Your WWE Changes

[Guest Banders Kennany]

If you could make one or two medium sized changes in the WWE (push people, etc.), and one or two very small, teensy changes (change someone's catchphrase, change the way the RAW chryon moves off the screen, etc.), what would you do? Remember these ideas can work in tandem with other and aren't created each individually for a seaparate universe.

 

My Moderate Changes: Have more midcard matches worked in a Mid-South style with more heel cheating AND establish Chris Benoit as an "established" main eventer, ala HHH or HBK.

 

My Teensy Changes: Change the Smackdown opening theme AND get Heidenreich to do some chest exercises so he actually looks imposing.

 

Should be fun. Get to brainstorming everyond!

[deancoles 0]

My Moderate Changes: Get a consistent set of Rules for Cage matches(over the top rules or not) and have a top 10 like WCW did, that way a match between Chris Jericho and Batista would actually have a reason to happen, having a Jack Tunney type authority figure replacing the GM's would be nice as well.

 

My Tiny Changes: Stop relying on combinations of Benoit,Michaels,Benjamin/Orton/Edge vs. Evolution for Raw Main Events.

 

Edit: Move Some of the Sunday Night Heat crew to Smackdown, Richards,Venis and Maven namely.

[Australian Pride 0]

Moderate Changes - increase the amount of viable headline options, and use them in matches that don't always involve HHH and the Undertaker

 

Tiny changes - let John Cena cut loose on the stick, instead of having him use his pathetic gay jokes, 'the champ is here' and 'you cant see me' over and over again.. Phase them down, he can still throw them in occasionally (except the gay jokes), but for the most part he uses original material every week.

[Chazz 0]

Moderate Change: *Replace Stephanie McMahon as Head of Creative, as well as Brian Gerwertz as Lead Raw Writer. Bring back Vince Russo, Ed Ferrera, Chris Kreski(Sp?), or anyone that would be willing to come back to write for The WWE that had a decent amount of success writing T.V. during The Boom/Attitude Era who actually knows what fans want to see.

 

 

 

Tiny Changes: *Replace Eric Bishoff as Raw GM with a No Nonsense, Straight Down The Middle "Tweener" GM who won't take any shit from Heels or Babyfaces alike.

 

 

*Scrap The Raw Opening Montage/Song In favor of a new one already!

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

Bring back Russo and Ferrera? I like Wrestling. Wrestling didn't exist during their tenue.

 

I'd bring back Kreski though because 2000 kicked ass and had great wrestling.

 

"Moderate" changes

-Hire/Promote people who know the business and the history of the sport. No more hollywood writers who couldn't even get a script passed in tinseltown, and that's saying alot considering the crap that invades our theatres. Offically establish who is the head writer and co-writers.

 

I'd rehire Chris Kreski for whatever he wants, baring an outrageous demand like over a Million. Hire Kreski to oversee both brands, phase stephanie out instantly, keep her as a Public spokeswoman for the company and if neccesary, an on rare basis appearing character on Raw or Smackdown, in the vein of Vince whom makes an apperence only once every three month and often with a "big" announcement.

 

Establish a Intelligent and well knowing writing/booking crew for each show. Kreski is the Head Writer of the company but Paul Heyman is the top booker for Smackdown and Tommy Dreamer runs Raw. Set up only three additional writers for each show, the less influences, the better cohesion the angles can have.

 

The other Moderate changes....Get rid of the whole impromptu nature of the show, Most shows come off looking like 40 minutes in planned while Bischoff and Long just make impromptu or unannounced matches. Remember that period where raw was kicking ass? yeah like early this year, right before and a few more weeks after WMXX, u remember how they had a major match lined up nearly everyweek ahead of time, where we knew Shawn/Benoit:Showdown in the Desert was in two weeks. It creates a bigger mystique around the match, instead of the opening interview that leads to a scramble, leading to a meaningless tag team match for the Main event. There was one show this year that had a PPV feel to it with 5 major announced matches for one card, sadly the ratings weren't so good for it and that's the night Vince ended that idea. I'd bring that back, I like hyped matches announced a week or two in advanced.

