WWE: 5 most overused booking tropes employed by the company

4. WWE opening their TV shows with a promo instead of a match

These days, it’s harder to find an episode of Raw or SmackDown that starts with a match instead of someone marching to the ring and monologuing like they’re hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live.

Actually, comparing a show-opening promo in WWE to SNL isn’t fair; at least the SNL opening bit with the host only lasts about 3-5 minutes. These soliloquies in WWE can last up to 15 minutes, and unless someone like Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns, John Cena, New Day, or any other skilled orator with a modicum of creative freedom is wielding the mic, that’s 15 minutes of exposition and unnatural WWE dialogue that the audience in the arenas and at home has to sit through.

Also, most of these segments follow the same, tired format:

• Wrestler welcomes fans to “MONDAY NIGHT RAW” or SmackDown for a cheap pop
• Wrestler discusses the current developments in their storyline
• Archrival wrestler(s) interrupt
• A match challenge/title shot declaration is made
• Authority figures who didn’t book the rest of the show yet come out and book matches
• Wrestlers brawl/hit their finishers on each other

Even when WWE announced that a TV show will start with a match, they still find a way to cram in a bunch of talking before the opening bell rings. Much like the previous trope, there’s nothing wrong with using this from time to time, but for a promotion that dedicates so much time on these shows to promos and skits, opening the proceedings with a hot match would be a welcome change.