We may never truly know who within the WWE hierarchy made the final decision to bring Dave Bautista back. What we do know is it was a massive miscalculation, as the recent weeks have shown. Gone are the days when the “universe” will cheer mindlessly for overly muscled ex-power lifters who have no in-ring skill. Nor will they accept, as a top star, an ex-football player or body builder who cannot entertain them with in-ring storytelling. No, a massive change happened over the past few years and the WWE fans have embraced, or grown into, the role of a workrate snob. Heck, the majority of them may just be aspiring to join the ranks of the IWC (Internet Wrestling Community) or the Independent Wrestling fandom. When you really think about it, even if they are simply pretending to like it, just to be “cool” the reality, at least for the WWE is that their fan base has changed, and the WWE is well behind the curve.
The issue of Batista, a typical McMahon pick to be a star, getting booed out of the building, is not all that surprising. He wasn’t that over during his heyday, succeeding while being paired with the likes of Ric Flair, Treble H and Randy Orton to form a watered down IV Horsemen. Then as a singles wrestler his two most notable programs were with Rey Mysterio Jr. and Eddie Guerrero, incredibly talented in-ring workers.
The fact that he has come back when the two most over talents in the organization, Punk and Daniel Bryan, was a huge blunder. I’ve no idea the size of the contract Batista signed but they are surely, without of course publicly admitting it, regretting the deal.
There was a time, not too long ago really, that any clone of Ricky Morton or ‘Wildfire’ Tommy Rich was over like rover with the crowd.
Then came the nWo and D-Generation X era’s, where if you wore the right colors you were a “superstar” even in the mid-card. Then it was the bad ass babyface wearing jeans and a Harley Davidson or Ed Hardy t-shirt.
That was Batista’s era, and it has long since passed.
The next era of the WWE appears to have its superstar prototype as well. It doesn’t appear to be based on the wrestlers size, or what gimmick they wear, or even their haircut. No, it appears the fans have spoken and the next generation of WWE superstars fit a different mold. They have to be very hard working in the ring, thats all.
From Cody Rhodes, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan to The Shield, the Wyatt Family and Antonio Cesaro, what is the key ingredient? They all work their asses off in the ring.
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