[humongous2002 0]

First I'll let Heyman become the head writer for SD and have the following wrestlers as my main eventers: RVD, Eddie, Book, Show, Rey, Carlito, and Taker. Depush Bradshaw back to Velocity where he belongs.

Trade Benoit to main event on SD for Kurt.

Trade Cena to RAW for Kane or Batista.

Demote Gertwitz from head writer and try to bring back Kreski, force HHH to share the spotlight with Edge, Y2J, Snitski (my monster heel), my new trades Kurt and Cena.

Depush Orton for being nothing but a failure until he's ready to be a top guy.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Bring in some rule changes to differentiate between the brands, as well as brand-specific matches.

 

For example, RAW Cage Matches will feature the Over the Top/Out the Door format while Smackdown Cage Matches feature Pinfall/Submission finishes.

RAW gets Elimination Chamber, Smackdown gets War Games. That sort of thing.

 

I also think they need to fix up their PPVs a bit.

 

1) The same show gets the same PPV every year (plus splits).

2) Build in more PPV-Specific Matches/Formats.

 

For example, Armaggeddon can feature an Elimination Chamber every year (or the old 6 Man HIAC). Fans like unique formats if you can get them over successfully. The Royal Rumble is the ultimate example.

 

The idea is to try and make PPVs more prestigious. People go out of their way to order Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania every year because of what they are as much as what the card is.

 

I would also make four shows in which the brands can interact with each other. Wrestlemania & Royal Rumble should stay as they are. The others would be changing GAB back to KOTR. Make it an 8 Man Tournament with the first two rounds making up the Semi-Finals & Finals of each brand, then have each brand's champion square off in the Finals. The other will be Survivor Series where the main event would always be a 5vs5 Raw vs. Smackdown Survivor Series match with the top stars of both brands. Wrestlemania is the only time they would ever face each other one-on-one aside from the KOTR Finals.

 

The big point of all of this is to differentiate between the brands alot more than they already do, and to ideally create two distinct audiences that will both order the big shows. PPV is the area with the most room for growth and the area with the biggest payoff financially.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

One other thing. Never put matches with set time limits on free TV, like Iron Man Matches. All that does is tell the audience how long a match will last, and they will tune out and come back for the last couple of minutes. It just isn't a good idea. Save them for PPV.

[Guest Loss]

Have an authority figure who at least tries to be impartial.

[Papacita 0]

One other thing.  Never put matches with set time limits on free TV, like Iron Man Matches.  All that does is tell the audience how long a match will last, and they will tune out and come back for the last couple of minutes.  It just isn't a good idea.  Save them for PPV.

For iron-man matches yes, but I do think they need to announce a time-limit before hand just to make things more realistic. For instance, if you're gonna do a 3-minute match on Raw, announce that the match is set with a 10-minute time limit, so that it becomes a little easier to convey (in kayfabe terms at least) why the wrestlers would feel the urgency to get matches over sooner than in a PPV match where they'd have more time. Also, it can add to the drama of matches when you see guys start getting close to the set time limit. And I'm a big mark for time-limit draws anyway, so...

 

Other than that, on the moderate scale, they need to either stop with the backstage skits, or if they're gonna do them, at least make them realistic. For example, if they wanted to show a conversation between Kane and Lita, rather than having Kane show up, then Lita show up, then having them start the conversation, they should cut backstage in the middle of the conversation; that way, it'll seem like they're catching a spontaneous moment whereas the other way just makes the scene come off looking staged. Camera angles are also important in capturing realism; rather than keeping the camera right up on them, they should distance it a little bit, and keep it at an angle where it really doesn't seem as blatantly intrusive to the wrestlers--and they should only use one camera angle unless it's a really big backstage brawl/event or something along those lines. Finally, don't just pretend the camera isn't there--I hate that. One that really bugged me was during the Lita miscarriage angle where Todd Grisham (sp?) was reporting outside of her hospital room and the doctors made him move, but allowed the camera crew to keep filming. I'm probably being a little more than anal about this, as these really are minor things, but they do make it a lot harder to buy into the product...for me at least.

