How is WWE supposed to create new stars?

[Guest Redhawk]

I've seen many people on this board talk about how WWE bringing in guys like Goldberg and Scott Steiner won't bring up ratings or boost buyrates. So if that's not the solution to WWE's problems, what is?

 

I know the initial response will be, "Create new stars." But how are they supposed to do that?

 

They tried creating a new star this year, and his name was Brock Lesnar. But as soon as it was apparent that Brock was getting a "megapush," you all jumped on WWE about "shoving Brock down our throats."

 

Creating stars isn't that easy. Once you start putting them in RAW or Smackdown main events, the ratings will probably go down because they're not big stars yet and a lot of fans don't see them as main-event worthy (kinda like Buff Bagwell). But if you never put the younger, fresher guys in main events, the same old guys in the main event (read: HHH, Undertaker) will get boring and drag down ratings.

 

So what would you do if you were Vince McMahon? If the IWC won't let him create new stars, yet they say bringing in established stars won't work either, he's in a Catch-22, isn't he?

 

Please feel free to fantasy book if it helps makes your case stronger.

[Guest godthedog]

put them over established stars in a meaningful way.

 

it's just that easy.

 

the vince mcmahon PR machine can make ANYONE a star. vince knows how to do it. and he IS doing it on smackdown.

[Guest cabbageboy]

It's easy: push some guys who are already over on their own merits. Lesnar wasn't over at all on his own merits, and that is why people on the net shit their pants when he went over RVD to go to SS and face the Rock.

 

With Lesnar on SMDN as champ, have him feud with some guys like Edge and Angle, then someone will likely get over.

 

Raw is a more difficult matter. It's so easy to create stars on there (hell RVD and Booker are so obviously ready it's not funny). All they have to do is beat HHH for the title in a solid feud. The likelihood of that is iffy of course.

[Guest Goodear]

The problem WWE has is that they want to create stars, but won't take into consideration someone who gets over when it isn't something they actually planned beforehand.

 

Take RVD, for example. He basically got over wrestling Jeff Hardy in hardcore matches while a member of a rather large and ineffective stable. And when that happens, WWE is notoriously slow at responding with a push.

 

So, to build new stars, the best thing the WWE can do is see who draws reactions while not nessesarily getting a push. Considering how over Hurricane or Tajiri got during their initial babyface pushes, its pretty criminal to 'reward' them with losses to WWE mainstays like Test and Mark Henry.

[Guest Redhawk]

put them over established stars in a meaningful way.

 

it's just that easy.

 

the vince mcmahon PR machine can make ANYONE a star.  vince knows how to do it.  and he IS doing it on smackdown.

But didn't Vince try those exact same tactics with Brock Lesnar? With Test? With the Big Show? Even with Bubba Ray Dudley, Bradshaw, and the Three-Minute Warning to some extent?

 

I undertand you can't just put guys in a main event. So how long do they need to do the "slow build?" I mean even if Booker T were to beat HHH cleanly on RAW next week, everyone would say, "Oh well, it'll be meaningless anyway" or "Well it was non-title, so it meant nothing."

[Guest buffybeast]

No, I don't think the creation of new stars is easy. But Vince has two opportunities looking him dead in the face if he wants new main event stars: Booker T and RVD.

 

They need to be placed in a well planned and sustained feud with an established main eventer who eventually jobs.....cleanly. It's been done before with HHH, SCSA, and the Rock. They know the formula. They just need to do it.

[Guest DJ Jeff]

Creating new stars takes time. In Lesnar's case, the WWE planned that they'd give him this monster push, and have him win the WWE Title 5 months after he debuted. I think the main reason everyone was against that, was because his push came too fast. Now, take guys like RVD, Booker T, and Edge. They are ready to be in the main event, since they've been slowly pushed. Basically, what I'm trying to say, is that if you're going to push a new star to be a main eventer, you can't do it within a span of a few months. In some cases, it won't work. In Lesnar's case, it might have worked. I'd say he's pretty over now. By the way, I wasn't against the WWE giving Lesnar the monster push. Finally, someone new was in the main event.

[Guest Cataclysm911]

I know the initial response will be, "Create new stars." But how are they supposed to do that?

