The Commentary: The WWE Character Crisis

It seems to be a reoccurring theme in any column that I write, which has seemingly been not so reoccurring, I need to state that I’m an optimist with the WWE product and convince people that I’m not a cynical critic.

But I am a critic. And critically speaking, WWE programming has been incredibly lackluster as a whole for about a month now.

This past week’s edition of “Monday Night Raw” was one of the most difficult and insufferable pieces of WWE programming I’ve sat through in a long time (and no, that is not hyperbole). There was minimal “must-see” action or segments that sold the upcoming pay-per-view to the audience.

While some will argue the quality of the storylines and some bad breaks, such as the Daniel Bryan injury, have led to a somewhat lackluster card at for “Payback” on Sunday, after much contemplation, I have derived the issue to be of another variety.

There is a major identity crisis going on in WWE right now. And despite the news of low stocks, Vince McMahon losing money and potential lawsuits, none of it actually has anything to do with the state of the organization. Instead, it is a character crisis, and it’s one that could cost WWE significant longevity as much as any of the other aforementioned contributing factors.

It is ironic, in a time period in WWE where WWE Network buys are the single most important facet of company revenue, there is so much muddled with the personalities of the company. The Bryan mess was an unfortunate circumstance, one that ultimately could not have been avoided. But his feud with Kane (pardon me, the “Demon” Kane, as he is apparently now being referred to) was headed where Kane ultimately would have ended up – in the ground. Convoluted in this program are Brie Bella and Stephanie McMahon, with the former adding little dynamic until “Payback” itself, which will be addressed later.

There’s the case of Bray Wyatt, who is in what appears to be the final leg of his feud with John Cena. As evidenced by the thousands of cell phones going up in the air as Wyatt serenades the crowd with the Tongues, the man is over big time. He is captivating, with everything he’s touched so far turning to gold. And he also has the song that has gotten the whole audience singing along.

But are fans supposed to cheer for him, or boo him? Many argue that Cena is the “clear” heel in the program, but for all intent and purposes, he’s still been the antagonist. So why is this? Let’s ask Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

“We’re told the company mentality is that they are just looking to get him over. The song was never intended for fans to sing with him nor be a face spot, but it is now, and it’s become a trademark so they aren’t looking at taking it away from him to heel him. One person noted to us that it scares him that those involved in the process didn’t see it coming. The feeling is they should either set the wheels in motion to turn him face, since he pretty much is one already, even if you do it slowly. Or, if the idea isn’t to end up there because they are weak on the heel side, have him drop the singing like Cesaro has dropped the swing until he does his turn. It’s a pretty simple turn if they want to do it, because they can have a mastermind from the outside, whether Heyman or someone else, get into the heads of Rowan & Harper and turn them on Wyatt.”

The options are blatantly obvious, but the creative side still has given no distinction on where it wants to go with him. The pieces are there to make the face turn, alongside the rest of the Wyatt Family if it chose to, but it appears that it may not be in the cards in the near future. What’s even worse? By putting him potentially against the two biggest babyfaces of the company, he is naturally the heel, but is doing nothing to resemble that. Isn’t it alarming to read that a talent even was dumbfounded by creative?

What about the WWE Tag Team Champions, The Usos? After a red hot run to the top of the non-existent tag team division, the team has been regulated to playing Cena’s support staff. Now backing a 14-time World Champion is not entirely a bad thing, but when the belts, which supposedly defines them as a successful entity, takes a backseat precedence, do they matter?

There is also the identity crisis of the aforementioned Cesaro, and perhaps furthermore, of his United States Champion opponent, Sheamus. As Meltzer noted, Cesaro has cut back on his swing in order to build up more of a heel mantra. The idea behind forcing heat on him, with Heyman’s help, is the eventual big payoff against Brock Lesnar, theoretically at “SummerSlam.” The one thing WWE must weigh is whether that payoff and subsequent face turn will have been worth putting the brakes on what appeared to be an organic turn at WrestleMania XXX. Logically thinking, a turn on Heyman will benefit Cesaro exponentially, but at this moment, he sits in a state of bad guy booking with a crowd that wants to get behind him.

Regarding Sheamus, he is still getting good pops from the crowd, but what does the United States Championship doing to aid him at the moment? The belt puts him in an odd booking situation with Cesaro at “Payback,” with the hot Cesaro seemingly being more of a beneficiary of a win but not of the championship. It appears WWE is booking Sheamus on a fly, given he was supposed to be a bad guy by now and may be in the near future. Will he sustain momentum as a heel, though? Because he has very little now.

Bad News Barrett and Rob Van Dam are locked in a feud which will accomplish a little to help further Barrett as a champion, but with the natural response of the crowd, should the turn be made? Many will argue it is up to the talent to further the heat they can get, but is a gimmick as hokey as Bad News’ worth doing so?

Throw in Adam Rose, who has failed to gain any bit of a reaction from the WWE Universe and had his planned pay-per-view debut pushed to an episode of “Smackdown,” and doesn’t that drive home the point?

Oh, and the crowd doesn’t know whether to cheer or boo Bo Dallas. Meanwhile, Damien Sandow dresses up in a different Halloween costume each week.

The point of this long-winded analysis of these characters? It’s to point out just why WWE programming has been so uninteresting as of late. In order to progress a show that is storyline driven, an emotional investment into characters is needed. If there is no investment from the fans, such as the case of Adam Rose, or if the fans don’t know what they’re supposed to be invested in, such as Cesaro or Bray Wyatt, how can the product go over well?

With “Payback” this Sunday, WWE has a chance to push the restart button. The declaration with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which now has an interesting element with Brie Bella being kept off camera for it, will set things going forward into “Money in the Bank.” The Shield and Evolution managed to avoid this column because of the quality investment put into that feud, but they will be integral parts of working with others going forward. Following the pay-per-view, WWE will have an opportunity to free up many of these stagnant characters and progress them into the summer months.

All eyes are on the development of the main players. A concrete decision must be made going forth with their statuses or else the programming will continue to falter. The summer months are normally exciting for WWE, and with no clear “big summer angle” in sight as of this moment, the stretch to “SummerSlam” will be dependent on there being gravitating interest to the main players. Here’s to hoping “Payback” sets things in the right direction.

Have any thoughts? Comment below, or hit us up on Twitter.

In other news…

I did want to take an opportunity here to make an announcement, given I’m not sure when I will get another chance to chat about it. Starting on June 9, I’ll be going Chris Jericho status with Wrestling Rumors and becoming a part-timer for the summer, as I will begin work with MLB Network as a production intern. While I’m excited to begin that venture, it is somewhat bittersweet.

I’ll still be here contributing whenever I can, so you’ll see me around, just less often. Just wanted to say thank you for all the support you’ve given me by reading, watching and responding to our content. Wrestling Rumors is the most unique team I’ve ever worked with, with some of the best guys I’ve ever met in my life. There are some tremendous things we’ve set up for the summer, so make sure you check that out.

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