10 Solutions To The Hot Mess That Is WWE Creative
5. An Injection Of Realism
Suspension of disbelief is the foundation of pro wrestling. It is mostly impossible to suspend one's disbelief when watching WWE. There must be a correlation.
The promo diss culture raises the odd laugh (and serves acts like the Usos very well), but the exchange of barbs is so slick, so verbose, that it is impossible to buy that what is in front of us is the genuine article. The verbal spats that invariably mark the beginning of any broadcast are heavily rehearsed, and lead to contrived, predictable outcomes (spoiler alert, a match is forthcoming). As a work of fiction, RAW is a complete failure in which it becomes impossible to climb out of a plot hole within minutes. Why, for example, did Stephanie McMahon deem Kurt Angle expendable and select him as the Team Captain ahead of Survivor Series?
The vintage opening segment requires as much a complete overhaul as the commentary team.
Conversely, the constant browbeating on RAW and SmackDown is too realistic. On SmackDown this week, when Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan constantly told Sami Zayn to "shut up!" - like he was the hyper geek in a Peter Engel production - the company's perception of him bled through to the screen.