5 Things WWE Cinematic Matches Should NOT Do (And 5 Things They SHOULD Do)
6. DON’T: Emulate Bad TV Movies
It might be that they’ve only stopped being quite so weird because we’ve gotten used to them, but let’s reiterate that making the jump from an in-ring wrestling match to a cinematic production is one hell of a shift. Yes, WWE already have an impressive archive of in-house movie productions. This is different.
Whilst pioneering the commercial stadium appeal of wrestling more than 30 years back, WWE seems to be snail-trailing in harnessing the already established conventions of, well… making a film… or more accurately, a one-off TV episode.
The cinematic matches of 2020 that have actually been effective is not something this writer has overlooked and they will be celebrated shortly, but the ones which haven’t, when nudged only slightly out of context of the larger programming of WWE, resemble nothing more than a failed pilot episode to a TV show that no sound-minded network would commission, even in a drunken stupor.
Basically, if it's worse than a '90s Channel 5 film, either in the comedy or horror genres, then it's not to the benefit of any party involved. They need to be more than this. A lot more.