The State of WWE: The Caste System

Yesterday I wrote about how and why WWE should clear up their title picture. Today's article can be taken as a second part or follow up to that because it’s a vaguely related topic. So it's probably a good idea to read yesterday's post before tackling this one.

At the moment the focus of WWE programming is very strongly on main event performers. This has been the case for a significant amount of time. Several years at least. It's one of the central causes of the stale feeling WWE programming has.

Generally speaking the headline names weave in and out of feuds with one another, occasionally switching from heel to face or vice versa to create the illusion of progress and fresh match ups. These feuds will generally last between two and four months and will sometimes be punctuated with the headliners dipping down into the mid-card for a brief placeholder feud.

Theoretically the idea of that is to raise the mid-carder’s standing. That all such feuds are booked half-heartedly, and unfold in the same manner, means that goal is rarely achieved. Even when it is the lack of a follow-up feud for the newly elevated mid-carder means they quickly sink back down the ranks.

Generally speaking the mid-carders are used to work competitive matches with main eventers on television (which they almost always lose). Occasionally they’ll get one of the larger roles mentioned above. If they're very lucky two mid-card guys might be put into a programme with one another that actually takes in a pay-per-view. That tends to involve a guy with either the Intercontinental or US title getting pinned in a non-title match and then winning a rematch with the belt on the line. Very few feuds take place without those trinkets involved. It's as though WWE's writing staff can't come up with a reason for two non-headliners to take issue with one another if a championship isn't involved.

Below those guys are the enhancement workers that get squashed on RAW and SmackDown, getting to wrestle lengthy and usually enjoyable matches on Main Event and Saturday Morning Slam. Beneath them are the NXT wrestlers. They may as well be random jobbers until they're plucked from obscurity and slotted somewhere into the framework.

Up above all of this are the part time guys like Undertaker, Rock and Brock Lesnar along with untouchable regulars John Cena and CM Punk. They work competitive feuds with each other and select top liners only. Anyone else who gets caught up in their gravitational pull will almost certainly end up getting squashed like Mike Bell.

Steely glare from Barrett there

It's a neat system and one that took WWE several years to get established. The thing is that it does more harm than good so it's not clear why they went to the trouble of setting it up and making it stick in the first place.

That's a tad harsh, perhaps. The general concept of wrestlers being allocated a particular slot or level works fairly well. Moving guys up and down the ranks should be as simple as placing them in programmes with guys already in the bracket they're being aimed at and then playing things out on TV. A guy should display a knack for winning on his own level and then gradually pick up wins against guys above him, eventually entering a feud or two and advancing up the card by association.

But it's not that simple. WWE stop it from being that simple with their predictable and counterproductive booking. Take Wade Barrett as an example. He defeated Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental championship on the December 31^st RAW. That could (and should) have been followed up with a string of successful defences or impressive non-title matches against guys at his own level and the one beneath him throughout January and February. Instead he drifted aimlessly. He did pick up a solitary clean win over Randy Orton on January 14^th but that proved an anomaly. Nothing whatsoever came of it.

Barrett ended up working the a brief three-way feud with Chris Jericho and The Miz, retaining his title clean against both men in a triple threat on RAW and then dropping the gold to 'The Awesome One' on the WrestleMania pre-show. He regained it the next night. Nothing was gained by either the three-way or singles portion of the programme.

The title switches aren't the problem here, it's the fact that Barrett got these big wins out of nowhere. It's been established that he can beat bigger names and guys on his level, but not with any degree of consistency. He's just as likely to win as to lose and so there's no reason for fans to become emotionally invested in anything he does. Consistency is what makes people care.

Of course not everyone can go around winning all the time. What madness that would be! But what WWE (or any wrestling promotion for that matter) can do is draw up a list of guys they what to turn into big money stars at some point. Then a course of action should be decided upon depending on their current standing on the card. To go back to Barrett (because we've already used him as an example) he's already pretty well placed to be turned into a big star. Spend a few months solidifying him in his current upper mid-card spot before having him drop the title and head into a couple of feuds with headliners.

