During the Attitude Era, Steve Austin, The Rock, and Mick Foley became stars not only because of their abilities, but because they were unique. All three men would have to go through character changes and development before hitting the big time, but when they succeeded it was because they had a hand in creating the personas that made them superstars. With a better understanding of their roles than anyone else, the three champions were able to connect with fans via original and memorable promos. Today, all promos are scripted word-for-word by writers who couldn't cut it in Hollywood. As a result, every wrestler sounds the same, delivering lame jokes and repeating company-mandated buzzwords. There are, with only a few exceptions, no good promos, and all of the bad ones sound the same. Austin and Foley have both been critical of the scripting and lack of input WWE talent has in their characters, while The Rock disregards any script and delivers his signature promos. While there likely isn't anyone on the company's roster who can do what he can, letting today's stars try would at least give Raw more variety - and a few genuine superstars may be born out of the bargain.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013