10 Ways To Refresh WWE's Stale Television Product
2. Strong, Consistent Pushes
WWE’s star-making machine is broken, and 50/50 booking is the main culprit. Nobody builds any momentum when a big victory is immediately nullified by a loss, and in trying to push everybody at once, the company are pushing nobody at all.
Why? Because everyone is on the same level. With a couple of exceptions, no one feels like a major star because they’re constantly trading wins and losses with each other every single week, giving them limited opportunities to ever break away from the pack.
The reason wrestlers like Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, and Asuka feel important is down to the way they’re pushed. These performers rarely lose (or in Asuka’s case, never lose), which positions them at the top of the food chain, and makes the occasions when they falter feel absolutely massive, giving their opponent a huge rub, and in turn, a dose of their star-power.
Strong pushes get people over, and ditching 50/50 would go a long way to building credible wrestlers that the fans don’t regret investing in when their grandest triumphs are inevitably followed by spectacular falls. Changing this would represent a huge shift in the company’s booking philosophy, but it’s exactly what they need to do to make people care again.