787 Talk: Why Make Them Stay?

We’ve heard a lot about many WWE guys and gals being unhappy in WWE, especially as of late. The Revival, Sasha Banks, Luke Harper, Bayley, The Usos & Alexander Wolfe are reported cases just in these past 4 months. In a sense, that’s crazy. But when you think about it, it really shouldn’t be too shocking.

Boasting nearly 200 wrestlers in total between Raw, Smackdown, NXT, NXT UK & 205 Live plus trainees in the US and UK Performance Centers, finding your place in this utter ocean of talent is not easy. Even with 5 different brands, tons of talent gets lost in the shuffle. Add to that very questionable booking on Raw & Smackdown just adding to the frustration. Breaking through is next to imposible between so many people and so much confusion.

Many fans are highly critical of these unsatisfied talents. Which surprises me. I can understand disliking Sasha Banks who has shown very poor behavior over the years. But at the same time, the idea that an entire year was spent fumbling a feud between her and Bayley all so Tag Team titles could be made for them and they would cross Raw, Smackdown and NXT, something that was in face presented on TV, axed out of nowhere for no real reason. Who wouldn’t be mad? It’s very akin to working hard for a year for a promotion. Only for someone far less qualified to get it and the only explination offered is “because”. Sure, you could say you should just do as your told. That’s understandable given you’ve signed a contract yielding yourself to do as told despite any opinion otherwise. That still doesn’t stop rising frustration though, eventully rising tensions will spill over and that’s what we’re witnessing today.

That’s just looking at it as a job. To many, this is also an artform. Wrestling is theater after all. Imagine being an artist. Having all these great ideas you want to explore. But despite having this gigantic outlet to express yourself, you’re never really given an opportunity to do so. That would be very frustrating. Look at a Luke Harper. Shown to be extremely talented in the ring, a singles run is cut short in no time. When he’s given a push as a tag team wrestler, it’s stopped because of injury. At 39 years old, he’s a family man as well and despite the good pay, he’s creatively stiffled. His best years are falling behind him being unable to do anything. He was between no form of expression for good pay to expressing himself again in the independent scene which has grown to the point that would likely still pay very well. At which point, why stay? As the independent scene grows, the idea of staying in WWE for the money seems to just be less and less appealing. As many start to see that being outside WWE actually grants more freedom and while the money may not be as good, it’s good enough. If WWE won’t listen, why stress yourself and stay?

WWE placed itself in this awkward position little by little mostly due to paranoia. Signing any and all independent wrestler that had just enough buzz. Something that started in the early days of NXT as guys like Tyler Black (Seth Rollins), Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose), Prince Devitt (Finn Balor) to more modern guys like Ricochet, Tommy End (Aleister Black), Keith Lee and Matt Riddle. The names pile on, graduating from NXT to Raw/Smackdown but despite more and more talents came up, none were filtered out. WWE used to be famous for it’s “Spring Cleaning”, releasing unused talent by the dozen each year but that has stopped in the past 7 years. As such, we’ve seen a massive glut of talent gathered at the top that just keeps growing. As such, it becomes harder and harder for anyone to stand out. Not just as a top star of WWE, but even as midcard talent.

Solving the issue really boils down to WWE being more open to allowing people out of their contracts as shuffling talent from Raw/SD to NXT/NXTUK becomes problematic due to the gap in pay for talent. WWE seems to be leaning that way MOSTLY though there are still some very blatant cases of WWE burying anyone with a negative mentality. The recent run of The Revival as Tag Team Champions is a very blatant case of WWE punishing talent for wanting out. If you’re trying to present yourself as a fair company, this just does not do good. Presenting yourself in a very negative light not just to your locker room but to anyone outside. If there is no reason to keep a talent. Why do so and in a manner that can come off so poorly?

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