessness exacerbated by the new strategy of "super-serving" content content content.

If WWE's robotic writing staff is unable to tell what week it is, just hire actual robots. Create a spreadsheet, run a macro and let that work out that Dean Ambrose and Sheamus have wrestled quite a bit recently and probably shouldn't wrestle again for a while. On four out of the last five RAW shows, Ambrose and Sheamus have fought in some combination or other.

Run some sort of injury angle. Have Sheamus sprain Ambrose's wrist. Build sympathy on his behalf and create anticipation for their blowoff. In the meantime, let Ambrose devise his own promos in which he promises his public a grand reckoning.

This is Horsemen-era Crockett Booking 101 - but sports entertainment is better than corny old wrasslin', so nuts to that.

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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!