[b]Ten Ways to Save Wrestling.
A wise man once said that the worst feeling the consumer can ever have towards your product is that of complacency.
Whether you like it or not, the very existence of professional wrestling in America hinges on Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment. Without the WWE and the McMahon family, wrestling would stand very little chance of surviving in our culture after the current generation of die-hard fans is gone.
As things stand, Vince McMahon is driving his business, and American wrestling, into the ground at a disturbingly alarming rate. The signs are everywhere. Smackdown and RAW ratings both hit near record lows last week. House show attendance continues to plummet to all-time lows, showing no sign of slowing. PPV buys, the single largest source of revenue for the WWE, have bottomed out to the point of emergency. Fan indifference is at an all-time high.
Nobody's getting cheered, nobody's getting booed. Nobody cares.
A wise man once said that the worst feeling the consumer can ever have towards your product is that of complacency.
A recent Sports Marketing poll had "wrestling" as the second most hated sport in the country. If it weren't for illegal dog-fighting, we would have taken the top spot. As true wrestling fans, I just don't think we fully grasp just how much mainstream America hates "fake" wrestling, and how badly they'd like to see it fail.
If Vince doesn't make some major changes in the coming months, the chances of his company failing are much greater than any of us could imagine. Vince is just so out of touch with reality right now, and so far removed from his fanbase, that a few stupid decisions could realistically send his empire crashing into the ground.
The WWE isn't in immediate danger of bankruptcy. Vince McMahon has extremely deep pockets and can easily keep things afloat during bad times.
With that being said, the next six to ten months will be the most pivotal, important time period in WWE history. With proper business decisions, well thought-out planning, and a couple of smart ideas, Vince McMahon can stabilize his faltering company, and plant the seeds for years of economic security and success for the WWE.
Conversely, if Vince continues on the same illogical, self-masturbatory path of destruction that he's currently on, in a year's time he might have done enough damage to his product that the WWE, and American wrestling, will never truly be able to recover.
In order to reverse the downward spiral of the WWE's business, I've compiled ten ways in which Vince McMahon and the WWE can stop the bleeding, turn business around, and ultimately ensure long-term economic prosperity for the company and American wrestling as a whole.
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1. Lower non-major PPV prices:
With the current state of the economy, coupled with new brand-exclusive PPV's, it's becoming readily apparent that the average fan just isn't willing or able to pay $35 a month for what usually amounts to nothing but a glorified episode of RAW or Smackdown. Buyrates for these brand-exclusive PPV's have been nothing short of disastrous. Hopefully, this will be a wakeup call to Vince McMahon that the average family just isn't willing to spend nearly $500 a year on WWE PPV's.
With the recent advent of "exciting new brand-exclusive PPV's," it also becoming readily apparent that a lot of consumers are beginning to feel ripped off with the fact that they're paying MORE money for PPV's than they were a year ago, and in return, are only getting half the product that they once did.
A look at the recent, publicly available buyrates for the WWE since the brand-exclusive PPV's began reveals that consumer interest is spiraling downward.
If things continue at this rate, the December Armageddon PPV could very well have the lowest buyrate in WWE history. The WWE needs to view this as nothing short of an emergency.
Neither brand is deep enough to realistically put forth a three hour PPV, as evident by such garbage filler as the Austin-Bischoff "redneck triathlon," and the bullshit McMahon nonsense that seems to eat up half of the three hour show.
What the WWE needs is cheaper, shorter PPV's to occupy the off-months that don't contain a major PPV.
A $20, two hour PPV from each brand, loaded from top to bottom with quality, entertaining matches would go much further towards long-term, financial success than directionless, crap-laden, three hour marathons that cost the consumer nearly $40.
In the last two years, 30% more people have begun watching WWE PPV's in sports bars and other public places than did previously. High PPV prices, coupled with a downright shitty payoff, are driving people away from ordering PPV's at home.
Most of these on-the-fence consumers still order Wrestlemania, The Royal Rumble, and Summerslam at home. With lower non-major PPV prices, and a slightly shorter show, this same target group might just be coerced into sitting at home on Sunday nights and ordering the PPV from the comfort of their favorite chair, as opposed to going out to a venue in which the WWE makes much less money on a per capita basis.
