Make WWE Feel Big Again

MAKE WWE FEEL BIG AGAIN

There was a time when you could turn on professional wrestling, look at the screen for about three seconds and know exactly what you were watching.

You didn’t need to see the logo in the corner.

You didn’t need Michael Cole to welcome you to the show.

You knew.

Raw looked like Raw.

SmackDown looked like SmackDown.

Nitro looked like Nitro.

ECW damn sure looked like ECW.

And when WrestleMania arrived, WrestleMania didn’t look like the television show you watched every week with a few more LED screens added.

It looked like WrestleMania.

If WWE is truly going to enter a Next Generation, this is another area where things need to change.

Make the shows feel special again.

More importantly:

Make them feel different.

RAW AND SMACKDOWN SHOULDN’T FEEL LIKE THE SAME COMPANY

Obviously, they are.

I’m not suggesting WWE pretend otherwise.

But from a presentation standpoint, I want Raw and SmackDown to feel like two completely different wrestling companies that happen to exist underneath the WWE umbrella.

Right now, wrestling television has become incredibly polished.

Maybe too polished.

Massive LED screens.

LED ring aprons.

LED barricades.

Perfect lighting.

Perfect graphics.

Perfect camera shots.

Everything looks expensive.

But expensive doesn’t necessarily mean memorable.

Sometimes everything becomes so polished that it starts looking the same.

Change the colors and graphics and you’ve basically changed shows.

That shouldn’t be enough.

If I mute my television and remove the Raw and SmackDown logos from the screen, I should still immediately know which show I’m watching.

Give Raw its own stage.

Give SmackDown a completely different one.

Different entrance configurations.

Different lighting.

Different graphics.

Different camera presentation.

Different announce desks.

Hell, give them slightly different philosophies about how wrestling television itself should be presented.

Make Raw feel like Raw.

Make SmackDown feel like SmackDown.

And please…

Give us some actual physical sets again.

REMEMBER THE FIST?

Of course you do.

If you watched SmackDown during that era, I don’t even have to explain what I’m talking about.

The fist.

That giant silver fist smashing through the SmackDown set became one of the most recognizable pieces of wrestling television production ever created.

Was it necessary?

Absolutely not.

Did a wrestling show logically need an enormous fist punching through a wall?

No.

Did it look fucking awesome?

Yes.

More importantly, it gave SmackDown an identity.

You could see one photograph of that stage today and immediately know exactly what show you’re looking at.

That’s branding.

Not simply putting a logo on an LED screen.

Creating something people remember.

Raw has had memorable sets too.

The giant RAW letters.

The TitanTron.

The entrance ramp configurations from different eras.

Those things become part of our memories of wrestling because they visually identify the period we’re remembering.

When you see an old wrestling clip, sometimes you can identify approximately when it happened just by looking at the arena.

I want that again.

Twenty years from now, somebody should be able to look at a screenshot from 2028 and immediately say:

“That’s Next Generation Raw.”

GIVE EACH SHOW A PERSONALITY

And don’t stop at the stage.

If Raw and SmackDown are supposed to be separate brands, then actually make them separate brands.

Maybe Raw has a darker, more industrial presentation.

Less polish.

More aggressive lighting.

A stage built around steel, physical structures and practical effects.

Make it feel slightly dangerous.

Then take SmackDown in the opposite direction.

Make it sleek.

Modern.

Bright.

Futuristic.

Maybe SmackDown becomes the show that really embraces the technology of this new generation.

Now the difference isn’t simply:

Red show.

Blue show.

They have personalities.

Even the way wrestlers are presented could change slightly between brands.

Someone being traded from SmackDown to Raw should visually feel like they’ve entered a different world.

That creates something WWE has struggled to maintain during various versions of the brand split:

brand loyalty.

I want fans arguing about which show is better.

I want Raw fans.

I want SmackDown fans.

I want wrestlers talking about representing their show and for it to actually mean something.

Then when those worlds collide, it matters.

EVEN THE COMMENTARY SHOULD BE DIFFERENT

Give each show its own voice.

And I don’t simply mean putting different announcers behind the desk.

Give the commentary teams different personalities and philosophies.

One combination I would absolutely love to hear?

