10 Very Bad WWE Ideas That Lasted For Years
3. The DX "Rub"
What is key to pro wrestling stardom?
It is a question that has plagued the pro wrestling promoter forever.
Look? Charisma? Wrestling ability? Promo skills?
A combination of all that, promoted at the precise pop cultural moment?
Stupid, blithering idiot. You're missing the key detail. But you wouldn't grasp this. You're just a mark who isn't there and who doesn't know. You might think you know, but you don't. You can't possibly know. You aren't in the business. How's your territory doing, anyway? You don't have a territory.
If you did, you'd know how it really works. To get ahead in this business, all you need...
...is to get Pedigreed by Triple H as his ageing mates all celebrate in the background!
The level of ego is staggering. In WWE's mind, for several years, getting chinned by a past-it Attitude Era guy was considered a "rub". Damien Sandow took a Pedigree, and they though he'd make the next step via brutal osmosis. Or, alternatively, Finn Bálor and the Club being endorsed by the Kliq in 2018 was meant to make them look cool. This was entirely backwards.
It's not just DX. This deification of older acts is such a dire approach in creating new stars.
On the January 21 SmackDown, Rick Boogs looked on in stunned reverence when the great Jeff Jarrett wished to learn his name. Jeff Jarrett! They thought he was worse than sh*t about three years ago.
What next?
Getting Bron Breakker to job to Nailz and calling it a breakthrough performance?