WWE News: Backstage Concern over How People Power Is Affecting WWE Storylines

When John Laurinaitis took over as the general manager of both Raw and SmackDown after WrestleMania 28, he started what he calls the “People Power” era. 

Obviously, the idea behind this is for Laurinaitis to act like the people—that’s us—are getting what we want, but realistically, he’s been booking matches (storyline-wise, that is) that favor the heels, essentially eliminating the people from the equation. 

There’s been a lot of Internet chatter about how the Raw and SmackDown shows have played out since Laurinaitis took over both shows, as not everyone seems to be sold on this “People Power” nonsense. 

And it’s not only the fans who have concerns about how Laurinaitis’ “People Power” is affecting the WWE’s storylines. Apparently, those within WWE do, too. 

From PWInsider.com (via WrestleNewz.com): 

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A lot of people within WWE are talking about how the company has went back to having pretty much no direction in the storylines. The feeling is that things were looking up after WrestleMania 28 when Brock Lesnar returned but with the People Power era and the push of John Laurinaitis, things have started to go back downhill. 

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I don’t want to act like it’s been all bad since the People Power era started, because—even if it could have been booked better—we’re still getting a WWE Championship feud between Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. 

That being said, I agree that the direction of most of WWE’s storylines seem to change every week. 

One week, The Big Show is crying on Raw, and the next, he’s a heel who has aligned himself with Laurinaitis? That couldn’t have possibly been the original plan. 

There are so many other things we can nitpick about as well. 

Big Show vs. Rhodes just ended out of nowhere (not that I’m complaining, because the feud sucked). Epico and Primo have done nothing since losing their tag team titles. There are virtually no midcard feuds worth talking about. Ryback and Brodus Clay keep squashing guys, likely because creative doesn’t know what to do with them—the list goes on and on and on. 

Outside of some of the WWE’s top stars and AJ, virtually no characters have any sort of direction whatsoever, and all it takes is watching one Raw or one SmackDown to see that the shows are booked on a week-by-week basis. 

There is no fluidity to the company’s storylines, on-the-fly booking has become the norm, and each Raw show relies far too much on far too few superstars. 

Laurinaitis gets way too much screen time, and so does Cena (he was on TV for, like, 45 minutes this Monday), and the Supershow format has severely limited the growth of anyone who isn’t a main eventer. 

I think it will get better relatively soon, because May is traditionally one of the—scratch that, the—WWE’s worst month of the year, but right now, it’s hard to get excited about anything that isn’t Punk vs. Bryan. 

People Power has literally taken over the WWE, and it has the company’s priorities all screwed up. 

Remember when some of us wanted Teddy Long to be removed as SmackDown’s GM? Be careful what you wish for.

Drake Oz is the WWE Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions (to be answered in the B/R Mailbag) on Formspring.