As much as WWE has stayed the same in many ways despite decades changing and time progressing, with the company entering and exiting different eras with brand-new wrestlers and stars, things have in fact changed over time, particularly from a booking style perspective. Much of this is due to how professional wrestling as a whole has evolved, but some of it is very much due to the mind of Vince McMahon.
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With him at the top of the creative ladder, even today with a changing regime and temporary retirement (which has now ended), he is still the man in charge. The way WWE’s style of booking has changed can be solely put down to McMahon at times, though on occasion it is due to the industry as a whole.
10 Undefeated Streaks
In the previous century, within the 70s, 80s, and 90s, new stars - both babyfaces and heels - would undergo undefeated streaks. The likes of King Kong Bundy, Diesel, and so many more over the years were introduced strongly and could sometimes go even over a year without a loss.
It was the same for the top babyfaces like Hulk Hogan, Bruno Sammartino, and Ultimate Warrior, who seldom lost matches and went on long and lengthy streaks. The only comparable examples in today’s WWE are Gunther and Roman Reigns, though this has only happened due to Triple H being in some level of control. This thing simply no longer often happens in WWE anymore when it used to be fairly common.
9 Overbooked Chaos
This was a booking style of the Attitude Era. In a way, this was done to match the equally chaotic and wild booking of WCW during the Monday Night Wars, with each company adding as much mayhem as possible to draw excitement.
Nearly every match had some sort of distraction, interference, swerve, and post-match brawl, particularly the main event matches. As WWE left the Attitude Era, this overbooking of matches lessened and lessened.
8 Part-Timers & Not Making New Stars
What became more of a development in the 2010s was WWE’s unhealthy focus on part-timers. The likes of The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Goldberg, and The Rock would waltz into WWE, wrestle a couple of matches per year in the very top spots, and leave again.
At times, these wrestlers would even win the world titles, negating the hard work done by the full-time roster every year. This booking of part-timers has been done to make up for the fact that Vince McMahon started going against making stars. He swept the rug out from superstars getting too popular for the fear that they would become “bigger” than the company and leave.
7 Scripted Promos
As WWE has progressed from era to era, the promos delivered by wrestlers have become more scripted. Back in the day, promos were natural, rich with emotion, and powerful, and this was due to them being unscripted or at least having vague bullet point notes.
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Nowadays, this isn’t the case, with promos scripted word for word, coming out completely unnatural, repetitive, and dry. This affects storytelling and the charisma or momentum of those delivering these wooden promos, and it does no favors for the booking of feuds. Though it must be noted that things have become a lot more organic under Triple H.
6 Hot-Potato Title Reigns
This was very much a trope of the Attitude Era, and sometimes in the Ruthless Aggression Era too. In the hopes of making weekly TV unpredictable and PPVs must-see, there was a whole load of title changes during this time.
To take one specific example, from 1997 to 2001, there were a total of 56 World Tag Team Title reigns, with only four of those reigns lasting over 100 days. This is a bizarre stat and something not really seen in any other era, and it was the same for every title in WWE too. It was something Vince McMahon grew out of gradually.
5 Long Title Reigns
Going off the previous point, the concept of long title reigns was something very common before the Attitude Era began, until things got silly with the common use of hot-potatoing. As time passed into the 2000s, reigns were more “in the middle” rather than long. However, things have evolved and changed again recently, with longer title reigns becoming normal once more.
The likes of The New Day, AJ Styles, Becky Lynch, The Usos, Bianca Belair, Bayley, Gunther, and Roman Reigns have all had record-breaking title reigns over the last few years, which has been a nice change of pace, and it has helped add prestige to certain belts.
4 50/50 Booking
The trope of 50/50 booking was something that came into existence in the early 2000s and progressively got more and more overbearing on WWE programming. For the several previous decades prior to this, wrestlers would be built up strongly, hardly ever losing and becoming stars in the process.
With the concept of 50/50 booking, feuds were never conclusively won, wrestlers couldn’t get over, and the roster as a whole felt more on a level playing field. Nearly every feud at one point felt like it suffered from 50/50 booking, aside from the odd outlier.
3 Long-Term Storytelling
Previous eras of WWE have seen some truly brilliant long-term storytelling and slow-burn angles. Hogan/Savage, Rock/Austin, Triple H/Batista, and many more have all been terrific feuds that lasted months and were clearly planned out.
In the PG Era and beyond, this has rarely been the case. Outside of the Triple H/Undertaker/Shawn Michaels saga and more recently with The Bloodline, true long-term stories, and character progression have been incredibly rare. It is a shame that this is the case, especially when it was once more of a norm.
2 Introducing Unknown Wrestlers On The Main Roster
This is more of a minor point, but it is something that has changed since WWE’s developmental brand of NXT became its own distinct show. The main roster no longer sees shock debuts from international stars or unknown names making an appearance.
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Perhaps the last example of this was Omos or Braun Strowman, as everyone else has been on NXT and has already been introduced to a lot of the audience. In terms of booking, it is hard now for people to make a call-up after having already established a character beforehand, therefore booking has changed when it comes to debuts.
1 Focus On Women’s Wrestling
WWE has gone in and out of treating women’s wrestling with respect and then completely slapping it in the face with abhorrent booking, but something that has evolved more recently in a constant focus on the division, making the wrestlers feel like stars, and booking them in the main event.
This change in booking style for women came after the notable “Women’s Revolution” back in 2015 when the stars of NXT rose to the main roster and helped the division move forward with those who were already beginning to have better storylines and matches. Women’s wrestling is now unrecognizable from even just a decade ago in WWE.
