Fans love to complain about their own fandom. It’s a fact of life. When a new Star Wars movie comes out, the Star Wars fans are the first to complain. Doctor Who is getting a new Doctor? We hate them already. And while some wrestling fans may object to their love being called a fandom, the truth still stands. No one likes to crap on the WWE more than the fans. So what do the fans think should be done? What do we think could bring lost viewers back? In this Nerd Talk we dive into our ideas for breathing new life into what we love. Have your own ideas? Share with us in the comments down below.
Raz
Some of you may not know this but I have been an avid wrestling fan for as long as I can remember. I was lucky enough to grow up during The Monday Night Wars, the Attitude Era. I also witnessed the transition from TV14 to TVPG, it was not a fun one. Now don’t get me wrong I understood from a business point of view why it had to change, I just didn’t enjoy seeing the product I loved get watered down to the point you had special guests like The Muppets appear on the show…….
Now I’m not saying that WWE needs to return to its old ways of ‘sex and blood sells’, that simply won’t work in this day an age, but in my opinion for WWE to incite fans back or even gain new ones is to make edgier content. Sometimes I think that WWE has a lot of adult viewers and it caters too much to it’s younger audience. I know, I know it’s family viewing but it got to the point where I was seeing edgier content in kids films than on WWE.
With the birth of AEW it does seem the WWE has took notice and over the last few months I have noticed that they are starting to push their boundaries and whilst I doubt we’ll ever see the days of the Attitude Era again, with the stack of talent on their roster and with the right creative behind it with that edgier content put in, WWE could take over once again.
Derf
What do I think the WWE needs to do to bring back wrestling to it’s glory? Well, I have always said that they have too much talent that they do nothing with. They bring great wrestlers up from nXt like EC3 and Sanity and don’t use them. Hell, you don’t even see them on TV unless they happen to be backstage or part of the 24/7 championship story line. So, I think I know a way that the WWE can use all talent and therefore bring up ratings.
What is that you ask? Well, bring back stables. What do I mean? Well, when you are a member of a stable, you travel with your group which guarantees air time. For example, not everybody in the nWo wrestled every night, but that didn’t stop all the members from walking out to the ring. So, if they bring back stables or at least three man teams, more talent can be used. One stable I thought they should have created was the Wasteland. This stable would have consisted of Baron Corbin and the Ascension. I really felt they dropped the ball on this, especially on the Ascension. Another stable could be a reformation of sorts of the Wild Samoans. This stable could include Reigns, Joe, the Usos, and even Nia Jax and Tamina.
All I am saying is that WWE creative needs to write in more wrestlers that are fresh instead of digging up legends to do the work that superstars like Owens and Eric Young should be doing.
the Ascension should get more air time.
Billiam
I’ve loved wrestling since I was a kid. I vividly remember a story line between Macho Man and Ric Flair where Flair kidnapped the Macho Man’s father. I’ve talked to Sam Kiss about this and he doesn’t remember it and since the man is a walking WWE Encyclopedia, I doubt my memory. But none the less, I can remember watching wrestling as a kid and loving every moment of it. When I fell back in love with wrestling (honest to God) thanks to the Nerds of the Squared Circle podcast. Since then my interest has slowly declined and these days I find catching up to be a chore. I had hope when Hayman and Bischoff took over Raw and Smackdown, but it seems like Vince is still micro managing behind the scenes.
The first change I would like to see made is Vince stepping down from creative. I’ve heard way too many stories of bad ideas being completely his and since he’s the boss, it’s what they have to work with. Vince is a legend and it’s thanks to him that the world of professional wrestling is what is. But as time goes on it seems like his last minute script changes and his story lines just don’t have the oomf they used to and maybe he should step away from the creative aspect.
The second change is to have the WWE remember that they have more than three belts at any given time. I get it. The shows and the PPV’s can only be so long and if every title got love on each show, there would be no room for anything else. I understand that. But there has to be a better balance. The IIconics won the Women’s Tag Team titles and then they disappeared faster than a witness against a drug cartel. It seems that they can only focus on either the IC or US titles at any given time and how long did we go without so much as a sideways glance at the Raw Tag Titles? There has to be a better way to juggle the titles.
Though I have a lot more to say, I’ll limit myself to three changes. In an episode of Nerds of the Squared Circle from a month or two ago, Snarfkris and Sam were talking about the flow of shows and pacing and how every match can’t be a five star match each and every time. I get that. I really do. But I’m sick and tired of seeing good wrestlers be reduced to permanent jobbing roles. Look at Tyler Breeze and Fandango. They were a joke. Whenever they jumped in the ring they’d get stomped faster than a wounded Lesnar in front of Seth Rollins. They would get roflstomped. Now look at them on NXT! They can wrestle. Breeze may still loose, but he had a great series of matches against the Velveteen Dream. I get that every wrestler can’t have each and every match be a fast paced ironman match, but come on! Don’t waste good wrestlers.
