Like any other major sports or entertainment organization, WWE is constantly under the microscope, and they’re almost always being criticized by fans of the product, and former company employees. But, for the most part, the criticism comes from a good place, as the people who pick WWE apart every week want to see the company be successful.
Former WWE Champion and WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin could very well be the most qualified of all WWE’s critics, and on this week’s Steve Austin Show , he compared WWE’s main show — RAW — to WWE’s developmental show on the WWE Network — NXT. Austin is clearly a big fan of WWE’s NXT product, and he said that he loves the organic nature of the show. But, he couldn’t say the same for Monday Night RAW , calling it “wrestling for morons.”
“I’ve looked at the [NXT product] on the WWE Network, and it’s a great little arena they’ve got there. It looks like fun. It looks organic, and the action feels good… Here’s the thing that I like about the NXT product; it’s simple, it’s to the point. It hasn’t been dumbed-down like Monday Night RAW has. It’s almost like on Monday Night RAW , they want to fill-in every blank for you, and it’s like wrestling for morons. I’m just saying that they’ve overthought it. But I like the simplicity of the NXT program.”
Steve Austin’s guest on his podcast was Sirius XM radio personality and lifelong wrestling fan Sam Roberts , and Roberts compared RAW to guys in the radio business, who have to constantly remind everyone what they’re listening to, who they are, and why they’re doing what they’re doing, and how that’s disruptive to any type of programming that is supposed to be free-flowing and organic.
Since his days as an active wrestler ended in 2003, Austin has often criticized WWE for being too scripted, and has said that he wishes that they would trust their own talent and let them be creative. Austin’s thoughts are echoed by nearly every other performer from his generation, including Mick Foley, who pushes the idea of WWE going back to unscripted promos almost as much as Austin does.
This past December, during his podcast with Vince McMahon , Austin asked McMahon why he had so many writers, and how everything got so complicated, and McMahon’s response was simply “the business has changed.” So, as long as WWE’s head man is for scripted promos, it’s never going to change, no matter how many people are rallying against it.
[Image via WWE ]