WWE: The Part-Time problem

The last three WrestleManias have been built upon the utilization of part-time stars. At each of the last two WrestleMania events, only two full-time superstars have been present in the big matches of annual extravaganza, and you know who those two full-timers are. The likes of the Rock, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, the Undertaker and Chris Jericho are good for business, and have the proven their ability to rake in big numbers time and time again.

Only Chris Jericho and The Undertaker have been actively involved in helping new superstars ‘get over’, with Fandango and the Shield being the lucky benefactors of working with the legends. The others are big names, but have done almost nothing to help the development of new superstars.

They’ve taken up the spots that should’ve been reserved for younger men, and haven’t even been involved in angles that have elevated the career of another. The Rock has been embroiled in a two-year feud with John Cena, and while the ‘Once In A Lifetime’ match was a momentous and legendary moment, Twice In A Lifetime was a huge and expected let down. The crowd wasn’t as invested into the bout as the WWE would’ve hoped, and the match itself was just a finisher-fest.

The Rock isn’t going to be around for ever, and if some reports are to be believed, he has already wrestled his last match for the WWE. If that is the case, the WWE would deeply regret not using The Rock as much as they could. All he did for two years was win every single match, before losing to Cena. He could’ve put over a talented young wrestler on PPV such as Daniel Bryan or Dolph Ziggler, something that would’ve changed the career of the wrestler in question. The Rock was earlier never shy to put over newcomers, having elevated the careers of Triple H, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Chris Jericho and Evolution.

Vince has been afraid to have his cash-cow lose matches to anyone other than Cena for some arcane reason, and the same goes out to Brock Lesnar. Now scheduled to face Triple H for the third time, Brock is likely to win the match. He has a contract with the WWE till WrestleMania 31, and the plan is to have him face The Rock in a blockbuster clash at WrestleMania 30, permitting Rocky’s fitness.

The match sounds good and would be show-stealing, but it would be better off for SummerSlam, rather than having the part-timers steal the limelight once again. There hasn’t been one true full-time main eventer who has risen through the ranks since CM Punk two years back, and even that was only after threatening to quit the company. The main event scene has stagnated for far too long, with currently only the absent CM Punk being the most (& probably only) credible threat to the Cena’s title, a far cry from 2010, when the likes of Batista, Undertaker, Triple H, Randy Orton and Edge all served as credible threats.

All the above have departed from full-time duties or have retired and Orton is in mid-card hell due to his actions outside the ring. There are several guys that are ‘over enough’ and perilously close to breaking the glass sealing that will make them permanent main eventers, with Ziggler and Bryan leading the field. A victory over a part-timer like Triple H or Lesnar would directly elevate them there, and the superstars could become huge assets and huge draws for the company. Bryan is already a huge asset with his YES and NO antics, but his popularity could be driven to bigger and grander scales with some credible CLEAN victories, and by putting him in the limelight. He has lingered around the Tag Team titles for far too long and needs to lose the belt.

Having part-timers around is never a bad thing, but having them constantly hogging the spotlight is.

Instead of having them face each other, or Cena and Punk, the time has come for them to elevate the rest of the roster.