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WWE has been on a downward spiral for a few years now, and it is no secret that is due to the terrible creative decisions the company has been making time and time again. From destroying talent that would take them to the next level to refusing to evolve with the changing wrestling landscape has seen WWE suffer on many levels, as they have received record low TV ratings for Raw and Smackdown Live, their overall viewership figures drop by a huge amount every week and fans perception of the product has gotten harsher every week.
It took a while, but it seems the thought of seeing the company slowly fall into a state of despair has prompted Vince McMahon to finally make a change, and that change is to usher in a new era. While this is about the fifth time in a few years, McMahon has promised fans a 'new era' let's give them a chance.
And if Vince McMahon is serious about turning WWE's misfortunes around they need to consider thinking along the same lines like the following article, as this could be used as a brief guideline for success, as fans want to enjoy watching wrestling again, as complaining about it is getting really tiresome.
#1 Integrate Cruiserweights into Raw and Smackdown Live
The stars of the cruiserweight division have been doing all they can to make their division seem more important than WWE actually makes them be, and this has seen the rise of many talented stars emerging from the land of the cruiserweights.
Stars like Mustafa Ali, Buddy Murphy, Cedric Alexander, and Lio Rush to name a few have been exceptional in their roles in the division, and if WWE wants to use these stars in a more prominent role, they need to finally give them a chance at the big time.
We can already see Mustafa Ali and Lio Rush being given those opportunities on the main roster, and instead of making their appearances scarce and meaningless, WWE should get these talented stars involved in the brand, as that is a recipe for success.
We already saw Mustafa Ali show his worth against Daniel Bryan on Smackdown Live, as his natural ability in the ring and on the mic could be a huge asset for WWE if they utilize his momentum. And imagine Buddy Murphy or Cedric having the same opportunities, it could be a brighter future for Raw or Smackdown Live if WWE gives these stars a proper push.
#2 Build up NXT talent
The stars of NXT are the future of the WWE, that is a fact that everyone knows as former World Champions such as Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose had to go through the NXT system to find themselves as wrestlers that fit into the WWE mould, and it was clearly successful, as Triple H and his crew know exactly how to run a wrestling show in Full Sail University.
But on the main roster, not everyone has had the same success as the Sheild or Wyatt Family, as WWE has completely dropped the ball with the stars they have called up recently. Stars like Andrade "Cien" Almas, Sanity, The Iconics, AOP and Tye Dillinger are all mostly recent NXT call-ups that have underutilized on the main roster.
And instead of actually giving these stars a chance to shine WWE have called up more NXT stars to the main roster, which is just plain ridiculous. The NXT system can only work if WWE has actual plans for these call-ups, as building them up would prove to be successful, as it will add more depth to the divisions they are a part of, and give both brands a fresh feel every single week.
#3 Add more depth to the Women's Division
The women's division in WWE is currently in a weird transitional phase, as certain superstars have evolved into solid main eventers that can carry a show by themselves, and then there are superstars that are falling behind stars like Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Ronda Rousey, and Asuka.
And while the fact of the matter is that not every wrestler in the women's division can main eventers, WWE need to at least give everyone a chance to reach their full potential. While Smackdown Live has big-time players such as Asuka, Charlotte, and Becky to carry the division, Raw is not that blessed, as Ronda Rousey is basically keeping the division alive.
That is due to WWE destroying the credibility of stars such as Sasha Banks, Bayley and The Riott Squad on numerous occasions. So the solution to all the problems within the women's division is to add more depth, as adding depth, it allows the division to have more weight on both brands.
Smackdown Live did this with success as by building up every star with a plan in mind, giving them unique characteristics that can define them for the long haul, allowing them to compete in fresh matches and eventually giving them their own separate narratives to work with, saw stars like Becky, Asuka and even Carmella standout.
Moreover, the inclusion of the Women's Tag Team Titles could give these stars more opportunities to prove themselves, and it would give WWE a chance to create future main eventers.
#4 Use part-timers to push new talent
A part-timer is a harsh title to give to a wrestler that has devoted their life to the art of pro wrestling, and instead of praising the contribution that some of WWE's most legendary superstars gave to the industry, we had become accustomed to judging these once prolific stars on their current performance rather than when they were in their prime.
And it would be foolish to expect the likes of The Undertaker, Shawn Micheals, and even John Cena to give A+ performances at this stage in their careers, so instead of pitting part-timer against part-timer, WWE should use the legends of the past to build the legends of tomorrow.
And the numbers don't lie, fans still gravitate towards nostalgia acts, and that is the reason why WWE can't seem to move on from its past, so why not use them to build up newer stars. Undertaker vs Aleister Black or Velveteen Dream vs Shawn Micheals, are dream narratives that write themselves. If WWE wants megastars on Raw and Smackdown Libe, they need to start creating those megastars.