 

And for little things...I'd just place more stress on money. Have announcers start putting more emphasis on the winner's purse and the loser's purse, have wrestlers get fined for getting DQ'd, counted out, or for striking officials, talk about how much wrestlers get for being I-C, World, or Tag champs compared to the rest of the roster (simplest way to convey to the fans how much a belt is worth)...more stuff like that.

[Guest Loss]

Explain the presence of the camera at all times.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

For iron-man matches yes, but I do think they need to announce a time-limit before hand just to make things more realistic. For instance, if you're gonna do a 3-minute match on Raw, announce that the match is set with a 10-minute time limit, so that it becomes a little easier to convey (in kayfabe terms at least) why the wrestlers would feel the urgency to get matches over sooner than in a PPV match where they'd have more time. Also, it can add to the drama of matches when you see guys start getting close to the set time limit. And I'm a big mark for time-limit draws anyway, so...

 

That's not what I meant. I mean matches where a match has to last a certain amount of time, like an Iron Man Match or a Royal Rumble or even War Games. Matches on free TV should always have the stigma that they could end at any time so don't change the channel.

[CanadianChick 0]

Have an authority figure who at least tries to be impartial.

Long has been somewhat impartial.

 

My main change would be giving a reason for people to care about a character. They are getting a bit better with this, but it should extend to all characters. Why should I care about Venis one way or the other? Because WWE told me so? Why should we care about Shannon Moore? Because he's pretty?

 

With the reason for the camera, I concur. No one pulls a camera aside anymore to give an interview or to show something. One of the last times that happened that I remember somewhat clearly is when Jericho dragged a camera to the room that he hammered Chyna's hand. Stuff like that is cool.

[Guest goatfish]

My changes

 

Moderate: On smackdown, there must be at least 1 cruiserweight match a week. And by cruiserweight, I don't mean "Heidenriech smushes Shannon Moore" or "Chavo Guerrero and Billy Kidman wrestle, until JBL destroys them to prove a point". No. None of that. Give them 10 solid minutes a week, and see what happens. Also, I would institute a rule that, unless there is a draw in the match, no person that was the last person to challenge for a title gets another shot until the current champion has defended his title twice. If that sounds confusing, basically Shawn Michaels wouldn't be able to wrestle Triple H until two other people have had a shot at him. This would force them to establish more upper midcard preformers, as well as let feuds develop more slowly. This also applies to all titles, even the women's title. A just beaten champ would still get the first rematch though.

 

Minor: Trade Val Venis and Rodney Mack to Smackdown for Charlie Haas. Put Haas as the newest member of Evolution, and have him feud with Shelton Benjamin (just because it would have to happen if Haas went over to Raw). Give Val Venis some sort of gimmick where they can at least pipe in some heat for him, due to Smackdown being taped, and see if he can run with it. Rodney Mack can be Teddy Long's bodyguard (not that Teddy becomes anything but an impartial GM, just that Teddy can realize that some people will get pissed at some of his decisions, and come after him). Have Long send Mack after anybody, heel or face, that continually defies him.

[The Buzz 0]

Side Note: They really should have never pulled the plug on Chief Morley, as it was the first time in a few years that Morley had any kind of real heat.

 

As far as changes go, I really think whether they keep the roster split or not they need to cut some wrestlers or send them down to ovw, and then in turn cut the side shows such as velocity and heat. With those two gone replace them with a monthly Saturday Night Main Event show to do any final building up for a PPV the next night.

 

Give wrestlers time to get over. I don't know how many times I've seen this in wrestling. You'll have a talented wrestler with a decent upside to him(gimmick, charisma, wrestling ability), and when he doesn't spark a mega pop within 6 weeks, his push is halted for a time, sometimes permanently.

 

There was a thread a while back about cutting way down on the run ins and ref bumps. This isn't a new idea and has been suggested a lot online. I enjoyed Sting vs Ric Flair, Benoit vs Angle, Hart vs Michaels, etc. etc. because of the wrestling and the buildup. Some times you have interference that is worthwhile, and when it is done in moderation is almost always means something.

