Looking at what WWE could learn from the excursion idea used by Japanese wrestling promotions.
At times, it seems like WWE has too much talent on their roster. An embarrassment of riches can lead to men and women who are outstanding talents not getting booked on TV and becoming forgotten by the fans. A lot of the time you’ll find that eventually those wrestlers will find themselves released after the company decides they have nothing for them. But what if there was a way of helping some of that talent to improve their repertoire, get more experience and come back as a fresh act who can then blow the fans away? Well if we look towards the Japanese wrestling scene there is a way, and it could revolutionise the world of WWE.
Let’s start with a quick explanation of the career trajectory that the average wrestler can expect to enjoy in the likes of New Japan Pro Wrestling, during his early days with the company. They start off as a Young Lion, basically wearing black boots and black tights and losing the majority of the matches that they take part in. When the company has seen how you develop and cope with the rigours of the ring, they then send you out on excursion. Nowadays that can include heading to a company like CMLL in Mexico or Ring of Honor in the United States.
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The company will watch how you get on, from your matches in the ring to the promos that you cut and how you handle yourself in a different company. Depending on where you are sent you can pick up different styles, if you end up in Mexico’s CMLL you’ll pick up aspects of Lucha Libre that you can take back to Japan and use as your own style.
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One of the most important men in Japan right now, Kazuchika Okada, spent time wrestling in TNA. When he was there he wasn’t treated in the best way and on his return to Japan used that experience to develop his Rainmaker character to rocket himself to the top of the card.
The whole excursion thing is a great way for guys to build up their experience, hone their in ring style, work on their psychology, it can be a way to build yourself up a new star without having to put them on your TV to make their mistakes. If things go well during your excursion, and you use the experience to your benefit, then it can play out in a similar fashion to that of Okada.
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Now there’s a whole host of men and women who could benefit from this kind of experience in WWE. Some talent under the umbrella of WWE may find themselves stifled without a spot on WWE TV. With the current working relationship that WWE has with EVOLVE, why not use that to help you build up some of the younger guys under contract. A handful of promotions around the world are scheduled to host qualifiers for the WWE Global Cruiserweight Series, including Progress Wrestling and RevPro in England, why not use those as places that somewhere that your future superstars can be sent to hone their talents?
How about sending guys like Braun Strowman over to the UK to do battle with some of the great big men on these shores, whilst he trains in the wrestling schools across the country. Or send The Ascension over to Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan to work a gimmick similar to the one that the Road Warriors made famous in their heyday. Or drop some of the women from NXT into a promotion like SHIMMER, a woman like Carmella could learn so much from that experience.
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If WWE doesn’t want to find themselves with so much talent that they can’t physically use them, or give them the right platform to showcase these futures stars, why not look to how the excursion is used by the Japanese? It could be the best remedy for WWE to use to build themselves some big stars for the future without the need to risk them on their own TV shows. It could be a massive opportunity to give some of the stars of the future a place to build themselves a legacy for the future.