Requoted from the beginng for context:
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Originally Posted by #1-wwf-fan
(Post 4450409)
Instead of having a new gimmick debut and "cooling off" on them within a month, Vince should probably just... ya know... watch NXT.
Seriously, just fucking have some writers who specifically take care of the midcard scene. The reason it's been shit for years is because no one is gaining any momentum because they all get pushed for a month, de-pushed, then expected to be taken seriously again for a month, then forgotten and de-pushed again, and so on. It's not that hard to fix. It's just an issue of laziness.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by #1-wwf-fan
(Post 4450454)
And that's exactly why. If they had actually put effort into keeping midcarders relevant by giving them shit to do to keep people interested instead of seemingly spending 5 minutes a week saying "Okay, this guy's gonna face this guy and this guy's gonna win because we're pushing him this month. Booking done." then there would be a ton of guys ready to move up the card. Instead they've gotta depend on bringing in guys and instantly trying to make them main eventers because the rest of the roster has been made to look too inconsistent to buy into as a star.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Guycott
(Post 4450473)
All of this, and the fact that they "like the look" of somebody like Ryback, and then want him to instantly go from being fed jobbers to jumping to the top of the card in the span of eight weeks (as opposed to climbing up the card gradually) and wondering why people don't buy him as a main event talent, then just giving up on him.
Its like they get bored with ideas quicker than the fans do. They don't let people get behind anyone anymore. Most of the time, their thought process seems to be if the person isn't somehow over instantly, it isn't worth doing.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewAllenHanso
(Post 4451907)
Revisionist history.
People got behind Ryback jumping to the main event, he got huge pops. Then 500 screw job finishes and then disappearing from the main event, and losing to Henry at Wrestlemania killed alot of his momentum.
Then he started getting good heat as a heel against Cena only to be ultimately misused, buried and forgotten.
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The last 5 words you said there was the entire point.
It's not "revisionist history" that they tried to do too much too soon for Ryback. Yes, he was over, but not "carry the company" over. The heel turn didn't help, but people wanted him because he was the new hot thing. It wasn't going to be Cena vs. Orton for the 800th time, so we'll get on board with just about anything. AS HE WAS, without any character development, he would have fizzled out anyway. There was a reason for the Goldberg chants, and it wasn't just because of the bald look. Squashing countless local nobodies was going to get old, but the mishandling of how he was booked faded his star faster. You don't just become better than people you never faced... and there were a bunch of tiers of the card he was bypassing with that rocket up his ass. It didn't work. And when that happened, it was somehow "his" fault for not being able to connect with fans as opposed to WWE's fault for trying to rush a new marketable superstar.
That's not revisionist history.
Getting huge pops and gaining momentum isn't the same as becoming an iconic, credible threat almost overnight. Lesnar wasn't pushed that fast. Hell, even Goldberg won the US title first during his steak, and that was like six or seven months after he debuted... not six or seven weeks to WHC contention. Even Daniel Bryan's constant snubbing was actually a blessing- they bult a milkable angle in getting screwed out of title shots and made him into a badass workhorse with an unbreakable spirit who can beat anyone on any given night with even odds and needs unfair handicaps and prematch beatdowns to lose. Add to that, at this point, he has history with Kane and (pre Mania) was a world champion, and you have a
character... which the WWE puts a premium on. By not wanting to make him one, they seem to have unintentionally MADE HIM ONE!
I say again that I hope they don't make that mistake with Reigns. As tempting as it is to slingshot him to be "the man", and as much as people "say" they want to see this happen, it is too soon. They need to build him up first, and I don't mean the instant, early pomp and circumstance. They're on a nice path, but they need to take their time. They need to build a lot of people up first, over time. They need to better define tiers on the card. They debut new people and seem to have an unrealistic expectation that it's going to be the biggest thing ever- the next "Hulkamainia"- right out of the gate. A lot of people on the roster right now all had promising starts, and then WWE goes nowhere with it.
It's kind of like baking a cake. You stick the batter in the oven at about 350 and let it bake for like 30 minutes... what you CAN'T do is blast the oven to 600 and expect delicious results in 5 minutes, then blame the cake for not looking like it does on the box. [note: cake baking time not 100% accurate]
Back on Ryback, he and Henning* vs Goldust and ? is one of my favorite angles going on right now, because of what it's doing for everyone involved. These mystery partners picked by Cody is doing nothing but furthering the rift between he and his brother, it gives whoever Goldie's partner is some TV/ring time, and RybAxel not only keep rolling with wins over these makeshift teams which :gasp: builds them up as a credible threat tag team that can one day (now sooner than later) go up against the Usos for the titles without looking like some random, thrown together tandem, but them taking credit for breaking up tag teams (hillariously including The Rockers) gives them a nice arrogant dick heel edge. Henning* isn't made to look like a jackass like during his singles run. Ryback isn't pinning people who aren't even on the WWE roster like during his. They're being made to look legit. And all of this is being accomplished by ONE FREAKIN' ANGLE.
They can do things like that for lower card people to push them up the ladder over time. I once wrote a long time ago that Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler- one of my favorite modern matchups- could have been a PPV headline and possibly even a WWEWHC title match by now, and no one would have batted an eye because they would have been established main eventers after a series of angles, builds, and pushes over time. If you tried to make this happen RIGHT NOW by Summer Slam, though, you'd have a tougher time selling that same match as legit. Hell, you have a hard time arguing at this point that it would even belong on a PPV card simply because of how hard they've been jobbing Dolph out and letting Kofi languish doing nothing of note.
