{"id":37642,"date":"2017-01-16T18:26:43","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T00:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=37642"},"modified":"2017-01-16T18:26:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-17T00:26:43","slug":"five-count-five-lessons-wwe-can-learn-2016-including-good-heels-roman-reigns-experiment-shinsuke-nakamura-nxt-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/01\/16\/five-count-five-lessons-wwe-can-learn-2016-including-good-heels-roman-reigns-experiment-shinsuke-nakamura-nxt-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"FIVE COUNT: Five lessons that WWE can learn from 2016 including good heels, Roman Reigns experiment, Shinsuke Nakamura, and NXT revival"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2831160440\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>In the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/01\/03\/five-count-five-lessons-wwe-can-learn-2016-including-stars-past-outshining-todays-stars-women-babyface-losers\/\">previous instalment of \u201cFive Count,\u201d<\/a> I looked at five lessons for WWE to learn from 2016 and because there\u2019s so many lessons to be taught from an entire year, I\u2019m back again with five more lessons for WWE to learn from 2016.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(1) Good Heels Will Still Get Good Heel Heat<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>For some reason we seem to be more accepting of this false mentality that heels can\u2019t get good heel heat anymore so promoters should switch from a more traditional \u201cyou want to see the good guy beat the bad guy\u201d philosophy to a more nuanced shades of grey philosophy. These people believe that the only type of heel heat that exists is legit heat towards the act, \u201cgo away heat.\u201d They believe that if a wrestler is a good performer as a heel then the crowd will respect and like them as a performer which translates into popping and cheering for the act rather than booing them.<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s obviously something to that. Traditional heel heat is near non-existent in professional wrestling in 2016. A lot of that is down to the changing culture of the modern wrestling audience with WWE losing the more casual audience. But it\u2019s also down to the changing culture of the wrestling industry and the performers. Gone are the days when heels were primarily focused on getting the crowd to dislike them and cheer on the babyface in comparison to the heels of today who seem more concerned with having highly rated matches and getting themselves over ahead of the babyface they\u2019re supposed to be getting over. Heels don\u2019t cheat anymore. Heels don\u2019t get theirs anymore. Heels don\u2019t lose anymore. The heels are now cooler than the babyfaces. The heels are the winners. The heels are the kick ass badasses. The heels are what the babyfaces used to be, yet then we then turn around and go \u201cwell crowds won\u2019t boo the heel anymore.\u201d Well no shit they won\u2019t boo the cool kick ass guy who wins!<\/p>\n<p>2016 has taught us however, that the new age philosophy towards heel heat is rubbish and that if a heel act works well as a heel act then they\u2019ll still get over as a heel. Last week I wrote about how WWE have absolutely SUCKED at booking babyfaces in 2016. In comparison though, they\u2019ve had three heel acts who have taught us that good heels will still get good heel heat, even in this modern era. None of the reactions that The Revival, Charlotte or The Miz get are \u201cgo away heat.\u201d They\u2019re all acts who are respected as good heel acts and don\u2019t get cheered over the babyfaces who the heel is supposed to be getting over.<\/p>\n<p>So how do they do it? None of what they\u2019re doing is revolutionary or exceedingly complex. They\u2019re simply playing classic pro wrestling heels that have got over as heels in the past. And guess what? The same formula gets great wrestlers over as heels in the modern era too. The only difference is these acts are actually good at trying to be a heel rather than trying to be the cool heel selfishly trying to get themselves over at the expense of everything else. They cheat, they back down from fights, they outnumber the good guys, they gloat about winning and (generally) they put the babyface over when it matters. We\u2019ve just been bombarded with an influx of heels working as babyfaces that we\u2019ve fallen into a false perception of how hard it is to for heels to get over properly.<\/p>\n<p>The proof is in the pudding here. Good heels will still draw good heel heat.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(2) The Roman Reigns Experiment Is Beyond Repair<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Another year in the books and another year of WWE insisting on pushing Roman Reigns as the top babyface. On one hand you have to admire their insistence that this project will be a success no matter how many years of fans rejecting it they have to go through but on the other you have to just shake your head not only at their blatant refusal to change course and turn Roman heel but also their ineptitude in attempting to making this work.