How long is an era? A geological era can last for hundreds of millions of years, and even in common parlance the term is usually reserved for the sort of seismic shifts in politics and culture which come about but once every handful of decades.
Not so in World Wrestling Entertainment, where we are already in our third ‘new era’ of the past few months. Shane McMahon declared a new era the night after WrestleMania 32 at the beginning of April, when he was handed control of Raw despite losing the match against The Undertaker which was supposed to be a prerequisite.
Then a month later at Payback, when Vince McMahon decided that Shane and Stephanie would share control of the company on an ongoing basis, it was time to herald a new era all over again. Now – post brand draft and following Sunday’s Battleground PPV – the WWE is revelling absurdly in another new era, even going so far as to introduce new show logos in the hope that this time it might stick.
And remember, this all comes after last summer’s ‘Divas Revolution’, making the landscape of WWE seem very unstable indeed. The Divas Revolution flopped and the concept was scrapped when the Divas Championship was replaced with the long-awaited Women’s Championship at WrestleMania.
Parroting ‘new era’ every couple of months – ‘new era, new era, new era’, for WWE believes firmly that the secret to any slogan is inane repetition – symbolises much about modern-day WWE, where everything is about empty statements while nuanced storytelling is markedly absent.
Take Bayley’s debut at Battleground, for instance. A celebratory moment, but one which did nothing to establish or advance the storied relationships she forged with Sasha Banks, Charlotte, and Dana Brooke over years in NXT. Or Sasha’s Women’s Championship triumph the following night on Raw, in a fantastic match, yet without any real build the title change felt rushed and the moment squandered.
Finn Bálor, another former NXT champion, debuted on Raw and was flung headfirst into the ludicrously-named WWE Universal Championship picture. By virtue of its name alone, the new title seems to supersede all others, rendering Dean Ambrose’s world title victory at Battleground totally meaningless. Bálor will liven up the main event, but it seems a waste to neglect his past in Japan, with the draft effectively disbanding The Club.
Perhaps things will slowly start to improve with two live shows and separate rosters. The ascent of Dolph Ziggler on Smackdown went some way towards cleansing the palate. But for months at every turn WWE has neglected compelling narratives in favour of easy grabs for attention, bland assertions that this time their ‘new era’ will be new after all.
