Post by Omnipotence on Jul 26, 2007 23:54:32 GMT -5
Much like most fans of wrestling, everyone here on this board notes the lack in character development and superstar caliber performers that the WWE is cranking out lately. I got to thinking about some of the greats from the Attitude Era: Mick Foley, Undertaker, HHH, Stone Cold, Rock, Kane, etc. I think the thing that made a big difference is the presence of multiple promotions.
Now, of course there's the obvious 'no compitition so the WWE doesn't need to try as hard' reasoning, but I think there's a little bit more to it. You see, in the different promotions the wrestlers had the opportunity to practice developing characters and giving promos. Think about all the characters Stone Cold went through in ECW, WCW and even the WWF. He wasn't Stone Cold from the begining. He was Stunning Steve Austin, A Hollywood Blonde, The Ringmaster for God's sake. It was years of experimenting with different types of characters in different promotions before Austin found his niche.
Another example would be Foley and Kane (Issac Yankem?).
So I think the problem is that the superstars aren't getting the opportunity to learn through failure. If the gimmick isn't getting over in the WWE, the superstar all too often becomes a jobber and then gets the ax, they have no where else to go to try and learn something new. Multiple promotions paved the way for many levels of development, now there really is only one.
Now, of course there's the obvious 'no compitition so the WWE doesn't need to try as hard' reasoning, but I think there's a little bit more to it. You see, in the different promotions the wrestlers had the opportunity to practice developing characters and giving promos. Think about all the characters Stone Cold went through in ECW, WCW and even the WWF. He wasn't Stone Cold from the begining. He was Stunning Steve Austin, A Hollywood Blonde, The Ringmaster for God's sake. It was years of experimenting with different types of characters in different promotions before Austin found his niche.
Another example would be Foley and Kane (Issac Yankem?).
So I think the problem is that the superstars aren't getting the opportunity to learn through failure. If the gimmick isn't getting over in the WWE, the superstar all too often becomes a jobber and then gets the ax, they have no where else to go to try and learn something new. Multiple promotions paved the way for many levels of development, now there really is only one.
