In Defence Of WWE Creative
Adam Cole flourishes in NXT because the path to the top of the card is clear. The brand operates within a cyclical framework, and in it, greed is good. Greed is fundamental to the freshness and excitement because there is an endgame beyond even the top titles, poisoned though it is: promotion to the main roster.
On the flagship of that main roster, the top title isn’t even the endgame. It isn’t when disappeared by Brock Lesnar, nor will it be when Roman Reigns, at long last, begins his years-long, John Cena-style inextricable association with it.
That is a further aspect of the problem.
The Creative Writers are victims of their employer’s rank greed and outdated, myopic focus on a Hulk Hogan-style talisman. Even if they were capable, they are unable to absorb these countless literal talents into something approaching a shared universe because it’s not a shared universe at all. It is a yard, and we know whose yard it is because he tells us every single bloody week.
The young men with minimal though strangely sought-after experience in the “legitimate” mainstream entertainment sphere write for one man: Vince McMahon. All WWE content is driven towards him, and he seems to either rate Roman Reigns a great deal, or remains intent on competing with his audience at Roman’s cost. They always said Vince thrives on competition. This is his latest ego trip, counterproductive as it is, and in doing so, he’s only serving to strengthen the real competition brick by brick.
The Creative staff can’t effectively manage the bloated roster, and because audience reaction no longer dictates who receives a push, they cannot. They are simply men doing a job within a very strict remit. And, if the OTT content of the worst WWE main roster segments is any indication, they’re doing the same thing most workers do: popping each other to see what sort of sh*t they can get away with.
So, in conclusion, the company that promotes every vaguely progressive women’s wrestling milestone as if they have just successfully lobbied for women to vote must exercise restraint to end its creative malaise.
See you next Monday for Boss Time!