Surprised they didn't take advantage of their situation.

[Crayo]

WWE recently has been in a pretty unique situation. Their top star (Cena) was gone for a lengthy amount of time, they were pushing a new guy to replace him or at least be on that level, they turned one of the top company faces (HHH) heel which formed a hot corporate stable which spread into other various storylines. So, why not use this spotlight and lack of Cena to push new younger talent? They must have knew Orton vs Bryan wasn't going to get consistent Cena-like numbers for the length of time those two have been feuding? The exact same thing applies to CM Punk and Paul Heyman, right?

They could have used that time to have Shield in two stories (bodyguards for stable, tag-team title feud) where they could drop the titles ASAP (holding them down). They could have debut talents from NXT. They're going with the angle where HHH is doing legitimate shit for business, why not use that excuse to debut various NXT talents to make RAW seem different? Currently, under his charge, the only change is that he wants Orton to be the face of the WWE. Make the story more realistic WHILST debuting new talent which creates OTHER STORIES. The latest PPV's have been so one dimensional because so much focus has been on the main event with no other interesting stories going on.

IMO: the reason the corporate stable has gotten stale is because it's overshooting the same angle. The angle where HHH is keeping Bryan down via various heel antics. A corporate stable idea is only ever going to be hot for a long period is if they transform the company. TNA sort of had the idea at the beginning of Aces & Eights with Ray as its champion when they defaced the website and had it under A&8 control. Those touches matter.

They could have had it so the HHH/Orton/Bryan story was the main event, Big Show's shitty part was a sub-plot to said main event, Shield losing the titles and putting focus on the new tag-team champions/division having a part (or two) on RAW, new faces from NXT appearing to join the "rebels" to HHH's regime which would basically mean debuting FACES from NXT. They could have heels from NXT appear who were picked under the boss' (HHH) order, which gives them instant heat from the set go. For example: Ascension could have feuded with the new face tag-team champions. What better tag-team from NXT is there to play the fucked up role where only HHH would see money in them?

I'm kinda ranting so excuse the rushed grammar, but does anyone else agree that they missed a pretty big opportunity here?

 

[seabs]

It's a shame yes but sadly not a surprise. The WWE has so little booking depth it's unreal, this story involves some phenomenal workers and what should be a fresh arc but it just isn't. Sadly it's not even the most disappointing story for me though, that's Punk vs The Heyman Guys.

 

[Stopspot]

What that guy up there said^. They have the tools to make the stories great, but due to a lack of depth it doesn't hit home. Things have gotten a bit better since Road Dogg got more say in the booking but not enough.

 

[Crayo]

So you're in agreement that this is one of the biggest opportunities to give the company a much needed make over in a long ass time? They could literally mix kayfabe with non-kayfabe company decisions. Crazy that they haven't even thought about it.

 

[Stopspot]

Definitely a big missed opportunity. We've gotten some changes (Bryan becoming a made man, which opens up the ME scene a bit since it has been pretty restricted), and Cody and the Shield seems to benefit from it. But really that's it. It could have been done on a much bigger scale.

 

[Snowman1]

If they're combining out of kayfabe stuff into HHH's character then it makes total sense for the Authority to not give a shit about the mid-card. :haha:

But seriously, I wouldn't say the opportunity has passed them by. If you're discussing pushing new talent, having Cena back actually helps that. He's returning to a WHC scene that is FAR beneath what Punk and Bryan are doing atm, so he's at least the #4 babyface. If that's not a good sign for Punk and Bryan (assuming it stays that way, they can push him past Big Show all they want, fuck Big Show) what is?

One good thing they've done with the Authority is that they didn't involve Cena with it at all. It didn't form because Cena was gone, it formed because Bryan got the belt. If Cena had anything to do with it that would set up him coming back and breaking it up, so us hardcore fans already would have lost interest in the angle.

The angle isn't working as a whole because of something else you said: The little things. The first two weeks when they were suffocating the show and dragging all the babyfaces out to torture Bryan as the rest of the roster was unable to do anything against their will? That helped. The roster felt like they were under the foot of tyranny with no logical way out (lets ignore the "they can just get a job elsewhere" plothole, it's really stupid), so the Authority felt like the biggest assholes on earth. Then they just started fucking with Rhodes, Big Show, and Bryan, as the rest of the show felt like the same WWE we are the abusive lovers of. It doesn't feel like a new regime anymore, hell Vickie of all people is bringing Cena back and they haven't said a word about it. As you said it has to FEEL like things are different for us to buy into them, or else we get dumb shit like the Raw Walkout in 2011.

Is it really too late to make it feel like a real takeover?

As for writing in general: A friend of mine pointed out something when Pritchard's contract expired in TNA: "The last time the wrestling business really needed a shakeup this badly, WWF rolled the dice with an accomplished writer from outside the business (Russo) to shake things up. They need to do that again." Sure, they have plenty of soap-opera writers from outside the business, but you see how many soaps are still on the air today, right? Maybe they can find someone on the Breaking Bad writing staff who's a big wrestling fan who'd love to come in. Anything besides the same-old-status-quo would be great right now.

 

[Leo C]

Indeed they could have done that, I don't think it's too late to do so but I really doubt it.