It is common knowledge that WWE historically have not been keen on using wrestlers that they have not ‘made’ i.e. wrestlers that have managed to forge their own career path before stepping foot in a WWE ring.
Many stories are told by legends of times when there was no other option than to move from territory to territory trying to make a name for themselves and earn a decent living. When Vince McMahon bought the then WWF from his father, he changed the face of wrestling forever by taking over the territories and creating the national wrestling company we now know as WWE.
Since then, WWE have made a point of ensuring that they employ talent that they can mould themselves into stars as they so wish. These wrestlers might have had some experience in the territory system, or in other organisations, but WWE can lay claim to actually making them stars – Hulk Hogan, HHH, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Randy Orton are just a few of the names that WWE can claim to have made.
These days, there is not much in the way of competition which WWE can poach talent from anyway – the two major competitors are TNA and ROH, both of which historically have been deemed unimportant by WWE to worry about.
However, these organisations, ROH in particular, as well as other smaller promotions have been able to develop their own stars who have worked the old system – spending years climbing the ladder to get themselves in a decent position and creating good fan fare, and they have a great reputation for doing so.
Given that information, if we look at WWE at present – the two champions, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, are both ‘indie’ stars that WWE cannot claim to have made. Could this be a change in the way WWE operate?
On top of that, not only are they indie stars, but you only have to look at the matches they have had over the past couple of weeks to realise that they are excellent in the ring, and work well with each other – something that can only be put down to the vast amount of experience they have on the indie circuit.
WWE have become stale in the way that they produce their own stars recently, hence Bryan and Punk being champion. Using already established indie stars will be no detriment to WWE’s ability to create stars. There is no reason they cannot do both, and keep the product fresh – something that is more relevant now than ever.
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