With the current price scheme, along with an inconsistent, shoddy product, the WWE is burying itself into a hole that will be nearly impossible to escape from.
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2. Move Towards a More Interactive Product:
During the last boom period for wrestling, the casual fans had a much bigger opportunity to be part of the show. Almost all popular wrestlers and groups had some sort of catch-phrase, from Steve Austin's "That's the bottom line..", to DX's "Suck It!", to the New Age Outlaw's entire opening spiel. It gave the crowd something to do, and in the process kept them more active, much hotter and a lot more into the show overall.
The current product has become a parody of it's former self in terms of crowd interaction. Sadly enough, the only way the crowd is encouraged to participate these days is in the form of self-depreciating chants directed at the WWE itself. If your dialogue is so bad that the fans are encouraged to cheer "WHAT?" after every line, you've dug yourself into quite the hole. If you view one of your wrestlers as so talentless and boring that you actively encourage the crowd to chant "BORING" at your product, you've lost all touch with good business sense, not to mention reality.
Wrestlers needs catchphrases. The fans need a way to get involved.
You hear so many complaints from those within the WWE that the fans only pop for entrances and finishers, and sit on their hands for the rest of the show.
Come real close fellas, I've got a revelation for you, YOU HAVE TRAINED THEM TO ACT THAT WAY.
Find a way to get them back into the show. It will give them more incentive to get off their asses and buy tickets, it will give them more reason to make noise during the show, and it will make the entire product appear much more fresh and alive on television.
Little things like these can go a long way towards helping to rebuild.
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3. Advertise outside of your Target Demographic:
Advertising is a VITAL part of the success of most large companies. Coca-Cola, the most recognized name brand on the face of the planet, spends over ONE BILLION dollars a year advertising.
The main problem with the advertising philosophy of the WWE lies in the fact that they refuse to open up their wallets and advertise in the proper places.
To me, it seems counterproductive to put 75% of your marketing dollars towards advertising to your current fanbase. As much as the product sucks right now, most of us will continue to watch it. Vince DOESN'T NEED to run commercials all week on Spike TV letting us know that Goldberg will be fighting Mark Henry this week on Raw. We, the current fanbase don't need reminders, WE ALREADY KNOW IT.
Mainstream America has quickly gone back to the thought process that wrestling is backwoods entertainment, meant for hillbillies, idiots, and white trash. In order to break that mentality, Vince needs to advertise in the RIGHT damn places. He needs to advertise during Friends. He needs to advertise during the World Series. He needs to advertise during Monday Night Football. He sure as hell doesn't need to be spending high volumes of money advertising during Stripperella.
Vince doesn't need to plug a particle brand, a particular show, or a particular PPV, but rather plug the WWE itself. A short, Desire-like video featuring Kurt Angle moonsaulting off of the cage, Brock Lesner superplexing the Big Show through the ring, Rey Misterio Jr. hitting the 619 on Matt Hardy, and Goldberg and Triple H staring each other down would do SO much to present the product as fresh, athletic, and energetic to non-fans, as opposed to idiotic, mindless, moronic "fake-fighting" that most currently view the product to be.
Friends averages nearly 25 million viewers a week. If even five percent of that audience was enthralled enough by a WWE television spot to tune into RAW or flip the channel to Smackdown, the ad would pay for itself.
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4. Emphasize the importance of House Shows, and give the consumers a reason to attend:
Three weeks ago, I went to a WWE house show in Tallahassee, Florida. North Florida has always been a wrestling hotbed. Tallahassee and neighboring Jacksonville bared witness to some of the greatest matches in NWA history. The blood spilled in epic battles between Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair still stains the ground of the Leon County Civic Center. On top of the large base of old-school fans, nearly 100,000 students in the WWE's main target demographic converge in the city's three major universities.
The house show drew less than 2,000 fans. The arena was laughably empty. During certain portions of the show, you could hear literally hear each conversation taking place in an arena that had once been known as one of the most raucous venues in the Eastern United States.
