There are many great wrestling characters that have been developed over the past few years and yet, for some odd reason, WWE keeps ruining them. Take, for instance, Sami Zayn; this is a guy who always put his wrestling abilities on full display and left it all out there every night he stepped into the ring. The WWE Universe got behind him more than anybody else and he was once considered the “Heart & Soul of NXT”. Unfortunately, ever since he moved over to the main roster, WWE decided to turn him into the complete opposite of what he was during his time over at NXT. He is all bark and no bite; he tries to avoid fights at all costs and he has others do his work for him. Bottom line, he has become more of a joke than a great athlete.
Then, there is Bayley; this was a lady who showed great heart and determination, left it all on the line inside the ring, always made young members of the WWE Universe smile with her inflatable “Bayley Buddies”, gave hugs all around and always fought for others who couldn’t fight for themselves. She was also considered the “Heart & Soul of NXT”. Eventually, after being on the main roster for a few years, WWE not only decides to give her a crappy haircut and horrible theme music, but also has her destroy her “Bayley Buddies” with an axe, which brought a young TV viewer to tears. Since then, she has ceased giving out hugs, continues to look down on everybody, thinks she is superior to everyone else and has committed some heinous acts. Basically, she has become every single thing that she used to fight against.
Also, there is Shinsuke Nakamura; this is a guy, who is not only a tremendous athlete, but he has also entertained the WWE Universe with his flamboyant antics and the WWE Universe always hummed along to his theme music. Bottom line, he was one of the hottest things going; however, not too long after being moved over to the main roster, WWE had him turn his back on the WWE Universe. Since then, he continues to use his flamboyant antics, but they suit him better as a fan favorite and he does not have the WWE Universe talking like he did over at NXT.
The two most recent characters that are being ruined are Johnny Gargano and Roman Reigns. Johnny Gargano was not only a guy who everybody looked up to, but has also shown more heart and resilience than anybody else and has always put on five-star classic matches at NXT Takeover events; thus, the reason for being given the monikers, “Johnny Wrestling” and “Johnny Takeover”. He was also the most recent “Heart & Soul of NXT”. Then, one night, out of nowhere, WWE has him turn his back on the WWE Universe, as well as change his awesome theme music to something awful. Since then, he continues to blame everybody else for all of his setbacks and shortcomings and keeps preaching the “Gargano Way”, which clearly means having his wife, Candice LeRae, interfere on his behalf, using underhanded tactics and just flat-out cheating. Gargano used to be a guy who always fought through adversity, but nowadays, he just goes around and complains about it. Roman Reigns was not just a guy, he was THE guy. Ever since John Cena became a part-timer, Roman had become the new face of WWE. This is a guy who always stood up for what he believed in, never took garbage from anybody, never let anybody tell him what to do and, perhaps most importantly, beat cancer. Whether the WWE Universe cheered or jeered him, they had always respected him. Most recently, Roman Reigns returned to action and WWE aligned him with the “Evil Genius” known as Paul Heyman. Not only is Roman now listening to someone, but he is also letting someone else guide his career. The Roman Reigns that everybody knows would never have allowed any of this.
Bottom line, WWE needs to fix all of this because none of these Superstars fit the role of a heel. I would also like to point out that Superstars like Dakota Kai and Candice LeRae need to be turned back into fan favorites because they simply just do not have the features of a heel. Also, any Superstar currently working for WWE who is in the WWE Hall of Fame or any other Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame needs to be in the role of a fan favorite because they are just too respected to be a heel, even if they do make good heels (i.e., Joseph Park). When it comes down to everything, I truly believe that WWE COO Triple H is mostly responsible for developing a lot of these great characters and WWE Chairman and CEO Vincent K. McMahon is mostly responsible for ruining a lot of these great characters. Many wrestling fans have been saying that Triple H has a better vision for the future of WWE than his father-in-law Vincent K. McMahon does. I would say I agree with that and I think this is due to the fact that Triple H listens to the fans more than his father-in-law does. So, either McMahon needs to start listening to the fans more or he needs to step down and let his son-in-law take over the day-to-day operations. Some good news, however, is that over the past few years, WWE has turned Superstars like Kofi Kingston, The Usos (Jimmy & Jey), Brie Bella, The Undertaker, Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor and, most recently, Sasha Banks back into the great characters and fan favorites they have developed into. The #1 priority is that WWE needs turn these Superstars back into the great characters and fan favorites that they have developed into.
Agree. I think Vince is stuck in some old thinking and has stopped listening. It’s all about the fans!