WWE in 2018 is the worst it's been since....?

[dh86]

The 2003 HHH reign of terror is the worst WWE ever been in my life by a mile. 1995 still had prime Bret & Shawn

 

[Rell84shots]

the overall product is not bad at all.

its way better than it was the last 5 years before I stopped watching. and its better than some of the nostalgic years that yall glorify.

the only thing thats legitimately bad is raw, which would be alright if they dropped it down to 2 hours.

but then again, I say this as a general wrestling fan, as opposed to a WWE sports entertainment universe guy.





the roster is indeed an embarrassment of riches. they just executed a modern-day version of the territory raids that vince pulled off in the '80s.

its the main reason I started watching the WWE again.

Nothing now outside of the female wrestlers is better than the any past era, I get sick and tired of people trying to shyt on past eras to prop up the failures of today. The fact is back in the day wrestlers from curtain jerkers to main eventers put on a show, now wrestlers are more concerned about their IG followers and doing goofy backstage videos together than being the best. As for your other comment wrestling is doing just fine outside of the WWE but they don't have the exposure that the WWE does.

The 2003 HHH reign of terror is the worst WWE ever been in my life by a mile. 1995 still had prime Bret & Shawn

2003 had the GOAT era of Smackdown.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

Nothing now outside of the female wrestlers is better than the any past era, I get sick and tired of people trying to shyt on past eras to prop up the failures of today. The fact is back in the day wrestlers from curtain jerkers to main eventers put on a show, now wrestlers are more concerned about their IG followers and doing goofy backstage videos together than being the best. As for your other comment wrestling is doing just fine outside of the WWE but they don't have the exposure that the WWE does.

2003 had the GOAT era of Smackdown.

breh, I don't even rock with the WWE all like that, so im certainly not gonna prop up any of their failures.

im just saying that the WWE has plenty of years that were much worse than this.
and this era really isn't even bad. someone put it best on page 1, when they said most of the roster is coasting.

I agree that this era is awful in terms of showmanship, but I think the WWE is trying to keep up with whats hot in other promotions, while sticking to their own script of Hollywood writers & maintain that PG rating. its a terrible mix.

 

[snikt6384]

I feel like you're drastically overlooking the handicaps and restrictions placed on these guys that did not apply back then. The AE gave wrestlers much more freedom on the mic, seems more encouraging of input, and creative rolled with the vibe of the crowd and the angles. If something wasn't getting over, they cared about adjusting to it. This doesn't seem to be the case these days. Everything feels manufactured, controlled...and logically inconsistent.

From what we've heard there IS a degree of complacency with some of the guys and i'm sure in certain cases that's why those particular acts are lackluster. But both things can be true. There can be complacent guys AND a lack of creative focus.

How many times have we seen promos where the words being spoken sounded like they'd never come from the wrestler speaking? How many times have angles been shyt upon and the WWE just keeps going with how they want to do it. Roman looks like a wrestler for sure. Why do his promos often sound so robotic, why does WWE persist on the same course despite his reactions? Back in the day, they're changing course and letting him loose.

How many times has the momentum of a wrestler or angle that IS getting reactions been cut off at the knees and been made boring. shyt, look at Sasha/Bayley. What about their feud makes sense right now? Teasing for MONTHS, then it blows up in a brawl, they reset the whole thing and then they brawl again and finally Bayley is getting cheered...then they turn it into comedy therapy sessions.

So while I think some of these guy do not look like "prototypical" wrestlers, I don't think that is the issue. Could it be a factor? Sure. But its creatives job to make these guys they hire seem special. If someone's got some negatives, you cover them up. If any of the AE wrestlers were subject to the lack of focus, lack of freedom and the overall scripting of Raw and SD today, we probably wouldn't be talking about them the same way.

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

The 2003 HHH reign of terror is the worst WWE ever been in my life by a mile. 1995 still had prime Bret & Shawn

It’s worse now. Back then the product kinda had a direction, the belts didn’t look like ugly children’s toys, they had an announce team that properly did their job, a main event scene that consisted of more than just one guy challenging a million times even though he frequently loses and a champion who isn’t even around most of the time, a top heel who at least got booed, and a stable that was clearly aiming to make stars of its two young members. Today nobody is over, nobody gets any storylines or character work, the same matches happen every week, promos are infinitely worse since they’re scripted word for word, the announcing is abysmal at best, and there’s just clearly not effort put in at all. The early 2000’s era raw intro alone was better than almost the entire show nowadays. Just off of being a 3 hour show it becomes a chore to watch.

