WWE’s Part-Time Problem Is Hurting New Stars

I’ll be one of the first people to come out and say WWE gets a lot of stick on the internet and that it’s largely due to the fact they’re super popular and successful, rather than the fact that they’re actually that bad. Despite being an avid indie wrestling watcher. My favourite match of all time is Sami Zayn vs Nakamura from NXT, and my favourite ever live show is a WWE one. Sure, they’re not perfect, but neither is any wrestling promotion. The only difference is WWE has a far greater reach and viewership than any other wrestling promotion, and thus their flaws are amplified.

That isn’t true for their part-timer problem, which makes me want shave ‘screw WWE’ onto the side of my head.

WWE have one of, if not the, best rosters of any wrestling promotion. They’ve got Wrestling Observer’s wrestler of the year, AJ Styles, as well as indie wrestling legends, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, consistently excellent John Cena, and the Demon King Finn Balor. Plus the likes of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, The New Day, Dolph Ziggler, Neville, The Club, Cesaro, and all sorts of awesome guys.

And which one of these guys ended WWE’s latest PPV with the main championship in hand? Yup, the 50 year old Goldberg who hasn’t proven he can wrestle a match longer than five minutes yet. Great.

Now I don’t want to come across as a Goldberg hater. Goldberg is great. He’s got a brutal spear, his finisher is awesome, and he cuts a pretty mean promo. He also seems to love wrestling and loves the fans, a super great natural babyface. The problem isn’t really anything to do with Goldberg. In fact, I’m super glad WWE brought him back for one last run.

The problem is with the way they used him, and how they undermined up-and-coming talent. The guys who are putting in shift after shift after shift after shift are getting pushed to the back for part-timers who are past their prime. I’m not saying don’t bring back part-timers, because Brock Lesnar and Goldberg and Undertaker and all the rest are awesome, but why do we need to have them tear through WWE’s future?

Does Goldberg vs Lesnar need the belt? Does it need to main event? Sure, you should absolutely have it as a huge spectacle match between two absolute legends, but sure as hell keep all the championships away from it and put it in the middle of the card. You get mainstream attention, you get the nostalgia factor, and you keep people entertained for what will inevitably be an incredibly long mania.

With that you’ve got people watching when the likes of Kevin Owens and Braun Strowman and Sami Zayn and AJ Styles go out and steal the show in the main events and make themselves into the stars we all know they can be. WWE needs to take a risk with these guys. Risks are how people like the Rock and Stone Cold come about. That’s how stars are born. WWE just needs to give these guys the ball and let them run with it. Have a bit of faith in them.

The only positive is that this problem isn’t going to last too long, because in a few years WWE are going to realise they don’t have any mega stars from the past to bring back. If he doesn’t get his chance in the spotlight, to truly be a champ and main event PPVs like Wrestlemania, no one is going to remember him and he won’t be a household name for them to bring back. Then WWE will have no choice but to make new stars.

They have such an incredible roster of stars but for some reason they’re wasting it so guys like Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg can build some momentum. These guys can draw a crowd and tell a great story without steamrolling through all of the guys who are pulling their weight week in, week out. They don’t need as much spotlight or as much focus as the guys who are trying to build something of themselves, so why are they getting it?

It annoys me. It annoys a lot of the fans. It annoys a lot of the talent. It should annoy you.