10 Ways WWE Are Holding Their Own Wrestlers Back
6. Crippling Their In-Ring Freedom
Some of WWE's in-ring restrictions are perfectly understandable. Wrestling is a gruelling, dangerous sport, and there's a real need to preserve the performers' health, particularly when they're working four or five times a week. Thus, fans can accept a certain level of "dumbing down," because it keeps wrestlers off the treatment table and ultimately allows them to do the thing they love for longer.
Unprotected chairshots, sheer head drops, excessive weapon use: none of these things are missed, but as with almost every other regulation they enforce, WWE have gone way too far in implementing in-ring restrictions.
Shinsuke Nakamura stands as a perfect example. Once one of the world's most thrilling in-ring performers, he has been reduced to a one-note striker who throws the odd suplex every now and then. His moveset is a fraction of what it used to be, and while Steve Austin proved that a great wrestler needs only a handful of moves to tell a good story, Nak isn't half as compelling as he once was. Unsurprisingly, his countryman Hideo Itami has faced similar issues in NXT.
Certain safety measures are necessary, but they have taken the gloss off wrestlers like Nakamura, whose ring work would be a lot more exciting without the child's stabilisers.