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m a fan of Reigns. Another time and this push of his would probably take off but the reality is he\u2019s the wrong guy at the wrong time. The opening was there this time last year when Vince and Sheamus were doing a great job at finally making him click only for his booking in 2016 to not only completely undo all of that but ultimately put him so far back that Roman Reigns as the top babyface is just beyond saving. The longer it goes the more the rejection of him goes from a protest that he\u2019s not our guy and it\u2019s never our guy on top to just sheer apathy for the situation and people just walking away from the entire product.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3097730526\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>This babyface push won\u2019t stick at this point. Even the part of the audience that want to like Reigns are losing the will to keep fighting against the tirade of venom from the opposition and he no longer has the claim of drawing in house show crowds to use in his defence. There\u2019s no more \u201chey Roman got a good reaction this week\u201d. That\u2019s been replaced throughout this year with either \u201canother crowd that made their rejection of Reigns very vocal\u201d or maybe more worryingly \u201cthe crowd were just flat for Roman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This may seem like a real statement of the obvious to say that WWE need to turn Reigns heel but it really is the only choice that they have left now. This time last year you could very easily make a convincing argument for sticking by the push but after the further damage done in 2016, it\u2019s time for WWE to hold their hands up, admit failure, turn him heel, hope that works and then revisit this Roman Reigns babyface push after a run as a heel that will hopefully allow him to reinvent himself and wash away the stink of the last couple of years.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(3) NXT Needs To Be Constantly Ready To Replace Talent<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>This was emphasised more than ever before in 2016. Since the brand split where the NXT women\u2019s division was raided in order to fulfil WWE\u2019s desire to have a women\u2019s division on each show, the NXT women\u2019s division has been at a standstill while Asuka waits for a suddenly rebooted division to build up some challengers to her untouchable dominance atop the division. Since the summer NXT lost Bayley, Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax and Carmella who along with Asuka WERE the NXT women\u2019s division. Every now and again a Liv Morgan or a Billie Kay would show up but only ever to put over one of those five. Then out of nowhere NXT were left with a division consisting of a group of girls who weren\u2019t featured acts and a champion who they had built up to the point of being untouchable by featured acts such as Bayley and Nia Jax, let alone the acts who were even less of a threat to the people who were barely a threat to Asuka. NXT had a major problem where even in the realms of pro wrestling logic they couldn\u2019t convincingly match Asuka against anyone else on the roster. This forced them to bring in Mickie James from the cold to bide time and get through another Takeover but the problem still exists with Asuka once again lacking worthy opponents for the next Takeover show in San Antonio.<\/p>\n<p>This lesson relates to the top of the cards too. If WWE continue trying to run these bigger venues for NXT tours then they better make sure that they constantly have major attractions that will be big draws for the audience that NXT serves and there\u2019s a very limited number of talents that can fill the voids that Nakamura and Joe will leave. If both acts get pulled out of NXT by the end of January in order to bolster Wrestlemania then NXT is in a real pickle in terms of drawing power, again falling reliant on making some major signings to maintain NXT as a touring brand that can draw thousands of fans into venues.