As wrestling fans, we turn into WWE every week for our favorite superstars and in-ring action, driven by the storylines and creative process. We all know that it starts with the creative team and ends with Vince McMahon. The overall goal – To entertain the WWE Universe and keep the coming back for more. In addition to the unexpected ending to the Hell in a Cell main event, we’ve seen multiple creative failures that have fans questioning their allegiance to the company. Will WWE’s creative process be their downfall?
Here are a few examples that stood out to me.
Premiere Backfire
For weeks, the premiere of Friday Night Smackdown was on everyone’s minds. Promotions galore turned the night into a mini-WrestleMania. The main event matched WWE Champion Kofi Kingston against Brock Lesnar with the title on the line. We all knew of the high probability that Lesnar would walk out with the belt. Nobody, including this loyal fan, expected the champion to be squashed in seconds. An F5 sent the WWE Universe into an uproar about the demise of Kofi’s title reign.
I understand that they wanted to put the title on Lesnar, but they could have thought of a better way to give Kofi a respectful defeat. If the match would have lasted a minute or two with the champ mounting some offense, I would not have mentioned it in this article!
Tag Champs in Limbo?
The buzz in the beginning of 2019 surrounded the brand new WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. After Sasha Banks and Bayley were crowned the inaugural champs at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, the titles received the full-court press as the ladies hit every show.
The WWE Universe was shocked when the Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection lost the titles at WrestleMania 35 to the IIconics in the Fatal 4-Way match. As a fan watching the show, several questions raced through my mind:
Why now?
Are the IIconics championship material?
Why weren’t Bayley and Sasha given a longer reign?
The questions continued as weeks went by and the IIconics along with the titles were barely seen. The story came out later that WWE Creative originally planned a feud between the IIconics and the Bella Twins for the titles. WWE had no other choice but to toss the storyline due to Nikki Bella’s injuries.
You would have thought that there would have been a backup storyline to work with? Unfortunately, there wasn’t! In the end, the IIconics’ title reign kept the belts mainly in limbo until WWE Creative could figure out what to do next.
Where’s the ending?
Every story has three parts: A beginning, the middle, and an ending. The beginning of 2019 saw Ali in the midst of a heavy push. He earned a spot in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship. Ali suffered a huge setback due to injury, and WWE removed him from the match. His replacement made the most of his moment.
Kofi Kingston wowed the WWE Universe and although he lost the Chamber match, KofiMania took off. Kofi won the WWE title at WrestleMania and reigned supreme for almost 6 months. I won’t relive how he lost the title.
Ali never received a chance to prove himself against Kofi. The mystery remains unsolved! Did Kofi deserved to be in that spot? Did he get lucky to be there because of Ali’s injury? We’ll never know! WWE Creative failed at the simplest task of finishing a story.
I only mentioned a few, but fans have questioned creative decisions for months. Will WWE’s creative process be their downfall? With AEW lurking, I would say that the creative team needs to get it together. Who am I kidding? The problem starts and ends at the top of the mountain!
