5 Ways WWE Can Fix Its Broken Product
2. Less Is More
Every now and then, almost by accident, WWE will stumble across something legitimately cool. The most recent example that comes to mind happened during this year’s WrestleMania main event, when ‘The Beast Incarnate’ Brock Lesnar uttered the immortal words ‘Suplex City, bitch’ in his main event bout with Roman Reigns. It was a legitimately cool moment and phrase, but ever since WWE has ruined it by continuously ramming it down the viewer’s throats. Brock’s German suplexes are no longer called as such, now referred to as ‘Suplex City’. WWE is like a child who eats something they like and wants to eat it every day, only WWE doesn’t have a parent around to say no. Suplex City has gone from being a cool heat of the moment phrase to an eye-roller.
The same goes for Bray Wyatt and his dark room promos. During the first six months he spent on the main roster, Wyatt’s promos were a genuine highlight. Now? Every week he’s stuck in a room cutting the same promo going nowhere.
This is true of matches as well. Remember when The Shield split, and the idea of a Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins match was exciting? Well, WWE realised this and proceeded to give us approximately 29458 Ambrose/Rollins matches, to the point where I no longer want to see them near each other. I like bacon, but I’m not eating bacon every single day. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston should be a great match, not one we can all recount in our sleep.
By resisting the temptation to ram these legitimately special things down our throats, WWE can create a product that brings us back for more. Remember when CM Punk hit John Cena with a piledriver in 2013 and everyone lost their minds? I’m not saying WWE should legalise the move, but the reason everyone marked out was because they hadn’t seen it in so long. Less is more.