I've written before but it bears repeating that not everyone can be WWE champion. That not every talented wrestler gets a run with the company's most coveted strap actually makes it more special. If there's a list of talented guys who never managed to win the top prize then it elevates the standing of the guys who do get a turn. They look even better because they’re part of the elite.

 

WWE should bear that in mind when creating new main eventers. The goal shouldn't be for everyone to win the WWE title. Nor should it be for everyone to win it on their first feud. Top stars could be established without the world title becoming involved, leaving them to challenge for and win it a year or two into their main event career. Some guys could never manage the feat. The attitude of rushing everything is what's created the current uninspiring product. There's definitely something to be said for a slower approach.

The State of WWE: The Belts

It doesn't matter that Dolph Ziggler is in every conceivable way a superior wrestler to John Cena, his world title still doesn't mean as much. It’s the result of years of booking the World Heavyweight championship as a second tier prize. It may be referred to as a world title, and it may be held by some big names and talented wrestlers, but everyone knows the WWE championship is the number one belt in the company.

It's a situation that has harmed the credibility of the Intercontinental championship (as well as the WHC itself of course). Had WWE unified their world belts a few years ago they could have been booking the IC title as they've booked the WHC, restoring it to its place as the promotion's second most prestigious belt and clearing up the trouble of having a secondary award that sounds more meaningful than the top one.

Matters haven't been helped by the stop-start nature of some of the pushes WWE's handed out. Jack Swagger won the World Heavyweight championship in 2010. It came as a surprise at the time but WWE followed through and gave him if not a stellar run then at least a decent one. Once he dropped the title he ended up as glorified enhancement talent, with commentary teams happily remarking practically every time he wrestled that he was a former world champ. Which did nobody any favours. It emphasised just how far Swagger had fallen and made the big gold belt seem less important because had been attained by someone at Swagger's level.

The booking of 'The All American American' by itself did not harm the status of the title. Years of instances of a comparable nature have taken their toll though.

It's not just the titles that have been tarnished by this frustrating booking. Anyone holding the title has come across as a second rate world champion because they're holding a second rate world title. Had the IC title had the spot things would have been different. That's meant to be seen as the prize of the rising stars and the guys who won’t necessarily become the WWE champion. By not being referred to as a world belt it is clearly intended to perform a different function. There's a reason John Cena's only held the WHC twice, and at time when it meant more than it does today.

It's harmed guys holding the Intercontinental and United States belts too. Both have had flourishes of significance when held by performers who care about using them as an opportunity to advance their standing but that's not happened often enough. WWE's swarm of writers have lavished too much of their time on the two world titles, resulting in the mid-card belts becoming trinkets with practically no meaning. If that's how they're viewed then they’ll obviously do nobody holding them any good. If you win something that means nothing then you've ultimately achieved nothing.

The entire scenario has stifled the advancement of several men on the roster. Antonio Cesaro, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus and others have been harmed by WWE's approach to the booking of titles since 2009 or so. A change is clearly needed otherwise the problems are only going to become worse as the titles mean less and less.

You won't catch this guy slumming it with the World Heavyweight title

Championships are a necessity in wrestling. They drive storylines and denote who's better than who. Secondary or mid-card titles allow fans to see who's on the rise and provide non-headliners with something meaningful to feud over. World titles show who's the best the company has to offer, with those in contention being top players themselves.  

Two world titles means two "bests". Obviously that can't be the case and so the importance of both is diminished. It's a state of affairs held over from the separate roster era. I understand why it came about and I supported it when it worked but now there's one WWE roster again (albeit one that sees several important names sit out SmackDown each week) there's no need for a second world title.

Which brings us back to the idea of WWE needing change. The obvious thing to do is unify the world titles. It could be rushed into. I mean, there's nothing to stop Ziggler cutting a promo about being a better champion than Cena on Monday's RAW and challenging him to a unification match in the main event. It would come out of the blue and be strange but it could be done.