 

The entire creative team needs to be looked over, and except for a few such as Heyman, and restaffed....sign Sting so I can get a dvd of his career, and possibly if he is motivated a few 2 1/2-3 1/2 star main events.

 

I personally think some kind of ranking system, based on wins and losses. Wrestlers can move up and down the rankings regardless of how over they are, simply by winning or losing matches. Top ranked superstars would receive title shots, lower ranked would not. If wrestling wants to be taken seriously as part of the mainstream for more then 4-5 years at a time they should take a few steps to atleast fake it's realism a bit more.

[benoit4hor 0]

sign Sting so I can get a dvd of his career, and possibly if he is motivated a few 2 1/2-3 1/2 star main events.

 

Word.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

*Sigh*

 

No more nostalgia acts.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

. For example, if they wanted to show a conversation between Kane and Lita, rather than having Kane show up, then Lita show up, then having them start the conversation, they should cut backstage in the middle of the conversation; that way, it'll seem like they're catching a spontaneous moment whereas the other way just makes the scene come off looking staged.

 

Does anyone remember a few months ago when Kane and Lita were both looking directly at the camera until they heard "ok go!", and then Kane started attacking Lita? This is why I like this idea.

 

My change: Make storylines last. Plan them out before hand, and allow room for some modifications, but plan them out. And keep them simple. Not super simple, but something along the lines of what Kreski did. We know there's a locker room, and that these guys are atheletes hanging out backstage. Plan storylines like that. (Yes, I remember the Kane/Jericho coffee feud.)

[Jobber of the Week 0]

My super-teeny change: No tag team matches as a main event. Feel free to use tag teams to advance PPV angles, but not in the main event.

 

My small change:

Make Ric Flair a face again. For the love of God, all having Flair as a heel does is cause the crowd to support a heel, since nobody buys Heel Flair as anything more than a "Hey, remember this?" joke referencing NWA Flair. If the guy is going to keep going in there even though he's out of gas and has little left to offer, then we might as well not encourage fans to work against the angle.

 

My moderate change:

 

World Title matches start actually appearing on free TV. Once a year (maybe, maybe twice if we're desperate or using a change to abort an angle) the title changes on free TV.

[Vyce 0]

Minor changes: Have actual storylines for the B shows. I know that the creative team appears to be struggling as it is to put together even shitty storylines on RAW & Smackdown, but having a couple ongoing storylines on Heat & Velocity would give people a reason to watch those programs and would help get over some of the lower-card talent.

 

Moderate: I'm with Papacita on the backstage skits being revamped. I know we're supposed to suspend disbelief, but some of the shit that happens is just beyond suspension - time to make them more realistic.

[Guest Banders Kennany]

Bring in some rule changes to differentiate between the brands, as well as brand-specific matches.

 

For example, RAW Cage Matches will feature the Over the Top/Out the Door format while Smackdown Cage Matches feature Pinfall/Submission finishes.

RAW gets Elimination Chamber, Smackdown gets War Games.  That sort of thing.

 

I also think they need to fix up their PPVs a bit. 

 

1)  The same show gets the same PPV every year (plus splits).

2)  Build in more PPV-Specific Matches/Formats. 

 

For example, Armaggeddon can feature an Elimination Chamber every year (or the old 6 Man HIAC).  Fans like unique formats if you can get them over successfully.  The Royal Rumble is the ultimate example.

 

The idea is to try and make PPVs more prestigious.  People go out of their way to order Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania every year because of what they are as much as what the card is.

 

I would also make four shows in which the brands can interact with each other.  Wrestlemania & Royal Rumble should stay as they are.  The others would be changing GAB back to KOTR.  Make it an 8 Man Tournament with  the first two rounds making up the Semi-Finals & Finals of each brand, then have each brand's champion square off in the Finals.  The other will be Survivor Series where the main event would always be a 5vs5 Raw vs. Smackdown Survivor Series match with the top stars of both brands.  Wrestlemania is the only time they would ever face each other one-on-one aside from the KOTR Finals.

