WHY WWE DEVELOPMENTAL HAS FAILED
by Karl Stern of
www.karlstern.com
WWE developmental has, in some shape or form, been in use for over a
decade now. The most predominate of the developmental groups belongs to
Danny Davis in Ohio Valley Wrestling. Yet in the last decade, WWE
developmental has failed to turn out more than a handful of major stars
and none of them have been mega-star level.
While many of WWE's current roster has, at some point in time, been to
developmental, just who in the main event ranks owes the majority of
their training to WWE development? You could argue John Cena though he
has never reached Rock or Steve Austin level of popularity. Still, we'll
count him as one. Brock Lesnar was a true product of WWE development
having been recruited out of the NCAA to come to pro wrestling. While
Lesnar was a main event star and headlined a Wrestlemania, the time he
spent in pro wrestling was a blip on the radar. Still, we will count him
as number two. Beyond that who in the main events owes their training to
WWE developmental?
Great Kahli, while no poster child for any development program, was a
long time wrestler in Mexico and Japan as Giant Singh and has been
wrestling for close to ten years. Triple H came from Killer Kowalski's
wrestling school, spent time on the independent scene then in WCW before
coming to WWE (then WWF) as a lower card act before politicking and
fighting his way up to the main events. All the major mega-star acts of
the last ten years owe their training to the old territorial system, not
developmental. Steve Austin and The Undertaker got their starts in the
Texas end of the USWA, Memphis, and early WCW. The Rock worked Memphis
(though it was, at times during his stay, a WWE developmental area) and
was a third generation wrestler who owes more to the training done by
his family than to WWE.
What developmental has churned out is a stream of also-rans and
mid-carders. The list reads like a where-are-they-now: Doug and Danny
Bashem, Rob Conway, Nick Dinsmore, Rene DuPree, and the list goes on and
on. Now this shouldn't be so much a knock on them, but instead on the
cookie-cutter WWE style and look.
What the territories gave us was variety. Not everyone looked like Hulk
Hogan or Superstar Graham. There were a lot of look-a-likes but there
were also different body types and styles. What is sad is that if things
had always been the WWE developmental way then people like Dusty Rhodes,
The Assassin, Tommy Rich, and even people like Ricky Steamboat
(style-wise) would never had made it to the main event levels. Everyone
does not, and should not, look the same or wrestle the same.
The biggest fatal flaw in the whole system, however, is the way it plays
out in the arena. All the development talent work against each other
instead of with the veterans. Yes, they have the veterans there to train
them but not in front of the crowd in an actual match. When Danny Davis
was coming up he went from territory to territory working against the
older stars. When Davis started out he was a lower card wrestler who
worked in Stampede and later Memphis. In fact, The Nightmares (Davis and
Ken Wayne) were a jobber level team called The Galaxians before they
became The Nightmares. When they arrived in Southeastern wrestling they
worked for years with older wrestlers before Davis broke out as a
singles star in the promotion.
Same thing goes for trainers like Dr. Tom Prichard and Steve Keirn. They
both spent years traveling through the territories before they became
top tier performers. At the Police department as a Sergeant I train the
newcomers. Why would I send a rookie to ride with another rookie and
then later tell them what they did wrong? Does it not make more sense to
ride with them and teach them as we go? Yet the WWE developmental system
does exactly that.
Perhaps the development system shouldn't just be for upcoming performers
but for outgoing ones as well. The ones who become stale. Instead of
curtly wishing them the best in their future endeavors at WWE.com why
not send them to OVW or Florida to perform on their shows against the
younger wrestlers? Why not have a stale performer like Kane or a veteran
like Dean Malenko as champion of the area with the up and comers chasing
them? Why not have Arn Anderson as an active manager and mouthpiece on
the shows while the person he is with learns from him?
Instead, year after year, we get more cookie cutter wrestlers with
cookie cutter gimmicks. And when they arrive in WWE no wonder they don't
stand out... because they don't.
in' goofy still.
