If You Don't Like The Studio, Then Why Send Actors There?

If I understand what you're asking... It's simple, WWE is the biggest wrestling company in the world and its cool to see guys who you like for so long finally get to the pinnacle of pro wrestling. I like your analogy, but it's like comparing a homemade film with friends to a Hollywood movie. You want to walk the red carpets and be at the oscars (in this case wrestlemania) even though you might have more fun making a movie with your friends and you'll all get lead roles, but there's nothing that can compare to Hollywood.

From a fan's perspective there are some who could care less if they're favorite wrestlers ever make it to 'the big time' So long as they can keep seeing them have great matches elsewhere....it seems though that many wrestlers hold the belief that unless you have main- evented Wrestlemania or even just have a match on the card of Wrestlemania, you havented truly 'made it' in your career.

I agree with the basis of what you're saying. I generally always do when it pertains to our love of the game from days gone by. The reason i look forward to these signings, is not because i necessarily have any faith in these guys getting major pushes or revolutionizing the company in any way. I just look at the potential for in ring performance getting upped. Dream matches can come to pass, people who otherwise wouldn't, will be exposed to their great ring work and theres always an outside chance that they might.....even if doubtfully......get over bigger than any of us expect. Its basically fantasy booking come to life. And,at its worst, at least it gives us something different.

Well, in the case of AJ Styles, he's done everything he can do outside of WWE. Now, when he's at the absolute top of his game as a total package performer, he's in the biggest wrestling promotion in the world. I could really argue the same for Aries and Joe, who aren't getting main roster treatment but have still done it all in ROH and TNA. It solidifies those names. It gives credence to those guys as performers. AJ Styles was always that guy that fans loved unconditionally that everyone outside of the TNA fanbase, and more recently the ROH/NJPW fanbase, said could never be in WWE, and look how wrong those people are right now. That makes me happy. Sure, it's a petty belief, but AJ deserves every bit of this run, and I've already seen him wrestle everyone under the sun outside of WWE.

The world we live in now is vastly different than the world just a few years ago. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins. We have Cesaro, Ambrose, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Apollo Crews, and all of these guys are making a difference, and the fans enjoy them. All of these guys who so many of us have been ridiculed for enjoying outside of the WWE product, are now becoming the biggest stars inside the WWE. That means something. That validation is important and gives merit to the companies and talent all over the world who could one day fuel the WWE roster.

I can see the argument for wanting guys to stick around if there is more for them to do, but you have to ask yourself, what's left? I look at a guy like Adam Cole, who could have conceivably left for WWE two and a half years ago. We wouldn't have gotten those Jay Briscoe matches, we wouldn't have gotten Mount Rushmore or the Kingdom, I wouldn't have seen those two matches from War of the Worlds, and I wouldn't have had the opportunity to see them revisit the Future Shock feud. But now? Now Mount Rushmore is over, now the Kingdom is over, now the Bullet Clubs time in ROH is done and I won't be seeing anymore AJ Styles vs Adam Cole matches... unless of course it happens in WWE, BAYBAY!

Listen, Seth Rollins likely isn't ever going to have a match like he had with Davey at DBD8. But you know what, he's already had a half dozen classics with Dean Ambrose, he had an incredible match with John Cena and Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble, the best match in WWE of 2015 imo, he won the WWE Title in the main event of WrestleMania in front of 76,000 people, and he got to wrestle Sting for the WWE Title, a guy who he dressed up as for Halloween when he was a kid. I mean that's not a movie Seth Rollins can make at IFC, this is a Buena Vista production. Nothing Rollins was ever going to do in Ring of Honor was ever going to compare to what he did at WrestleMania 31, period.

I'm onboard with the idea that WWE limits pro wrestling. They work a far more conservative style of matches that have a formula that appeases a more simple type of fan. I don't mean that in a derogatory way, but what I mean is a fan who hasn't seen everything under the sun and can still buy into punch, kick, finisher. I saw Warrior vs Hogan, Bret vs Shawn, I was there when the NWO formed and when Sting became the hottest star in wrestling, I was there when DX started telling everyone to suck it, and when Austin drank his way to the top, and I was there when WCW folded, when we got Invasions, we saw the rise of a new wave of wrestlers like Brock, Eddie, Benoit, and Angle, and I was there when Cena became the next Hulk Hogan, and when Edge finally broke through the ceiling, and when CM Punk dropped a pipe bomb on the industry as a whole. I've seen 25 years of wrestling and at some point, you get sick of seeing WWE do what WWE does, which is why I absolutely love places like TNA, PWG, NJPW and ROH.

The only reason I even know who AJ Styles is right now is because WWE bought WCW. That led me to watching World Wrestling All-Stars, which led me to TNA, which opened up a whole new world for me as a wrestling fan. I've kind of run off on a tangent here, but I'll try and wrap this up. WWE has a global reach. If I am a fan of guy, I want that guy to have as much success as humanly possible. The only company that gives you global recognition is WWE. Nobody is a bigger star than Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin. Austin had great matches in WCW, Hogan was great in Japan, but it was WWE that made those guys a household brand. There is only one place to make a film like Star Wars in the wrestling business and that's in WWE.

I thought this was about WWE Studios films

I think OP raises fantastic points. I agree with the OP for the most part. I am hopeful for these guys, but seriously have concern. Aries, in NXT, will not initially have this issue. I think NXT understands how to use their talent. Is there anyone in NXT that is not positioned where they should be? Cant say the same about the main roster. A LOT of great talents are positioned and used VERY poorly.

Since I will only ever will watch WWF-WWE, I hope they always get new talent. I had never even heard of the Giant or jericho before they joined wwf. I will never watch another promotion. never. I was faithful to the WWF when I saw WM3 live while clutching my LJN Hulk Hogan at 15 and I will still be.

The only way an indy darling will ever have me see their work is if they join the federation.

I definitely think wrestlers who never join never make it to the big time.

You know what though? It really doesn´t affect you. I would not lose sleep over it. I have said over and over I am not a wrestling fan. Only a WWF fan.

I'm happy for them because they will get massive paydays and their price on the indies wI'll rise once they are released. I also like that they are being exposed to an audience who largely has no idea who they are and never would have seen them otherwise (This mostly applies to Nakamura, assuming that he makes it to the main roster.)




They got to be the only game in town by being the best, and let's face it, by ripping off ECW. Vince McMahon and the WWF didn't win the Monday Night Wars, Paul Heyman and ECW won for him.