The Secret Reason WWE Is Failing

Chris Jericho is known as the master of reinvention and he had to be, to escape his (cruel) perception as a lame and past-it relic under the delusion that "Rooty tooty booty" was decent patter. The Undertaker is an enduring legend but he might not have endured the '90s, had Mick Foley not arrived to bring about his reinvention. Time itself scabs over the professional wrestler and they waste so much of it on an NXT programme that is beyond dysfunctional at this stage.

Again: the system isn't fit for purpose because it is designed to "promote" talents to the main roster when they are deemed ready. But the problem is that those who are deemed ready succeeded in NXT - obviously - most often as championship-calibre athletes. Virtually every single act in NXT that feels worn - Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, the Undisputed Era, the average age across which is 35.5 - are multi-time Champions across various divisions. They will not enter WWE's main roster system at the start of their journeys; they will arrive, having worked countless famous epics known for their duration and excess, as fully-formed wrestlers that fans would expect to see installed in major programmes. But that's true of virtually every NXT performer worth the push. There's very little room. And so a logjam is created, of countless athletes nearing or in their athletic primes, virtually all of whom share the same goals and are ready to achieve them. Look at the ages of the last four male main roster call-ups on the thumbnail. It's an indictment.

WWE's ageing, prime-years roster annihilates its scope to tell stories and get talent over, because if the aspirational champion loses, who are they, exactly, other than a loser?

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