John Cena and Paul Heyman.

Think about that pairing.

Cena understands what it’s like to carry WWE.

He understands the pressure of main events.

He understands what happens when half the audience loves you and the other half wants you gone.

He understands what it takes to survive twenty years at the highest level of WWE.

And Heyman?

Paul Heyman understands professional wrestling from practically every possible angle.

Manager.

Promoter.

Booker.

Character.

Storyteller.

Strategist.

Put those two together and don’t make them agree.

That’s the important part.

Cena can explain what a wrestler is thinking.

Heyman can explain what they should be thinking.

Cena sees courage.

Heyman sees unnecessary risk.

Cena respects someone refusing to stay down.

Heyman questions whether getting back up is actually intelligent.

And every once in a while, one convinces the other.

Give them a strong play-by-play announcer to handle the mechanics of the match and let Cena and Heyman analyze what we’re watching.

Now commentary itself helps give one of the brands an identity.

Imagine a young wrestler reaching their first WrestleMania main event and hearing John Cena explain why they belong there while Paul Heyman explains exactly how their opponent can beat them.

That’s how the previous generation helps build the next one.

PREMIUM LIVE EVENTS SHOULD LOOK PREMIUM

This is where I think WWE has another enormous opportunity.

Every PLE should have its own visual identity.

Not just graphics.

Not just a logo.

Not just a different image on the giant screen behind the wrestlers.

A set.

Royal Rumble should look like Royal Rumble.

SummerSlam should look like SummerSlam.

Survivor Series should look like Survivor Series.

King of the Ring should look completely different from all of them.

Crown Jewel should feel appropriately extravagant.

And WrestleMania?

WrestleMania should be ridiculous.

That’s the point.

WRESTLEMANIA SHOULD NEVER LOOK FAMILIAR

For the last several years, WrestleMania stages have started feeling increasingly similar.

Huge screen.

Long entrance.

Massive lighting rig.

Different graphics.

Yes, they’re enormous.

Yes, they’re expensive.

Yes, they’re technically impressive.

But WrestleMania shouldn’t merely be technically impressive.

It should be memorable.

The stage should be one of the things people are waiting to see.

Remember when WrestleMania stage reveals were almost an event themselves?

What did they build?

How enormous is it?

What crazy idea did somebody somehow convince WWE to spend millions of dollars constructing?

Bring that feeling back.

Every WrestleMania should have a completely original stage.

Never reuse the basic concept.

Never start with last year’s stage and move some screens around.

Start with a blank page.

USE THE HOST CITY

WrestleMania has another advantage almost no other wrestling event has.

The host city is part of the event.

Use it.

If WrestleMania goes to Las Vegas, make Vegas part of the stage.

New Orleans?

Make it unmistakably New Orleans.

Philadelphia?

Use Philadelphia.

New York?

You shouldn’t be able to mistake it for anywhere else.

And if I get my wish and WrestleMania 44 comes to Nashville?

Go completely insane with it.

Don’t just put a guitar on the graphics package and call it a day.

Build something inspired by Nashville.

Music.

Broadway.

Neon.

The skyline.

The entire presentation should make somebody turning on WrestleMania immediately understand where they are.

WrestleMania isn’t simply taking place inside a stadium.

For one weekend, WrestleMania should take over the city.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE SPONSORS?

Here’s the funny part.

WWE has more major sponsors than ever.

Sometimes it feels like damn near everything has a sponsor attached to it.

The replay is sponsored.

The match is sponsored.

The entrance is sponsored.

The ring is sponsored.

The table is sponsored.

At some point I’m expecting Michael Cole to announce that a wrestler’s left boot is brought to us by Wingstop.

Fine.

That’s business.

But if sponsors are pouring money into these shows, then give them something spectacular to be associated with.

You would think sponsors would want more bang for their buck.

Imagine WrestleMania having a stage so visually incredible that images of it are shared around the world.

Guess whose branding appears in those photographs?

The sponsors.

Make spectacle work for everybody.

I would much rather see a sponsor incorporated tastefully into an incredible physical set than have their logo digitally plastered over every available surface while the stage itself looks like another giant television.

NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE AN LED SCREEN

Technology is great.

Use it.

