Why WWE Gets Criticized

[masterragu]

A BADSTREET PERSPECTIVE ON WHY WWE GETS CRITICIZED

by Dave Whitaker 8/14/2003 11:16:00 AM


Something I’ve noticed as a member of the Internet media, as well as being a longtime wrestling fan, is that some WWE fans have a chip on their shoulder when it comes to the press. They resent people like myself who make any type of critical comment concerning WWE. They accuse us of being “negative,” call Internet fans a “small minority,” some question the right to criticize because we’ve never wrestled. Some e-mailers have acted as if people like me watch Raw just so I can criticize it.

Not so. Anything I watch, I watch with a discerning eye. I don’t stop thinking when I’m watching anything, be it wrestling, a movie, a baseball game. But getting back to WWE, there are specific reasons why I think WWE gets criticized by smart marks and the Internet press. I’m going to share them with you, the loyal readers of this column. Be warned, there will be discussion of a Smackdown spoiler. So if you do not want to know the main event of Thursday night’s Smackdown, leave now or forever hold your peace.

Now, onto my reasons, I have four. Not in any particular order, but all valid in my opinion.

1. Some of the Internet community simply hates Vince McMahon. McMahon is a very polarizing figure. He’s brash, arrogant, self-assured, and pretty much buried WCW after buying it. Despite all the bashing it took during the late 90's, there were plenty of smart marks who loved WCW. They resent McMahon for kicking dirt on the company they loved. Some fans blame McMahon for the death of Owen Hart, some still hate him for the infamous Montreal screwjob. Some are Vince Russo marks and hate McMahon for letting Russo go. Many of these same fans criticize WWE for whatever they do, but will let NWA:TNA and Vince Russo get a pass for doing the same thing. In other words, they are simply anti-WWE. I think they are the ones who cause the most angst and frustration from WWE employees and fans.

2. WWE’s gross misuse of talent. Since WWE pretty much took over the wrestling business, look at this partial list of stars that have been or are currently under contract. Jerry Lynn, D’Lo Brown, Chris Kanyon, Booker T., Rob Van Dam, Sean O’Hare, Raven, Ultimo Dragon, Zack Gowen, Billy Kidman, Brian Kendrick, Lance Storm. Then you consider how the so-called “creative team” couldn’t come up with storylines for guys like D’Lo Brown and Raven. Then you see great workers like Ultimo Dragon and Booker T. being misused. And it makes you want to scream. When no-heat, no-talent big men like Test and Albert get repeat pushes just because they’re big, and guys like Ultimo Dragon and Lance Storm get left off PPV’s and/or job on TV, it’s frustrating. When a talent like Kanyon is on Velocity, while Stephanie McMahon is wrestling in the main event of Smackdown, it makes you want to scream. It’d be almost like the New York Yankees having Chipper Jones and Mark Mulder but instead starting Todd Zeile and Jeff Weaver.

3. WWE’s booking has had more holes than Swiss cheese. If you’re watching a movie, or a TV show, you need to be able to understand what you see. I don’t care if it’s just supposed to be “entertainment,” the story has to make sense for it to be enjoyable. So many of WWE’s storylines (especially on the Raw side) seem to lack logic. For example, how could Eric Bischoff be in a position to “wrestle” Kane after Linda McMahon had already said management wasn’t allowed to put their hands on the wrestlers unless physically provoked? Or as Dave Scherer pointed out on Tuesday, how could the “winner” of that match face Shane McMahon at SummerSlam when the RVD/Kane match had been announced the previous week. How is Kane continuing to be under “house arrest” when Raw has been in a different town every week? Or how was Randy Orton able to be a special guest referee for the Flair/Goldberg match when Orton and Flair were banned from ringside? Surely that’s changing a match, something supposedly Austin and Bischoff cannot do. If the devil is in the details, the devil has been getting the best of guys like Brian Gerwitz lately. He’s been forgetting a lot of details.

4. The extreme ego or cluelessness of Vince and Stephanie McMahon. They put themselves in matches on Vengeance. Vince then books himself on Raw. Stephanie McMahon is in the main event of Smackdown this week. Both have featured themselves a lot on Smackdown in the last couple of months. Either they are both camera hogs and are feeding their egos by being on TV, or neither realize that too much of either character on TV is a bad thing.

[Lights Out]

i think its there just no excitment no more i watch it like once every coule of weeks or a highlight while i'ma waiting fopr the simpsons but the storys are poor
and theres no good wrestlers anymore it seems and they ain't got no character

I remember the rock when he was fighting triple H(i think it was summerslam) and ripped him for 10 minutesand everyonewas absolutly wild after it

I'd call all of the wrestlers monotone now, seems like they just were trunks and don't have no attitude

like mankind, undertaker (the old one) stone cold (when he was in his prime) hell even X-pac was entertaining, remember when he had that match with shane at wrestle mania??



but it seems now that they ain't go no personality therefore they just use screw jobs to try and make it entertaining but it gets me madthat everything ends up with mcmahon or eric bischoff screwing somebody just like wcw usedto be too many wrestlers and no flava

word

I used to like Vince when his angle was fresh

He's went to the well too many times now

[Broken English]

Wwe Sux!!!

Originally Posted by Broken English

Wwe Sux!!!

You know, I never realized it until you said it