10 WWE Innovations That Nobody Wanted

In the ever-evolving world of professional wrestling, WWE has always been at the forefront of innovation, constantly seeking new ways to entertain its global audience.

That sentence might sound like WhatCulture is drinking the Kool-Aid, but even when they were on the ropes in the 1990s, Vince McMahon and his band of yes-men were coming up with ideas that changed the world of graps forever. 1996 - a year hardly held aloft as an all-time great period - is hard-coded into the DNA of the promotion. The Bronson Reed Vs. Braun Strowman feud, to use one example, does not happen without SummerSlam's Boiler Room Brawl. 

That was then...

Sadly, not all ideas hit the mark, especially the ones since WWE stopped having to compete with wrasslin' down South on Mondays. 

From force-feeding fans gimmick matches at the same time every year, to taking up precious time at the biggest show on the calendar with concerts, recent attempts at shaking up the status quo often left viewers scratching their heads rather than cheering in excitement.

It's unlikely that any of these 10 innovations helped get new fans in, or did anything for those who'd been watching for years, except get them to stop watching of course.

Bigger isn't better.

In the year the brand split was finally put out of its misery, WWE tried to make us think the roster was stacked by throwing 10 more wrestlers into the big over the top rope slugfest that starts the year. Everybody loves the Royal Rumble match, so whisper this one as quietly as you can: the spells where it's just people half-heartedly pushing each other against the ropes get boring... and this match had a lot of that.

Let's face it, there weren't a lot of contenders either. Maybe John Cena. Possibly CM Punk. But, if you thought anybody other than Alberto Del Rio was going over, you were young and naïve. 

It's telling that nobody says they should try this again. If you ask the average wrestling fan what they remember about this match, they're more like to answer with: "Is that the one where Alex Riley got eliminated early by mistake?", "Didn't Santino Marella almost win?", or "Why does Michael Cole keep saying Diesel like that?"

Within a year the brand extension was over and the match was down to 30 again. It was the right call after this match went on for way too long.