10 Things Fans Want From WWE 2

2. Kayfabe

When WWE began partnering with the Be A Star campaign against bullying, some fans immediately cried foul. They believed the company was being very hypocritical with a cause that it spent so much time directly contradicting. After all, how could WWE stand up against bullies when that is exactly what fans see on a weekly basis from them?
However the biggest issue with this and some other situations in WWE is the fact that kayfabe is all but disregarded now. Indeed, the very element that has historically kept the business believable and thriving in the past is practically ignored in many cases by the biggest pro wrestling company in the world.
The Be A Star campaign is just one example of this. Another one is the Fatherhood Involvement program, which encouraged dads to be more active in their kid’s lives. Three WWE Superstars joined this cause; Roman Reigns, Alberto Del Rio and Titus O’Neil. While this is surely a worthwhile endeavor and sets a great example for fathers everywhere, the truth is that Del Rio and O’Neil are heels.
That does not mean they are not human of course, but WWE has spent a lot of time in the past getting them both over as antagonists. Could they not have perhaps chosen two babyfaces for these PSA’s?
Stephanie McMahon joined with the rest of WWE in working with the Special Olympics recently and there is no doubt that the cause itself garnered great publicity for the company and its Superstars. However the next time fans saw Stephanie, she was back to her smiling, conniving ways as one half of WWE’s diabolical corporate leadership.
The other half of that leadership, Triple H, has opened up Q&A sessions on Twitter before, in which he has been very cordial and very respectful of the fans he speaks to. Then he goes on the air and blasts them for being too smart for their own good. Perhaps fans should not have been encouraged to talk to WWE’s top heel by that top heel himself?
All of this may seem like petty complaints on the part of fans, as everyone understands that what they see on TV are performances only. The men and women that get on camera are portraying characters, not real life individuals.
Having said that however, the fact is that heels should be heels and faces should be faces. Any shades of gray in between do not help the product and harms the overall credibility of the program. Fans want the fictional reality of kayfabe to be maintained because at the end of the day, we do enjoy getting lost in the drama of it all.
WWE needs to decide if its committed to that reality or not. Until it does, fans will likely be left scratching their heads trying to make sense of it all.