Another thing I do not like is the same old people getting used. Is the fact that there are 2 1/2 brands supposed to make that issue vanish? If there was no Draft at all every year, the problem would be even more painful.
And I do not just mean in the main-event scene. The WWE had a tiny angle a few months ago about the same old people getting World title shots. This eventually led to the monster push of Sheamus. Yeah, we know the main event is stale, but since Sheamus won the title, it has still been pretty much the same guys getting shots against him or the same jobbers jobbing to him to make him look good. When Sheamus does have that credibility to be a top heel, he may just be added to the list that already make the main-event scene stale, including Triple H, Cena, Batista, Edge, Jericho, and so on. Don't like that I said Jericho? He has not always been in the title hunt in 2009? True, but neither was Cena. People still want to condemn Cena for getting so many huge pushes. Last time I checked, Jericho is no first-time Champion himself. Whether due to injury or to have undercard feuds, all the regular guys in the main event have had time away from it at some point in 2009 alone. The WWE does not do too horrible a job in that respect, but I do wish they built main-eventers better than they did Sheamus.
What really gets me is that the same thing can be found in the midcard. MVP is still in the midcard. After all these years, he is still there. How many times can you hand him the U.S. title? Aside from angles during those title feuds and reigns, the only memorable thing he had in 2009 was a feud against Jack Swagger. The story to the feud was not too grand. And where did it really lead either of them? They are still where they were then. Maybe even less so for Swagger.
The diva division has the same women being pushed on either show as well. And it is always in title feuds. The WWE does not know how to push the women well unless the feud involves a title. That hurts the division. No new women are getting built up well enough. The WWE is still busy working on McCool and Maryse, who have already won titles themselves.
I do not need to complain about the tag division. Three reasons. First, there is only one title. It is defended on all the shows. Not enough challangers for two titles, but possibly enough for one title? I think so. Second, the WWE seems to love just creating random pairings these days. They can give them all the facy names they want, JeriShow and ShowMiz are still both teams made up of guys who could have done just fine in a singles push. They are not teams like Matt & Jeff or The New Age Outlaws. For the sake of freshness, this is all actually a good thing. Anyone can win those tag titles with anyone as his partner. And there are still a few long-running teams out there, like Legacy and Cryme Tyme. Yeah, Cryme Tyme never won the titles, but that brings me to the last reason why I do not need to complain about the tag division. You can have tag feuds without the titles being involved. Sounds obvious, but you do not really see that kind of thing in the diva division, as I said before. Cryme Tyme had a rivalry with the Hart Dynasty. DX feuded with Legacy. no titles were needed. That keeps the tag division fresh and looking important.
Overall, I do not see a lot of great midcard feuds to keep it fresh and looking that important. Some people have great gimmicks or angles, like CM Punk. Shouldn't he be really in the main event anyway? Upper-midcarder? That is another thing. They try to have the midcard feuds often be designed to elevate the credibility of some superstars. What happened to the entertainment? That is what I want to see more of.
I know very well that you cannot push everyone. I see a lot of fans always complaining about their favorite wrestlers not getting pushed. Fine. They can be pushed. But who do you want to see get depushed then? Someone has to turn into a jobber. Someone has to be elevated up the card or be brought down. Someone has to kiss their own push goodbye or watch it depleted. How else can your favorite wrestler get their push? There are just too many people to push. Give Triple H some credit for not hogging the WWE title so much in 2009. They still found things for him to do, or he just took time off. The WWE does not know what to do with the wrestlers they must push aside to give another a chance. That makes things difficult for a lot of people, including the fans. I do not want to sound sadistic, but an injury can sometimes help to open a push for another wrestler. It is sometimes a good thing for a wrestler to want to take time off. You have to be willing to take those depushes sometimes and wait for your day to come again.
So why am I complaining? I was just explaining that it is natural for it to be hard to push new talent. What do you do with the old ones? Who takes the new talent's spot down the card? You just suddenly stop treating the people you built to be draws and main-eventers as draws? You just turn everyone into a main-eventer? Would not work. However, that is no excuse for the staleness. One possibility I would like to see is for them to just break down the walls of the brands. Around Wrestlemania and the pay-per-view formerly known as Survivor Series, you see that a lot. You get some fresh inter-brand feuds. CM Punk vs. Triple H? They could have really made a lot more out of that feud. It had potential. A Draft is not enough to freshen everything up for a whole year. Notice how divas got moved around three times last year officially? And you still ended up with the same top heels and faces getting pushed. Then again, the diva division is a problem for another day. Midcard feuds could benefit more if the wrestlers did not have such a limited option as only one roster. You might even get real storylines out of it. How many times can MVP and Swagger feud? How many times can a U.S. Champion run through the same opponents to build his credibility before eventually dropping the title, and probably to one of the people he just beat? How many times can you use Evan Bourne and Carlito as just fodder to build another guy up in another feud? It gets repetitve. People will know what is going on and not be interested as much. It is time to switch some roles and shake things up.
