Since Paul “Triple H” Levesque has taken over as head of creative in WWE, fans have garnered a more positive feeling toward the company, but the product still feels flat.
Lesvesque took over the role after Vince McMahon resigned as WWE CEO and chairman on July 22. Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon have taken over as co-CEOs, and McMahon has taken over as chairwoman of the board — Vince McMahon still maintains over 80% of voting power due to the amount of class B shares he controls.
The primary change under the “Triple H” era of WWE has been a focus on the in-ring product. Matches are longer across Raw and SmackDown, and they have generally received strong reviews for television wrestling matches.
However, when looking at the product on a deeper level, there hasn’t been much change when it comes to wrestler hierarchy. Roman Reigns remains on a tier of his own, and it doesn’t look like that’s changing anytime soon. And even if Drew McIntyre defeats Reigns for the Undisputed Universal Championship at Clash at the Castle on Saturday, there isn’t a lot of confidence he’ll keep the title for very long.
Granted, this isn’t all Levesque’s fault. His predecessor and father-in-law did him no favors by pushing Reigns so far to the top that it has left those beneath him without a clear direction or momentum. Those who do get built up are just another opponent for Reigns to beat. Now, booking a strong champion isn’t bad on paper, but the point of booking big, large-scale shows is to build intrigue. There simply is no intrigue if the result is certain, and especially in pro wrestling, there is no benefit to an out-of-nowhere result like in traditional sports, because of its scripted nature.
The state of WWE’s men’s main event scene is much different when compared to All Elite Wrestling’s men’s main event scene. AEW also have a pay-per-view this weekend in All Out, where the main event will be Jon Moxley defending the AEW World Championship against CM Punk. Who will win this match? Who knows? And that’s the fun and intrigue brought to the main event. Moxley swiftly defeated Punk on the Aug. 24 episode of Dynamite, but the former AEW World Champion went out Wednesday and cut a great promo to build anticipation for the rematch.
This dynamic simply is nonexistent in WWE. An ambitious move from Levesque would have been to do a reboot of sorts with the WWE roster, or a move that removes any preconceived notions fans already have toward the wrestlers.
Instead, WWE has continued its trend of baffling booking decisions. A tournament was held to decide new women’s tag team champions. It would make sense to have Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky win the belts, since they made their returns to the company at SummerSlam on July 30. But after a strange angle on Raw on Monday, Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez won the belts. Why would WWE halt the momentums of new talents that are fresh to the audience? All just to have a six-woman tag match Saturday? Rodriguez is a former NXT Women’s Champion, but Aliyah had been booked as a lower mid-card talent, and she’s now a champion over more seasoned wrestlers?
Levesque has inherited a problem McMahon had failed to solve. WWE needs a young, promising star, and that person does not exist on the roster at the moment. Even when an opportunity presents itself, the company opts to stick to the status quo. Levesque is reportedly trying to resolve this, though by allegedly tampering with AEW’s contracted stars. And more star power could be on its way back, but overall, Levesque needs to do a lot more than what he has done after a month in charge if WWE hopes to truly become a hot product.
