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WWE is arguably the biggest Wrestling Promotion in the world. It always was, and still is. But what about the future? Well, that would depend on the quality of the product that WWE provides to its fans.
The IWC has been very vocal on the fact that WWE doesn't learn from its mistakes and keep on repeating them, resulting in the degrading of their own product. Well, that is pretty much true as is evident from the reactions it gets from the fans.
With the inception of a new competitor in All Elite Wrestling, WWE would want to correct the mistakes that they did in the past, and moreover learn from them.
In this article, let's take a look at the 10 things WWE must stop doing after WrestleMania 35.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article belong to the writer and doesn't necessarily represent Sportskeeda's stand.
#10 Not booking NJPW/Foreign stars properly
In the last few years, a lot of top Superstars formerly under contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling have jumped ships to WWE. Names like AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, Anderson and Gallows, and many more have joined WWE with a hope to get exposure to a bigger audience.
But unfortunately, WWE failed to use most of them properly, due to some reason or the other. All of these Superstars came in with a lot of hype and while most of them did succeed initially, their push seemingly ended soon especially on the main roster, with an exception of maybe a select few like AJ Styles.
Just to give an example, Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka were the respective Royal Rumble winners last year, but both of them failed to capture gold at WrestleMania 34. This year, both these Superstars are not part of proper storylines leading to 'Mania.
Looking at the booking of these wrestlers, many free agents are considering not coming to WWE, and are instead looking for an alternative like the upcoming AEW. WWE has unfortunately lost many hottest free agents due to this inconsistent booking.
#9 Not repeat anything like the whole CM Punk saga
CM Punk left WWE in January 2014, after the Royal Rumble event. Even after more than five years of his departure, it's not very uncommon to listen to "CM PUNK" chants from the crowd, especially if the shows are in Chicago, Punk's home town.
The whole CM Punk saga was, to be honest, one of the most controversial things in the history of WWE. The fact that Punk was fired on his wedding day made it even worse, as fans did not take this too nicely.
While it can be argued that WWE is not doing that bad without Punk, but the fact is that the amount of negative publicity that WWE had to face, as well as the huge amount of money due to all the Lawsuits and all, was something WWE and Mr. McMahon would have wanted to avoid.
#8 Less focus on actual "wrestling" on the main roster
WWE right now has hold of some of the greatest talents in the world. With superstars like AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan, etc. it's tough to realize the fact that the main roster is often criticized for not delivering good wrestling matches.
On the contrary, if we look at NXT, it is known for its amazing wrestling. On any given day, an NXT Takeover is better than the big Main Roster PPV that follows it. The irony - it is still called the developmental brand.
Last year at the NXT Takeover New Orleans before WrestleMania, we got to witness classic matches like Gargano vs Ciampa, Black vs Andrade, and many more. All the five matches booked were of top quality and kept the fans engaged throughout. But if we think of WrestleMania 34 on its own, hardly one or two such matches come to mind.
And no, it's not because of the wrestlers involved, as the same wrestlers were once killing it in NXT, but after their main roster debut, they were not given the freedom of the same level to go out and express themselves in the ring and do amazing stuff.
One of the biggest reasons why many fans are turning towards other wrestling promotions is due to this fact only. WWE should address this issue soon, or else it'll keep on losing its fans to NJPW, ROH, and AEW.
#7 Not doing anything with Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Roy winners
To start with, I loved the concept of Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal when WWE first introduced it in 2014. The way it was portrayed made fans think that whoever wins it will be in for a huge push after WrestleMania. But sadly things didn't turn out to be that way.
The winners of this trophy since 2014 are Cesaro (WM 30), Big Show (WM 31), Baron Corbin (WM 32), Mojo Rawley (WM 33), and Matt Hardy (WM 34). Out of all of them maybe only Cesaro and Corbin got somewhat of a meaningful push, but that also for a very short time.
The situation is pretty bad, considering that fans are now looking at this as a demotion for wrestlers. It's placed on the pre-show, with nothing at stakes. It's really tough for us fans to really get excited about this match.
#6 Long Shows filled with meaningless segments
A big reason behind the success of pro-wrestling is the refreshment and excitement that it gives to the viewers. But not everyone can watch the long shows that WWE puts these days.
This year's WrestleMania has the potential to be the longest one ever with a two-hour pre-show and at least a five-hour main show. That's just too much on a go. Especially if there are too many segments without any payoff, the fans won't be happy to sit for such a long show.
Fans have long been complaining about RAW being a 3-hour show and how tough it is sometimes to sit throughout it without getting bored. WWE has a habit of filling random meaningless segments just to kill the three-hour time. That's not something which is helping them, as is visible through the TV ratings.
