It's been my main bug about WWE for so long. The talent is there, they have a roster that contains many performers that I love to watch and who could do great things in the ring, but the writing is just so wrong. To the point where I'm beginning to doubt Vince's position as "wrestling genius" at all.

Just playing devil's advocate but maybe he just got lucky a couple of times(!), first with Hogan and his supporting cast and then with Austin and his in the attitude era. I'm finding myself constantly questioning "Can he really be a genius if he can't see how bad his shows are (by comparison to previous times) and if his solutions to the problems are just so consistantly horrible".

Maybe the real key is to find that magical someone that people can attach to again. Like a Hogan or an Austin. The company needs to have that big name guy that's a face or tweener that they can build around. Hunter has never been able to get over as a face in the same way he can as a heel so it's not him. Edge is very popular with wrestling fans it seems (and deserves to be since he has been a complete god for quite some time now) but does he has mass appeal? Cena, Orton, Benjamin, Carlito.....none of them seem to be able to crack it either.

Maybe that's to do with their characters, which again comes back to the writing. None of them have crossed over as yet, but it's not to say they never will. They need the right angle and character to take them over to more casual fans.

I've long thought it needs a crossover person to bring in the casual fan again but who could do it. Last time it was Tyson that took Austin from star to superstar. Who could they use now to fill that role? And if they could get bring somebody huge in to help out in that regard, which wrestler would you (at this stage) try to get over to project the company and try and push it to another boom time? Bear in mind to push the company to that level the character would have to be a face or at the least a tweener.

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A throne is just a bench wrapped in velvet

That's a good point. I think the bringing in of Tyson was one of the smartest things Vince McMahon has ever done. He probably got lucky with it, probably had no idea how it'd play out,but I think Tyson and Austin face-to-face in that ring was the turning point to WWE's success..

I'm not sure if that can be recaptured.. but I think we all know the guy that WWE has to market..

It's John Cena. Edge, Orton, even Triple H at an older age are all guys that are best used as heels.. I think Carlito is even best as a heel, but not everyone can be a heel.

Batista was a guy that came along too late. He's got a great look, he had a great program with HHH, but he's just too banged up and too old to take WWE to that level..

So it leaves Cena. He's about The Rock's age when The Rock took off and there are so many similarites between the two.

The problem with WWE is that they have tried too much to make Cena the next Rock. Cena needs to be the 1st John Cena. The whole coming down to the ring and rapping, ripping on his opponents, being controversial..

whether the older fans liked it or not, it was gold. Cena had places like MSG in the palm of his hands and WWE fucked it all up by rushing him too quickly and screwing with his character to try and fit Rock or Austin.

I also believe Lesnar was a true superstar in the making because honestly, we've never seen an athlete quite like him in sports entertainment before.. but that got fucked up too..

When Lesnar wanted to come back or was at least hinting at the thought of coming back, WWE should have done everything in their power to get him back instead of trying to play hardball.

The real problem as noted, is the balance of spotlight. Vince (and the writers) will either push someone too hard, or they'll not push them enough.

The main thing though is utilising the experienced athletes whilst they are stilll there to build the next generation of stars. Something Paul Heyman retold from Terry Funk in the Rise and Fall of ECW Dvd was along the lines of "I need to help out so there is a business for me to leave behind."

The older guys need to be put inf ueds witht he younger guys and once int hose fueds need to share the spotlight, instead of dominating on their involvement and what makes them look good,

DX vs Cade/Murdoch was going well.......Stuff like that needs to be done more often and for longer.

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