The Quote That Sums Up WWE's Problem Perfectly
Whether or not the report of Keith Lee being sent back to the Performance Center for extra training was accurate is almost immaterial because it's clear that Vince McMahon has no use for the Keith Lee that got over. Re-read that sentence. This is a company flailing under oxymorons. The Keith Lee that got over was a super-athletic phenomenon awesome in the purest definition. He was explosive, jaw-dropping, next-level. This isn't WWE's style - he didn't work at a methodical pace to better tell broader, simpler stories - and so the style, with its rest holds and transitions, was drilled into him. It was considered a gap to be filled, not a skill to market.
Rhea Ripley in December 2019 was the most over act on Wednesday nights. She held the potential to break AEW's demo dominance, and she did, on the 18th. But the machinations got to her in the end; ahead of WrestleMania 36, she was late saving Bianca Belair because she did her signature pose on the entrance ramp. A timing miscue made it all look worse than it could have, but it would have looked daft regardless. WWE's bizarre and heavily ironic insistence on perfect TV rendered the babyface callous, artificial and directed. The actual, awful booking ruined her more than anything, but the very method by which WWE produces its talent contrives to turn them into laughing stocks.
The talent is frequently miscast - that Toni Storm, Candice LeRae and Dakota Kai are all heels is very revealing - but there's a danger, not merely a folly, in WWE's dysfunctional approach.
CONT'D...(4 of 6)