12 Times WWE Buried Itself
WWE: The recognised symbol of excellence in letting people know when it absolutely sucks
There's a difference between a good WWE and a bad one, and the lines aren't as blurred as some would have you believe.
There will never be a perfect edition of Raw or SmackDown. There have been some that have ran it close - there have been nights where the absolute hottest angles and matches are so memorable that they account for every recollection you'll have of a specific time, but perfection - while a worthy target - is always beyond reach thanks to at least one thing that has you itching for a fast-forward. It's the nature of the 52-week television churn but also the business itself. Even when wrestling television was structured entirely differently and more in service of house shows, a week without a big angle, a double-star match or even one great worker was commonplace.
What does remain consistent - particularly when assessing WWE as the recognised market leader for just about all of the last 40+ years - is a sense of certainty about the quality of the creative process. A business boom historically lasts longer than a creative one because rewards are reaped for a period after the bubble has burst. But it also starts before the cash starts rolling in - there are hardcores that love the obvious run-up to a peak than the summit itself.
1985-1990. 1996-2001. 2022-2025. Imperfect times, but very obvious periods of creative cohesion. As for the two decades between hot spells though...
12. The McMahons Apologise For WWE Being Bad And Change Nothing
In a segment that transpired to be rooted in a belief Triple H had that WWE were about to sign The Elite and stop AEW ever existing, all four McMahons took the ring at the start of the December 17th edition of Monday Night Raw to acknowledge that they hadn’t been producing a particularly good show for a while.
Already, the concept of the speech was flawed. “A while” wasn’t really fleshed out, and nor could it be - by admitting that the creative machine hadn’t really been well oiled since the year 2000, the company stood to risk alienating various TV paymasters that had only just agreed to make SmackDown the first ever billion dollar wrestling show thanks to an eye-watering new rights fee deal.
Furthermore, while Paul Levesque, and both McMahon children remembered the point of the peace offering and tried to show a modicum of contrition for a rotten period, Vince had already forgotten/ignored the brief before they’d even got to the apology. Long into his senile/disaffected troll era as a creative “force”, McMahon was bollocking the fans for their reactions throughout, and didn’t have any of the enthusiasm faked by the other three in the ring.
The message was anything but clear - we are going to make WWE better, but it’s already the best and you shouldn’t complain so much anyway. Get It?