10 Ways WWE Are Still Stuck In The Past
This isn't your father's WWE, but the company is as reliant on nostalgia as ever.
WWE would have you believe that they're a highly progressive company at the forefront of wrestling innovation, and they're not entirely wrong. The WWE Network has forever changed wrestling's distribution channels, NXT has reinvented the concept of "developmental," and a certain Revolution has shot women's wrestling to previously unthinkable levels of prominence.
Even WWE's staunchest critics would struggle to deny these advancements, but WWE aren't always the forward-thinking company they like to present themselves as. WWE are regularly derided for being "out of touch" with modern audiences, and for good reason: as one foot moves forward, the other often stays rooted in the past.
For all the progress they've made in the last few years, WWE still rehash storylines, gimmicks, and stipulations without second thought. They routinely rely on older wrestlers over exciting young talents, and have seemingly lost the ability to create new stars on the level of a Brock Lesnar or Goldberg. Even NXT, one of the company's biggest modern successes, is full of problems: TakeOver: San Antonio was headlined by two men with an average age of 38, for example.
There'll always be a place for nostalgia in wrestling, but WWE's over-reliance on it often leaves their product feeling stale and outdated, despite their recent innovations...
10. Derivative Gimmicks
WWE have produced some pretty horrendous gimmicks over the past few decades. From the paper-thin occupational gimmicks of the mid ‘90s all the way through to Mordecai and The Spirit Squad, a number of abominable characters have passed through the company’s quality control filters. They’ve left some even worse ideas on the cutting room floor (see: Baron Von Bava), but there’s no excusing some of the lame gimmicks WWE have inflicted upon their audience.
The worst WWE characters are those that play on tired tropes and derivative, uninventive ideas that have never gotten anybody over. Rusev started life as a textbook pro-Russia/anti-USA heel, The Ascension’s LOD/Demolition knock-off act is as simplistic as it gets, and Akira Tozawa continues WWE’s longstanding tradition of being completely unable to book a Japanese wrestler without making “he can’t speak English” a defining character trait.
You’d think that after so many years on top of the business that WWE wouldn’t have to rely on such laziness, but apparently not. For all the great work they’ve done with characters like The Miz and Chris Jericho, WWE Creative still fall into bad habits from time to time. Such gimmicks only hold the performers back, and prevent the company from being taken seriously.