 

They tried creating a new star this year, and his name was Brock Lesnar. But as soon as it was apparent that Brock was getting a "megapush," you all jumped on WWE about "shoving Brock down our throats."

Smarks = Fickle.

[Guest Brian]

Have Lesnar hold the title to WM, have Angle/Benoit compete over the contendership, have Angle win the feud and win Mania, feud with Benoit and Eddie and make them credible. Four stars made.

[Guest papacita]

I think WWE's problem with creating new stars is that all significant storylines (on Raw at least) revolve around the main event, leaving us with little reason to care for the midcard. One thing I loved about the WWF back in 97-98 was that while guys like HBK, Bret, McMahon and Austin were the primary focus of the shows, they were backed up by solid midcard programs such as the DX/Nation feud or even the Taker Vs Kane or even Sable Vs Marc Mero. Just about every wrestler put on TV back then was had a purpose, so if you didn't particularly care for the World Title feud, there was something interesting in the undercard to keep your attention. This is one reason I think Smackdown is better than Raw, because rather than focusing all of their attention on the Brock/Big Show match, you've got equal attention being paid to the Guerreros, Edge, Rey, Angle and Benoit. You can enjoy the show on more than one level, and it'd be easier to transition someone like Angle into Smackdown's World Title picture than it'd be to transition...say...RVD into Raw's.

 

To create new stars, the WWE needs solid programs in the undercard. This means less emphasis on the World Champion himself, and more on feuds between potential challengers for his title. Also, I'd personally like to see the lines between midcard, upper midcard and ME wrestler blurred a bit more to open up the possibility for more match combos. They should allow midcard wrestlers to get heat from Main Eventers. For example, if Ric Flair and HHH attack the Hurricane, instead of having him do nothing, let him come back for revenge. Maybe have him cost HHH a match or even get a fluke non-title win. That way it's more believable for guys like Hurricane to challenge "big time" stars, and opens up the door for potential title matches down the line. I think a rankings system would help too, just to gives wins and losses a little more meaning, but I'm probably asking for too much, lol. Creating stars does take time, but I think these are a few things you have to do in order to speed up the process. Also, it'd help if they didn't do that dumb ass "Transitional champion" angle whenever a wrestler other than Rock, HHH, Austin or Undertaker wins the title.

[Guest razazteca]

I know the initial response will be, "Create new stars." But how are they supposed to do that?

well the 1st attempt was putting OVW "stars" on tv. Batista who is supposed to be the best of the bunch is on his 2nd push while Ortan the Blue Chipper is on the injury list. Also some of the other OVW alumni are on HEAT which no direction all other than Joe Lame the Body Builder or the Funny Guy.

 

Will the Natural Born Thrillers Version 2 be any good? Well only Brock Lesner has made it and everybody else from OVW looks just like him, some have sloppy hair but are more less clones of him. GRRRR! I have teh Look......You Shall Buy My T-Shirts

[Guest Brian]

I want some Shelton Benjamin wrestling on the main shows.

[Guest Ram]

I heard this word once, it was like "uniqueness". Yeah yeah, give that to some of the new guys and maybe people will start to give a crap to one or two of 'em.

[Guest Redhawk]

Have Lesnar hold the title to WM, have Angle/Benoit compete over the contendership, have Angle win the feud and win Mania, feud with Benoit and Eddie and make them credible. Four stars made.

So then what does Brock do after WM? Because the tendency they have is to push a new guy, give him a big feud, and then take him back to the midcard (a la RVD after the HHH feud, or Rikishi after the 2000 Rumble). Does Brock stay in the main event, or go on to squash and "elevate" midcarders?

[ChrisMWaters]

Have Lesnar hold the title to WM, have Angle/Benoit compete over the contendership, have Angle win the feud and win Mania, feud with Benoit and Eddie and make them credible. Four stars made.

So then what does Brock do after WM? Because the tendency they have is to push a new guy, give him a big feud, and then take him back to the midcard (a la RVD after the HHH feud, or Rikishi after the 2000 Rumble). Does Brock stay in the main event, or go on to squash and "elevate" midcarders?

Um...well, going back (a LONG time back) to my comparison between Brock and Yokozuna...what did Yokozuna do after he lost the WWF Championship at WrestleMania 10?