This particular evening wasn't an isolated instance.
House show attendance has official reached disastrous levels. Even during the WWE's "dark years" in the mid-90's, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were still able to draw respectable crowds while touring the house show circuits.
If it weren't for the advertised Ric Flair-Chris Jericho match three weeks ago, I would never have even gone to that house show.
The reason is simple: I get absolutely nothing out of going to a WWE house show that I can't see on RAW or Smackdown for free. Why should I pay $40 to get the exact same thing that I can see from the comfort of my own living room twice a week.
Vince McMahon whines and cries about declining house show business, yet he gives the impression week in and week out that they don't mean a DAMN thing. When are they ever mentioned after the fact on television? When do significant title changes (and no, Booker-Christian doesn't count) occur at house shows? When do you truly see something special happen at one of these high-priced events. Never.
The first major change that needs to occur is the advent of house show tours.
New Japan has tours, Zero One has tours, and in it's prime, the NWA had tours.
A month before each major PPV, the WWE needs to announce a tour for the corresponding PPV. In March, there would be Road to Wrestlemania tour, in August a Summerslam tour, and in November, a Survivor Series tour.. They could touch down in 20-25 major cities, previewing variations of the PPV matches, and getting the crowds excited for the upcoming PPV. For example, if the main event of Summerslam is Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesner, with a US Title match between Eddie Guerrero and John Cena, the WWE could headline each show with Angle and Eddie against Cena and Lesner.
This would prove beneficial on so many levels. Not only would the house show draw much better on name recognition alone, but if the WWE can get their act together and put on a quality show for those in attendance, it will serve the duel purpose of selling the PPV as well.
House shows are faceless, nameless events which seem to serve no purpose in the grand scheme of things. That can be changed. Would you be more prone to go to a vanilla, undefined PPV in January, or a show on the Royal Rumble tour, featuring a 15 man mini-Rumble, Royal Rumble banners hanging from the rafters and ring apron, and a somewhat heightened sense of importance? The answer seems obvious.
Along with these new tours, WWE announcers need to make a conscious effort to mention shows after they occur on television. This at least gives some sense of significance to the show. Just a fleeting mention of "Booker T and Christian having an epic battle last night in Tallahassee" would set off a light-bulb in my head telling me to make an effort to attend the show next time. It's SO easy to do, yet it seems taboo to even mention a house show's existence on television. No wonder no one gives a damn.
A final step towards restoring house show momentum would be the acquisition of house-show exclusive talent. One or two legends matches at each house show would seemingly give fans yet another reason to make the trip to their local arena. Again, the key is to give the consumer something they could not get from staying at home and watching RAW.
Wrestlers like Sting, Randy Savage, and in the future, Hulk Hogan, would prove much more valuable to house show business than they would to television ratings.
These wrestlers should be kept entirely off of television, but promoted extensively in local house-show advertising.
Imagine how profitable it would be to run Dusty Rhodes against Ric Flair as a bonus match in Florida and the Carolinas. Flair is under contract, and Dusty would be more than willing to work cheap.
The house show business is in a self-created rut, do to years of neglect, redundancy, and disregard. If changes aren't made immediately, attendance will likely begin to drop into the triple digits.
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5. Give Wrestlers More Creative Freedom:
Over the course of the last three or four years, the creative freedom of WWE wrestlers has all but disappeared. When the WWE was first gaining steam in late '97 and early '98, the majority of what you saw in the ring and more importantly what you heard on the mic was largely unscripted. Wrestlers were given a sheet of paper with a few bulleted points to hit on, and were free to get those points across in any manner in which they chose.
The bad-boy Steve Austin, heelish Rocky, and arrogant DX of 1998 were all self-creations. Those characters didn't pop because of some sitcom writer scripting their dialogues line by line for them. They popped because Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, and Rocky Maivia were three brilliant men given the opportunity to get themselves over via their own creative instinct.
Flash forward five years, and we're in a much different place. Each and every word you hear on RAW and Smackdown is written largely by episodic television writers who know nothing about wrestling. We're getting to the point where the actual personalities are being suffocated in favor of fancy Hollywood writing.