<\/p>\n<p>If NXT was truly a developmental product then this wouldn\u2019t be a cause for concern. It would just part of the natural life cycle. The problem comes when you start expecting NXT to be a touring brand drawing thousands of fans on a regular basis in a wide variety of markets. The reality of NXT is that it is a \u201cdevelopmental\u201d brand that is expected to work the same as Raw and Smackdown but when Raw loses a top act you can just replace them with someone from Smackdown or debut a new act. NXT don\u2019t have that luxury. That means that WWE either need to get their performance centre working to the level that the centre itself is producing talent that are at least ready to be a featured part of NXT and maintain the standard that NXT has set for itself, or WWE need to be continuously signing the very top attractions from elsewhere that can match up to the likes of Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(4) Shinsuke Nakamura May Not Be The Phenomenon That He\u2019s Been Hyped To Be<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>When Nakamura first came into NXT he was the hottest debut in NXT history. His signing in January was met with incredible excitement and subsequent hype that only ballooned to another level after his match with Sami Zayn at Takeover: Dallas. But since then reality has slowly began to sink in and Nakamura\u2019s run in NXT has been on the decline ever since, epitomised by a lacklustre series of matches with Samoa Joe.<\/p>\n<p>The matches between the pair haven\u2019t been bad but I think the vast majority of viewers would agree that despite their varying enjoyment of their matches, they never quite lived up to expectations. The most concerning aspect of their series of matches from WWE\u2019s perspective should be the crowd reactions. Yes Shinsuke\u2019s entrance continues to get a huge reaction but that reaction isn\u2019t sustained throughout the matches and thus he runs into the same problem that the likes of Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins face, crowds only pop for them and highspots, not for the actual match and the outcome. At Takeover: Brooklyn the lack of buzz and excitement during the middle portion of the match was pretty alarming to me and was the first real indicator that the Shinsuke Nakamura hype train had started off way out of control and was setting expectations for fans that he simply couldn\u2019t live up to.<\/p>\n<p>Nakamura is definitely a great asset. He\u2019ll be a precious commodity to the growth of the WWE Network throughout Japan and despite the fact that he continues to neglect even attempting to sell the leg work featured in all of his matches, he\u2019s a great wrestler and he\u2019s massive popular with the type of viewer that NXT appeals to. WWE have popular acts who are great wrestlers though and none of them are breaking through to draw a mainstream audience back into the product. Great wrestling alone isn\u2019t breaking through. Now granted Nakamura has more charisma than most who fall into that category but it hasn\u2019t been translating into getting the actual matches over and that\u2019s the ultimate goal and the truest indicator that someone will be something special. Right now, it\u2019s still just his entrance and the highspots that are over. And let\u2019s not forget that Nakamura also has the massive hurdle of being Japanese and speaking limited English to overcome before drawing new viewers into watching Raw or Smackdown.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2789553870\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The other indicator would be house show attendances. They\u2019re good. And good is good. But they\u2019re not exactly deafening proof that Nakamura is someone who should be pushed to the very top of WWE and would be a big success in that role. And the reality is that he was never that guy in New Japan either. Hiroshi Tanahashi was the real attraction that drew the biggest crowds. Nakamura was his running partner who while greatly popular himself, was never positioned as the top attraction of New Japan during its recent rise.<\/p>\n<p>Nakamura is great. He\u2019ll probably be great on the main roster too. But he\u2019s been hyped up to be a level above all these other great wrestlers that WWE have signed. He\u2019s been hyped up to be the big draw that WWE need to hook a more casual viewer back into the product. He\u2019s been hyped up to be someone who should be getting the biggest rub WWE had to give by beating Brock Lesnar. 2016 hasn\u2019t really provided any proof that he can live up to that hype and if WWE do have any plans to elevate him to that status, 2016 should be a lesson for them to proceed with caution and test the waters before jumping in all guns blazing with Nakamura.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(5) NXT TV Needs To Get Back To Being An Attraction<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>2016 was a mixed bag for NXT. The Takeover shows all delivered as being great shows yet could still be considered as weaker than 2015\u2019s collection. Running NXT in the same venue as Summerslam and Survivor Series was a strategy that paid off and for a product that\u2019s exclusive to a niche portion of a declining wrestling audience, their house show attendances are generally very good. 2016 saw the loss of top acts like Finn Balor and Bayley but they were replaced with the rise of Asuka and the introduction of Shinsuke Nakamura, along with The Revival, #DIY and Bobby Roode all becoming top attractions throughout 2016. You could argue that despite the call ups, NXT\u2019s collection of talent throughout 2016 was their best to date. Yet NXT doesn\u2019t feel quite the like the raging force that it once was. But why?