Wrestling doesn't stop. It has no off season, which leads to constantly evolving storylines, characters, even marketing techniques and visuals, anything to keep the product fresh and get people talking. The last 12 months in wrestling have been huge, CM Punk returning to wrestling after a seven-year sabbatical, Ring of Honor closing its doors after 20 years, before being bought out by AEW owner Tony Khan, as well as the return of Jim Crockett Promotions for one night only to host Ric Flair's last match.
In the WWE, the most obvious change is for the 1st time in over 40 years, WWE is going forward without Vince McMahon at the helm. While undoubtedly this is the biggest change in WWE since they went PG, it won't be covered in this article as Vince McMahon's departure came on the week of SummerSlam 2022, so the inevitable fall out and direction changes by the new regime have no bearing on the last 12 months. However, at the time of writing, the superstar returns and slight differences have left fans excited and hopeful this could be the beginning of a real boom period in professional wrestling. Instead, this article will focus on the 12-month period between SummerSlams 2021 and 2022. Here are 5 ways WWE has changed, and 5 ways it has remained the same.
10 Same: Monday Night Raw
WWE's flagship program has always been Monday Night Raw, being the main focus of main event level stories as well as commercially speaking when looking for advertisers. The biggest criticism of Monday Night Raw is its length and format. A weekly 3-hour wrestling show, with a limited roster due to the brand split is hard to fill with quality entertainment consistently. While from a financial standpoint 3 hours has proven to be a commercial success, but not so much for the fans.
It isn't just the length of the show that makes Raw a chore to watch for even the most ardent fan, it's the format. It always started with a 20-minute promo, usually with the same people, but that has been shaken up at least in recent months. This led to a main event that probably wouldn't end clean, and sandwiched between were matches with no stakes and no story and some 24/7 Title shenanigans.
9 Changed: Thunderdome
During the pandemic, WWE, as well as AEW, were in the fortunate positions of having venues to host shows. While AEW being outside had the luxury of having talent watch the show acting like a crowd, the Performance Center meant WWE was limited to empty arena matches. In a creative work around the empty arena shows, WWE introduced the Thunderdome, where the arena would be filled with monitors with fans faces watching live virtually in lieu of actual physical fans.
As restrictions were lifted, fans started to return to the shows in the weeks before SummerSlam 2021. However, there were always concerns about the spread of the virus. Thankfully that conversation is no longer an issue, and hopefully we have said goodbye to the Thunderdome.
8 Same: Show Sets
Anyone who grew up watching wrestling in the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Eras will look back fondly at the originality and creativity of the set designs. Be it the giant fist smashing through the SmackDown set every week, or the prop filled PPV designs. Just prior to fans returning WWE issued a statement about shaking things up a little presentation wise when fans returned, leading to social media speculating hopefully the bland big screen entrance way would receive a face lift, even just for PPV's.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the case, excluding stadium shows, as the PPV has nothing in its presentation to make it stand out from the weekly TV episodes.
7 Changed: Premium Live Events
At the Day 1 PPV, fans were left shocked and slightly amused when Michael Cole welcomed everybody to the first Premium Live Event of the new year. While the change is understandable due to the shift in the way people watch wrestling, with the WWE Network moving to Peacock in America, the number of people actually buying the show through traditional avenues is at an all-time low.
The issue is in wrestling, ever since the first WrestleMania (which as filmed on a closed curcuit network) every other big show had been a PPV. And this isn't just wrestling, while boxing led the way, UFC have brought the term Pay-Per-View to the mainstream. Once the initial shock wore off, most fans have accepted hearing the term, but PPV is still the vernacular the fans call Premium Live Events.
6 Same: Name And Gimmick Changes
Gimmick changes in wrestling are essential to wrestlers to stop them getting stagnant. These chances could be something subtle, like a change in entrance music like FTR, who have been riding a wave of momentum since they changed. Some are more extreme, like Hulk Hogan becoming Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Not so prevalent is name changes, as traditionally speaking, name power was a wrestler's best bargaining chip. All too often recently, superstars in the WWE have been losing their first names, recent examples being Matt Riddle and Tommaso Ciampa, but it doesn't stop there.
