10 Things WWE Did When It Was Huge (And Need To Do Now)
9. Create A Shared Universe
Tensions ran wild between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels throughout 1997.
Even at the peak of the Monday Night Wars, the WWF refused to pull the trigger on a PPV match until the summer of sh*t slinging boiled over. Both men contested other tense, major feuds in the interim - as opposed to the predictable placeholder of a Finn Bálor Vs. Elias Samson - and the effect was that of an immersive landscape populated by real, fleshed out human beings. Hart wasn't a pawn arbitrarily moved around a chess board, clashing with whomever else had nothing to do until a PPV the company actually cared about. He had aspirations beyond the next week.
WCW during this time did something similar with Sting and the New World Order, shattering the crippling habit of giving everything away. Hulk Hogan was haunted by his spectre looming in he rafters. In the meantime, he feuded with Randy Savage, The Giant and Lex Luger - but the interlocking mechanisms of WCW's shared universe created a constant sense of anticipation and intrigue.
WWE's abandonment of the sporting framework and inability to craft slow-burning character arcs means everything exists in the short term without much significance, drama or credibility. When The Miz and Dean Ambrose feuded over the Intercontinental Title, there was no young stud working his way up through the ranks, causing Miz to look over his shoulder, logically setting up his next challenger.
Provided Dean Ambrose does turn on Seth Rollins, who's next for him? His opponent will arrive out of nowhere - hopefully not as suddenly as Darren Young, but you wouldn't put it past them.