Rob Van Dam is a prime example. If given the mic, a general idea, and a couple of minutes of television time, Van Dam's natural charisma would make him into an even hotter star than he currently is. Instead, we're forced week in and week out to watch him awkwardly read lines that could just easily fit any character. There's no uniqueness. The personalities all begin to blend together. No one really sticks out, and in turn, no one really cares about any of the personalities. Hence the dreaded complacency we mentioned earlier.
The few guys who do stick out are those who are given the chance to run with their true life personalities. John Cena comes immediately to mind. Chris Jericho does as well. The rest of the wrestlers are forced to read hokey scripts, such as Kane's fire dialogue, and in the process, come off as flat, cardboard cut-outs as opposed to three-dimensional characters.
To end this topic, let's take a look at a quote from Steve Austin's infamous RAW Magazine article that basically sums up everything that's wrong with the current WWE creative:
"You got people writing storylines who ain't never been in the ring.. that don't know what the hell's in my head. And here's someone who's going to sit there and write words for Stone Cold? Uh-uh.
When I was at my very hottest, when I first came around, I started off as the Ringmaster. Well, I was coming up with all this stuff myself, and that made me a hell of a hot talent. I was spitting out all this shit I'd heard in Texas my whole life. That's what made me what I was. All of a sudden, you've got someone putting words in your mouth -- you can't do that. The writers are taking the business from the boys, and that's what the problem with creative is. They've got to give the business back to the damn boys. When you got a guy who's been in the business three, six, eight, ten or fifteen years, it doesn't matter. Asking a damn writer what he's supposed ot say? There's a problem.
When I was at my hottest, selling out everywhere we went, no one was telling me what do say. They'd give me a few little bullet points, "I'd like you you to cover this or that," and then like all talent should, I'd feed off the crowd and make the rest up. When Ric Flair was at his hottest in the NWA days, he wasn't doing comedy. He was saying what was on his mind, and it came from his heart and his head, because he believe in what he was doing. I believe in what I was doing.. Flair didn't have no one -- some 25 year old, fresh out of sitcom school or whatever the hell it is -- telling him what to say. That's a big problem to me."
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6. Evaluate the Roster and Cut Excess Baggage:
As much as it sucks to see people lose their jobs, the WWE talent roster is laden with wrestlers who have no place being there.
Jim Ross, Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, Pat Patterson, and Bruce Pritchard need to sit down with a list of all current talent under WWE contract, go through each name one by one, and determine their immediate and long-term worth the company. If that worth is substantial, then they will remain in the company. If that worth is non-existent, or negative, then they need to be released.
I genuinely feel bad for the guys who need to be given the pink slip, because in all honesty, the company is probably just as responsible for their futility as they are. Guys like A-Train, Hugh Morris, Mark Henry, and Rikishi are all decent enough wrestlers, but their constant state of midcard limbo has left them in the unfortunate position of being too damaged to put over other wrestlers as legitimate contenders, and too tarnished to ever be taken seriously as an upper card threat.
I don't feel as bad for some of the other guys who need to be shown the door.
Billy Gunn has literally been given opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to become the next big thing in the WWE. He's blown each opportunity with flying colors. Yes, he's been saddled with some ridiculous gimmicks, but he's also proved to be incredibly incompetent in the ring, nearly killing an injured Chris Benoit in the process. There's only so many times you can blame it on creative.
Hardcore Holly is another guy I wouldn't feel terribly sorry for either. He just doesn't seem to understand his role in the company. He's a utility midcarder with no charisma and an extremely limited appeal, outside of the possible hillbilly or NASCAR fan. Holly seems to think he's above the federation though. After Kurt Angle accidentally broke Holly's arm after a botched moonsault attempt, Holly publicly said that he was going to get payback on Angle after returning. At the time, Angle was arguably the companies most valuable performer. A year later, Holly took it on himself to take liberties with Brock Lesner live on RAW, feeling that he had been handed too much too quickly. Brock Lesner nearly killed him, and from what I hear, most of the boys in the back sided firmly with Lesner. The last straw for me was seeing Holly rough up one of the unsuspecting kids on Tough Enough. That was the biggest disgrace that I've ever seen, and it completely contradicted the trust in your opponent that Al Snow was trying to instill.
