What Is The Current Problem With Wrestling And Is Their Any Way To Fix It?

So I got to thinking and wanted to get everyones opinion on what's the current problem and how can you get back an audience that has been leaving?

Wrestling will never be what it once was. It just won't happen where your getting 6s every week. The concerning thing is that WWE has been struggling to maintain a 3 rating. Wrestling fans(TNA and WWE alike) are losing fans and many point to creative as the reason however I feel that the biggest problem is the fans............Fans say they want everything to make sense and storylines to be complex but they want the reveals quickly and then they complain about short feuds. They complain about a lack of star power but then when a future superstar is pushed to the moon they resent him because he didnt pay his dues even if the guy is loved by the fans and gets one of the top reactions of the crowd. It seems that if you Simply the fans don't know what they want and they spend a lot of time snitching and looking for all the flaws they can to point them out and talk crap.........Wrestling has always been an escape from the normal and to watch 2 guys beat the crap out of each other(I know its fake) like the Storm vs. Roode Street fight at BFG this year I loved it I know its fake but it was like a movie and it seemed real.

Wrestling has a stigma about it. It is hard to attract teenage viewers now because if you wear a wrestling shirt to school chances are you are going to be bullied about it cause the cool kids are buttholes. So how do you attract new fans to watch wrestling or get the old fans back?

Do you go back to TV-14 and have a few swear words again? All the stuff that worked in the attitude era can no longer be done because the fans are going to say its just rehashed bs. Do you really believe that a few tv hardcore matches is going to bring ratings back? Maybe a boost for a short while but long term I do not think so. I think TNA and WWE are in a very hard spot right now and its a long uphill climb to try and bring in new fans and get old ones back.

 

for me

1 have blood come back hell in a cell without blood makes it so much less intense just a glorified cage match.
2 They need wrestlers that can tell a story in the ring. Remember the days when both guys are down just laying there and the crowd was just intense going nuts on the edge of there seat waiting to see what happens next. I think thats missing from wrestlers now a days they dont know how to do that with the crowd.
3 this cant be fixed but the crowds now a days are filled with mothers that just go for there kids and its gone a bit to family friendly but they have to cause the crowds of old are never going to come back to wrestling
4 Things like hardcore matches backstage brawls arent really used anymore make it come back
5 get rid of there dorky comedy like brodus clay dancing hornswaggle all that stuff that just makes u cringe it turns people off comedy is good but in the old days it was used right like the apa backstage segments and what not

Raising the rating can atleast make the product a bit better and hit alot of the points i dont like

 

I agree, BITB. Get out of this "PG" Era. Bring back Attitude. Wrestling is on Cable TV, not regular TV. So, if kids shouldn't watch it, then that's on the parents.

THat's my biggest problem, is its too family friendly. Its not like it used to be. I'm not talking about the wrestlers, but the SLs. The segments. They can still do all that, but they are too goobered to do so.

 

realisticly its not going to happen though were stuck with what we have because there pg audience is all they have now.

 

yeah

 

I can agree with all that. A lil comedy is ok but in the case of Brodus his entrance takes 5 minutes and then another 2 minutes dancing after the match. Thats 7 minutes you could have added to another match or someone giving a promo. I remember seeing in a tag match where both guys running into ropes after face had been getting smashed all of a sudden double clothesline both men down and the crowd is on their feet for the hot tag. No daredevils anymore. Guys like Jeff Hardy no longer exist in WWE and theirs no real holy crap moment anymore. Theres a few spots but nothing like Hardy going on the titantron or that gigantic ladder or shane climbing all the way up. Also remember how they used to make heels credible and let them lay out the champion before a PPV. Also I don't know about you but Brock doing the kimura lock in WWE to me is just stupid it looks terrible and not that believable. Have him destroy people just have him walk into the building walk into a random match F-5 someone then leave. It would be a better appearance then the ones he has done lately. It seems like every good thing they have going they end too early and the crap thats gotten boring they drag on too long.

 

I thought brock wearing gloves and ufc shorts is dumb by itself the komora just makes it worse. Just have him come out like he used to its not the ufc.

