Wrestling Observer Radio<\/a>, Dave Meltzer weighed in on the current direction surrounding Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, and Jacob Fatu. While WWE\u2019s business metrics remain strong, Meltzer suggested the company is reacting as if it is facing pressure behind the scenes.<\/p>\nAccording to Meltzer, WWE may be drifting away from riskier creative choices because of concerns surrounding WrestleMania ticket momentum and public perception. He explained that the situation reminds him of previous eras in WWE when leadership began changing plans because they believed business was slipping.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think that the feel is that that\u2019s been done too many times. They could have done Cody and Jacob. It\u2019s two babyfaces. They could have done Cody and Randy Orton. And this is what I think happened when it comes to this decision-making. One of the things that happens when you\u2019re feeling the heat\u2026 this is what it reminds me of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meltzer then pointed to a historical example from the late 1990s, when Vince McMahon altered the planned WrestleMania main event due to concerns about the company\u2019s direction at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were getting beat in the ratings and they were not doing well\u2026 Vince second-guessing Bret and business isn\u2019t so good. And because business isn\u2019t so good, Vince does what he does when business isn\u2019t good \u2014 he blames that the guys are too small on top. So we need big guys. So we switched to Undertaker and Sid.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Meltzer\u2019s view, WWE may be operating with a similar mindset today \u2014 even though the company is currently performing well from a financial standpoint. He believes the debate over WrestleMania ticket sales may be influencing creative decisions more than fans realize.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this situation, business is great, as we all know. But they are booking and reacting like business is struggling, I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe WrestleMania advance is the one that everyone points to\u2026 but it\u2019s not the booking because these tickets were slow before we had any booking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of that pressure, Meltzer suggested WWE may be leaning toward safer matchups rather than trying something new at the top of the card.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re second-guessing yourself and your choice is Randy Orton and Jacob Fatu, you\u2019re not going to go with the risk \u2014 you\u2019re going to go with the one that\u2019s stable, and that\u2019s Randy Orton, the established guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meltzer also pointed out that a match involving Jacob Fatu could have potentially elevated a new main-event star, though WWE appears to be prioritizing reliability over experimentation this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could argue if they went with Jacob they could make a new young star on the top and everything like that. Maybe even be a better match. Maybe not. It\u2019s different styles\u2026 but anyway that\u2019s where it ends up. It looks like it\u2019s Randy Orton in the spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
With WrestleMania drawing closer, WWE\u2019s final direction for the main event scene will soon become clearer. Whether the company ultimately sticks with the safer option or pivots again could shape the biggest show of the year.<\/p>\n
Do you think WWE is playing it safe by leaning toward Randy Orton, or should the company take a bigger risk with someone like Jacob Fatu in the WrestleMania spotlight? Let us know what you think in the comments below.<\/p>\n
Please credit Ringside News<\/a> if you use the above transcript in your publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WWE is heading into WrestleMania season with major storylines in motion, but one longtime wrestling journalist believes the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75,11805,108237],"class_list":["post-522943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-wwe-featured","tag-wwe-wrestlemania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}