The same goes for resident rapist Justin Bradshaw. He'll be fine on Wallstreet, although I'm sure he'll miss the hogtying and occasional sodomy.
Ivory, Jaqueline, and Val Venis are all worthless filler for the company. I'm sure they're nice enough people, but Jaqueline has never even generated one OUNCE of crowd heat, Ivory is hokey, over the top, and exposed, and Val Venis is another one of those wrestlers whose upward mobility is shot to hell. Tommy Dreamer is a legend, but has no real niche in the company outside of Philadelphia. Rico might never get over due to his age and the braindead gimmicks he's been saddled with. Nathan Jones had no business ever being in the company to begin with.
The list could go and on, but the names aren't what's important, the house-cleaning is.
Back in 1996, when Vince and the then World Wrestling Federation were on the verge of bankruptcy, Vince took a calculated risk. He dropped all the "dead weight," brought in some new talent, started from scratch, and brought his company to it's largest economic boom in history.
Now is the time to take that chance again.
Freeing up roster spots and salary room will allow Vince McMahon to bring in hot new talent and push them fast and hard like he did in 1997. Guys like AJ Styles and Low-Ki could very well be the next Triple H and Rocky Maivia.
That chance needs to be taken.
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7. Make thought-out, intelligent decisions on who to push, and DO IT.
One of the major problems in the WWE right now is the lack of true push that ANYONE is recieving. Wins and losses don't mean a damn thing anymore in the eyes of the casual fan. In the WWE, there's really no such thing as a true push.
Let's look at Chris Jericho for example. Over the last two years, Jericho has gotten the typical WWE push. He'll win a big match against a big opponent on RAW, only to have the match completely ignored the following week. Then, he'll lose his match and the person he beat the previous week will win theirs. No one gets anywhere in the process, and we start the whole inane cycle again the next week.
Vince is so concerned with upsetting his talent that he never truly pushes anyone. Everyone gets their big wins, everyone gets their big losses. It's a big endless cycle that does nothing but damage every single wrestler in the process. He didn't care about upsetting his talent in 1997, and he sure as hell shouldn't care now.
The WWE braintrust needs to sit down, decide who to push, and PUSH THEM. It won't do any good to give someone a half-ass push, where they win a big match here, get screwed over the next match, win with a weapon the following week, and so forth. They need to get behind someone, and have them win big-matches decisively on a regular basis until they're at the desired level. If their opponent is pissed about jobbing so decisively, so be it. They'll get over it. It's not like they have another option.
Clean jobs by upper-level stars are the only way anyone is going to become a true superstar. When it comes down to it, no one has jobbed to Van Dam, no one has jobbed to Booker T, and no one has jobbed to Eddie Guerrero. Unless that happens, the WWE is going to find itself in a very, very bad place when their current crop of main-eventers slowly retire one-by-one over the next year or two.
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8. Listen to your Fanbase:
The single biggest mistake Vince McMahon has made over the last two years is his complete and total disregard of the will of his fanbase. At times, McMahon almost seems to have contempt for the paying customers who keep his company afloat.
Vince McMahon's business approach since the turn of the millennium has always seemed incredibly crooked. Instead of bending over backwards to please his audience, Vince has made a conscious effort to try to rape the hands that feed him over and over again.
"Bait and Switch" should be McMahon's official slogan, because over the last thirty months, McMahon has made promise after promise and broken almost every one of them, seemingly with a smile on his perverted, wrinkly old face.
Vince has all but ignored the wishes of his consumers, jobbing those that they cheer, and pushing those who they just don't care about to the top of the card.
Names like Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Jericho permanently remain opening acts while guys like A-Train, the Big Show, and Kane, three men who haven't drawn a legitimate dime in the last three years, headline each show.
You can hear a pin drop in the arena when Stephanie McMahon makes her entrance, yet she's involved in every major match on Smackdown. It's almost laughable when you really think about it.
Vince is so concerned with stroking his ego and masturbating over his power that he's digging his own company's grave.
