10 Very Bad WWE Ideas That Lasted For Years

2. Developmental

Roman Reigns
WWE

Initially, it was a good idea, but even then, it was flawed.

Jim Cornette's vision for Ohio Valley Wrestling, while astute, was myopic. It was vital to WWE's future, but the programme had to expand beyond one emulation of a territory, as wildly successful as it was. It did not expand; on the contrary, the one person who knew what was he doing also happened to have the emotional intelligence of a child. Jim Cornette slapping Santino Marella subtracted the load-bearing wall and added the walking sledgehammer that was John Laurinaitis who, without being petitioned to death, destroyed the in-house system. The rot lasted years - some capable minds ran Florida Championship Wrestling, but it was still expressly designed to pump out generic performers - until Triple H dreamed up his new vision for NXT...

...and, in the process, lionised wrestlers that Vince McMahon was never going to push. WWE has promptly returned to a disaster of a system, one that would rather ruin the nice thing of a hot, game-changing debut in service of proving that WWE is superior to anybody else and what they might have previously achieved.

The 2000s were drastically mundane as a result, and WWE is set to repeat the pattern.

 
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Contributor
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!