7. Predictable Booking
Particularly in the first half of 2013, WWE creative was extremely guilty of predictable and safe booking. Heading into the Royal Rumble it was painfully obvious exactly what was going to happen over the next four months. The entire Mania season was predictable, and that can't be good for business. It started when The Rock was booked to face CM Punk for the WWE Title at Royal Rumble. It was beyond predictable that Rock would win the title and Cena would win the Rumble. It was obvious that WWE would do this in order to book Rock vs Cena 2. It was clear that Rock would win again when he faced CM Punk at Elimination Chamber. It was further predictable that Cena would win the Mania rematch. It wasn't exactly the most imaginative use of a highly skilled creative team of writers. All the segments in the run up to the big event had the same lack of surprise, Cena and Rock ran through the cookie cutter promos you would expect. The Rock made fun of Vickie Guerrero... didn't see that one coming. It isn't the worst thing in the world, because Rock vs Cena did huge money. But you would hope for something a bit more surprising from a top level creative team. WWE just didn't seem able to avoid obvious pointers throughout its product. Elements of surprise are key to creativity - WWE must do better in 2014.