There's absolute no excuse as to why Rob Van Dam hasn't won the WWE title yet. None. He's been the most consistently popular wrestler on RAW for the last two years, and he hasn't even headlined a PPV yet. It's ridiculous. Absolutely insane. If Vince McMahon is serious about bringing wrestling back into the mainstream radar, he needs to push the fucking wrestlers that the casual fans cheer. It's as easy as that.
The net needs to be ignored. We're cynics. All of us. Despite that cynicism, we'll always watch the product, despite our bitter, arm-swinging "I'll never watch again" gestures.
Vince needs to sit in the damn front row of a house show, RAW, Smackdown, or PPV, listen to the crowd, and push the wrestlers who get the loudest cheers. It's as simple as that. Those are the wrestlers who casual fans will be willing to pay money to see win. We're not talking rocket science here.
By continuing to do things his way and insisting of giving the majority of television time to heatless ogres, he's just murdering his own product.
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9. Recombine the Raw and Smackdown Brands:
This necessity will in all likelihood be the most hotly debated, but in order for the WWE to survive, it's without a doubt the most important step that must be taken.
As things currently stand, both Raw and Smackdown have such shallow talent pools that they are both one or two injuries away from a total meltdown.
Triple H is the only full-time, well-established main event star currently on the RAW roster. Chris Jericho has yet to fully reach that level, thanks in large part to Triple H. The crowd loves Jericho, but he's just not at the level right now where he could carry the brand on his back.
Shawn Michaels and Bill Goldberg are both on the last legs of their careers. Michaels faces serious injury each time he steps into the ring, and with the risks he takes each time he steps between the ropes, it seems like it's only a matter of time before he's in a wheelchair. Bill Goldberg has made his general distaste for the WWE very vocal, and once his contract expires, there's very little chance he'll ever step foot in a WWE ring again.
Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner have both proved to be colossal letdowns. Neither has the in-ring aptitude necessary to be a main-event level star in the current day WWE, though it's somewhat inconsequential as both of their bodies are falling apart by the day.
Booker T is out indefinitely, and has made it well known that he will not be a wrestling 18 months from now.
A year from now, the RAW brand that can't even fill a three hour PPV when healthy faces the very real possibility of being without Shawn Michaels, Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, and Booker T.
If Triple H gets injured or requires time off, that leaves an unestablished Chris Jericho to carry the load entirely by himself, with no other stars on the horizon to share that burden with.
If Jericho were to go down too, RAW would be dead in the water. It's as simple as that.
On the Smackdown side, only three legitimate main-eventers exist: Kurt Angle, Brock Lesner, and The Undertaker.
The Taker's time is coming to an end, and if Brock Lesner missed a superplex on Kurt Angle and both injured themselves badly, the Smackdown brand would also be left without any true main-event level wrestlers.
The brand extension has served many practical purposes, but now is the time to think about ending it.
Many logistical problems have not been fully thought-out in regards to the brand extension. For example, what happens if a wrestler does manage to catch fire with mainstream America like the Rock did in '99. While it would boost ratings and attendance for that particular brand, there's no guarantee, and in all likelihood very little chance, that attendance and ratings would increase for the other brand as well. You might just end up in a situation where the hot streak of one brand is balanced out by the slump of another. Imagine how much less revenue the WWE would have brought in during 1999 if The Rock only wrestled on every other PPV. Imagine how much less advertising money would have come in if the Rock only appeared on half of your television shows.
The WWE has an opportunity in the next six months to a year to turn Smackdown vs. Raw into the biggest angle in wrestling history. If Vince waits much longer than that, he's faced with a situation much like the Invasion disaster, where half of the big name stars are either retired or crippled.
If Vince pulls the trigger on Smackdown vs. Raw immediately after Wrestlemania, he still has Shawn Michaels, Bill Goldberg, Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, The Undertaker, Kane, Steve Austin, Booker T, Scott Steiner, and a healthy Triple H, Kurt Angle, and Brock Lesner to make the angle massive.
If he waits much longer to instigate the feud, he could very well lose most of those names, blow one of the most profitable angles of all-time, and in the process, do irreparable damage to his company.
