Examining How Social Media Impacts Rivalries Between WWE Superstars

WWE has fully entered an era where social media is as much a part of building a feud as staredowns and backstage attacks.

When they are done clashing in the ring, rivals collide on Twitter. Instagram is a means to talk trash. As a result, the boundaries of the stories of battling Superstars are expanded, and the TV screen and the squared circle are not enough to contain it all.

It has to be a strange phenomenon for wrestlers of yesteryear. Before smartphones were omnipresent, before "wi-fi" was a word, wrestlers furthered feuds by ambushing enemies, taking shots during interviews or bragging about causing an injury, with not a single tweet afterward.

Today's WWE is one infused with technology. Social media has both added layers to existing narratives and been the catalyst for ones the company had yet to create.

When there is not enough TV time to flesh out a feud, Twitter can act as a secondary stage to hash out Superstars' issues. When WWE Creative has nothing for lower-rung roster members, a feud born on the internet can be their ticket to airtime.  

Credit: WWE.com

Social media is an element of the pro wrestling puzzle that continues to grow, but it's also a development that apparently breeds laziness in the writing team. There has been a pattern of late in which WWE tosses two enemies into the arena with just a brief reference to their social media spats as motivation to watch what happens.

Tweets and Instagram posts cannot replace the tenets of wrestling storytelling. They shouldn't be the foundation for rivalries but rather serve as decorative additions to already established rivalries.

Assisting in the Creation

In early 2015, both Adam Rose and Zack Ryder were spending more time at the catering table than in the spotlight. Neither appeared on Raw or SmackDown often. Neither was part of a sustained storyline.

Rose and Ryder were stuck in booking limbo.

They then began to take shots at each other online. Ryder insulted Rose's physique. Rose knocked Ryder's hair:

The banter was not Shakespearean by any means, but it caught fans' attention. People couldn't help but notice this Twitter squabbling. Ringside News and UPROXX were among the outlets to pick up on the beef. 

WWE eventually tried to build on that buzz the wrestlers had created. Rose and Ryder wrestled on Main Event and Superstars, trading wins on the company's C-shows.

It wasn't WrestleMania, but at least these two were getting airtime. Social media kicked all that off.

The same was true for the rivalry between actor Stephen Amell and Stardust. When Amell of Arrow fame was set to attend Raw in May of 2015, he and Stardust took to Twitter to stir things up between them:

The actor and The Prince of Dark Matter stared each other down during the show, and Stardust lost thanks to the distraction. What looked to be a one-time interaction blossomed in the coming months outside TVs and arenas.

Amell and Stardust bickered on social media, an extended spat that Matt Perri chronicled for The Workprint.

Whether this was the result of a WWE directive or something these two continued of their own accord, it worked. Fans were talking about the potential of a Stardust-Amell match long before it was clear the company was actually going to go in that direction.

Their social media interactions provided the impetus and prologue for a rivalry that eventually moved to TV and culminated at SummerSlam.

This path remains an option for floundering, little-used wrestlers. Someone like Ryder can't control how much time he gets in front of the camera, but he can reach out via his phone as often as he wants. Not every online-born feud is going to lead anywhere, but if one can create enough buzz that way, eventually WWE can't ignore it.

Extracurricular Animosity 

Even if fans watch Raw, SmackDown, Main Event, Superstars and every YouTube video WWE puts out each week, there are element to many feuds that they won't experience without also scouring social media.

With low-level feuds, wrestlers don't have ample time to tell their stories, to let the audience know why they are so irked at each other. The fight then continues after the bell and after the cameras go off. 

Emma vs. Becky Lynch is a perfect example of that. It was a feud WWE often neglected. The enemies seemed to be on a collision course before the Payback pay-per-view, but then the company halted the narrative's progress. Neither Emma nor Lynch appeared on TV for a spell.

It's no surprise, then, that both women turned to Twitter to do some of the trash-talking they otherwise might have done in the ring. After the two battled on Raw in May, they fired insults at each other online:

This came after many spiteful moments between them on social media. In that way, it added a layer to their onscreen rivalry, giving them a chance to further stir things up between them.

More often than not, the social media part of a story is just the window dressing. The bulk of the bad blood is displayed traditionally, while Twitter and Instagram offer an add-on element.

After The Vaudevillains locked horns with The New Day in June, for example, Aiden English took to Instagram to warn the tag champs that more violence was coming to them:

Chris Jericho is a busy man on social media. He often remains in character throughout, too. Playing a heel as he does on TV, he insults fans and whines about so-called injustices he believes he suffered.

After Dean Ambrose destroyed his light-up jacket in early May, Jericho referenced the incident and talked up his fashion sense all in one breath on Instagram:

This is the kind of intersection of programming and social media that WWE has to love. It encourages fans to not only follow what happens on TV each week but to follow the Superstars who make up WWE's own circus and see what they have to say before and after Raw or SmackDown airs.

Limitations, Incorporation

WWE certainly doesn't shy away from infusing what goes on in the social media realm into its product.

WWE.com posted an article about Paige and Lana squabbling on Twitter. When The Rock and John Cena went after each other (as seen on EVOLVE) on social media in 2012, the company was happy to build on that and use it to add fuel to their onscreen rivalry.

There is a clear overlap between Twitter and TV, social media and the squared circle. Fans saw that at WWE Roadblock when Rusev and Alberto Del Rio called out The New Day, claiming that the champs wouldn't have won had they been there alongside their League of Nations brethren.

Those statements made their way into an interview with the titleholders. Tom Phillips referenced the tweets in one of his questions for The New Day.

The kind of aggression Del Rio and Rusev showed can often generate headlines. But it's not enough to get folks talking about something. There has to be proper follow-up.

Back in 2011, Gail Kim and Melina did their best to spark something via social media, but it never led anywhere. At that point, the women's division was grossly neglected. Stories were hard to come by. Ring time came only in spurts. 

So the two women seemingly dreamed up their own rivalry, one that saw them insult each other online:

Like Ryder vs. Rose, it forced fans to take notice, but the rivalry only ended up on Superstars. It didn't blossom beyond, that despite its decent online foundation. 

Twitter feuds can be starting points or a way to add depth. They can't be a crutch for WWE Creative, though.

Social media spats can't replace the energy of seeing a friend betray a friend with a steel-chair shot or two warriors brawling in the stands. WWE can't just throw two enemies into the ring, make a quick reference to what they said to each other on Twitter and move on. We have seen that to a degree with Lynch vs. Emma and other women's division feuds.

As the art of wrestling evolves, social media is clearly going to play a role. However, nothing beats nuts-and-bolts storytelling. Technology can't replace the basics.