They don't need to be any more complex than something a chimp could write to be effective. All they need to do is build toward the eventual match to the point where the audience feels there is something truly at stake there (even though they know there really isn't, but that's where suspension of disbelief comes in), and if the participants are talented enough, people in the crowd will completely forget they are watching something where the outcome is already determined and start to legitimately CARE about who comes out on top. There's no need for elaborate twists, turns and a whole bunch of exposition. If you can just convince a crowd that two characters simply hate each other's guts, that's good enough.

You watched Stampede, so I'm assuming you're Canadian. You must know who Bret Hart is, right? Two of my favorite angles ever involve him: He came from one of the more famous wrestling families and was clearly the most talented and successful of the bunch. A little while after he won his first World Title in the then-WWF, his younger brother, Owen, came into the promotion and started to whine and complain about having to live in his sibling's shadow. But Bret refused to fight his own blood, and instead the two teamed up and went after the tag titles. In the match where they challenged for the championship, Bret, despite having his leg all but destroyed in the course of the bout, didn't trust his brother enough to win without him and refused to tag out, and ended up losing the match for both of them. Enraged at having lost in his first shot at a major championship, Owen kicks Bret in his injured leg as he attempts to stand after the match, effectively severing ties from his family and its favorite son. When the two eventually meet in the opener at WM10 a few months later -- with Bret still begrudgingly accepting his brother's challenge -- Owen pulls off an upset in a tremendously hard-fought contest, freeing himself from the shadow of his brother, who would go on to recapture the World Title later that night. That is some shit anyone who grew up with the black sheep to an overachieving sibling can relate to.

My other favorite angle involving Bret happened a couple years later, as his status as the most popular wrestler in the WWF was challenged by Steve Austin, a guy who is his exact opposite: He swears, guzzles beer, wears black, and doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks of him. Just a few years before, somebody like that would have been loathed by the fans. Yet, he's being cheered by an increasing faction of the audience. This starts to annoy Bret, who made his name by adhering to a traditional moral code (a love of family, for instance, established years before when he refused for a long time to fight his brother) that was the direct antithesis of everything Austin represented. Bret started launching into whiny, long-winded rants about the declining American value system. The crowds, tired of being preached to for a decade by the likes of Hulk Hogan ("Say your prayers, eat your vitamins," etc.), revolted against him -- except in Canada, where he was cheered as even greater hero. The climax came when Bret and Austin met at WM13. That match gave us the iconic image of Austin, screaming with blood streaming down his face, trapped in Hart's signature hold, the Sharpshooter. He passed out from the pain and the ref stopped the match, but Bret, for the first time in his career, kept the hold on after the bell rang -- a clear violation of his own moral code. He , like all heavy-handed moralizers, turned out to be a hyprocrite. The crowd fully turned on him in the instant and began chanting Austin's name. Sure, he might drink, swear and revel in being an unabashed loner, but at least he told the damn truth. And in one fell swoop, you have a new hero and a new villain.

So, there are two stories covering several themes: sibling rivalry, the supposed sanctity of family, fake piety vs. depraved honesty, and the changing landscape of American morality in the late 20th century. Yeah, the stories are simple, but there is clear, nuanced character development involved, and they cover a lot of ground ... and, not to mention, made a lot of money.