 

He also doesnt look the same. Like he doesn't look like he wants to be there. He is there to collect a check and that is it. I feel this has been a wasted return not sure how else to put it just disappointed in it really.

 

It definitly sucked and it could have been great. I marked out when he showed up i wouldent have if i knew it would only be a cena and triple h match.

 

honestly, its called UFC. You cant beat real violence that comes with a story line essentially

 

I've always thought that there's been too much music and too much storyline that cuts into the actual time they could be showing matches.

And, what Mike says above me is dead on. I think I'd prefer to watch a MMA match than either a WWE match or an Impact/TNA match.

 

personally I love the ring entrances and music it is the one thing i think that TNA is lacking right now and makes them look amateurish is that their music is not that great. I think that if they had better music and an entrance video of the wrestler's highlights like WWE does it would do wonders for their look.

 

Entrance music lasts too long and is overblown.

 

I love ring entrances unless its like undertaker brodus clay

 

make it real

 

Some ideas on how to fix the current product (WWE version):

1. The whole 'creative' setup has to change. A bunch of Hollywood writers who don't know the business have no business writing storylines. A booking committee of 2-3 guys tops is all you need.
2. Let the wrestlers be extension of themselves. Stop trying to create characters that don't work. These guys come off as idiots when they are trying to stumble through some weak butt script that they can't sell.
3. Stop cutting the balls off of heels. They are all the same, they talk and talk and talk only to end the night on their backs jobbing out to someone. Who's going to take someone who's always losing seriously.
4. WWE needs to end these stipulation PPV's. The Hell in a Cell match should be used in a big blowoff for a feud. It's loses it's luster when you sit through a PPV with 2-3 matches inside the big cage. Also, maybe have 8-10 PPV's instead of one a month. Let storylines develop more.
5. Do something with the midcard. It seems the focus always is on the main event and that's it. Someone's going to lose the main event so try building up the next guys to go after the belt.
6. Entrance music. I really think licensing songs should be used more. People will connect more with a song they know than some generic Jim Johnson creation.
7. Managers need to come back. Some guys just aren't good on the mic. They need a manager as a mouth piece for them. Think of what a guy like Jack Swagger could have done if he had the right manager getting him heat. Instead we get Donald Duck stammering through his promos.
8. Less TV. They are way overexposed now. 3 hours on Monday night, one hour on Wednesdays and two hours on Friday. How many people have enough time to sit though 6 hours of programming each week?
9. Stop wearing their stars out. Guys should get some rest instead of being on the road 300+ days a year.
10. Start swapping talent with other promotions. How cool would it be for WWE to partner up with say NJPW or CMLL and send them young guys to get experience while bringing in talent from the other promotions to help build the midcard.
11. Plan in advance. WWE has gotten as bad as WCW back in the day with their crapty planning. You sometimes get the feeling it's showtime and they are figuring things out on the fly.
12. More tournaments please. Sometimes all you need for a good match is a reason why two guys are competing. How many times do you come back from commercial and have random wrestler A vs random wrestler B for no reason?
13. Seriously, who is coming up with some of the names for the wrestlers? Dolph Ziggler? Kassius Ohno? Jack Swagger? These are names a 6 year old comes up with.
14. Repackage Cena. His act is old and stale.
15. Keep the momentum going with rebuilding the tag team division. It's a great way to bring up young guys and see what they got without having to be thrown to the wolves.

I could keep going but it's time to get some news posted on the site. Nobody else is stepping up to help so someone's gotta do it.

 

I absolutely hate seeing this "bring back teh attidue eraz" crap all over the Internet. Believe it or not, not everything in the Attitude Era was perfect. For example, the overall quality of matches on offer was below average, a lot of downright cheap and tacky storylines, excessive blood which cheapened it's effect, same with weapons, swearing, the degrading of women in wrestling and ADHD-esque booking (Especially in the Russo era).

The things it did great obviously is elevate some great talent to the spotlight (Austin, Rock, Foley, HHH, Angle etc.), create great midcard/lowcard acts that the crowd would get behind, some legendary storylines and ultimately gripping television.

