Thursday, June 19, 2014

Is WWE in crisis mode?

Working for a company that does everything for Wall Street (the opinions of this blog post are of the contributer, and not of the company he works for), it seems that Pro Wrestling's staple house has really begun doing the same. Eleven people were cut from the roster, (though Teddy Long's contract expired, and was not renewed, he is lumped into this, erroneously) and it seems more may be on the way. This isn't anything new with the WWE, they used to cut underperforming talent after Wrestlemania all the time, yet this year, after a few years of not really seeing it, it's back, and with a vengeance. The problem is that WWE overshot, and underdelivered...because they are only caring about their shareholders, and not the people who want to be catered to with product they actually want to watch. I've been skimming the program for about two months, after the lead up to Wrestlemania had me watching and believing the company was finally making decisions that got fans interested in the product. Unfortunately, their champion after WM was injured, and as such, needed much deserved time off, to go with his much required neck surgery. The stock price is now back to where it had been for the previous 5 years, however, there was that 6 month window where they beat their chests, told investors they'd triple their TV contract, and get a million viewers on the network (WWE Network is like a Netflix for wrestling fans), however, they failed to deliver on both counts. Now, they have to live with the decisions and consequences. Here's the real problem. They are attempting to gain viewers who've left their product with the network, and they have no interest. They attempt to gain younger viewers with the same stale old gimmicks (ring names, attire, and personalities of the wrestlers), all the while, they have made their programs mostly unwatchable, and have turned away from building 5 feuds in which a Pay-Per-View or Special Event is based around. They develop 2, at most, and throw the rest together at the last minute. In my humbled opinion, the WWE will be fine, as long as they take a realistic approach to their fans, the business, and do what we all want them to...deliver the goods on the product. When they get back to a more standardized accounting, and trim the fat we don't want to watch on RAW (I'm looking at you, Adam Rose), we'll all be better off for it, the fans, the show, and the whole WWE Universe. The cuts aren't anything new, they're timely, expected, and give the talents who seize the opportunity a better chance to do something, especially if they were given serious exposure, like Brodus Clay (remember all the "mama's" dancing at Wrestlemania a few years back?).

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