5 things WWE does to turn fans against the company

WWE Undoubtedly has a tremendous amount of great athletes and performers. That should really go without saying, but WWE upper management and creative often drop the ball in terms of creating a product that satisfies everyone, which can often lead to frustration. Today, we’ve decided to look at 5 things WWE does to turn fans against the company.

I would like to make it clear that I love the history of the WWE and many of its stars from the past and on the current roster, and what follows is constructive criticism. As a journalist, I shouldn’t be saying that, but really I felt it necessary. Without WWE and its place in the annals of time, there wouldn’t be a pro wrestling industry for me and my colleagues to write about.

That being said, the days of the Attitude Era, Golden Era, and Ruthless Aggression Era are long gone and the dichotomy of the current WWE product often leaves many fans flabbergasted and scratching their heads, and there are a lot of things that can lead to this. Today I’ll be looking specifically at 5 things that lead to this and have led to this over the recent years.

It is such frustrations that lead a massive portion of the audience to be frustrated with the overall product, thus seeking other products to watch.

5. Repetitive matches and bad finishes

How many times will we have to watch the same old matches leading into a PPV? If a tag team feud is at hand, then WWE creative will have each of those members face off against each other in some form or another in singles competition, or by adding another team—usually the same one—to make it a trios tag match or whatever, and by the time we get to the PPV, we’re so sick of seeing the matchup, we or a portion of the audience loses all interest.

WWE always kind of had a penchant for doing so, but they were a tad more creative in the past, enabling the product to be a wee bit more interesting. These days, it often seems like we’re watching the same card over and over.

And as for the bad finishes…really, it seems as though they don’t know how to properly end a match. A perfect example was the finish to the John Cena vs. Roman Reigns match at SummerSlam. The likes of John Cena—a legend and one of the 4 GOATs of pro wrestling—did not deserve that finish.

Another example was the ridiculous finish in the Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair match at WrestleMania 38. In truth, many of Charlotte’s matches end quite badly. She’s lost a step over the last year; even her conviction is off and the way she’s acting in segments is pretty bad. She’s off her game and it shows.

4. Too many releases

Let’s face it. The company is not losing any money. In fact, as records have shown, the WWE has solidly made money even though the pandemic, breaking revenue records year over year. Still, the company continues to make releases while blaming them on “budget cuts,” much to the anger of fans watching the product.

They’ve let go of fan favorites that have since gone on to not only do well in other promotions but dominate there as well. These are phenomenal athletes…men and women that can not only wrestle but entertain as well. It’s tough to see your favorites go when you’re used to seeing them on a large stage such as WWE.

3. Mismanagement of talent and the burial of indie legends

And speaking of stages…there are a lot of talented pro wrestlers that show up in WWE after being legends at other promotions and in the indies. Examples of this are of course Finn Bálor, AJ Styles, and most recently Rok-C.

Okay, Rok-C (currently wrestling as Roxanne Perez) isn’t a legend yet, but heck she did extremely well for herself and was the former ROH Women’s Champion, dropping it to Deonna Purrazzo, who was released by WWE in 2020.

Coincidentally, Purrazzo just dropped the aforementioned title to Mercedes Martinez, who was also released by WWE in 2021. Perhaps that alone proves my point.

Rok-C is shining on NXT right now, the company using her on TV very quickly after signing her, which is a good move. We need to see how they treat her moving forward though.

2. A lack to find a suitable replacement for John Cena

I always felt that WWE always did better with a figurehead; someone who could carry the company atop their shoulders and lead the troops into the fray. While other companies like WCW and Impact, as well as ROH and these days AEW…do well as a collective.

WWE always had that figurehead, really…with Bruno Sammartino during the sixties and seventies, and of course Hulk Hogan in the eighties…as well as Steve Austin and John Cena in the Attitude and Ruthless aggression eras respectively.

Each era had phenomenal stars other than those specific men though, but there was always one man, the aforementioned few, that stood out and attracted more viewers and sold more merchandise than the others.

Sammartino had Morales and others; Hogan had Macho Man, Piper and The Warrior; Steve Austin had The Rock, Triple H, Mick Foley, Trish Stratus and Lita, and John Cena had Randy Orton, Batista, and others, but really there was one individual that kind of led the pack so to speak.

That’s missing today. They have a lot of individuals that they try to push but it often falls flat or goes sour.

WWE has had trouble finding that suitable replacement…that man or woman that can be the true needle mover to bring in the same interest and ratings that the aforementioned few brought in. This is a source of frustration for older fans of the company, and perhaps not the younger portion of the audience who didn’t live through what those aforementioned few offered week to week.

Look back and watch The John Cena Experience documentary…in it, the viewer is made to follow him during the hectic schedule that only a figurehead of a company is made to. The man was tireless during his run and gave of himself perhaps more than any other legend before him and for longer.

There are a lot of great wrestlers in WWE today and I am proud of many of them, but this is not present in today’s product and if an individual is there that can fill John’s mighty shoes, then WWE management isn’t looking hard enough at the right person.

1. Roman Reigns’ ridiculously long reign as Universal Champion

This brings us to Roman Reigns. I’ll put it quite simply: If Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena, Dwayne Johnson, Bobby Lashley, and Drew McIntyre didn’t have championship reigns as long as Roman has enjoyed, then Roman does not deserve to have had such a long reign.

Seth Rollins would have deserved one; heck even if they put the strap on Cody, he deserves one, as does Bobby Lashley, but Roman, who I always felt was the most inexperienced member of The Shield (as the other two had exceptional runs in the indies while Roman didn’t).

He is not delivering in his matches, as mentioned above…the finishes are ridiculous, as was seen in his match against Goldberg at Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia and his recent finish against Rollins at the Royal Rumble.

His reign should end as it’s perhaps the greatest frustration on this list and that’s why it appropriately lands at number one. It’s too long now.

A further point of contention for me is if The British Bulldog, one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time and a great performer, never even had a WWE Heavyweight championship, then why is Roman Reigns having such a long one. If you don’t know who The British Bulldog is, then just check him out online and tell me he couldn’t run circles around Roman Reigns.

No to be clear…Roman Reigns is a great superstar and I think he has a future in Hollywood, but by no means should he have been granted such a long run with the championship when others weren’t—specifically the aforementioned few.

Besides, the product is more interesting when the belts change hands more often. The way they’re doing it now, we can pretty much always assume that Roman will retain, no matter who he’s up against. How boring and predictable is that?! Something needs to change and hopefully soon.