To the WWE, Vince McMahon, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, WWE Creative and to whom it may concern.
I write this to confess my love for wrestling more than to criticize. I am a huge fan. I've been a loyal supporter of the company since I was a child and with that being said I've been along for the up's and down's over the years.
I was inspired to write this after watching SmackDown this week. I thoroughly enjoyed it. When my main man Seth Rollins was injured in Dublin I cringed because A. he's so damn impressive b. because I felt the roster is pretty thin on star power at the moment and the company seems to be in a bit of a valley already as far as ratings go.
It's important to focus on a couple things that made SmackDown not only watchable but enjoyable this week. I'll start with the win for Kalisto. This match caused my family to burst out in cheers and a round of applause. I haven't reacted like this since the glory days of Stone Cold Steve Austin. When Austin would find a way to beat the system just when it seemed like the odds were so stacked against him.
I think I speak for the majority when I say the squash match must die. Coming in it looked clear cut. When the bracket first flashed on TV on Raw I said to myself Ryback vs Kalisto... come on. But when Kalisto beat Ryback it struck a chord for me.
The last few weeks the Lucha Dragons stood out especially Kalisto but for him to win seemed so far fetched.
Much like in the martial art Jiu Jitsu you should never underestimate anyone and what we finally got to see this week is a guy who brings far more every time he's in the ring finally get a result more deserving of his ability. Kalisto is superior to Ryback in the ring this is not even debatable. If you took muscle out of the equation it's a landslide.
That said with all due respect the programming has become painfully predictable. I think there are so many people out there(myself included) with so many ideas and it just blows my mind that things have been the same for so long now.
I'm not saying put the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on Kalisto but WOW this win could be the start of something special if you allow it.
To be frank I'm tired of guys like Ryback. Ryback would be a megastar in Vince Sr's territory but this is 2015. We need more results like this to shake everything up. Reinvent yourself!
The independent circuit is more popular than it has ever been because it's evolved. For a long time promotions followed the WWE's lead by getting the biggest most muscular guys but now it's high speed, high intensity and a blast to watch.
To continue to promote the Reign's and Ryback's as these good guy hero straight shooters only shoots yourself in the foot.
Daniel Bryan didn't become a star because he yells Yes! Daniel Bryan became a star because he's fun to watch. He's fast, he takes risks and he's innovative.
The company can't continue to force things on the fans because now more than ever the fans are aware.
The fans have been guiding the ship more and more of late so why would you fight the current? Let the fans decide what works and what doesn't. Don't tell me Roman Reigns is the next champion when he's universally disliked and it's not because he's a heel... it's because he's stale. I don't accept that as a fan. The fans boo Reigns for the same reason they boo John Cena. It's a tired old act and seeing the same four moves every show is exhausting to watch.
I completely respect the dedication of the athletes no question but if you can jerk Brad Maddox and Adam Rose around and toy with their gimmicks and careers then you can do the same for everyone else regardless of them having the "look" as the look is changing.
We do not want consistency! We want unpredictability! We want fresh faces and gimmicks. We want to see independent performers appear more often. We want people we can cheer for! Not people you want us to cheer for. Let the best talents carve their own path.
One last complaint is match results. I get that factions and stables have been around since the beginning of professional wrestling but do they really have to decide every results leading up to and at every PPV? Seth Rollins for example is in my opinion the best athlete in the company and you're telling me he needs to cheat to win every night? Rollins is a physical freak of nature. He may not be as big as Reigns but nobody would question him winning clean most nights.
Enough of the walk outs, count outs, DQ's. I watch wrestling to be wowed by the performances and follow the characters that intrigue me but if more than 50% of matches end prematurely it becomes brutal to watch. You're telling me Bray Wyatt can't afford to let Harper and Rowan lose on SmackDown? There are no titles on the line and yet he absolutely had to interfere as if Harper and Rowan were being beaten with chairs or something.
Gone are the days of people running out to help their pals because they're outnumbered... No. Now everyone involved is at ringside and they're interfering 100% of the time. For example there is no point having Stardust vs anyone if the Ascension are at ringside because you know what's coming.
Going back to Smackdown this week it had a couple great matches that also happened to be clean finishes and between stars that typically wouldn't get the TV time. Neville vs Barrett and Kalisto vs Ryback both went on longer than usual and we got to see Barrett look strong despite the loss and Kalisto pulls off that huge upset and we absolutely need more of this.
Make it more about the performance in the ring and less about the storyline that needs to be built. I'd love to see more rivalries stem from two superstars having an awesome match. Cena vs Owens trilogy was great because they put on a show every time and neither one needed his buddies to help him out. It was classic. The first win by Owens stunned a lot of people and although there was the unfortunate and predictable comeback by Cena in the next two matches this rivalry was excellent. The only way it could have been better was Owens taking the series 2-1.
I could go on and on and on and on and on.....and on and on but I'll stop here. It's 2:30 in the morning. Rant over
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