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Why is it so fucking hard for American companies to just have "sports-like" stuff AND stories? Why does everything have to be either A) shit-tier comedy or other over-the-top bullshit B) "me don't like you, me want title"?
Just set a "sports-like" atmosphere by introducing things that real sports do. Like stressing a winner's purse, post-fight interviews, wrestlers taking their wins/losses seriously and wearing their emotions on their sleeves, ACTUAL FUCKING RANKINGS, etc. Then not only could you still do stories, but matches without stories will not be pointless. Every match would matter, so the audience will have an overall much bigger investment in even lower-card matches. Fans will care a lot more about their guys winning, and caring even a little bit makes it much more entertaining.
Imagine you were pitching modern wrestling to a network or Netflix or some shit. "Nothing really matters because anyone can get a title shot for any reason, and we never show the characters taking their wins and losses that seriously. Now here's Tozawa farting while dancing". you'd be laughed out of the fucking room, but for some reason garbage TV with no standards at all became the norm for American wrestling. Yeah I'm fucking worked and seething.