NXT and SmackDown have a better show format and WWE should seriously consider reducing the run-time of RAW and focus on quality over quantity if they wanna at least maintain their fan base, if not increase it.
#5 Not Utilizing its Tag Team Division properly
WWE, currently, possesses one of the best tag team division in the world. With teams like The Usos, The Revival, Hardy Boyz, Authors of Pain, New Day and many more, one would expect them to have terrific storylines around these amazing teams.
But the reality is that the main roster tag team division is not taken seriously. And I'm not talking about their wrestling abilities. These teams prove their mettle in the ring time and again by giving amazing awe-inspiring matches to the fans. But the way they are booked, the importance that they are given is disappointing.
With WrestleMania 35 just a few days to go, WWE just announced a fatal-four way match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship without any proper storyline. Also, the RAW Tag Team Championship might just be relegated to the pre-show. WWE needs to address these issues and keep their tag teams happy if they want to maintain these wrestlers in the company.
#4 Burying Finn Balor continuously
In one of the previous slides, I mentioned how amazing Finn Balor's main roster debut was. Right from the word go, it looked like Balor was destined to be the next big thing in WWE. On his very first night, he pinned the poster boy of WWE, Roman Reigns, in a single match clean.
From there, he went on to defeat Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2016 to become the first ever Universal Champion. But unfortunately, he had to relinquish the title the very next day due to an injury. From there on, Finn never really got that hype back.
WWE kinda lost hopes on Balor as, after his return, he hardly was booked as a top guy. Without major wins and interesting storylines, the hype that he had died out soon.
But the fact is that fans still love him, as was evident when he went up against Brock Lesnar earlier this year.
WWE should really learn and fix this mistake by giving the title to him sometime this year or else they might just lose another top star to a budding rival company.
#3 Keeping the title on Part-Timers
WWE has had a knack of keeping its major titles on part-time wrestlers. One of the biggest examples of that is reigning, defending, Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar.
Brock won the big red belt at WrestleMania 33 by defeating Goldberg (another part-timer) and went on to hold the title for more than 500 days. To add to that, after dropping the belt, he again won it back at Crown Jewel and ever since has kept it hostile.
Now, this is very frustrating and disappointing for both the fans as well as the other talents backstage who work day in and day out to try to get an opportunity to main event a show. While someone like Lesnar is surely a big attraction, but if he hardly shows up, that devalues the Championship and the spirit of fighting.
Let's hope Seth Rollins puts an end to this and brings back the title to where it belongs!
#2 Booking Roman Reigns as the Face of The Company
Roman Reigns is the new face of WWE, according to them. Reason? He has the perfect looks of what WWE wants their champion to have.
But is that really the correct decision? We all know how badly fans used to treat Roman, during his previous run. He was booked as the underdog and a powerhouse at the same time. There was something that just didn't click with fans and him.
Be it his wrestling skills or the mic skills, it's very clear that he's far away than the best that the company has. Also, Mr. McMahon's constantly shoving him down fan's throats isn't helping him either.
At WrestleMania 35, Roman Reigns will most probably win his match against Drew McIntyre, and then go on to get a major push back to the title scene. Though fans are cheering him right now after his return and successful recovery from Leukemia, it'd be interesting to see how long until the fans turn on him again for the superman booking that he'll get.
A better way to book him would be to make him look vulnerable and not as powerful as he was before. If he loses his match against Drew at 'Mania and then cuts a backstage promo showing regret in his eyes to avenge his brothers and disappointment of not being able to defeat McIntyre, fans would surely sympathize him.
He could be then slowly and steadily build up again with maybe a mid-card championship reign. This would not just help him stay over with the fans, but would also make sure fans actually cheer him when he does win the World title again.
Putting him directly in the Title picture after 'Mania season would be a huge mistake, and WWE should avoid it.
#1 Not giving Creative Freedom to the wrestlers
Many wrestlers have been very vocal of the fact that WWE doesn't give them the creative freedom of their characters and just feeds them lines to utter during a promo. Now the problem with this is the human behind the character should feel like the character himself, and thus everything should come from inside.
Only a select few in WWE namely John Cena, The Rock, The Undertaker, and maybe a couple of others have the freedom to go out and express themselves to the fans. This itself is one of the biggest reasons why many wrestlers are looking to quit WWE and join the rival company, AEW.
Kenny Omega in an interview made it clear that one of the main reasons of him not joining WWE was the fact that he wouldn't be given the creative freedom of his character. Same is said to be true about Dean Ambrose, who is all set to leave WWE after WrestleMania 35.
What are your thoughts on this? Will WWE learn from their mistakes? Let us know in the comments section below.
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