10 Ways WWE Hasn't Learned From Its Mistakes
1. Wins And Losses Do Not Matter
Gone off Shinsuke, have you?
You cannot invest in the events that you are watching. Well, you can if you're the sort of goldfish that thinks elevating stale late-2000s midcard acts into main event positions is good, actually, but anybody who isn't programmed to enjoy it, and possesses something called memory, finds it difficult.
Daniel Bryan is presumably headed for a Universal Title showdown at Fastlane by virtue of winning the Elimination Chamber match - only to be screwed by Roman Reigns in a scheme masquerading as a contractual obligation. Bryan was beaten by Cesaro in just 4:10 on the February 5 SmackDown. Cesaro's push has yet to materialise in a title match. Shinsuke Nakamura took the spot intended for him briefly, and starred in a Gauntlet match on the January 8 SmackDown. This didn't earn him a place in the Chamber, even though he proved himself adept at eliminating people from long matches.
Because none of this matters week-to-week.
And this is meant to be the good WWE show.
Over on RAW, Riddle just has to stand near Bobby Lashley and get wrecked by him weekly to "earn" a "championship opportunity". In WWE, sharing the same screen in literally any capacity somehow constitutes a programme. The Miz has won three singles matches since January 2020, for f*ck's sake!
WWE is a blurry tier of normalised guys with indistinguishable and forgettable win/loss records.
But the exalted SmackDown is just great!