PWP Nation’s John “JCD” Dimiceli gives his thoughts on a forgotten way to get new talent over in the world of wrestling
For years it has been said WWE has lost its way in getting new talents over and positioned. It doesn’t matter if they are a heel or face. People will say mic work, character development, and look go a long way in the process, and they would be 100% right.
However, as someone with almost 35 years (yes I’m old) of watching experience under his belt, I can tell you that there is one big piece missing from the process.
That part is the old school way of using a ladder system, or tier of superstars one would work through as they were being built and brought up.
It’s no different than playing a video game in which every level or board had a final “boss” to beat in order to advance. It didn’t matter if you were a heel or a face. Both sides had a certain “ladder” of stars to go through. It just depended on how far one was being moved up.
In the old days, if a heel was being built up for an eventual showdown with Hulk Hogan, there were several superstars the heel would feud with and go over before stepping up to challenge Hogan.
Even the stables had a tier of stars. The Four Horsemen, The Heenan Family, Hart Foundation and others had a pecking order of who you went through in order to get to the main guy.
The main reason the ladder system has faded away is because of 50-50 booking. It’s very rare that anyone truly gets over on anyone anymore, and it is simply because of this. Win on pay per view, lose on the next Raw or Smackdown Live. Win this week on Raw, lose on Raw next week.
The last time WWE used anything close to this concept was back in 2016, with the builds of both Braun Strowman and Nia Jax. Between the enhancement talent and mid-card feuds, both Strowman and Jax worked their way up before being positioned in high level main event spots.
What do you think? Should WWE go back to building stars this way? Would the IWC lose it if one of their favorite stars were used as a step in the “ladder”?
Feel free to let us know.
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