AT Survivor Series this past Sunday, Goldberg defeated ‘The Beast Incarnate’ Brock Lesnar in 89 seconds. Just like one of Goldberg’s spears, no one saw it coming. It was a spectacle, that’s for sure, but just highlights one of WWE’s biggest problems – it’s obsessed with the past.
At WrestleMania 30 on April 6, 2014, Lesnar conquered The Undertaker’s 21-match undefeated streak at WrestleMania. It was the single biggest booking mistake in WWE history, but the logic was sound. Brock could eventually lose to an up and coming talent – someone like Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, or Finn Balor – transferring the heat and momentum to legitimise them as the one who conquered the conqueror.
Goldberg beat Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2016Then 49-year-old Goldberg, a man who hasn’t wrestled in 12 years, destroyed Lesnar in three moves.
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Goldberg beat Brock Lesnar 12 years after Goldberg’s last match
That win could have transformed an up-and- coming talent into a headliner. Instead, WWE proved once again that it gives preference to older wrestlers over the younger stars who should be selling tickets for years to come.
It’s a poor substitute for having the patience and booking sense to create new stars, and ultimately counter-productive.
Goldberg might have sold a few extra WWE Network subscriptions for Survivor Series, but how many matches has he got left? Two? Maybe three?
This happens far too often in WWE. The Rock – perhaps the worst offender of them all – buries a younger wrestler every time he returns. He made light work of the then-undefeated Rusev in October 2014, then crushed Erick Rowan in six seconds in a typically sycophantic segment at WrestleMania 32.
WWE superstar chats backstage after his successful return at UFC 200Earlier that night, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and Mick Foley – whose heydays had been the late ‘90s – made a surprise appearance to smash through The League of Nations.
The message is clear – current talents are no match for the stars of yesteryear. That’s all good and well for now, but what happens when they’re too old to make it down to the ring, let alone compete in a cheap nostalgia-baiting match? WWE will be left with a generation of superstars that fans were told repeatedly weren’t good enough to sell tickets on their own clout.
In the past two years, WWE has produced no less than 10 documentaries and DVD match collections centred around the the Attitude Era and Monday Night Wars of the mid ‘90s and early 2000s. It’s no wonder – that time period is still fiercely popular.
Perhaps WWE should be asking itself why it hasn’t done anything quite as monumental since.
Godberg is back in the WWE for a title runGoldberg announced on Raw last night that he’ll enter the Royal Rumble for “one last title run”. It’s doubtful he’ll win the Rumble and title, but it should set him up for big match at WrestleMania – Undertaker, most likely – a spot on the card that would be better suited for a superstar of the future than the past.
The rest of Survivor Series was typical of WWE right now – tons of potential squandered by baffling booking decisions. In the opening women’s elimination match, Charlotte and Bayley survived – which led to a post-match beat down on Bayley by the Raw Women’s Champion. This makes sense as Bayley looks set to be Charlotte’s next challenger.
Meanwhile though, Sasha Banks – the most popular women’s wrestler in the world – was eliminated by a roll-up before the match even got going, and the unstoppable monster Nia Jax tapped far too easily to Becky Lynch’s Dis-Arm- Her submission. Elsewhere, Sami Zayn was screwed out of Miz’s Intercontinental Championship when Maryse rang the bell early – causing a distraction so Miz could craftily pin Zayn. So much for Sami’s push.
Sasha Banks has had some exciting matches with Charlotte The WWE women's division has hugely improved in recent yearsIn another bizarre booking decision, The New Day were eliminated just seconds into the tag team elimination match. Eventual winners Sheamus and Cesaro saved the day with their exciting back-and- forth will The Usos.
The cruiserweight division was further undermined when the much bigger Baron Corbin interfered and dominated Brian Kendrick and Kalisto. Match of the night went to the Raw v SmackDown men’s elimination bout, the highlight of which came when Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose reunited as The Shield briefly to drive AJ Styles through the announce desk. Mid-carder- for-life Bray Wyatt an Randy Orton went on to win.
There was a scary moment when Reigns speared Shane McMahon mid-air and knocked him senseless. Kudos to Shane for all his daredevil antics, but maybe he’s another one who should stop trading off past glories and call it a day on those coast-to- coast dropkicks and crazy stunts. NXT TakeOver: Toronto the night before Survivor Series was another success for the developmental brand, headlined by Samoa Joe’s surprise championship win over Shinsuke Nakamura.
The New Day are the tag-team champions and are flying high The New Day are closing in on the longest run in historyNXT has taken some criticism in recent months, as wrestling’s hottest brand seems to have cooled considerably. Many of the stars from NXT’s golden period – Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and American Alpha – have made the jump to the main WWE roster, leaving a noticeable gap in the NXT talent pool. Even Nakamura has struggled to lead the brand alone. It’s nothing to worry about though – NXT is undergoing a period of refreshment, putting the work into getting its next generation of talent over with the fans.
Look at the undercard results from TakeOver: Toronto – Bobby Roode defeated Tye Dillinger, taking his next step towards the NXT Championship while Dillinger’s emotional connection with fans deepened even further.
Tag team TM-61 got over huge with their spirited losing effort against the Authors of Pain in the Dusty Rhodes Classic final.
Sami Zayne rose from NXT onto the main roster but is treading water The high-flying Canadian has left a hole in the NXT talent poolMeanwhile, the #DIY team of Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa had a match of the year contender against The Revival in their NXT Tag Team Championship match. These teams are only just getting started – there’s plenty more to come from both.
Asuka beat returning star Mickie James in the Women’s Championship bout. You could argue that James also falls into the category of another past star taking a current wrestler’s spot – but Asuka was always booked as the star attraction. James’ appearance was just a stop gap while NXT readies its other female talent for Asuka.
It’s a booking sensibility that will pay dividends for NXT months down the line. It’s exactly what the main WWE product should be doing, instead of relying on old stars to prop up its super-cards. Even while NXT is on a downward swing, WWE could learn an awful lot from the developmental system.
