The WWE ID program- good or bad?

[sek69]

So WWE announced their WWE ID program where they partner with wrestling schools of WWE related folks (like Cody's, Seth's and Booker's) to develop and mentor prospects on the indy scene they see something in. In addition they will give them a stipend for their prospects to be able to live on so they can focus more time on development. According to them, they want to raise the profile of top indy names and strengthen the whole "independent wrestling ecosystem" as they call it. On paper this all sounds good, WWE gets a pipleline of talent and it will help at least some folks on the indies make ends meet while trying to better their craft.

In the Vince days, this 100% would be a plot to raid all the top indy groups and put them out of business. Hunter seems to be more aware that it's in the best interests of pro wrestling as a whole to have a relatively healthy independent scene so more people can have experience working live crowds (and even working for TV crowds if they are working for a group that has a Triller TV deal). Even for their own business needs, it's smart for WWE to have guys go through wrestling schools they can vouch for and just keep NXT a finishing school to give folks that last bit of polish before going to the big time.

Could it still end up being a plot to strip mine the indy scene? Sure. At least in this era I can at least see a possibility that it is actually meant to do what they say it will and be a net benefit all around.

[sek69]

So the newest prospect was announced as Kylie Rae. Happy for her to get the opportunity, but I still don't know if her mental health can handle being part of a major promotion

[Tenese Sarwieh]

I see this as yet another tactic by WWE to stockpile talent, especially given that the Performance Center has been a failure. What’s puzzling, though, is that none of these signings seem to come from the schools WWE is affiliated with.

[El-P]

On 11/23/2024 at 11:44 PM, Tenese Sarwieh said:

I see this as yet another tactic by WWE to stockpile talent

It's 100% this and drying up the access to indie talent to other promotions (as in : AEW). I mean, Kylie Ray ? She's not an upcoming young prospect. She's a 32 years old veteran who is already better than 90% of the NXT roster and probably quite a bit of the main roster division as well. If they don't trust her because of her past issue, why even bother ? But since she's been on MLP shows alongside some AEW people, she's back under everyone's radar (would she even go back to AEW though if she had a bad experience there ?), so there you go. If they want her, they could sign her tomorrow. Even as a coach, while letting her work indies, since they are so "indies-friendly" now. 

It's a brillant move though, just like the TNA partnership, which has totally mindfucked the TNA fanbase.

[Laz]

I'm very torn on the ID system.

On the one hand, it allows WWE to scout talent better while also allowing that talent to continue plying their trade in different settings. ID talent aren't stuck in front of one audience with one mindset of instructors, and having a variety of styles and talents on the radar can only mean good things for the future. The recent announcement that there will be ID titles that are to float around the indies feels reminiscent of the classic NWA territory system, which is exciting.

On the other hand, purely as a fan? I don't particularly care for it. This move means that even more indies and talents will adopt a WWE-inspired style, which is something that I've done my best to avoid for years now. We know the garbage promotions won't care about it, but this feels like it will just limit the talent pool willing to do something different than what you'd see on Monday and Friday nights out of necessity due to the expectation by fans all over of expecting the standard WWE flavor of in-ring action. I'm afraid, and justifiably so, that it's going to stifle creativity in that regard, just as any prior "feeder system" deal has.

[El-P]

Not even one year in and the answer seems to be : totally fucking useless. A bunch of people have been cut already, Zayda Steel just said she wasn't renewing the contract, thank you very much. No one ever talks about the ill-fated GCW hosted (Hi Brett, ya rebel) ID tournament events that have been parts of Mania and SummerSlam week-end. The reality is that trying to choke out AEW's access to talent is ridiculous when they have way too many already. And whomever wants to go will go anyway. In the meantime, WWE has been releasing talents, a bunch of them ending up in cuck/partner promotion TNA (Hi Carlos, ya funny looking cap wearing puppet). No one gives a flying fuck about "Evolve", not even the parent promotion it seems. WWEID is just another failure of a project. Remember when they literally begged promotions to book their WWID contracted people on social medias ? Yeah, maybe the word is actually "cringe".

[sek69]

Yeah I have to wonder what even the point was. Other than the Evolve stuff it didn't seem like there was any benefit to the folks signing up for it. It didn't seem like they were getting any additional indy bookings (and why would they, since if they gave anyone a push they'd just get rug pulled) and it seems apparent that the money wasn't even that great. 

[C.S.]

The WWE version of EVOLVE was really cool the first few weeks, but it suffered from two major issues:

1. Everyone we'd all want to root for - Kylie Rae, Timothy Thatcher, etc. - kept fucking losing!

2. Released wrestlers were main eventing EVOLVE shows, which tells me TKO and WWE aren't organized, don't have a clue WTF they're doing at any level of talent relations or creative, and there was never any real plan beyond "put a show on Tubi and fill it with random ID greenhorns, NXT castoffs, and a few veterans to lead these kids through a match."

So, yeah, this WWE ID program is probably another bust because TKO is too cheap and incompetent. Rinse and repeat.

[El-P]

Speaking of Kylie Rae, who recently gave up the "WWEID Women's championship" (yeah, I know) because she got pregnant, she announced her contract is not being renewed. Stay classy WWE.

This whole thing for a joke anyway. She's a 33 veteran who would outwork many people in either WWE or AEW's women's roster. Either they wanted her despite her past issues, either they didn't. Signing her to a WWEID was kinda humiliating if you ask me. Hopefully D'Amore just gets her for MLP, he obviously loves her (booked her for the first shows, wanted to make her TNA champ before she crashed out).

But yeah, that WWEID shit is dead in the water already.