Thin Roster? Nope, It's the Inadequate Writers Recapping Recaps

Once is great. Five times is overkill
Screengrab Credit: WWE.com

So, on occasion, WWE has to fill out three hours of programming. Sometimes, they have a reason for doing so, be it the draft or something really special like Old School RAW. Sometimes though, they do it for whatever reason, whether they want to fill out another hour or whether USA Network mandates that they do. Sometimes, they hit home runs, but other times, like last night, well yeah, it ends up that there was no reason to do three hours anyway. The shows often times feel like regular two-hour episodes with an inordinate amount of recaps. I think if I were to diagnose the biggest problem last night, I'd say that yes, the recaps bogged down an already mediocre show into something that was borderline unwatchable until the end.

The reason that a lot of talking heads/WWE apologists will give is that the roster is too thin to fill out three hours. I think that's both a valid and bullshit reason. The company does have a limited slate of people that they feel are "ready" enough to trot out there in a capacity other than taking a quick pinfall to someone like Lord Tensai or even Brock Lesnar. On the other hand, they have 65 active Superstars and Divas (including for all intents and purposes Antonio Cesaro and Damien Sandow) who could fill up screen. If they need to inwardly ask whose fault it is that the bulk of these wrestlers can't go out and jostle a reaction out of a crowd, my guess is they'd blame the wrestlers. I personally blame the same people whom I blame for the fact that most parts of the show felt mediocre at best.

WWE Creative.

It's their inadequate writing that has pretty much done a Hannibal-influenced pincer attack on the quality of the shows. Let's put aside the fact that they can't consistently tell long term stories. Last night's Jericho/Punk segments were jarring examples of that, and while I did love that contract signing segment, I agree with people who are saying that they've pretty much told the Lesnar/Cena story in reverse and that it feels weird (I don't mind that kind of storytelling, but c'mon, even I will only admit that they're going all pulp fiction on us by accident at the very best). The fact that each week, people like Derrick Bateman, Maxine, Curt Hawkins, Drew McIntyre and even Matt Striker are either having good matches or bringing some modicum of character development to the screen on either Superstars or NXT and aren't getting a chance at least to be the minor player in a major feud or have their own opening or midcard stories baffles me. They'll say that they're "not over". I say how the fuck can they get the chance to be popular if the crowd's still filing in when they're getting to do their thing ad infinitium? How are they going to get more people to get to know them when NXT and Superstars are Internet-only shows? It's insane.

Meanwhile, what do we get instead of a showcase wrestling match where a Bateman or a McIntyre gets 5-7 minutes to sprint against someone higher up on the food chain for something entertaining? The Brock Lesnar video segment that had already aired four times on related WWE shows, two of which were on first run cable TV telecasts, a full recap of of something that happened three minutes prior and an extended recap of the show open. I don't think there shouldn't be recaps, but hey, maybe don't treat the audience like ADD-addled mental patients, or incentivize them to watch the whole program instead of showing the Cliff's notes version of it all night long.

But then again, that would require the writing staff to actually come up with something more than looking at win/loss records to make sure that everyone except for the Cenas and Punks of the world and the people they've saddled with losing streak angles have a .500 record or making fart jokes or whatever. It's frustrating. It can be masked with two hour shows, but when they've got nothing and they're going three hours, it's almost guaranteed to be a slow, plodding mess. Truth is, it really doesn't have to be that way, but no, they'll still blame the talent because they're blind.