The latter are the things that needs to be focused on. The reliance on bringing back relics from the past to draw (Rock, Undertaker, Brock) is embarrassing as well as counter productive to the future product because no one is elevated into the main event in order to become a draw. This obviously is then hampered by awful booking.

There's seemingly no structure to story lines at all and it seems blatantly obvious that things happen on the fly and thus it results in a lot of very odd booked storylines that lose heat and interest from the general public and fans alike (Eg. Punk taking the WWE Championship from the WWE ended in a Sledgehammer on a Pole match between Triple H and Kevin Nash).

In addition, character development is non existant. Going back to attitude era, everyone had a defined personality, gimmick and look, from the jobbers to the main event. Today, we are left with two gimmicks across the board, happy go lucky faces who crack jokes and act like rods to heels, and heels that are cowardly and always back down regardless of their size and the opponent. Throw in heels rarely winning (except to jobbers), it's all very tedious and predictable.

tl;dr version: Storylines need structure and more unpredictability, and much more broader range and diversity of characters from top to bottom of card.

 

WWE
1. Use Main Event on Wednesday night's to elevate low card/mid card talent. It's like the minors in baseball. You're only as good as your future.
2. Bring back stables. You NEED good stables. 3MB is NOT a stable. It's 3 douches who douche around a bunch. Evolution, DX, The Nation of Domination. ALL of those elevated dudes to the moon(HHH, Randy, Bats, The Rock). Get 1 or 2 of those back and you're money.
3. SLOW DOWN!! There's no need to rush storylines. Let them develop. And that leads me to...
4. GET GUYS WHO KNOW HOW TO TELL A STORY!!!! The WWE SEVERELY lacks this category. I know everyone LOVES Punk but I don't think there is anyone in the E capable of this(outside of Heyman).
5. Vince, just walk away. Let Hunter take it over full time/on top. He UNDERSTANDS the business at this point more than Vince does. He's brought in great talent who isn't 6'7, 280 pounds and understands how to wrestle. Let him take over creative. Plus then Linda's political dreams won't heck up the WWE. PG needs to go. PG-14 should be where it is at. Doesn't need gratuitous nudity or swearing every 5 minutes but sometimes blood and a little bit of attitude goes a long way.

TNA:
1. Do whatever you need to do to make Paul Heyman in charge. With Dixie's bank account and Paul's mind they'd overtake the WWE in 3 years tops.
2. Get rid of the dinosaurs. Hogan hasn't been relevant in 15 years. Let it go. Don't bring in anymore WWE castaways that didn't have the talent. Getting Christian was HUGE coup for TNA. Do that again. Aces and Eights was an amazing opportunity that TNA had but IMO squandered. Devon as a member is cool and Double J as the leader will be neat but imagine it they had brought in Adam Copeland as the ring master? That right there would double your ratings.
3. Get out of the Impact Zone. Do a few shows a month there but outside of that, travel. Get exposure nationwide. If you do 2 shows in Orlando and 2 shows somewhere else, MONEY! I know a big draw of TNA for wrestlers is live and work mostly in the same place but that won't get you notoriety.
4. Show the WORLD you're not the WWE. Wrestling fans are sick and tired of the same old crap in WWE(this one included). You're not stuck to TV PG so give fans what they want. The Roode/Storm match at BFG was pretty good but you need more or that. Not just meaningless blood and such but keep the edge that you have going.
5. Develop better storylines. Wow. AJ Styles knocked someone up and the "fallen angel" who now drinks appletinis blackmails him. Can someone please remind me why AJ Styles isn't the champ at this point? Enough with the over the top old school storylines and develop something revolutionary. It's how companies get their names. WCW had the nWo, WWE had DX. Make something AMAZING happen TNA, PLEASE!!!!

 

just something real quick

never like the themed ppv idea even tho the matches are awesome

hell in a cell should be replaced with king of the ring ppv

 

Someone PLEASE help Vickie Guerrero find some bass for her voice...that's it....