 

I think Brock will have the same fate.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

The problem is, the opportunity to create new stars and remain successful has passed them by. They should have created them in mid 2000 when they elevated Jericho, Benoit, Angle (Jericho and Angle in particular - Benoit being their enhancement).

 

They should have had either Jericho go over Hunter at Fully Loaded or Angle 'steal' stephanie from Hunter at Summerslam and continue pushing them. Those were the two guys that should have been the new superstars. Sure, Angle got the title, but what sort of a champion was he? Ditto with Jericho in 2001/02.

[Guest Zero_Cool]

Well, I were Vince McMahon I'd go all Constitutional Convention and shit. I'd gather both writing teams (no on air talent) and have a nice closed doors meeting that would last throughout a Saturday or so, with the employees taking breaks every now and then. In that day, I would evaluate all TV talent, announcers and the like included.

 

As the meeting progresses, I would check to see who is taking notes, paying attention, and giving input, and I would check on who is using the meeting for day dreaming and cell phone games. This would be a good way to evaluate my staff. During the meeting, we would talk about each Smackdown and RAW superstar, going over their strengths and weaknesses and perhaps figuring out ways to maximize their potential. We would look at the health of our workers, because an out of control, unhealthy worker can hurt business very badly.

 

Later, we would take a look at the indy scene, which workers across the continent and beyond get the best crowd reactions and are solid wrestlers on top of that. We may look into Japan for talent.

 

We would then talk about the cancers of the locker room and how we should take of them, which would undoubtedly become a very messy part of the meeting, which could result in screaming, insults, and other things that would come out as a result.

 

Finally, using the information gathered, we would sit down and start to write some longterm storyline plans, using workers' strengths to their advantages. In closing, we would look into new concepts, involving changing the style of our wrestling, and perhaps moving the purpose of the show back over to wrestling, in order to keep our diehard fans, so that we will not lose our entire audience.

[Guest crandamaniac]

I heard this word once, it was like "uniqueness". Yeah yeah, give that to some of the new guys and maybe people will start to give a crap to one or two of 'em.

I'd have to agree with you there Ram. Give me something, anything that catches my attention about a certain wrestler. Look at wrestlers like Edge, Angle and Val Venis. They all had something that caught peoples attention before they entered. Now take a look at Cena and Orton. They had nothing that really caught with people. All they had was the announcers screaming "He's a rookie! He's new!". So what if he's new, to me, he's bland to me. Give the audience some reason to love or hate the wrestler, and push those that get a reaction, and pretty soon you'll have yourself a new star

[Guest Loss4Words]

All the characters are definitely running together. Over the past few years, there seems to be one way to create a babyface and one way to create a heel. The only way to turn a guy face and get him over is to have him start as a heel and start squashing everyone. The only way to get a guy over as a heel is to present him as a good looking guy who cares about fan support so the fans can then turn on him. I'm tired of the "intentionally lame" characteristics that every heel other than HHH in the company has (i.e. Kurt Angle drinks milk, Randy Orton cares about his fans, Chris Jericho is a huge rock star, etc.)

 

I just wish they would have done this when the opportunity was there for the taking. 2000 was the year to elevate Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle as singles superstars, the year to see just how far they could go with Rikishi (and they did, but they went about it in the totally wrong way), and the year to actually put a tag team (Edge & Christian) on a main event level for the first time in ages. This elevation would be paying off big time right now because guys like Jericho and Angle could be carrying pay-per-view main events while guys like the Hardyz and the Dudleyz were left to their own devices against fresh tag teams like the Jung Dragons and even Taka & Funaki. 2001 would have once again presented tons of opportunities to keep things incredibly fresh in the form of Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Hurricane Helms and Taijiri and 2002 could have continued that goal with the rise of Brock Lesnar and other fresh faces like John Cena, Jamie Knoble, Shannon Moore and the guys who been resurgant this year like Eddy Guerrero and Rey Misterio Jr. All the while, you have several guys who can be used as "reliable veterans" who occasionally stepped up in main events when the time was right like HHH and the Undertaker and the mainstream sensations to keep the casual fans coming in like Steve Austin and the Rock.

 

It could have been the perfect formula. I'm still not sure how it messed up so badly.