That would be a wasted opportunity though. Obviously a unification match should be happening on a pay-per-view. Even though one of the titles is clearly inferior it's a way of making money and more money will be made if the belts and their holders are presented as equals. The best PPVs to put such an event on would be one of WWE's big four. SummerSlam and Survivor Series no longer feel particularly important but they could suffice. Better would be WrestleMania of Royal Rumble.

Of them the Rumble is the better option. It would allow WWE to offer a unique and important match on what has become their second biggest event of the year. It would also provide a great chance to kick off WrestleMania world title feud. No matter what order they run in the unification bout and the Rumble match itself would provide a clear picture of who's facing who at WrestleMania. With the right winners and the right build that could be great.

There are plenty of answers as to who "the right guys" are to be in this match. There's not one match that would clearly be better than others (not that I can see anyway). Personally I don't think guys like John Cena, Randy Orton or CM Punk need to be involved in the title picture at next year's WrestleMania. They can do more for WWE working against returning part timers like The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker and, dare I say it, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin.

Putting guys like Ryback, Ziggler, Rhodes, Bryan, Cesaro, Sheamus or even Mark Henry in the world title programme at WrestleMania would be a better option. At this stage none of them could credibly work against any of the part time gang, and there wouldn't be much interest in many of the possible bouts anyway (nobody will convince me that Sheamus v The Rock would thrill anyone). Placing them in the WWE title scene gives them something important to do and boost their profile while not forcing them into a match they'd look out of place in.

There wouldn't be as much of a rush to unify the Intercontinental and United States titles. With the WHC out of the way WWE could gradually resume booking the Intercontinental gold as the secondary prize, starting with giving it a spot on the WrestleMania card. The United States title could be left alone to function as a third tier belt, booked for cheap pop title switches and trying out guys who the company are unsure about giving a larger role to. Even that would give the US belt a boost, because it would be the only title booked in that fashion, rather than sharing the spotlight with the IC strap.

WWE needs to make its belts mean something. Right now the only title they have with any value to it is the WWE championship. Putting the World Heavyweight championship on Dolph Ziggler is a nice gesture but it’s a very different story to putting the top prize on him. That he’s still clearly below the status of credible WWE championship contender illustrates my points regarding the title situation perfectly.

The Rise and Fall of Jay Briscoe

On Tuesday the state of Delaware passed a bill making same sex marriage possible. This did not go down well in the ideaspace that is Sandy Fork. Reigning ROH world champion tweeted the following:

The Delaware Senate passed a bill yesterday that allows same sex couples to get married. If that makes you happy, then congratulations!!!!!!

Which seems fine. Pretty positive and supportive, yes? Sadly he followed up with this:

... try and teach my kids that there's nothing wrong with that and I'll f**ing shoot you

Living in a notoriously "free country" like the United States of America Jay is entitled to his opinion. But equally those with sexual preferences different to his are entitled to get on with their private lives however they deem fit.

Even in 2013 there are going to be small-minded people with homophobic, racist and sexist views. That's a sad fact of the world we live in. There will always be prejudice on some level. But you'd expect someone who travels the country for a living, exposing themselves to as wide a range of backgrounds and demographics as the USA has to offer (and it seems to have quite a lot), to have a more tolerant view. Or at least the sense to know when to shut up and keep their antiquated views to themselves.

As the world champion Jay Briscoe is the face of Ring of Honor. That may be a bit of an old school view but I think it's still true. When a wrestling company puts a world title on a wrestler they're not just rewarding them for hard work, they're endorsing them and promoting them as the best they have to offer. The only company in which this isn't true is WWE, in which John Cena is the perpetual top dog no matter who has the belt. But of course if they did put the WWE championship on someone who expressed so openly the sorts of views Briscoe has done the title would be switched at the first reasonable opportunity.

So is this what we can expect ROH to do? Will Jay drop the title at the first opportunity? So far there's been no indication that that will happen (although in fairness ROH would hardly announce a title change is planned). Ring of Honor have issued an apology and stated that they value all their fans, no matter their “age, gender, race, religion or sexual preference.” Nothing else has been said on the matter. The promotion immediately went back to shilling their upcoming shows after issuing the apology via Twitter.

