The dated, cliched pop culture references. The terrible backstage comedy skits. The awful promo content. The confusing, inconsistent storylines. The confusing, inconsistent characterisation. The reset button approach to the history and context of these character and their interaction. All of these things are different facets of the same problem: WWEs writing, by and large, is rotten, unprofessional and lazy stuff. Theyve long had a problem with their heels being more relatable and reasonable than their babyfaces, and their babyfaces being irrational bullies that bear more grudges than lonely high court judges. Ever since the Attitude Era, Vince McMahon seems to think that the best way to prove youre a good guy is to be sarcastic and mean to people with a smirk on your face. The rumour is that the company has thirty writers working on RAW and Smackdown, veterans of film and television managed by the godfather of modern professional wrestling, a creative genius with four decades of experience. Thats odd, because judging by the level of the television product, it would seem that they have a small team of school children being overseen by a weird seventy year old man obsessed with toilet humour. Game Of Thrones occasionally has its detractors, but the show is uniformly praised for the quality of the writing, the intricate plot arcs, deft characterisation and crackling dialogue. Of course, with so much content to cram in, ten hour long episodes a year is a difficult proposition to write. Not so with WWE, who have five hours of primetime TV to fill every week, plus D-shows like Superstars and Main Event and exclusive online content not to mention the three-to-four hour special events/pay-per-views around once a month. With that much freedom to put television content online and a huge roster of incredibly talented individuals, all of whom are dying to get on television and kill it in front of a worldwide audience, its astonishing to me that so much of WWEs TV programming is so dull. Smackdown has long been dismissed as two-thirds recaps and retreads of RAW, and RAW itself is so soul-destroyingly boring at times that its become a standard complaint that the show is too long. Ill just reiterate that: WWEs own fans actually want the companys flagship show to be shorter. WWE presents a selection of larger-than-life characters engaged in life or death struggles and committed, gutsy physical competition: living superheroes fighting villains on television every single week. Nothing about that should ever be boring. It should always make sense, and it should always entertain. These are basic requirements for a television show in 2015: requirements that are not met by the companys current product. WWE need to follow the example of HBO and Game Of Thrones, and make themselves extraordinary again.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
