WWE expected to bring back Attitude Era stars earlier than expected

[Crayo]

When the bill came due on a lack of top stars to fill in for John Cena last Monday - resulting in an alarming 2.5 Raw TV rating - WWE head Vince McMahon returned to TV this week, and put himself in the TV main event opposite top heel C.M. Punk.

It appears bringing back part-time/Attitude Era stars will be the formula going forward the next six months heading to WrestleMania as WWE tries to stop the bleeding on a thin talent roster over-exposed three hours at a time on Monday nights.

The Undertaker is one of those part-time stars who could be called upon to appear in the Royal Rumble match, reports the Wrestling Observer Newsletter at F4WOnline.com this week. Undertaker is penciled in for a WrestleMania 29 match, but he could be back for the Rumble in January.

The Rock is already scheduled for the Rumble to challenge the WWE champion (likely C.M. Punk barring a change in direction). However, at a time of desperation opposite Monday Night Football, WWE is at least considering bringing back Rock this fall. According to the Observer, there was internal discussion about bringing Rock back "in the next few weeks" to boost TV ratings, but it's unclear if that will occur. Rock's movie schedule would be a key determinant, but it would fit the formula of foregoing the long-term to keep Raw above water this fall.

One former top star unlikely to wrestle, but potentially be involved in a TV angle is "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, whose name has been tossed around by Punk in recent promos. The goal is to promote the "WWE '13" video game, where Austin and Punk are central figures in the marketing, but could also lead to Austin somehow involved in a TV angle despite the condition of his knee, which was recently surgically repaired.

Overall, Vince McMahon is simply trying to keep the three-hour Raws going heading into Mania. WWE's priority is clearly short-term fixes - such as McMahon in a TV main event - over long-term planning, which is what got WWE into this situation by trying to fill holes every year and ignoring the warning signs that top stars needed to be built up in the event that John Cena went down, even for a few weeks or months.

PWTorch

 

[Lacky]

How about you switch back to 2 hours and you won't need to rely on part time wrestlers for ratings.

 

[Leo C]

How about building new stars?

 

[GrammarNazi82]

How about building new stars?

This.

 

[Farooq]

Thin talent roster? Are you fucking kidding me, they have PLENTY of people to fill the three hours of Raw with, they are just to lazy to build up stars.

 

[Swift]

Thin talent roster? Are you fucking kidding me, they have PLENTY of people to fill the three hours of Raw with, they are just to lazy to build up stars.

 

[Danielson]

I actually enjoy the older stars when they come back for matches. Especially the rock because he still has a lot to offer. I'd be interested to see stone cold though a.s.a.p. Lesnar is just mehhhh who cares it's lesnar, we get it dude. You're big and scary

 

[CM Punk]

Just get better storylines ffs. Though 2 hours wouldn't hurt.

 

[Swift]

I actually enjoy the older stars when they come back for matches. Especially the rock because he still has a lot to offer. I'd be interested to see stone cold though a.s.a.p. Lesnar is just mehhhh who cares it's lesnar, we get it dude. You're big and scary

Lesnar lost all his momentum after losing to Cena

 

[CM Punk]

Lesnar lost all his momentum after losing to Cena

Not really. He looked like a monster and destroyed him.
If Cena fucking just took a break and was taken out on a stretcher, it would've been awesome.
Also he gained some momentum back when he beat HHH.

 

[Leo C]

I still think using Lesnar that way and making him lose after two moves was really stupid.

 

[seabs]

Thin talent roster? Are you fucking kidding me, they have PLENTY of people to fill the three hours of Raw with, they are just to lazy to build up stars.

Who do you have to build the stars, that's the problem IMO. You need to bring these guys back in the short term to help build the next guys, is Cena as big without beating JBL, HHH, HBK and others ? No, same with Punk / Cena and others going through history. Taker, HHH, Brock, Rock, Cena, Orton and the other "AE" stars are welcome back but use them to put over your current guys not clashing against each other.

 

[Leo C]

Who do you have to build the stars, that's the problem IMO. You need to bring these guys back in the short term to help build the next guys, is Cena as big without beating JBL, HHH, HBK and others ? No, same with Punk / Cena and others going through history. Taker, HHH, Brock, Rock, Cena, Orton and the other "AE" stars are welcome back but use them to put over your current guys not clashing against each other.

Exactly, but the problem is they never do that. Look at Lesnar. They brought him back, he jobbed to Cena and beat HHH, no new talent helped. Undertaker has wrestled HBK and HHH in the last four WMs, no new talent helped. HHH buried Punk last year, beat Nash, jobbed to Taker and then Lesnar. No new talent helped. I can't remember Cena's last clean loss, Rock has beaten Cena and that's it, and Orton is willing to put guys over but Vince doesn't do that. The problem is that they use the AE stars as a short-term fix instead of utilizing them to propel new stars that will help in the future. Instead of jobbing them out, they put them over new stars or over one another. They never use them correctly.

 

[Dat Kid1]

They should switch to 2 hours and any additional stuff they wanted to use for Raw could be used for Main Event. What they really need is a new top face (that isn't Gaymus)