Expect this guy to drop the title pretty soon

Is an apology enough? For now I don't see what else they can do. Briscoe has deleted his Twitter account, a wise move under the circumstances, which will prevent any similar incidences occurring. Short of stripping Jay of the title there's nothing else the company can do until they promote an event.

The next two announced defences Jay has are against BJ Whitmer at the May 18^th TV taping and his brother Mark at June's Best in the World iPPV. A Briscoe to Briscoe title change seems pointless. One has to assume Mark holds the same sort of opinions on these matters as Jay. Even if he doesn't people will assume he does. It wouldn't rectify the situation at all.

BJ Whitmer would be a decent short term solution, but I'm convinced Jay was only going to have a short reign himself. Switching from one (assumed) interim champ to another seems like a poor move. Whitmer’s a good enough brawler but he's not exactly the personification of ROH. He's a mid-card guy. If someone of his level were to get the world title it could devalue it.

Of course the title is already in a pretty bad way being around the waist of a homophobe, so that’s going in ‘The Buzzsaw’s’ favour.

There's nothing to stop the company booking an impromptu challenge scenario in the coming weeks. An in-ring Briscoe promo could easily be interrupted to set up a title match. The challenger could win and Jay, as well as Mark for safety, could take a leave of absence.

Since you ask (I know you were) I think a good choice to take the belt in a “surprise bonus” title match (at the TV taping or the San Antonio or Columbus live events) would be Mike Bennett. I can't imagine he's ever going to get the belt under any other circumstances so it's not like ROH would be passing up a lengthy, memorable first reign.
 

Bennett’s unique status as someone who might leave for a spot in NXT soon would make it an interesting situation similar to 2005's Summer of Punk storyline. He could manage a couple of months at the top before dropping the belt to whoever Jay was originally planned to. If that was Matt Hardy then fine. Even 'The Prodigy' could play babyface opposite that toad.

I'm not going to advocate sacking Jay over this. He said something stupid. While he shouldn't remain the face of Ring of Honor there's no need for him to lose the only job he seems to have trained for and the means to support his family. Hopefully whoever the next champion is will think twice before expressing these sorts of embarrassing views or better yet won’t have them in the first place.

The Civil War

Jack Swagger is going to remain in orbit around WWE's World Heavyweight title until Extreme Rules. At that show he will clash with current champ Dolph Ziggler and former champ Alberto Del Rio.

A title win for 'The Real American' seems unlikely, mainly because of the court date that’s still hanging over his head. WWE aren't likely to put their second most important belt on someone who may bring them negative press. Just as unlikely will be Swagger remaining a part of the title picture after the extreme PPV. By the time Extreme Rules is out of the way Swagger and Colter will have been feuding with ADR for three months. It'll be time for both men to do something new. So says WWE's time tested booking practice.

For man of the people Del Rio that will likely be a continuation of the feud he's currently got going on with Ziggler. Dropping Swagger will provide just enough of a change to keep their programme interesting (in theory anyway).

Theoretically Del Rio could be ditched to allow for a Ziggler v Swagger programme. Realistically that's not happening. It would require one man to switch to playing face and necessitate a step down the card for Alberto, who only started getting the star treatment again in January. Also, Ziggler versus Swagger matches would not be the finest things known to man.

This is going to leave Swagger with nothing obvious to do come May 20^th. Nothing with headline guys anyway, unless CM Punk returns to work with him. I can think of likelier scenarios.

What I'd like to see WWE do is drop Swagger down a level to help elevate someone from the lower ranks. The perfect choice is... wait for it... Zack Ryder. Okay, perfect may be stretching things a little but Ryder would be a good choice for a promotion.

'Long Island Iced Z' is already reasonably popular with fans. That makes moving him up a notch easier. He proved in his 2011 programme with Dolph Ziggler that he can get the crowd into a match if he's given more than two minutes to do so. He's underrated on interviews too. Most importantly (for the point I’m about to make anyway) Ryder is an American with a gimmick that reflects an aspect of American pop culture. Specifically, reality TV.

