It has become apparent that there are a surprisingly few characters that WWE writers are given to care about at any given time. These wrestlers are the only ones given compelling storylines consistently. This really hurts the card overall. Let’s look at some examples and examine how. We’ll begin with the good
First, the best story in the WWE right now is the Randy Orton, Wade Barrett, John Cena one. There are several reasons this storyline is so compelling. First and foremost, we have top wrestlers competing for the title. Although I agree titles aren’t the be all end all, when utilized properly, they can add a sense of gravitas to a story. Further, we have a personal issue at stake, with John Cena’s freedom and career on the line to Wade Barrett and Nexus. Adding to the sense of history involved, Cena and Orton last year had a huge feud over the title that really adds to the backstory. We even have the elevation of a new star, as now Wade Barrett seems like a top star.
Finally, after all of these positives, we come to what I consider perhaps the most important- the feud has involved other men to keep it fresh. John Cena vs. Nexus has gone on for half a year already and this section isn’t just Wade Barrett trying to control John Cena. The feud also involves the Miz, who just loves getting under Cena’s skin, R-Truth who has been riling Randy up and trying to seem the voice of reason, and David Otunga, who Mark Allen awesomely called the Starscream to Barrett’s Megatron. The involvement of all of these other wrestlers makes the storyline not only feel more important and keeps it from stagnating, but also makes the title and the top of the card seem important, like things other superstars are striving for. An easy example of how effective this can be is the Megapowers storyline. At no point during that feud did the background wrestlers and personalities just disappear. Beginning with Andre the Giant and Ted Dibiase, continuing on to the Twin Towers, and, of course, including Miss Elizabeth, the main story of Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage was not just given away, but built to using various villains and supporting cast members. All of these men, mostly seeking the title, put the friendship not based on the title of Hogan and Savage into contrast and made us able to see the reason for Savage’s growing, yet wrong, jealousy. Even Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan two years prior featured the culmination of the Heenan Family trying to get the title off Hogan, Roddy Piper for the purpose of history, and a long alliance being town asunder. This great involvement from others is often the hallmark of a great story.
Further proof of this can be seen elsewhere on the Raw card with Sheamus. Sheamus is annoyed by Santino and trying to kill him, only to be thwarted at every turn by John Morrison. The dangerous Sheamus, playing at this point a role quite similar to that of the recently departed Batista, can crush Santino if he can just get his hands on him, but the protector from this bully, John Morrison, just won’t let him. The involvement of Santino and, entirely to be crushed to make Sheamus impressive, Kozlov, allow Morrison to get heat without having to look weak, and Sheamus to be thwarted without actually being beat up. This elevates both men and, if a match can live up to the build, might finally boost Morrison out of the midcard.
The thought put into these storylines, however, makes several other stories look flat out lazy. Daniel Bryan, a guy the WWE clearly at least respects and is putting over, just got one of the lazier starts to a feud in recent memory. After beating a former World Champion in Jack Swagger, an awesome moment, Daniel Bryan was celebrating when Ted Dibiase came out and announced he wanted the US Title. Notice the nuance and depth of characters above that is missing here. There are numerous ways this could have gone- from Dibiase offering to buy the title to hiring someone to take Bryan out, but instead, the writers felt like Dibiase walking out and saying he wanted the title was the best bet. For Dibiase to get heat as a heel, this makes no sense. For Bryan to get more over facing this guy, he has to beat a guy who has some heat, and this angle killed that. On Old School Raw this could have been such a great homage to The Million Dollar Man trying to buy everything/
Just as lazy, if not worse, is the treatment of the Hart Dynasty’s breakup. Long a tag-team, we got no logic, no reason for the breakup and heel turn of Tyson Kidd. Again, given Old School Raw, it would have been so easy. Simply have Tyson say he’s the Dynamite Kid, the great talent of his team, but things don’t work out so well for non-Harts when involved with the “golden family.” Kidd could equally have attacked his partner in some memorable way (Barber Shop window anyone?), and there were no shortage of props given all the veterans about, then cut a promo about being the new HBK, throwing the Hart name aside just as he threw his Marty Jannetty aside. Instead, WWE went with the most cliche turn possible- leaving Kidd leaving Smith mid-match. That only ever works with months of build, in a hot angle, where there is clearly something to fight about. Kidd and Smith have none of that and sadly, its hard to see this leading anywhere but Superstars.
The pecking order of storyline quality in the WWE is clear and descending. Gone are the days of wrestlers all around the card having good stories based upon their characters and if Old School Raw made me nostalgic for anything, it was that…well, that and The Fink.
