Yes I am a thirty-one year old married man who watches professional wrestling. I told you guys I was a nerd at heart. And yes I know its fake and I still watch it.  What can I say?  I was hooked since a child.  Back when I couldn’t order the pay per view events like Summerslam or Wrestlemania.  When all I had were the magazines and action figures and the only show I could watch was Saturday superstars since I didn’t have cable yet. Back when The Undertaker was still pale and mullets were all the rage. Back when I ate the ice cream bars and I played the video games.  And now, today’s WWE seems to have lost its way.  Today’s WWE seems to have lost its magic.  Yes maybe it’s because I’m thirty-one but I think it’s more because the WWE has the wrong people making all of the decisions and they are out of touch.

Some people might blame John Cena (Lord know’s I hate him).  You know the guy who rarely losses.  Who’s been the “top” guy for over ten years now.  Who has played the same stale character for years now with no change including his jorts (jean shorts for you slang illiterate out there).  Other people say the blame goes to the WWE for taking their company public and actually having share holders they have to answer too.  This is definitely one of the origins of their turn.  But I think the biggest problem is that they have old, out of touch guys making the decisions.  More importantly making the storyline decisions.  Most of us remember Macho Man and Ultimate Warrior and Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, etc.  But the majority of us really got into wrestling or at least when wrestling really blew up was in the early to mid-90s during the attitude era.  So we’re talking about Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Degeneration X, Mankind, etc. This was when TV ratings and merchandise were through the roof.  This was also when wrestling was most edgy,  when cursing and half-naked women were rampant, and when it was more”hardcore” and people ate it up.  The real reason why this era was so exciting and popular was that it was extremely unpredictable. Yes sometimes the pay off was ridiculous or even disappointing, but at least you wouldn’t see it coming.  Right now the WWE is the definition of boring and safe.

Two things have changed the way professional wrestling operates.  One is that the WWE is the only real major promotion in the United States.  There are huge promotions in Japan but Japan has always been its own thing in professional wrestling.  During the attitude era, there was WWF, WCW, and ECW to a smaller extent.  Now there is just one, WWE.  That’s it. So now the WWE has no one to compete with, no one to push them to step up their quality or storylines.  The main thing they worry about is how much money they can make and keeping their share holders happy.  The second thing that has changed how pro-wrestling operates is the internet.  Yes, the good ole’ internet.  The idea of “kayfabe” is pretty much out the window now. Kayfabe is the term used pretty much for staying in character.  So for example, back in the day the “bad guys” wouldn’t be seen with “the good guys” outside of the ring because that would destroy or muddle their characters or storylines.  That’s why as kids we thought they really hated each other when they fought.  Today, we have Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and camera phones. It’s impossible for wrestlers to stay in character outside of the ring. Fans take pictures of the “bad guys” riding off with the “good guys” in the same car or a “good guy” kissing one of the bad women wrestlers, which completely starts to blur the line between “good guys” and “bad guys”. Today’s fans usually know the outcome of matches and PPV’s before they actually happen. But the real problem is that we usually all know the outcome beforehand just because of how predictable it has all become.

WWE right now is a tale of two cities. NXT, which most fans if not all pretty much love,  and then you have the main show or roster, which is what you would see on Monday Night Raw, which most fans are disappointed with or worse, feel indifferent about.  NXT is pretty much WWE’s farm system, where new up and coming talent go to hone their chops before you get to see them on the main shows.  Here WWE pretty much gives the audience what they want.  If someone “gets over” or becomes popular, they give them a chance at the spotlight.  On the main roster, even if someone gets over, that doesn’t mean they rise in the ranks.  In fact, if that wrestler wasn’t part of WWE’s plan for a push, it wouldn’t even matter.  They would completely ignore the fans and try to force feed their plan or the wrestler on to us and expect us to like it.  In most cases the fans just boo, but eventually they just stop caring and start tuning out.  This goes back to my John Cena example.  John Cena is not the greatest wrestler, but he can have great matches and he is good on the mic.  The problem is he does the same moves, the “five moves of doom” the internet likes to call it and he says the same things over and over on the mic.  Usually corny things passed off as an attempt at comedy, which are never funny, but the WWE continue to have lame writers.  So now when John Cena comes out, the crowd half boos and half cheers.  It’s actually fascinating as to see the divide between fans clear as day. The kids love John Cena and the adults hate him.  The recipe for the perfect villain.  The WWE will never turn Cena it seems, or will do it when its too late and won’t matter anymore, like many other things they do.  Which speaks to the old out of touch people in power. I can easily fix the WWE.  Here’s how:

1.Turn John Cena into a “bad guy” and let him go all in, like suplex a small child every week. Give him free rein on the mic and let that man cook as the kids like to say.

2.Let the guys actually wrestle.  Let them have longer matches and ease up on the move restrictions.  It seems like every guy does the same moves.  Let wrestlers have their own style.

3.Retire the older guys. Seriously NO ONE wants to see Big Show anymore or Kane.

4.Shorten Monday Night Raw to two hours.  Three hours is too long especially when Monday Night Football is on.

5.Use the internet to your advantage.  Hire someone to surf the web and actually post fake stories or rumors online so they start catching traction and flip it or you know surprise us for once. Their media team or social media team should be the best in entertainment, period.

6.Change the announcers.  They add nothing to the stories or matches and are horrible.  Let them actually call the match and stop feeding them corny lines into their headsets.  I mute my tv during Monday Night Raw most of the time.

7.Let New Day cook, they are the best thing in the WWE right now.

8.Push Kevin Owens and Cesaro more.  Let them wrestle and show what they can do.

9.Stop starting Monday Night Raw EVERY week with a twenty-minute monologue.  Seriously.

10.Cut back on the PPV’s.  There are too many right now.

11.Make Bray Wyatt look stronger.  He’s supposed to be your next Undertaker.

12.Most importantly, LISTEN TO YOUR FANS. We hate Roman Reigns right now.  We love Sasha Banks.  We love Kevin Owen and Cesaro.  We hate Big Show and John Cena.  It’s not that hard.