The Bigger Picture
Right now more and more people are tuning out of WWE. There are lots of reasons behind this, but I want to focus on a few reasons positive and negative to explain why I think you shouldn’t give up on it just yet.
All Elite Wrestling seems to be the 3 letter company on everybody’s mind right now. The brain child of Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks along with Tony and Shad Khan of the Jacksonville Jaguars. This was always going to be something to watch from the moment we saw ALL IN. Right now we have a sold out PPV event coming at the end of May, further shows announced and on-going talks about TV deals in the works. AEW are currently using social media platforms to promote their brand and tell their story but people are still missing out on things. Once AEW gets themselves a TV deal we can start to see what they will produce on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. We are yet to know what format they will use for their show or shows so we could all be shocked by the outcome. Meanwhile, WWE has just gone into its yearly reset mode and we are getting some weird and wonderful things coming out of it. But more on that later. If you are a lapsed fan or looking for something else to watch now would be the time to jump on with the WWE programming. Yes they are close to clocking up 10 hours of programming a week and sometimes Raw can feel like a chore to sit through, but with AEW hot on the heels to launch (presumably) full time, it feels like WWE simply cannot keep coasting in that same direction they have been over the past few decades!
Needless to say we don’t know what the future holds for any company and we should be thankful we have so much content right now. I am very excited to see what AEW bring to the table because I didn’t really see much of the whole WCW vs. WWF thing growing up as people that got me into wrestling only ever really watched WWF. We all know the history so I don’t need to bore you with that. WWE vs. TNA didn’t have what the previous war had and was barely a war, more like a dispute with a former employee (quite literally). In terms of ratings, it was more of a massacre. With younger star names and fresher match-ups, I hope AEW makes us excited to choose between things again. In the day and age of on demand viewing, it’s very unlikely we are going to relive the Monday Night Wars but perhaps there could be something else? Something that would be a wakeup call for us all!
The FOX deal due to begin in October will be a big game changer whether we like it or not. If you are to believe the dirt sheets FOX has already made several demands based on what they want out of the show once it is on their network. This includes having big names to attract casual viewers and also having other superstars to attract certain demographics. Rumours of them becoming an edgier product have also been thrown around but we won’t know anything until just before its debut on FOX.
This deal is also set to include additional programming being produced for other FOX network channels, which again would clock up the weekly watch time yet again. Around this time we would assume AEW would have a TV deal in place and would be a fully operational promotion. While we don’t know what network AEW will be on, rumours say it could be a Turner network. While this would mean their viewership would be considerably lower than Smackdown, it does not however mean they won’t be a threat. Raw will remain on USA under the ownership of Comcast, but if Smackdown proves a success on FOX, we could see Raw move to Comcast’s own broadcast network, NBC. Making wrestling more accessible for people to watch will help to create new long term fans, which in turn is always good for business.
Obviously, the Internet has a big part to play with the current state of professional wrestling. Dirt sheets, forums, Reddit, opinion pieces (like this) and of course being able to follow your favourite wrestlers on social media make up this new way we view products. Years ago a lot of things would be kept under wraps about what went on backstage and in wrestler’s personal lives. These days we can see it all on display. If it’s the truth sometimes is a different matter but we still find these things! A lot of negativity has been put towards WWE at the moment and it’s understandable. We see the same old thing year in and year out, and no matter how loud we scream it often (but not always) feels like we just aren’t noticed. People have been told that AEW will always listen to fans and that it’s for the fans. Early impressions seem to suggest that this will true, but how long it goes on for will perhaps hang on how well this translates financially for the company. WWE however will see your negative reactions as a reaction and will think no matter what they are doing it’s still getting people talking about them. They have been around for many years and seen many companies fall in front of their eyes and yet they are still there. They must be doing something right surely? Besides, live crowds have already given them money for the tickets, and online discussion creates web hits and thus more revenue.