I’ve already argued in this issue for an Infinity Championship with a completely digital display.

I’m certainly not against technology.

But technology should enhance design.

It shouldn’t replace design.

A giant rectangular screen is not automatically a stage.

Build things.

Steel.

Glass.

Moving pieces.

Sculptures.

Platforms.

Lighting structures.

Practical effects.

Pyro.

Then incorporate LED technology into those objects.

That’s why something as stupidly simple as the SmackDown fist remains memorable decades later.

It physically existed.

It occupied space.

It gave the show shape.

The screen wasn’t the set.

The screen was part of the set.

That’s the difference.

MAKE ENTRANCES FEEL DIFFERENT TOO

Once Raw and SmackDown have their own physical identities, entrances become more interesting.

A wrestler shouldn’t look exactly the same entering on both shows.

The environment changes the presentation.

Maybe Raw has a shorter, more direct entrance aisle that puts wrestlers closer to the audience.

Maybe SmackDown has a longer futuristic walkway designed around elaborate entrances.

Maybe King of the Ring has competitors enter through a completely different configuration.

Maybe Survivor Series surrounds the entrance with the visual elements of the random team-selection concept.

Maybe Royal Rumble has thirty numbered lighting elements incorporated into the set.

The possibilities are endless.

And none require changing professional wrestling itself.

We’re changing the world around it.

MAKE THE BIG FOUR BIG AGAIN

WWE has so many PLEs that sometimes the distinction between them becomes blurry.

That makes presentation even more important.

WrestleMania should obviously be untouchable.

But Royal Rumble should feel enormous.

SummerSlam should feel enormous.

Survivor Series should feel enormous.

When the opening shot hits, you should immediately know:

This isn’t a normal night.

Different stage.

Different lighting.

Different graphics.

Different atmosphere.

Maybe even different ring presentation.

Not necessarily different ropes every month or anything gimmicky.

Just enough that each major event has its own visual language.

That’s what makes an event feel like an event.

STOP MAKING EVERYTHING LOOK PERFECT

This may sound strange.

But I wouldn’t mind WWE allowing a little imperfection back into its presentation.

Modern WWE can look almost sterile because everything is so perfectly controlled.

Every surface glows.

Every screen displays something.

Every camera movement is coordinated.

Every graphic is pristine.

Professional wrestling should occasionally have some grit.

Especially Raw.

Let shadows exist.

Let steel look like steel.

Let parts of the arena be dark.

Let the audience disappear into the background sometimes.

Not every square inch of the building needs to be illuminated like Times Square.

Then when you get to WrestleMania and suddenly everything explodes with light?

It feels bigger.

Contrast matters.

If everything looks enormous every week, eventually nothing looks enormous.

PRESENTATION CREATES MEMORIES

That’s really the point of all of this.

Ask wrestling fans about their favorite eras and eventually they’ll start describing how those eras looked.

The blue cage.

The old Raw set.

The SmackDown fist.

The original TitanTron.

The entrance tunnels.

The pyro.

The WrestleMania stages.

The sets become part of the memory.

They’re background elements when we’re watching.

Years later, they’re time machines.

One photograph takes you back.

That’s what WWE should be creating for the Next Generation.

Not simply a new graphics package.

An environment.

Give Raw something we’ll immediately recognize twenty years from now.

Give SmackDown something completely different.

Give every major PLE a personality.

Make the WrestleMania stage reveal exciting again.

Make fans wonder what the hell WWE built this time.

Make the wrestlers walk onto stages worthy of the stars WWE wants them to become.

Because if this truly is going to be the Next Generation of WWE, it shouldn’t simply feature different people wrestling on the same sets for the same championships in the same environment.

The entire company should feel like it moved forward.

And twenty years from now, when somebody posts an old screenshot online, I want us to recognize it instantly.

Not because the WWE logo is visible.

Not because the graphic says Raw or SmackDown.

Because one look at that stage tells us exactly where—and exactly when—we are.

Make Raw feel like Raw.

Make SmackDown feel like SmackDown.

Make Royal Rumble feel like Royal Rumble.

Make SummerSlam feel like SummerSlam.

And for God’s sake…

Make WrestleMania look like something we’ve never seen before.