 

[Rell84shots]

breh, I don't even rock with the WWE all like that, so im certainly not gonna prop up any of their failures.

im just saying that the WWE has plenty of years that were much worse than this.
and this era really isn't even bad. someone put it best on page 1, when they said most of the roster is coasting.

I agree that this era is awful in terms of showmanship, but I think the WWE is trying to keep up with whats hot in other promotions, while sticking to their own script of Hollywood writers & maintain that PG rating. its a terrible mix.

I'll give you that, and the fact that they're coasting is why I can't give this era any praise. When WCW was winning the wars the mid-carders still wrestled like their lives depended on it, and the same when the WWE started winning. They need to trim the fat when it comes to creative and wrestlers.

 

[Playaz Eyez]

The thing that mostly makes this era so bad is that they are top to bottom loaded with more legitimate collective skill than they've ever had, but creative is at it's very worst. It's so bland, boring and very mundane. The feeling of apathy may be far worse than actual disgust (which is what the WWE was from a large portion of 20072004 to early 2008). Current WWE is equivalent to having a dope Ferrari with no engine, transmission, nor steering wheel.

 

[CM_Burns]

It's genuinely bad this year.

2015 was actually good.

2016 was ok. They had a good 2nd half with the brand split and Goldbergs return. SD after the brand split was really good.

2017 was ok. WM was good and the summer was good for both shows. The fall was weak for both.

This year has been really boring with almost no highlights. 2010 was probably the last time it's been this bad.

 

[ThisIsLife]

Its boring.

 

[Playaz Eyez]

It's genuinely bad this year.

2015 was actually good.

2016 was ok. They had a good 2nd half with the brand split and Goldbergs return. SD after the brand split was really good.

2017 was ok. WM was good and the summer was good for both shows. The fall was weak for both.

This year has been really boring with almost no highlights. 2010 was probably the last time it's been this bad.

100% this. I'm gonna post some PPVs from around that time, and everybody can pretty much guess exactly how boring that year was. That was probably peak WWE PG during that time.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

This. The talent is there, it's just the booking/writing is extremely lazy. This era shyts all over the 2006-2011 era that featured:

LOLCENAWINS Reigns of Terror
A Pirate who might have a thing for his sister
The Boogeyman
DX coming back twice with Dad Joke gimmicks
Everything having to do with Hornswoggle
Guests Hosts every week
b*stardization of ECW
shytty Midcard

Yes that 5 year period was terrible... I was mostly into TNA and ROH at the time, WWE was all background noise.

 

[R=G]

How bad is it? Look at it like this...who do they put on a pedestal.

Roman Reigns
Brock Lesnar
AJ Styles
Ronda
Alexa Bliss
Charlotte
Carmella
Bryan
Miz
Seth

Now these people get time and segments regardless. Everyone else? You never know if they might appear this week or not.

Becky is getting pushed but is that for Summerslam or is it just to give Carmella "more heat"?

Samoa Joe is in and out

Cesaro is off tv because they got a certain max pushed right now

Naomi doesnt matter

Ruby Riot was half pushed with no intention of going after the Bliss title reign

Mickie was inexplicably turned heel to give Bliss back up

Nattie is probably the way out for when Ronda tries to kill Bliss

 

[ManBearPig]

NXT is included in the WWE.

NXT has been awesome so far

 

[ManBearPig]

The 2003 HHH reign of terror is the worst WWE ever been in my life by a mile. 1995 still had prime Bret & Shawn

This is off the head

-3 GREAT matches on WM19
-brock and kurt Angle beef
-Chris Benoit and Kurt tearing it up on the Royal Rumble PPV
-Kane unmasking

Sounds like a good year to me

 

[DLo]

People need to stop blaming creative. It is Vince McMahon's fault. How many times do we hear stories about Vince changing storylines at the last minute?

NXT (a product that Vince has no involvement in) has great matches, storylines and character development.