Views From The Turnbuckle: WWE's Midcard Hell

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In wrestling, there are really two types of building a main event lever wrestler. The first option is to have a wrestler start at or near the bottom, and eventually though years of hard work, solid storytelling and some good fortune, they find themselves as one of the most popular acts in the company. Dozens of all-time greats have followed this path to success, from Ric Flair, to Bret Hart, to Steve Austin to even John Cena. The other method is to bring a guy in and immediately push him to the top of the card, making them top stars often months within debuting. Again, plenty of great stars have followed this path, including Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar.

Neither method is particularly right or wrong, it really depends on the talent that is being developed. Hulk Hogan was certainly a limited worker when he splashed onto the seen in the WWF, but he had the right look, great charisma, great marketability and heads-up executive behind him. If Hogan had taken the slow, plodding route, he might not have found as much success as he did. He NEEDED to be pushed to the moon. On the flip side, we have someone like Bret Hart, who took a long time to establish himself and become a hero to fans. If Hart had been immediately pushed into the world title picture, fans might not have believed in him as much. He didn't really have the skill set to achieve with a rapid push, just like Hogan didn't have the skills to achieve in the long term with a slow push.

In the past 10 years or so, WWE has seemed to almost exclusively focus on building all of its future major stars with the quick monster push. Think about the wrestlers who have come onto the main event scene the last few years. Alberto Del Rio was brought in and given a tremendous push during his rookie year, as was Ryback (not counting Skip Sheffield, who was never acknowledged by WWE) and Sheamus. To explore the concept more fully, just take a look at The Shield. All three men debuted in WWE by costing John Cena and Ryback the WWE Championship at Survivor Series. From then on, they pretty much bounced around, duking it out with all of WWE's top names. Right now, is it any surprise that all three men are in the main event picture for WWE?

Even someone like Daniel Bryan, who hung around the midcard for a little while before reaching into the main event, came into WWE with a lot of fanfare and was the turner in the Nexus feud. WWE seems content to ignore the slower builds and just rush whoever into the main event. As a result of this, the midcard has turned from a promising land of future main eventers, to a boneyard of either talent who failed at the megapush, or guys who WWE has no intentions to ever push significantly.

Some guys currently in the midcard, most notably Cesaro and Dolph Ziggler, have been able to get over with fans fairly well. Despite them pretty much accomplishing everything WWE would want them to do, they have failed to really capitalize on their obvious popularity. Once someone gets dropped in the midcard, it has been nearly impossible for them to get back out. Who cares if fans are cheering for Ziggler and Cesaro without them hardly getting a storyline to work with, WWE is happy to neglect them in hopes of finding a fresh face to put in the main event.

A perfect example of this is the degradation of the United States and Intercontinental Championships over the last few years. WWE is quick to mention how such great world champions have held those titles, but when was the last time someone actually benefited from being the IC or US champion? The days of those titles being a stepping stone for the world championship(s) are long gone. In fact, it is almost the opposite. Winning one of those titles is more like a certification of one's perpetual mediocrity then it is a vote of confidence from management that they think a wrestler has potential.

In the midcard now, nobody ever seems to get ahead and nobody ever seems to fall behind. Since a wrestler is pretty much built on stringing together victories, it is no small wonder nobody has ever broken out of the midcard and busted their way onto the main event scene. When someone like Ziggler or Cesaro (or most notably Zack Ryder) begins to get popular, it almost seems like WWE tries to cut these guys off at the legs. It might be an indicator of a much larger problem within WWE that management wants to succeed, but that they want to do it with THEIR guys using THEIR ideas. If a wrestler isn't written into the script as a future star, then there is very little opportunity for them to break out of their designated role.

WWE always seems anxious to find some new draw for their company. WWE seems to believe that the answer is always to either bring in a new guy and give him a monster push, or bring back an older star that had previously been away from the company. They never seem to have faith in guys that they already have that could possibly have a bigger role within the company. They are constantly driving out to the grocery store, when the ingredient they need is right there in cupboard. Once you are given an assignment, whether it be as a midcarder or future main eventer, there is very little chance of a worker ever changing that role, no matter what kind of results they are getting.

The most puzzling thing about this is that it could easily hurt the motivation of a lot of workers. WWE management is always talking about how all these young guys have the opportunity to seize their career and become these mammoth stars. But in reality, how true is that? All those young guys can just take a glance at Cesaro and Ziggler, guys who have busted their asses to get over, and they don't have a hell of a lot to show for it. In WWE, being stuck in the midcard is like trying to drive a truck through quicksand. No matter how hard you rev the engine, you aren't going anywhere.