Several problems will need to be addressed in recombining the brands, but they can be easily managed if Vince and his creative staff carefully book for the highest long-term benefits.
The problem of overexposure will need to be addressed. Wrestlers will never wrestle or cut lengthy promos on more than one major show per week, and the champions will only fight on free television once or twice a month. The World Titles will be combined in an epic blowoff match, and some form of legitimacy will be restored to the company's World Champion. The IC, Cruiserweight, and Tag Titles will remain, everything else will go.
Smackdown also needs to be cut down to 90 minutes, with more of an emphasis on wrestling, and less of an emphasis on storyline development.
Despite all the hard work and effort that has gone into seperating the brands, for the long-term good of the WWE, they must be combined again. The longer Vince waits to take this drastic step, the smaller the window of opportunity grows to use the angle as a massive springboard back into the mainstream spotlight.
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10. Give Wrestling an off-season:
The biggest problem in wrestling today is overexposure. One of the main reasons the general public lost favor with wrestling so early into it's boom period to begin with was overexposure. This is the reason that the last wrestling boom lasted only two and a half years, as opposed to the six to eight year boom that Hogan initiated. There's only so long you can watch the Rock come out three times a week, spout off the same catch-phrases, and have it remain fresh. We've seen it all.
Both current brands reek of stagnation.
I haven't watched RAW or Smackdown regularly in almost a year. I catch bits and pieces if I'm home, and if not, it's not the end of the world. Maybe I'll read a recap, maybe I won't.
In the last twelve months, nothing has really happened on either RAW or Smackdown. You could easily miss four or five weeks here or there and literally not miss a THING. A far cry from the "Anything can happen in the WWF" days.
The brand-split, designed in large part to alleviate the repetitive nature of WWE storylines, has actually made the problem even worse. The Smackdown main event scene hasn't changed ONE BIT in the last year and a half. That's pathetic. That's lifeless. That's going to kill the brand. The same goes for RAW. We've all watched nearly TWO HUNDRED hours of "WWE action" in the last eighteen months, and it's all been the EXACT SAME THING.
In order to keep things fresh, wrestling needs an off-season.
Here's the best way for that to happen:
-Summerslam will be the "season finale" for the WWE. Huge feuds will be blown off, cliff-hangers will arise, and the WWE will say goodbye until the Fall.
-For the next two months, WWE reruns, specials, and whatever else the networks see fit will air in the place of the regular programming. Wrestlers will be given a desperately needed opportunity to slow down, allow nagging injuries to heal, spend time with their families, and just generally recharge their batteries in order to have the ability to go full-force when things resume.
Meanwhile, WWE creative will use the time off to brainstorm, create great new angles for the fall "season," scout new talent, and carefully evaluate the current roster. They will also have the much needed chance to think things out and make intelligent, long-term decisions about angles, rosters, and talent.
In mid-to-late October, the WWE will go live with a massively promoted "season premier," resolving old issues, posing new questions, and introducing fresh talent and angles immediately.
Instead of going head-to-head with Monday Night Football and Friends with a stagnant, tired product, Vince will be directly competing with the fall lineup by presenting fresh ideas, new faces, hot wrestling-hungry crowds, and infinite hope.
We, as fans, need time off. We need to crave wrestling again.
Seinfeld, Friends, ER, and even NFL football would be dead if their fanbases never had time to stop, catch their breathe, and truly desire fresh, new television.
I haven't had a week off of the WWE product in 17 years. It's no wonder it seems so stale and lifeless.
In order to survive, wrestling needs an off-season.
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There you have it.
While we might not have answered every nagging problem the WWE is currently facing, we've laid down a basic, yet thorough enough framework to hopefully start swinging the momentum back in the right direction.
Of course, it goes without saying that Vince will continue to do things his way, the only way, and continue to drive off fan after fan, but hell, at least we tried.
Thanks as always for taking the time to read my stuff, and I hope you enjoyed it.
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Give the performers a little more participation in their character developments.![[...rassamnfrackin...]](graemlins/grumble01.gif)
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