New Stars...What New Stars?

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A "new rumour" is making the rounds that Vince McMahon is frustrated with the current product, in particular with regards to their inability to create new stars.

Now, I generally take these type of rumours with a grain of salt. Whenever they claim "one WWE source" says such and such I can't help but roll my eyes.

Who in creative is leaking this information? Or is Vince making his frustrations known to everyone in the company whereby anyone could have leaked it?

The rumour's not exactly breaking news anyway. The dirt sheets come out with a "Vince goes mad backstage over the product" or "McMahon is constantly changing storyline directions" rumour at least once a month.

That said, maybe the frequency of these rumours suggests they have some truth to them. I'm going to assume they do for the simple fact we can see the effects of some of them on TV. And by this, I"m referring to the WWE's lack of new stars.

I've already discussed the WWE's problem with building new stars here on WrestleBlogs with fellow blogger Luke.

He thinks WWE are doing a good job of building new stars, and says that the current popularity dip in WWE has made it harder to develop the next big thing. I completely disagree on both points and it seems Vince does too:

One of the most prominent things heard at WWE creative meetings from Vince McMahon is his overall frustration with the product as of late and complaining about the company's inability to create new stars. Probably the biggest criticism the company is getting now is pushing their TV harder than PPV events in the last year or so.

There's no doubt certain things look promising on SmackDown at the moment. We have Morrison, Ziggler, Punk, Hardy all being given solid pushes. Hardy and Punk in particular have been handed the main event scene and doing a damn good job at keeping the fans engaged.

However, there's one problem: this new crop of superstars have only recently been getting this push, most likely because the WWE's other main eventers, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Undertaker and Batista were and some still are off the active roster.

New main eventers should have been built years ago, so when the Stone Cold's and the Rock's left the company they would have a new crop of stars to replace them. But look who's filling the void: the Undertaker, Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Three guys that predate Austin and the Rock!

So do the WWE have a new batch of stars to replace Michaels, Hunter and 'Taker? Not that I can. It's all good saying they are building stars now, but they should have been doing this for the past 10 years.

Now, there are a few success stories that I have to acknowledge. Batista has been built up to the level of an elite main eventer. He's a huge draw who can help sell out arenas, bring in viewers and shift merchandise.

Jeff Hardy is also at this level in terms of merchandise sales. Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar are also certainly worth mentioning, but they've been gone from the WWE for years now.

The company are having similar success with the Holy Trinity of Heels in Edge, Randy Orton, and Chris Jericho.

As the bad guys, they may not be as big draws as the super baby faces, but they are just as important by generating captivating feuds against the money-making good guys.

Of course, I haven't forgotten to mention the WWE's saving grace: John Cena. In my opinion, he is WWE's success story.

Here, they've built a main eventer post Attitude Era who comes close to the popularity that Austin and the Rock achieved. This I give huge props to WWE for. However he's just one man.

Batista, is approaching 40 (if he isn't there already) and there's strong rumours that Jeff Hardy may be leaving sometime this year.

Randy Orton has the potential to be an even bigger draw than he currently is - but the problem is that he's a natural heel, he's not a babyface, and that's what the company needs to carry them forward.

So this leaves us with a crop of stars that while seen as main eventers, Edge, Jericho, and Punk have never built to the same level as the elites like Austin, Rock, and 'Taker.

This is no fault of the talent, in my opinion. It's more a combination of politics, timing and lack of confidence on WWE's part to make these stars look as strong as the previous generation.

Some may say this isn't WWE's fault at all. It's all about bad timing. The company is going through a dip at the moment so it isn't as easy to push new talent to the levels previously seen during the Attitude Era. Bull.

As I've already stated, WWE should have been making new main eventers over the last 10 years when the company was still at the peak of its success.

And even today, the company is still a multi-million dollar industry. It's not some dying, scrambling little organization. It's a global enterprise that apparently is increasing it's female viewership and attracting new sponsorship from Pepsi Max and 7-Eleven.

This is all in light of the company's new family friendly approach. There's no excuse not to make new stars just as easily today.

So what do WWE need to do? Who am I to say. I've no experience in business or wrestling.

As a fan I simply suggest that they should continue to ram the new crop main eventers down our throats (just as they're doing with Cena) and stop falling back on the previous main eventer generation as if to say these are the real stars.

Have confidence in your new talent, because if you don't, the fans won't either.