WWE's Youth Movement: Forget About Looks, It's Time To Create Some Individuality

Following a short hiatus from writing, I have decided to touch on a subject I feel quite strongly on and that I feel is affecting the WWE and pro wrestling in general.

Reading this wonderful article written by Ura Pendejo really got me thinking about this Youth Movement and the future of the WWE.

One of the biggest things in the WWE right now is the "Youth Movement," which has seen dozens of new Superstars enter the company in order to replace lost stars.

Wade Barrett, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Drew McIntyre and Daniel Bryan are examples of new WWE Superstars only recently brought up to the main roster, whilst guys who have been in the company for a little longer like The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, John Morrison and Kofi Kingston have been receiving the main midcard/main-event pushes.

There are several names to add to this list and you can see that by watching Raw, Smackdown and Superstars weekly. There are less and less veterans and experienced wrestlers, lost due to retirement, injury, releases and just plain quitting.

It’s like Jericho said, the WWE have booked themselves into the corner they are in now for not building new stars over the past few years and instead relying on the stars they had already.

Granted, I do respect the amount of effort they are putting into building some stars for the future now, especially in the form of people like The Miz, one person who spent years working his way to the top.

As well as the guys and girls already on the main roster, there are many more down at WWE’s main developmental territory FCW being prepped for stardom. FCW’s alumni features names like Jack Swagger, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre and all of the past and present members of the Nexus and the Corre (excluding CM Punk and Daniel Bryan obviously).

The whole job of Florida Championship Wrestling and developmental territories in general is to find talent, experienced or not, and train them until they are at a standard good enough for the main roster. Some people spend months, some up to a year, some can fester away in FCW for several years and end up being released.

The bottom line is a developmental deal is not a guarantee you will make it onto the main roster, but simply a case of picking and choosing those who the higher-ups in the WWE believe can be stars.

Plenty of the guys from Nexus probably would not have made it to the main roster if it wasn’t for the stable.

The whole concept of the developmental territory should be relatively simple, but unfortunately it is not. As I mentioned before, some people can spend years in FCW, like Heath Slater and Johnny Curtis (from NXT Season 4), who were/have been part of the territory since its inception in 2007.

Slater and Curtis are two of the few wrestlers who worked for independent promotions before signing a developmental deal with the WWE and have a lot more talent than many of the green, less experienced guys who got the call up first.

While FCW SHOULD be used to create a whole new breed of Superstars and Divas for the future, all of whom individual and star-worthy, it rarely works that way.

From almost everything I’ve seen, it just seems like a quick and easy way to teach all their bodybuilders and models the basics so that they can get them up to the main roster as soon as they possibly can. Thus, the main roster gets filled with green men and women who receive more screen time and recognition than those capably of working great, solid matches.

One word that strikes me whenever I look at the FCW roster or watch the matches is generic with a capital G.

It feels like the Superstars and Divas are being primed to look the same and wrestle the same style, unless they wrestled a lot before signing with the WWE. It’s like no individuality is allowed and the WWE is just after the same thing: tall, muscular men and hot, large breasted women.

But it’s not like that’s anything new.

At a time when the WWE are trying to transition into a new era full of new stars, how on earth can they expect to do that when most of them look the same and wrestle the same?

Most of their big guys, the Ezekiel Jacksons and the Mason Ryans and the Skip Sheffields, have similar move sets and are all meant to do similar things- be big and intimidating. Yawn.

And the Divas. Oh, the Divas.

It is as if the WWE are afraid of having talented women, seeing as they contradict their “Smart, Sexy and Powerful” motto oh so often. In the few minutes they have to wrestle, they are rarely allowed to truly shine and try new things.

Funnily enough, most of them train at the same place, FCW, and make little improvement from FCW to the main shows unless they go out and train by themselves like Eve. Even if they don’t do that and remain mediocre, they can still last years on the main roster and receive big pushes.

Most of the current Divas do not have move-sets, they simply follow the same pattern with an occasional twist added to it.

It is exactly the same for some of the men too.

Mason Ryan was hoisted from FCW to the main roster simply due to his size. His ring work and promo work is subpar and the fact that he himself recognizes this shows how unconcerned the WWE is with anything that is not to do with looks. The fact that Mason Ryan, whether he improves or not, will go much further than someone as talented as Daniel Bryan, for example, is a large reflection on the direction the youth movement is going in.

And I don’t think I like it.

Mason Ryan and other Superstars his size have similar move-sets and finishing moves. Are they being held back or is it simply a lack of raw wrestling talent? 

I don’t know, maybe it’s the training down at FCW, but one the things that really bothers me about NXT is the fact that most of the matches I see rarely differ to the next.

Whatever happened to great move-sets and distinctive styles? Do the WWE really believe they can build an entire generation of Superstars based on their looks? The fact is, as much as Vince would like it to happen, you cannot build a main-event scene that consists solely of large men with powerhouse move sets.

The fans want diversity, one thing that made the Attitude Era as popular as it was.

I understand that wrestling is a business and I understand how vital image is to the business, but does that have to mean we get the same person duplicated and only slightly altered to create a roster?

The problem is not in the size, it is in the booking. Shawn Michaels and Eddie Guerrero were not huge guys, but were still massive names and main-eventers. The difference between them and some of the small guys today is that they were booked so well that people could believe they could take on the bigger guys.

Going back to the Divas, I think the signing of Kong is a great choice. Firstly because she can actually wrestle and second because she is not a cookie cutter model the WWE are so fond of hiring.

AJ Lee is another one I'm fond of. Despite her irritating NXT gimmick, AJ can also bring a lot to the table in terms of wrestling and her body shape sets her apart from the others. For lack of a better analogy, AJ resembles a little girl. Haha.

Another major issue is finishing moves; the word generic comes into play once again. I don't know whether or not to blame the developmental system, but there are not enough stand-out, character defining finishing moves right now.

Too many are similar to each other or lack that shine that makes them a true finisher. Moves like the RKO, the 450 Splash, the Shooting Star Press, the Sharpshooter and even Santino's Cobra get massive pops and played a big part in getting Randy Orton, Justin Gabriel, Evan Bourne, Natalya and Santino Marella over.

Moves like the LaBell Lock and the Go To Sleep can instantly be linked to Daniel Bryan and CM Punk respectively. What would Alberto Del Rio be without his Armbar?

How many WWE finishing moves can you actually name or place to a certain Superstar/Diva?

I only hope the WWE starts pushing a wider range of people who can bring a lot to the table in their own way. Take advantage of the FCW talent that are truly main-roster ready and stop being so afraid of change.

Orton and Cena will not be around forever and there are only so many powerhouses a person can take at once. Allow your wrestlers to have unique move-sets and looks because that is the only way a star can truly be made.

Kofi Kingston and John Morrison, while they might not be the largest guys, they are two of the most over babyfaces in the company and could easily carry it in the future.

So why not give them the shot they deserve?

The WWE roster, however thin, still contains a great deal of talent. Who cares if they don't all resemble body-builders?