 

The big point of all of this is to differentiate between the brands alot more than they already do, and to ideally create two distinct audiences that will both order the big shows.  PPV is the area with the most room for growth and the area with the biggest payoff financially.

This and the idea about acknowledging cameras and staging the backstage confrontations so they don't seem as "staged" are the best ideas I've seen, and much better than mine. A lot of the ideas here put mine to shame actually. Good thinking.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Did anyone mention "change sets"?

[Guest Rrrsh]

Moderate Changes - Disband Evolution. Flair looks to be on the outs and Orton has already left. Dont make Evolution fail where the Horseman and NWO did by replacing the orginal members and ruining what they had. Be like the Dangerous Alliance.

 

 

Make Paul Heyman head writer of smackdown. Their is enough talent on that show for me to care agian, but right now, its still boring. Too many guys who are utterly useless and have no direction.

 

 

Slight Changes- Disband the crusierweight divison and make them all Tag Teams. They have two dying divison, so ditch one and make the other one strong.

 

More matches on Raw. Now that the Diva Contest is gone, we need more Heat guys getting shots on RAW in matches and angles that matter. Maven, Chucky, Stevie, Val. These guys should be given shots for the fans to care about them.

[Guest Loss]

Hell, do away with the concept of "B-shows". They had that mentality when they had Heat on MTV. Do you realize how many companies would KILL for an hour a week of time on MTV? WWE wasted it by giving matches no one cared about. The Monday night wars are over, but they still book like they're in that era.

 

Big names and the occasional big angle should be featured on Heat and Velocity.

[Kizzo 0]

Hell, do away with the concept of "B-shows". They had that mentality when they had Heat on MTV. Do you realize how many companies would KILL for an hour a week of time on MTV? WWE wasted it by giving matches no one cared about. The Monday night wars are over, but they still book like they're in that era.

That's one thing I didn't understand...they had a golden opportunity to expand their base......WWE talks about them being more of an "entertainment" company well they had a ONE HOUR SHOW that was on the KING of Pop Culture .....MTV(even if some of you do hate it).......

 

I wonder what writers like Russo or Kreski would have thought about having a one hour show on MTV....they would have killed for that opportunity AND capitalized on it...

[Guest Coffey]

You know, when up and put on the spot, it's a lot harder to just randomly throw around ideas. I can come up with a lot of things that WWE could do, but that's just stuff I'd personally like to see. That doesn't mean that they'd all be good business decisions or better for WWE as a whole.

 

The little things are what really matter the most.

 

I.) Have the referee check both men before the match, for every match, before the bell rings. They do it sometimes for title matches, and they did it for Regal for awhile when he was always using the Brass Knuckles. It just makes the matches seem more important. It also makes cheating, when a heel gets away with it, more dastardly. I'm just a big fan of the ref checking the wrestlers boots and shit, I don't know why.

 

II.) Announce each wrestler in their corner instead of while they're walking down the ramp. I think this is part of the reason why the TV shows always seem so rushed. If WWE can't afford to do something this miniscule, maybe they should rethink the show they're doing, because it's too crammed full of shit. God forbid they actually have the shows outside of Raw and Smackdown mean anything. (What I mean is, everything shouldn't have to be on Raw for it to mean something. Who's to say that someone can't become a contender by winning matches on Heat? Why can't titles change hands on Velocity?)

 

III.) "Tale of the Tape" for every match. It makes things seem more legit and believable. Why should I think that Billy Kidman has a shot against JBL? Let's see the credentials and shit. Ya know?

 

IV.) When using tag teams, give them both a tag team name and a tag team finisher. The Dudley Boyz have the Dudley Death Drop...outside of that, what do you have? La Résistance and their Au Revoir. The rest of the tag teams are usually just two random people thrown together. The Hurricane & Rosey? Booker T. & Goldust? Billy Kidman & Paul London? They need tag team names and tag team finishers. Otherwise, they're not a tag team. They're two single's wrestlers in a match.