<\/p>\n<p>The major reason for me is the weekly show. Before 2016, NXT every Wednesday night was must see viewing for the disciples of its revolution. It was the perfect mix of attractions from the Indies and the WWE machine all with a common goal, to make stars of themselves and make it to the big leagues. It had that ECW vibe where everyone involved from the wrestlers to the fans to Papa Hunter himself were all part of a common cause aiming to change the wrestling industry. And it was cool and it became incredibly popular. The Takeover events garnered a reputation as the best wrestling shows going and the weekly show was just as hot, featuring MOTYCs that were an extension of the standard that the Takeover shows set. But in the last year, the TV has become more and more skippable. The level of character development and storylines which featured such great moments such as Sami Zayn\u2019s redemption storyline and his rivalries with Cesaro and Kevin Owens, Neville\u2019s heel turn and the rise of The Four Horsewomen were no longer present. Instead all the must see matches were being saved for the more frequent Takeover shows and the level of character development was being neglected in favour of an over reliance on pre-established acts. Throughout 2016 you could quite easily follow NXT without missing a great deal just by watching the Takeover shows. The Revival vs #DIY had nothing that you needed to see on TV that couldn\u2019t be quickly summarised in the pre-match video package. Likewise for Bayley vs Asuka. Asuka vs Mickie James was a quite literal example of this. If you catch Bobby Roode on the Takeover shows but not on the weekly show then you\u2019re not missing anything. You can get everything you need from just watching the Takeover shows.<\/p>\n<p>But is that a problem? The Takeover shows aren\u2019t falling in popularity and they\u2019re still drawing very well in large venues. The weekly show is a major part of selling the WWE Network. When that is must see viewing you have a subscriber who won\u2019t cancel for select months and that\u2019s the ultimate goal of the network. They need subscriptions that don\u2019t come and go or just cherry pick certain months with the big WWE and NXT shows. With them now running the bulk of the Takeover shows the same weekend as the big WWE PPVs, it\u2019s easier than ever for someone to just subscribe for those four months and cancel for the other eight. So the weekly show is absolutely an important selling point of WWE\u2019s most important revenue channel.<\/p>\n<p>The weekly NXT show needs to get back to what it was under the direction of Ryan Ward. A show that didn\u2019t feel like a placeholder between Takeover events, a show that wasn\u2019t over-reliant on squash matches, a show that wasn\u2019t getting the sloppy seconds from house show matches. It needs to become a show that gets to back to turning potential into reality, that gets back to showcasing the best wrestling around and a show that doesn\u2019t come across as an afterthought or that plays second fiddle to the live tours.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS &#8220;FIVE COUNT&#8221; ARTICLE:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/01\/03\/five-count-five-lessons-wwe-can-learn-2016-including-stars-past-outshining-todays-stars-women-babyface-losers\/\">FIVE COUNT: Five lessons that WWE can learn from 2016 including stars of past outshining today\u2019s stars, women, babyface losers, more<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1530932153\"><div id=\"pwtor-2452981627\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>In the previous instalment of \u201cFive Count,\u201d I looked at five lessons for WWE to learn from 2016 and because there\u2019s so many lessons to be taught from an entire year, I\u2019m back again with <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/01\/16\/five-count-five-lessons-wwe-can-learn-2016-including-good-heels-roman-reigns-experiment-shinsuke-nakamura-nxt-revival\/\" title=\"FIVE COUNT: Five lessons that WWE can learn from 2016 including good heels, Roman Reigns experiment, Shinsuke Nakamura, and NXT revival\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,52,4366,27],"tags":[467,1420,124,4272,74,308],"class_list":["post-37642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlightarticles","category-opnionandanalysis","category-five-count","category-specialists","tag-charlotte","tag-miz","tag-nxt","tag-revival","tag-roman-reigns","tag-shinsuke-nakamura"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/12\/NakamuraShinsukeBeaven3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37643,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37642\/revisions\/37643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}