There’s a lot of ways I can go about “teaching” the ways of the WWE culture but I’ll say this. The WWE has been one of the biggest corner stones in shaping American pop culture. Big names like John Cena, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant etc. are more or less familiar by the common population whether or not they watched the show before, but alas there are only a few of us who buy into the industry and how amazing is the WWE today. Just for a little history, the WWE’s claim to fame was taking the names mentioned before and making huge matches based off of who was in the match and the storyline that led up to that match. They didn’t have to worry much about how skilled or how diverse their move pool was because wrestlers at the time got over (popular in wrestler talk) with the crowd on how entertaining they were and the mystique or novelty behind their gimmick (or the character they put on for the audience). This will inevitably force the viewers to think about how those wrestlers would do in a match against another wrestler which is also interesting and popular. And with the names mentioned before John Cena vs. The Rock in Wrestlemania 28 and 29 along with Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan in Wrestlemania 3 were the matches that defined the WWE culture.
But the whole landscape of the industry has changed. With old wrestlers leaving and new wrestlers coming in, the WWE just couldn’t get fans interested by plopping the newbies in storylines like they did the established names because they were . . . well . . . new. They didn’t have the star power like the Rock or Hulk Hogan to make the audience invested so in the end, WWE started getting wrestlers from underground and popular wrestling promotions to appeal to the hardcore wrestling fans and casual fans as well when WWE made wrestling interesting because of the fact that they had talented wrestlers who got over with the crowd by just being great contributors and workers of the industry.
John Cena is a great example of this said worker. He has made his debut in 2002 and has been wrestling ever since. This has been a good thing for children in the audience but a bad thing for the hardcore fans who need something more out of the company in terms of entertainment. When John Cena was new, his signature wrestling moves got over with the crowd and his unparalleled strength was a novelty to watch. But with the amount of talent on the current roster who can pick up and man handle wrestlers over 400 lbs. (aka the Paul Wight aka the Big Show) John Cena has became very average wrestler in terms of talent and the only thing that’s really keeping himself popular is his longevity and the fact that he’s a 15 time WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It is also worth mentioning that he is the face of the company and that the WWE has earned a lot of revenue off of merchandising John Cena clothing targeted for the young viewers. If the creative writing team did decide to turn him heel (or a bad guy) of any story-line, the company would get less marketable with a top talent turning his back on a young demographic which is now a big part of his gimmick.
As a result of having this gimmick, it became easy for the WWE creative writing team to think of a bad guy to go against him because their character would just have to involve hating the age demographic Cena is built around or his gimmick in general. And a person who has had quite rivalry with Cena is Kevin Owens. The crowd loves Kevin Owens and his mantra “Fight Owens Fight”. His background appeals to the hardcore wrestling fans, because he came from industries where they care more about wrestler’s talents rather than a wrestler’s gimmick. But despite of him being a heel, it is his in ring talent, personality, and his skills on the microphone that gets him over with the crowd. Just to compare, think about “Deadpool” and all the reasons why the audience loves him and his movie, and think about “Batman vs. Superman” and the reasons why we didn’t like that movie as much. John Cena is the generic DC superhero movie that gets shoved down our throats while Kevin Owens is the new and exciting Deadpool movie that got us very invested. Kevin Owens is a relatively new talent in the industry and a lot of his popularity first came about with the casual WWE exclusive fans when he confronted John Cena while still being the champion for NXT which is a WWE side developmental wresting promotion. Kevin Owens defeated John Cena clean at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view and this has took the WWE world by storm. As a heel going against John Cena whose gimmick and mantra “Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect” is being targeted at the younger audience, Kevin Owens had a selective disadvantage in the match (think about a hero vs. villain fight and who typically wins in the end of the movie). When the creative writing team decided to put Kevin Owens over, this has affirmed the fact that the WWE is slowly starting to listen to their fans. Kevin Owens is flying tank being able to do superkicks and top rope shenanigans in his weight class and that’s the reason why the crowd loves him.
Another heel wrestlers that the audience loves in Chris Jericho. Like John Cena, Chris Jericho has been in the industry for a while, but he debuted in the 1990s which was an amazing time to be a wrestling fan. And like Kevin Owens (who he is in a tag team with) he is portrayed to be a heel but the crowd loves him for that. He is able to come down the ramp with his wrestling gear and light up jacket and entertain the crowd with his oozing charisma, and do the same thing by replacing his jacket with a scarf and portray himself as the arrogant know-it-all. And you know what, he has the skill and the resume to back it up. He is a first ever Undisputed Champion and a 9-time Intercontinental Champion (to say the least) and he is able to wrestle at the same ability in his debut while nearing 40 years of age. This alone earns my respect and the crowd’s respect and we could care less of what character he displays (even though he is a much better heel than a face).
But although there are many wrestlers that are worth mentioning, the greatest talent the WWE has brought over and effectively used is AJ Styles. Earning a lot of his respect from Impact Wrestling (which the WWE is not allowed to mention), AJ Styles has became the dream match machine as people wondered how it would be like for AJ to go up against the talent in the WWE. AJ Styles like Chris Jericho (who have made an amazing tag team and are great rivals) are nearing the age of immobility but are still able to pull off the same moves they debuted with. And with AJ Styles coming from wrestling promotions where his main move set involves doing just about anything involving using his unparalleled agility (which is hard to describe), he has became one of the wrestling’s main greats. If you ever come across an episode of “Smackdown Live” and you hear his music come on, there will be cheers and they will be loud. He has held the World Heavyweight Championship in Japan, Ring of Honor, TNA (in addition to many other accolades), and currently holds the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and has defeated John Cena to cement his role as the “champ that runs the camp” the new WWE culture that we all hope the WWE will carry into the future.
