10 Ways WWE Are Still Stuck In The Past
1. Elderly Main Eventers
The Undertaker, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and John Cena are WWE’s most important wrestlers at the moment. They only hold one championship between them, but each is a certified draw, and a major player in the company’s biggest ongoing storylines. Their combined age? 179 years old.
WWE’s inability to build fresh new stars is such that they’ve been forced to rely on this foursome in 2017, and that’s a huge problem. Lesnar and Cena can still go, but Goldberg and Taker are far removed from their prime, and will still be asked to play huge roles at WrestleMania 33.
WWE have built their product around the stars of a bygone era. Instead of looking at the stars of tomorrow, they have turned to a cast of old-timers for a short-term ratings boost. It’s working at the moment, and Lesnar vs. Goldberg is one of the hottest feuds in the business, but these wrestlers aren’t built to last, and their retirement will come sooner rather than later.
Guys like Kevin Owens are great, but they’re just not on the same level of stardom. If the veterans were to retire tomorrow, WWE would be in deep, deep trouble, but it’s their hill to die on. They have strangled their younger wrestlers’ chances of succeeding by reducing their airtime in favour of those whose best days are well behind them, and they’re going to feel the sting very, very soon.