Just as important as the wrestling skills and the physical features of a WWE superstar, is the character that they must uphold while on WWE television. Since it is well-established that some aspects of professional wrestling are scripted, you’d think that the WWE wouldn’t mind being a little creative considering that their audience is usually on the younger side. Actually, they can’t. They believe they can’t anyway.
In their mind, the WWE have backed themselves into a corner with regards to the development of fictional characters. They’re obsessed with social relevancy and expect their superstars to be more than just on-screen performers. With the exception of a very small few, it seems every on-screen performer must use social media as a means to keep up WWE’s social media relevancy. In a wierd way, WWE want their stars to seem as human and social as the casual wrestling. However, that need causes a very sticky situation.
The thing about the WWE superstars is that they’re supposed to be presented as larger-than-life “superstars.” That’s why the writers are passionate to push the wrestlers that look a certain way. Fans may complain at the idea of smaller men being pushed aside for muscular individuals but in WWE’s eyes, appearance is everything. They think that their top stars need a unique look, and someone like John Cena has the look they think they’re looking for. At the same time though, asking these stars to also be social media enthusiasts at the same time contradicts the larger-than-life desires WWE has for their top stars.
Being a larger-than-life wrestler but also needing to pay huge attention to social media hinders the WWE’s attempts of creating new stars. Unless you use social media as your character, how can you develop a larger-than-life persona if you are shown to be human?
It’s funny because an act that actually does use social media effectively to develop their characters are the New Day. They are over-the-top characters even when they tweet. They are over-the-top characters when they are on UpUpDownDown (Xaiver Woods’ gaming YouTube channel). They were over-the-top characters even when they were on ESPN SportsCenter with Jonathan Coachman. They stood out as characters as opposed to being shown as just regular people.
On the other hand, people like Rusev tweeting out romantic pictures with Lana to attract social media attention contradicts his character of being a Bulgarian Brute. How can you treat him seriously when he’s posting photos of himself being human? I get that even WWE characters need a break from their roles once in a while and to “break kayfabe.” At the same time, they can’t be breaking kayfabe too much. It’s a balancing act between fiction and reality which makes it difficult for WWE to build characters.
The funny thing is that arguably the most important aspect of WWE business is TV ratings but the WWE still insist on shaping their business around social media. I would like to state something which may come as a shock to those working in WWE but it’s a fact which you can’t ignore. Not every viewer of Monday Night RAW has social media. However, what does every viewer of Monday Night RAW have? A television.
Think about this from the perspective of somebody that watches your product but does not use social media. When Michael Cole says something like “these two have developed quite the rivalry on social media,” not everyone is going to know what he’s on about. WWE are under the imperssion that we should all know what Dolph Ziggler is saying about Kevin Owens for example. A lot of your casual wrestling fans will not be following all of your wrestlers on social media because they’re not that invested in the product. It’s not like these are people that are checking WWE.com daily or are subscribed to the WWE Network.
The WWE have got it into their head that social media is the driving force of professional wrestling when it’s quite the opposite. It’s slowing down the process of character development. Ignoring social media completely is not the strongest suggestion as social media is important to a degree for WWE. However, what’s more important is the character of these great talents.
I have to actually bring up one last point, and it actually came after I watched an old WWE Unforgiven 2006 DVD. One of the matches was between the Spirit Squad and the Highlanders. These two tag teams both had over-the-top gimmicks but they still stood out as members of the RAW roster at the time. They weren’t hugely over but they had characters that made them seem different. They had characters that made them seem that they weren’t real and of course they were booked that way because they simply didn’t need to.
Social media was not even around in 2006. YouTube was actually a thing around the time and it’s possible that MySpace was at least in the works, but it was not as big a part of our lives as it is now. These tag teams could focus about developing their own characters rather than being socially relevant.
To a degree, I really hate the term “social relevance” when it relates to WWE. CM Punk once cut a promo in 2011 about how his pipebomb made WWE “socially relevant” and I just gritted my teeth at that. When I’m watching WWE, I’m rarely thinking to myself “I wish WWE was socially relevant.” NEVER have ever wished that the likes of the Undertaker should get Twitter. I wished that the wrestlers I see on RAW had characters I can get invested in. If not, then what’s the point in watching the product?
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