 

V.) Less titles. There should only be titles for competitive divisions. That means no more women's title, no more tag team titles, no cruiserweight title, etc. Both world divisions and the tier two titles (IC & US) should be PLENTY. If WWE ever decide to make the other divisions serious (in some cases, serious again) then they can bring the respective belts back depending on the occasion.

 

VI.) Less PPV's a year. Jesus, it's getting out of hand! There's a reason why the TV shows don't seem to matter. It's because there's always a PPV like six days away! There's just too damn many of them. They need, like, ten less. Obviously it's not going to happen because WWE make too much money from them, but it'd be nice if the market wasn't so flooded with the WWE product. Goodness. I remember when PPV's seemed special. Now they're like an extended episode or Raw without the commercials. Why should that be worth $35?

 

VII.) The women have to do something productive, or they shouldn't be on TV. You can't market towards kids (with toys and shit) and then have women running around half naked on your main shows. Keep the ones that can manage or wrestle, and ditch the rest. Like Lillian. She doesn't seem to get in the way. People like Dawn Marie, Torrie Wilson & Stacy Kiebler, however? Come to think of it, since the women's division is so terrible, they could probably cut the majority of the "divas."

 

VIII.) Bring back a ranking system. A contenders rank for each belt and an overall ranking. I remember growing up I used to get wrestling magazines just to see if someone like Barry Windham went up a spot because he got a win the previous week. I miss those days. Besides, it would make the belts seem more important, and give a lot of otherwise unused, wasted talent a direction. Not everything has to have a storyline. Most people who tune into wrestling, wouldn't be shocked, appaled and pissed off if they actually got some wrestling matches that happened just for the sake of wrestling to see who's better.

 

IX.) Less reliance on gimmicks. Someones like The Hurricane could get over on talent alone. All of these new gimmicks are ridiculous. It's not the answer. Granted, the other side of the spectrum is just as bad. We had a ton of OVW guys showing up with generic names. Dave Batista, Randy Orton, John Cena, etc. Nothign special about those names. You can have a gimmick name and not be a walking joke. For example, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

 

X.) Spice up the commentary. Some way, some how. Add a third man, get new members, move the booth around again. Anything. It's dead in the water. Listening to Raw is damn near unbearable. Quit with the jokes. Stop with the tweener, favoritism bullshit. Just call the damn matches and catch the viewers up to date with the things that have been going on. Seriously.

[Kizzo 0]

X.) Spice up the commentary. Some way, some how. Add a third man, get new members, move the booth around again. Anything. It's dead in the water. Listening to Raw is damn near unbearable. Quit with the jokes. Stop with the tweener, favoritism bullshit. Just call the damn matches and catch the viewers up to date with the things that have been going on. Seriously.

 

This is long overdue......

 

Either they need to mix up the two commentating teams or add a third man to each group...

 

Have J.R. and Paul Heyman team up again(I actually think they did a great job in 2001...and for a short time they were with each other...they developed a great chemistry)......

 

There are alot possibilties that can happen...

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

What made Heyman/Ross so great and I believe it was the best duo since the Monsoon/Heenan days, was that you could tell their dislike for each other was legit, something that is very rare in Announcing. It allowed for unpredictablitly.

 

They always made little shoots at each other and that made many like us from hitting the mute.

[SuperJerk 0]

Less titles. There should only be titles for competitive divisions. That means no more women's title, no more tag team titles, no cruiserweight title, etc. Both world divisions and the tier two titles (IC & US) should be PLENTY. If WWE ever decide to make the other divisions serious (in some cases, serious again) then they can bring the respective belts back depending on the occasion.

I think you're going too far with that one. The belt is a perfect way to get people to care more about a match. Now, I'll admit that those belts aren't being used to their full potential, but getting rid of them altogether would keep them from being used correctly the 15% of the time they still are used correctly.

 

 

One thing I'd change right away in the WWE is that I'd turn RVD heel and have him feud with Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero.

 

Another change I'd make is that I'd build up the B shows with storylines. The WWE has writers! Let them write something! I used to enjoy Sunday night Heat back when Raven was the top heel on that show and there was actually a reason to watch.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

BRING BACK KING OF THE RING.