Recently we have seen a backlash against a certain tag team being rebranded for their call-up to the main roster, only for their name to be changed a second time just a week later. Was this a result of management listening to the negative fan reaction online, or perhaps it was correcting their own stupidity who knows? What we do know is a negative reaction from yourself might not be what everyone else thinks. As many pointed out following the debut, does the name really matter when the talent is there? I’m sure we all remember the uproar nearly a decade ago when one Indy darling had his well-known name switched around when he came to WWE developmental territories. If you’re wondering if it worked out okay for him, then the answer is Yes. Yes. Yes.
In recent weeks, as we have said goodbye to beloved legends and seen chapters close in peoples careers, we have also seen rebirths for certain superstars, such as Robert Roode and Bray Wyatt. The latter is now the host of everyone’s favourite new show “Firefly Fun House”, while Roode seems to be portraying a mixture of Rick Rude and his own “Off the chain” era character. Weirdly, one of the big negatives that fans seem to be obsessing over is Roode’s moustache. Why let a piece of facial hair be the reason a character fails before it’s even gotten started, when we know it could be…(excuse the pun) GLORIOUS!! Bray on the other hand, there is no secret that in the past he pitched his own “Wyatt Family” gimmick to the creative team and whilst we enjoyed the sinister side of this character and wondered why he was never bigger, it did begin to get tired towards the end of its life. The “reborn” Bray Wyatt is the host of a children’s TV show but with a seemingly sinister twist. While Wyatt has always been portrayed as a demented puppet master, now it seems he’s doing this with ACTUAL puppets. While this presumably is going to lead to the return of a Wyatt family style team, it’s important to wait and see what direction it’s going in, rather than instantly denouncing it. The vignette that aired on the recent Raw was perhaps one of the greatest and most bizarre things I have seen from that company in recent years. We are only scratching the surface with this one and it has already given us a big swerve on what we believed would be just a normal return for “The Eater of Worlds” so let’s not just give up on it like I have seen people say they will. Otherwise I have seen some very positive things about it and looks like we could be in for a hell of a ride with him. Especially if we can take him to the top this time.
As I said, WWE’s weekly programming clocks in at nearly 10 hours. Their main shows accounting for around half of this, but even that’s a hefty chunk of time to put aside if you aren’t watching live. Not everyone can, and the company caters for thus by offering highlights on social media, and compressed replays. Of course, it’s important to remember that there is more to WWE than just Raw and Smackdown. NXT and NXT UK are both great weekly shows on the WWE Network, which will only take an hour of your time. WWE showing that guys can transition between all of these brands as well means that there is an invested future in everything that they are doing. NXT was supposed to kill off indie wrestling and it’s stronger than ever. The same was said for NXT UK and the UK indie scene, and yet that continues to thrive, while its stars get international exposure that they could only have dreamed about 5 years ago. Just because the stars and direction of the main shows don’t appeal to you, if wrestling is your thing then there are plenty of people that might elsewhere in the company that you can check out. If you really can’t stick the format and don’t want anything to do with it then fair enough, but you can’t argue that there isn’t top talent on all their brands right now. Whether or not they are being used correctly is a different (and ultimately subjective) matter. Let them do their thing and let yourself find what makes you happy because we all know there’s thousands of hours of content out there for everyone to enjoy and perhaps one day WWE will do something you enjoy but for now just enjoy the ride with every company. Hell we’ve all seen the highs and lows and several name changes of Impact Wrestling but I’m glad it’s still around!
Ultimately it’s not a bad thing to voice your opinion – hell, that’s exactly what this piece of writing is. Be passionate, please enjoy things, hate things too, but when you watch WWE just know that there is a bigger picture to what we all know and see. What may seem bad, or strange initially could very easily have an exciting pay-off. The internet can only tell us so much and normally it ends up being wrong so let’s get excited and enjoy a rollercoaster ride. Its ups and downs, its sudden stops and hidden surprises. Let’s see if it makes us smile because wrestling is entertainment and WWE won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Find me on Twitter: @ryanarmstorm
