The New Era has well and truly kicked off – Guys like Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles have well and truly taken over the WWE main event scene. Nothing could display the new dawn better than the draft where stalwarts like John Cena and Randy Orton were not even included in the first round of draft picks.
But just because it is the New Era, it doesn’t make it better than the earlier era.
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This list takes a look at the five ingredients missing from the New Era
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1. Tame superstars
Pro-wrestling has always gotten over by the simple principle of karma coming to get the bad guys.
The most successful period in WWE history had Vince McMahon as the evil boss abusing his power – but he always had an anti-establishment foil in Stone Cold Steve Austin to counter his heinous ways. The superstars at that time frequently rebelled aginst the management and that is what made the ‘Attitude Era’ exciting.
That sort of buzz is sorely lacking in the New era. Stephanie McMahon has been doing a Vince 2.0 act for years now – slapping talent around, always getting the last word but unlike her father, she never seems to get her comeuppance.
There is no superstar that has stood up to her and ever since CM Punk left the promotion, there is no rebel for the fans to believe in, and no, Roman Reigns doesn’t count.
The WWE roster now seems to resemble a Catholic school where the kids are ruled with an iron fist. The proponents of the New Era like Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns have done nothing other than to play second fiddle to the authority figures over the years.
2. Baby-face burials
Despite everything positive that’s been said about the New Era, the fact remains that popular babyfaces continue to get buried.
Many superstars whom the fans have gone out of their way to cheer for continue to be relegated into irrelevancy. Cesaro has done everything and beyond to deserve a solid push, but he doesn’t even have a feud to guarantee a PPV match whereas someone like the Miz – however improved he might be – is into his fifth Intercontinental title reign, with a month off from TV in between. That’s inexcusable.
Dolph Ziggler has been in booking hell for the better part of the last year and it is still to be seen where Ziggler’s new found Summerslam push will lead him to. Zack Ryder got a push two years too late and was soundly beaten by Rusev whereas guys like Damien Sandow whom fans actually cared about are no longer with the company.
3. A proper stable
True, the Nexus, the Shield and the Wyatts have all broken through in the last five years – but none of them fits the description of a proper stable. The Authority had been infecting the WWE main event scene for a couple of years, but it was more of a way for Triple H and Stephanie to run roughshod over superstars – not excluding Seth Rollins.
We have not had a proper wrestler focussed stable since Evolution disbanded – A quartet that had the experience from the past in Ric Flair, the prestige of the present in Triple H and the future in Randy Orton and Batista. The recent years have seen a new group forming simply to introduce new guys from NXT into the main roster.
A glorious exception to the rule was the Legacy in 2009 which had Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase – but it did not elevate Rhodes and Dibiase as intended.
4. Too many part-timers
When Wrestlemania 17 and 18 came about, wrestling fans were excited about the matches on the card – Each match had a proper rivalry and weeks of intense build up.
But in the decade since then, things have changed. When fans look forward to the next Wrestlemania, they know that there are going to be matches ear-marked for several WWE legends who are part-time performers.
The Undertaker, Triple H and Brock Lesnar will all have matches and who knows, Triple H might main event once again despite not wrestling throughout the year.
This robs the main roster of the chance to showcase their skills at the ‘grand daddy of them all’ – Ever since the Rock came back to wrestle John Cena in two successive main events at ‘Mania, every year has seen at least one part-timer in the WWE main event.
This differs significantly from the olden days – Wresltemain 17 had Austin vs Rock, both in their prime, WM 18 had Jericho vs Triple H, WM 19 had Angel vs Lesnar, WM 20 had Benoit vs Michaels vs Triple H – those matches had huge buildups and physical confrontations months before the match unlike today, where they do it with promos shot at WWE studios.
5. A solid face/heel to lead the company
Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold, The Rock and John Cena have all been worthy of leading the company in their primes – and they were positioned as the main men in the WWE as well.
But such a focal point is lacking in the WWE currently. Seth Rollins seems to be the closest answer to this, but he had been booked as a cowardly champion and a side kick to the Authority during his time as the WWE Champion. Even when fans clamoured for him to be a babyface on his return from injury, he was still booked as a heel.
Roman Reigns isn’t going to be that man without turning heel first and Dean Ambrose seems more like a transitional champion than anything else. That isn’t Ambrose’s fault - he just hasn't been booked in the right way.
John Cena is still there, but he seems to be stepping aside for the younger generation to step up and his role has become increasingly closer to that of a part-timer.
The fact remains that there is no wrestler in particular that you want to watch when you tune into Raw or Smack Down – that personal magnetism vanished when CM Punk and Daniel Bryan retired. Finn Balor might be the answer if he’s booked correctly, but he needs a mouthpiece to cut promos for him.
