A Disgruntled WWE Fan

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The World Wrestling Entertainment is something I grew up with as a child; it was my escape from life, my favourite source of entertainment and it was a pastime that I shared with my Grandpa who unfortunately isn’t here with us anymore. If he were here however, it’d be safe to say that he’d be as disappointed as I am with the company.

The biggest issue I have with the WWE is the unification of three of the titles in the WWE; the WWE Championship (Raw) and the World Heavyweight Championship (Smackdown), the WWE Tag Team Championships (Smackdown) and the World Tag Team Championships (Raw), and the WWE Women’s Championship (Raw) and the WWE Divas Championship (Smackdown).

The WWE had two major championships; the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. The company took pride in them as only the Crème de la Crème of Superstars had ever graced them (i.e. John Cena, Edge, Batista, Randy and The Undertaker). Two titles meant more opportunities for the elite of the WWE to win a belt and now that they’ve combined the two, forming the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, opportunities to win the title are few and far between. Especially since the WWE insists on making John Cena the champion time and time again…

The talent pool may be great (as usual for the main championship) but the championship alone is not. Hasn’t the WWE heard the saying, “two is better than one”?

The Tag Team division needs to gain relevance once again. Once WWE’s pride and joy, the Tag Team division has died over the years. Merging the two titles has done quite the opposite of what the WWE intended it to do. Before the unification, the two Tag Team titles could be distinguished as Smackdown has had the stronger Tag Team pool compared to its counterpart, Raw. Far gone are the days of triple-tag team matches on Smackdown and Tag Team’s such as The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian and even Brian Kendrick and Paul London. Those were the heydays, when the Tag Team division was at its best. Those heydays included possibly the best match of all-time. At Wrestlemania X-Seven (17), it was The Hardy Boyz vs Edge and Christian vs The Dudley Boyz in a Triple Threat TLC match known as “TLC II”, for the World Tag Team Championships. I won’t spoil anything for you but there’s a reason why it’s my favorite match of all-time, even though the result wasn’t what I wanted (hint: my all-time favorite Tag Team is The Hardy Boyz). If you haven’t seen it already, here it is:

Nothing screams Attitude Era WWE than 480p quality.

Along with being some of the best Tag Team’s in WWE history, these three tag teams will also go down in history as the founders of the Tables, Ladders and Chairs match; one of the most iconic matches to ever grace a WWE ring. These days, the tag team that most reminds me of the glory days are The Usos. Like The Hardy Boyz, they never fail to bring excitement wherever they are and their powerful lineage certainly helps. History is another thing that I yearn for in present day WWE and The Usos give me that. Apart from them and maybe Team Hell No, there is no Tag Team in the WWE that I find interesting or exciting. What the WWE may have forgotten is that perennial superstars like Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Brett Hart and the aforementioned Edge and Christian all become prominent through the Tag Team division first, then singles. Tag Teams give us fans a breath of fresh air in wrestling and the WWE needs to make changes accordingly.

The Divas division as a whole needs some more star power like it did in the WWE’s past. WWE Greats like Trish Stratus, Mickie James and even Lita and Melina are star power at its finest. I mean Lita would not give a crap and fight male superstars and even give them an ass whooping. In today’s WWE, we have Paige, Cameron, The Bella Twins and AJ Lee (I love her) but none of them are no Ashley (Messaro). Ashley was the bomb, the most beautiful WWE Diva to ever fight for the company. Need I say more?

Now that you’ve watched that continuously for the last five minutes, I’ll get on with the article.

The storylines in the Divas division were the biggest factor into its success; the first one that comes to mind is the Trish Stratus vs Mickie James rivalry and man was it entertaining as hell, including when James kissed Stratus under the mistletoe on Christmas. Moments like that made me believe in Santa Claus; thank you Santa.

The WWE has gone from having two competitive TV shows in Raw and Smackdown to having one “super-show’ in Raw and one that could be cancelled and it wouldn’t even matter. I’m talking about you Smackdown. With how the WWE has changed over the last few years, Smackdown has become irrelevant. The unifying of three championships took away the disparity that was there between the two shows. Now, all the titles in the WWE are fought for mainly on Raw and Smackdown has become an afterthought.

To be honest, my main issue or want (probably the better term) is that I miss the WWE from the mid-2000’s; it’s what I grew up on and it was a helluva lot better than what the WWE is today. It may be more popular in terms of numbers but when it comes down to it, it’s still not as good as it was. I mean, put today’s social media/advertising in the mid-2000’s and you have an even more successful WWE (numbers and “actual” popularity). As a lifetime fan, I will always continue to follow and watch the WWE no matter how many things that there are that I do not necessarily agree with; I just hope that Vince McMahon realizes this.

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