It seems Vince McMahon couldn't call anyone up from NXT without changing what got them over in the first place. Who can forget Kieth Lee coming out in a skirt, or Karrion Kross losing his grandiose entrance and manager in exchange for what can best be described as something found on a website for 'adult toys.' The most recent call up to get this treatment was L.A. Knight, who debuted as Max Dupree and is a catwalk model agent. Triple H has begun to rectify some of these things, and hopefully he will stay the course.
5 Change: Forbidden Door
The term 'WWE Universe' while used to describe the fan base, is actually very apt for WWE. Vince McMahon has always claimed, WWE isn't wrestling, it is 'sports entertainment' and as the only sports entertainment company, they have no peers, rarely ever promoting or even acknowledging other promotions outside the WWE bubble. This has changed over the last 12 months, though nothing as shocking or ambitious as the Forbidden Door event has happened yet.
The WWE has featured both AEW and Impact wrestlers on their programing. It was a huge shock when Chris Jericho appeared on Stone Cold Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions. The bigger shock however was Impact Knockouts Champion, Micky James appearing in the women's Royal Rumble match actually wearing another promotions title on a WWE Premium Live Event.
4 Same: Lack Of Mid-Card Title Prestige
Names like Bret Hart, Mr Perfect, Dusty Rhodes would hold midcard belts in an era of wrestling when the World Champion would often have year-long reigns. These belts gave the rest of the roster a chance to shine in prestige matches, but also show they could handle being a champion.
Over the last 20 years world title reigns tend to be short, and as a result the prestige of the mid-card titles has dimmed somewhat. With Roman Reigns dominating on SmackDown, surpassing 700 days as champion, and Raw featuring big meaty men slapping meat before Reigns unified the titles, midcard programs have struggled.They are now so diminished in stature, not only were the Intercontinental or US Championships not defended at WrestleMania, neither champion even appeared on the 2night show.
3 Changed: Brand Split
Part of the Raw and SmackDown TV deals was each network would have a roster exclusive to their brand. For the most part this has been adhered to for a couple of years, excluding the 'wild card rule' and big show cross-promotion match builds. While never formally confirmed by WWE officially, the last few months have seen a relaxing of the exclusivity.
The tag and world title unification has played a part, but it isn't limited to wrestlers in those programs. While most of the lower card has stayed on their own brand, there is no mention of what brand a wrestler is contracted to when they appear on both shows, a clear indication that brand exclusivity is not as big a factor as it was a year ago.
2 Same: No Real Star power
While the level of athleticism on the WWE roster is at an all-time high, there is no one with any real star power. If you take away Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar there is no one left to sell tickets. The women's division is the same, outside a handful of names, there is no one who has any real build or push. Haphazard booking of women and their titles led to Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out. Lack of talent is no excuse either.
WWE has struggled to build stars not named Roman Reigns. This WrestleMania highlighted the issue like no other show. Logan Paul, Pat McAfee, Johnny Knoxville and a returning Stone Cold Steve Austin and accurate rumors Vince would have a match. The reliance on legends and stars of other media in order to sell tickets for the biggest WWE show of the year is a real issue, with such an obvious fix.
1 Changed: NXT
The most glaringly obvious change WWE has undergone in the last 12 months is the transition from NXT to NXT 2.0. The 'black and gold' 3rd brand, NXT was a high level developmental system for WWE that opened the fan base to a whole new style of wrestling - the faster paced higher risk independent style while they learnt to incorporate the WWE way of working into their matches. While the men's division has been a mixed bag of success and failure, the women from NXT have revolutionized professional wrestling, with former NXT women headlining 2 WrestleManias.
However, after losing the Wednesday night war with AEW (at least in Vince McMahon's eyes) the entire show was rebranded into NXT 2.0, a far cry from the professional wrestling show it had. NXT 2.0 is overly colorful with every wrestler seeming to have a New Generation era style gimmick, like a mafia don or a woman who falls asleep.