#4 Lack of creative control
WWE is very particular about what they put on camera these days. Promos are overly-scripted, many characters are bland, and the Superstars themselves rarely have the power to do anything about it.
Again, much like the money aspect, unless you’re at the top of the food chain in WWE, you probably don’t have much creative control over your own character. This is something that can rub some guys the wrong way and ultimately lead to them leaving the company.
Stardust, formerly known as Cody Rhodes and now simply known as Cody, is the prime example of this.
Cody was saddled with the Stardust gimmick which made sense at first but quickly got very old. Credit to Cody, he made it work to the best of his ability whenever he was put on TV. But when the cameras were off, he desperately negotiated with the WWE to allow him to return to being Cody Rhodes.
However, rather than having a meaningful discussion about it with one of their most reliable workers, WWE basically told him “Sorry, not gonna happen.” Instead, the company forced him to continue playing this character that clearly wasn’t going to be successful no matter how hard Cody tried.
Because of this, he left WWE and is now wrestling all over the indies as Cody, and enjoys great success doing so.
This is the same reason that many are worried about the prospect of “Broken” Matt Hardy returning to WWE. Assuming he would be allowed to keep his same character, people are afraid WWE would water it down to the point where it’s not entertaining anymore.
Matt Hardy made perhaps the biggest impact out of anyone in the world of pro-wrestling last year, and it was all because TNA gave him the freedom to execute his character the way he wanted. WWE doesn’t always allow this kind of freedom, and sometimes that can drive Superstars away from the company.
