WWE and parent company TKO are experiencing another banner year when it comes to ticket sales, merchandising, and in particular, landing multi-billion dollar media rights agreements.
It is more than fair to say, however, that the honeymoon period with Paul 'Triple H' Levesque as WWE's Chief Content Officer has come to an end.
Fans have been more critical of the company's booking practices in 2025 than they ever were during Levesque's previous years in control. The headlining gripe, of course, has been the handling of John Cena's retirement tour.
His shocking heel turn at Elimination Chamber was a very promising start, but despite a few glimmering moments — such as his pipebomb promo on CM Punk — many feel WWE has completely dropped the ball with Cena's final run.
That's not entirely on Levesque, as The Rock's abrupt departure from the story left Cena to carry the weight of the entire arc without the lead protagonist that finally talked him into abandoning his principles.
It wasn't working. WWE knew it. Cena knew it and the entire angle was dropped ahead of SummerSlam. However, just as Cena was catching fire with spectacular matches against Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn, the WWE creative team made the conscious decision to have Brock Lesnar squash him at WrestlePalooza.
He'll now face AJ Styles at Crown Jewel this Saturday, with absolutely zero build up on WWE programming. Outside of a few video packages highlighting their rivalry from 2016 and 2017, and Styles quite literally saying on Raw that they don't need a story for this match.
A lack of compelling storytelling overall, especially when it comes to many of WWE's female superstars, has been another cause of aggravation for fans this year.
Even some of the company's top champions have fallen victim to lackluster creative unbefitting of the talent involved. Tiffany Stratton's rivalry with Jade Cargill and the U.S. Title reigns of Zelina Vega and Giulia serving as prime examples.
Distraction finishes and post-match attacks have become heavily leaned on crutches. Almost as though WWE is overly concerned with protecting everyone, that as a result, no one ever truly goes over.
Pacing has been another major issue. Whether that's finding time to consistently feature the WWE World Tag Team Championships during a two and half hour Monday Night Raw, or on a grander scale, effectively moving from PLE to PLE with often just weeks in between shows.
No one is suggesting that the job of Levesque and his creative team is easy, and the product today is still miles ahead of where it was during the latter years of the Vince McMahon era, but WWE reportedly knows improvements need to be made.
The folks over at BodySlam say the company has taken notice of the audience's criticisms this year and meetings have been held recently to discuss how to best adjust the creative process.
"Sources indicate to Bodyslam that WWE is undergoing creative changes to their team to overall improve the product. Road Dogg will continue to be head of creative for SmackDown, but there will be additions to the team to make the show more enjoyable moving forward."
The general consensus is that Raw has consistently been the better of the two brands for some time now. Creative adjustments on the SmackDown side of things should be welcomed news to those who tune in every Friday night.
source: si.com
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