The latest sports-centric change in WWE’s direction has been seemingly revealed.
With the company now owned by Endeavor and Kevin Dunn no longer in charge of production, WWE has gradually inserted subtle changes into the product to give the show a more realistic feel. Notable changes have included onscreen clocks to reference at what point an “earlier today” segment took place and timers used for select entrants in each of the Royal Rumble matches.
Another feature that was seen took place on the January 29th and February 2nd editions of Raw and SmackDown respectively. As Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes was looking to make his WrestleMania choice, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns would each fire insults at the other in regards to the prestige of their championships. Rollins declared that his title was the workhorse title and that Reigns held the Hollywood title. Reigns’ retort was that he had defeated everyone who had challenged for it and that the World Heavyweight Championship was “the loser bracket title.”
Long-term fans are not used to this, being more familiar with making all championships as prestigious as possible and building up opponents to make the title matches feel bigger. According to a new report, this is in part due to the new owners.
As reported by Fightful Select, when asked about the trading of insults, one higher-up referenced that this is similar to what happens in the UFC, who are also owned by Endeavor, where trash talk between fighters is more common:
“Look who we’re in business with now. That happens all the time. One champion has a reason their title is more valid than another’s. Perception is reality in that kind of situation. We definitely want to create that discussion.”
WWE Preparing For Big Announcement
WrestleMania 40 was a hot topic over the weekend as it appears that Cody Rhodes may not be finishing the story after all. With The Rock making his latest surprise appearance, all signs currently point to Roman Reigns and The Rock facing off in Philadelphia, much to the anger of WWE fans. While nothing is set in stone, all looks set to be revealed on February 8th when WWE will present a WrestleMania. press conference in Las Vegas.