#5 Strong champions that can actually lead the division
WWE's championship belts have not had the best time this year, as they have been damaged by terrible booking, thrown around to different wrestlers, held by wrestlers that never show up, disappeared into mediocrity and not received the credibility from most of their holders.
Now it's understandable that with the sheer volume of titles on the main roster its sort of hard for WWE to actually booked them all in a unique manner, but that doesn't excuse the laziness that comes with deciding who is the best choice to hold the title.
Brock Lesnar, the makeshift team of Chad Gable and Bobby Roode, and Shinsuke Nakamura are just a few champions not booked good enough to run an entire division if WWE wants fans to start taking Raw and Smackdown Live seriously, they need to start choosing more credible champions and book them with perfection.
#6 Limit The Authority's screen time
It is great that WWE has finally realised that their company needed to shake things up, as things were not going to get any better, but what the company should have realized is that the downfall of Raw was accredited to the fact that WWE can't seem to get over their obsession with authority figures running the show.
And instead of the 'new era' giving fans what they want, Vince McMahon and Co. just seemed to throw the old Authority gimmick at us again, as Vince, Stephanie, and Shane McMahon will all be running Raw and Smackdown Live from now on.
But if WWE takes a look at Smackdown Live, they will see that Paige as the general manager was doing wonders for the show, as the focus was never taken off the real reason people come to these shows, the wrestling.
Now that Paige has been taken out as GM, Smackdown Live will surely become McMahon territory with Shane, Vince, and Stephanie taking up more screentime every week. Raw and Smackdown Live need a GM and nothing else, the more the McMahon family drama is away from the product, the better for the overall quality of the show.
#7 Jam Pack Raw and Smackdown Live's rosters with an equal balance
One of the reasons why RAW has failed this year could be attributed to the fact that the Superstar Shakeup did no justice in assembling the rosters of Raw and Smackdown Live well, as Raw received more jobbers, while Smackdown Live has obtained a larger number of megastars.
And the truth is that neither of the rosters was well put together, as Raw was stretched thin with an unexciting roster, while Smackdown Live had too many megastars to cater for, thus seeing most of them being underused or left of the show completely.
This time around WWE needs to have a perfect balance of things, as too many megastars on one show, while too many jobbers on the other is never a good formula for success, as both these brands need to evenly spread out the main event level stars with the correct mixture of midcard superstars.
This will allow these shows to have a sense of structure, and it will allow the creative team to book these superstars better as they can function in a place that could see them grow without having to compete with others for screen time.
#8 Legitimise the Tag Team division
Tag team wrestling is a novelty in wrestling, but in the world of WWE, that novelty is more of a punishment, as WWE made fans sit through boring, monotonous and unexciting matches and narratives this year.
While the Smackdown Live tag team division might be WWE's saving grace in terms of providing competent narratives with A+ matches, Raw, on the other hand, has not had the same luck. As the Raw tag team division has been suffering from terrible booking decisions that WWE should have clearly evaluated before greenlighting them.
And this needs to stop if WWE wants a change in their ratings and fans perception, as the outrageous bad booking, frequent title changes, overreliance on makeshift tag teams and burying legitimate tag teams all need to stop, as WWE needs to bring back legitimacy to tag team wrestling in the company. Therefore, the only way to do that is to have authentic tag teams tearing the house down every week with actual plans in place for them to succeed.
#9 Make the main event scene matter
The main event scene in WWE needs to be the pinnacle of a wrestlers career and for most fans, they still view it as that, but if you really want to get into the basics of WWE's booking of the main event scene over the last few years, you will see that it has been terrible.
Same wrestlers fighting each other in repetitive matches for a long period of time is basically WWE's formulae with their main event scene, and by judging their success rate with that formulae it is easy to understand why they are in this situation of despair.
This new era needs to usher in a host of fresh booking ideas, as we need to see the main event of Raw and Smackdown Live get white hot, and that could be done easily by doing two simple things, booking fresh matches and building new narratives.
It's that easy, and while it's understandable that the company will push the biggest draw in the main event even if people don't like it, pushing a white-hot babyface in the spot to oppose that polarizing figure is a recipe for success. Examples like that would be Becky Lynch taking on Ronda Rousey, or Seth Rollins taking on Brock Lesnar, as the WWE Universe seems to be more inclined to root for the wrestler that rises above the managements chosen one.
#10 Bring back the fun
This one is easy. The one thing WWE fans want more than anything else from the McMahon's, is to bring back fun to the WWE, as all the repetitive storylines and overused matches have become a driving force in making fans turn off the TV every Monday or even Tuesday night, and that is the main thing that needs to change.
We as fans want everything that made WWE cool to watch in the late 90s and early 2000s to return, novelties like pyro, unique pay-per-view sets and bizarre match types that were oddly entertaining made WWE much more interesting, exciting and just damn awesome.
But that might be wishful thinking, as it doesn't seem like WWE will change the standardised approach they have forced in our faces for last few years, but as a WWE fan, fantasising of what should and could have been, is a skill that most of us have mastered by now.