Since returning in February Swagger and his mouthpiece Uncle Zeb have claimed that America's society is broken. One aspect of this belief, illegal immigration, is what led to the programme between Swags and Del Rio. Ryder could be used as the embodiment of American failings, blamed by the heels for what's wrong with the country’s populace.

Is this what's wrong with America today?

Getting it right would be tricky. Fans haven't exactly reacted to Swagger like a main event star during his most recent push and ‘The Long Island Broski' has been on the bottom rung of the roster since dumping the US title (to Swagger, funnily enough) early last year.

The usual approach of weekly rushed segments paid off with a pay-per-view match nobody cares isn't going to suffice. Viewers need to be given reasons to root for Ryder and despise Swagger. That would mean giving each man time to get their points across in an engaging fashion. Ideally it would mean giving Ryder some wins before the programme begins too, so that he's taken more seriously as an opponent for a former world title contender (and indeed a former World champion), and so that the option is open to have 'The Real American' cost him matches to get the ball rolling.

WWE can do all of this but it's unlikely they will. Ryder isn't seen as important enough to be a part of a featured rivalry and Swags will probably go the same way once Del Rio's done with him. The idea is just completely alien to their current booking style. Which, when you get down to it, is pretty depressing.

I Couldn't Cara Less

Sin Cara has revealed, through the magic of Twitter, that he’ll be back on WWE television next week. I can't be the only one who has absolutely no interest in this, can I?

Since first appearing for the world's leading sports entertainment company Sin Cara has been a flop of colossal proportions. When signing him it’s safe to assume Triple H was envisaging him becoming a marketable player in the mould of Rey Mysterio. All the pieces appeared to be in place. Ethnic background? Check. Fancy move set to elicit pops from excitable youngsters? Check. A mask that not only made him stand out from his peers but could also be mass produced and slapped onto merch stands? Check.

It's worth noting that Sin Cara was even looked on favourably by the notoriously fickle hardcore fans. You know, those of us who value wrestling ability over big muscles or a knack for encouraging strong T-shirt sales. He had a glowing reputation from his time in CMLL, including a well-known penchant for delivering a slicker, crisper and quicker 619 than Rey Mysterio could have managed even in his prime. He’d been one of Mexico’s biggest stars. That he was moving to WWE was a big deal.

Cara's not amounted to anything in WWE for a number of reasons. He's prone to botching and his inability to communicate with foes who don't speak Spanish creates a stilted, jarring pace for his matches. Those are the big two.

Less commonly cited reasons are his inability to cut promos English speakers (who are the overwhelming majority at most WWE events) can understand and his rather drab wardrobe. The former makes it tough to form an emotional attachment to him, because he can't cut archetypal babyface promos. If he was better versed in the American style and knew how to sell fatigue and pain with his body that problem could be overcome. But that's not the case.

His face being completely covered doesn't help him there. Not being able to see his pained expression makes his kayfabe suffering less real. There's a bigger problem with his mask though: it only seems to come in a handful of colours. Something so superficial shouldn't matter, but it does. Part of the reason Mysterio proved such a hit with WWE fans back in 2002 was that he was unlike anyone that the company had presented before. A big part of the package were his colourful outfits, none of which seemed to get more than a single televised outing.

Pray all you want mate, you're not cracking the main event any time soon

Cara has all the moves and the background but lacks the colourful appeal and the knowhow to engage fans. The injuries and sub-par matches have stopped him getting momentum going but his various shortcomings are the bigger issue.

None of this is to say I want him injured. Or botching and falling down the card for that matter. I'd love the guy to succeed in WWE. They need as many successful, marketable wrestlers as they can lay their mitts on and Cara could fit the bill.

I don't think he ever will though. Not only does he have all of the above working against him but he also now has the stigma of being the guy who's been on the roster for two years and accomplished nothing of note. I wouldn't blame him if he headed back to Mexico when his contract expires. I wouldn't miss him either.