Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperMatt18
The problem with the Mania build this year is really that they couldn't commit to stories in the mid-card at all.
At 40 everything came together with more of long term builds.
Rhea and Becky, Jey vs Jimmy, Sami w/Gable vs Gunther, Bayley vs Iyo Sky / Damage CTRL, Rollins vs Punk vs Drew, Orton vs Paul vs Owens, The tag team titles, all of those programs had long term builds that were in the works as far back as Summerslam.
The only forced matches were The Pride vs Final Testament, and the LWO/Dom tag team match (long term build that Dom was kind of shoe horned into).
They did a great job of building long term stories that worked throughout the entire card - and managed to turn around what could have been a disaster by going back to Cody and Reigns with the Rock bringing his A game to amplify the entire storyline.
This year feels a bit like the opposite.
Gunther vs Jey has long term build - but also a bit underwhelming due to Jey not really bringing what he brought to his great singles fued with Roman.
Cody vs Cena / Rock has been okay, but also lacking due to just Cena/Rock not being present on TV enough.
All the US Title and Intercontinental titles (Men and Women) have lacked focus and have been a bit thrown together.
In the Women's division having Iyo and Bianca being the two challengers to Rhea and Tiffany respectively would have made way more sense because them trying to make Charlotte win the rumble as a face was always idiotic (although like Tiffany said I thikn Charlotte really wants to be that loved babyface at least once in her career and she thought a big injury return at RR could be that moment...but nope)
And the real problem is too many of their best wrestlers are tied up in things that just don't really have much real stakes...
Punk, Reigns, Rollins, Mcyntyre, Priest, Bayley, Liv Morgan, Sami Zayn these 8 wrestlers plus Gunthier and Cody are who carried WWE through most of the past year.
And those 8 are either in matches without a title or any real stakes attached, or aren't in a match at all (as of now). I think a big part of it was due to the uncertainty around The Rock, and Cena's involvement in the card and where they would be.
And I think another part of the problem is the trap of too many titles again...
Undisputed WWE Champion
World Heavyweight Champion
Women's World Champion
WWE Women's Champion
Intercontinental Champion
US Champion
Women's Intercontinental Champion
Women's US Champion
World Tag Team Champions
WWE Tag Team Champions
WWE Women's Tag Team Champions
11 Titles is way too many titles for the show to support - especially when the brand split is relatively soft right now and people are bouncing between Raw and Smackdown.
If they aren't going to stick to real brand splits then just Collapse the US and Intercontinental titles for men and women, and unify the men's tag team titles again, and the show would probably be a lot better in terms of builds that make sense.
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I've said it before, I'll say it again.
There should be one WWE Heavyweight Champion.
There should be one WWE (Women's) World Champion.
There should be one WWE Tag Team Champion (male and female)
Those "World" champions should go between Raw and Smackdown.
Otherwise the rosters are separate.
Raw has the Intercontinental Championship as its brand Champion for the men. North American Champion for the women.
Smackdown has US title for the men, and European title for the women.
NXT has the one NXT title.
Done. Simple.
If a WWE Champion loses the title, they're stuck on the program of the individual they lost to.
WWE champions have to appear on both shows (not necessarily every week, and not necessarily wrestle).
It makes the WWE champions 'bigger' while still having each show have its own groove/Flair/etc