By Ciaran James@TheCiaranJames
The now infamous 2011 CM Punk worked/shoot promo is now more real than ever, the words spoken on 27th June Raw have over the last two years rung true. The WWE led by Vince McMahon in 2019 is unstoppable as a business, the machine that drives their business model is flawless, the McMahon’s will be billionaire’s later this year. This directly relates to Punk’s declaration that the after he leaves, money will still pour into the pockets of the company, and in the five years since his departure the business portfolio of WWE has grown substantially. No one can deny the success the McMahon’s and their investors have achieved, as the wrestling world became smaller in 2001, they looked to control every aspect of mainstream wrestling in North America. They did this to the detriment of the product they found success on, professional wrestling.
In the 18 years since the collapse of both WCW and ECW, the McMahon’s and their investors have done a wonderful job of becoming the most dominant force in the ‘sports entertainment’ industry. For over two decades they have conditioned the audience to their kind of wrestling, they used John Cena as the figurehead for their project and happily marched into the PG era. As far as a company man goes, John Cena was the perfect choice, he did everything that was asked of him and more, he set the bar high. Cena attracted the children, the children in turn urged their parents along to meet the newest real-life superhero, merchandise grew as did Cena’s worth. The audience changed along with the on-screen content, the child friendly programming watered down the once edgy, adult orientated content and opened the doors for advertisers and even more revenue for WWE.
There is no denying that the implementation and structure of WWE’s business plan has been a success, they have faced controversy, criticism and numerous media slurs yet still manage to secure the most lucrative deals. Their business portfolio is impressive, from merchandise, clothing, media and tv partnerships, the money just keeps rolling in. Vince and his team have worked endless hours to secure lucrative deals, but at the same time they have succumbed to the will of their partners to achieve financial security. In securing the future of WWE, thus making it untouchable, the one thing that made it successful has been damaged, yes, the advertisers and toy companies were happy, but what about your audience, you know the one and only customer that matters. In the last 10 years WWE’s main roster wrestling content has suffered, the wrestlers are no more the stars of the show, the storylines are devoid of the most basic understanding and finally the audience are starting to realise this.
The McMahon family publicly acknowledge their apparent incompetence on Raw and vowed to change, that was in December 2018. In the months that followed, more fan friendly acts were pushed to prominence to quash the audience disapproval. Seth Rollins, Kofi Kingston and Becky Lynch all received the big push heading into WrestleMania 35, this was surely enough to please even the most disgruntled fan, wrong! Seth won by cheating, Kofi seemingly deserved the opportunity after being a mid-carder all his career, then Becky, Ronda and the ref left fans bemused with the non-finish. These were all quick fixes, the Raw after Mania was lacklustre as usual, the acts that were introduced before and after having been quickly forgotten or have been placed in pointless matches and segments. Then to further try and paper over the cracks, WWE introduced, using Mick Foley as the mouthpiece the 24/7 Championship, which is basically a lower-card title to keep lower-card talent busy as they have zero use for them.
The company flexed their dominance after ITV announced the return of World of Sport in 2016, in relation they quickly announced the first WWE United Kingdom tournament and signed up as many top names as possible. This was fantastic news for homegrown talent and the fans that had supported them from their independent routes, at last the biggest wrestling company in the world were going to showcase these top stars. The jury is still out on NXTUK, however those who I have spoken to seem displeased or at odds with the product. The argument can be made that those who tune in to the WWE Network to watch don’t know all the wrestlers, and don’t appreciate what they’ve done before arriving in WWE. I personally feel that NXT UK has stalled the progression of Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate, as they were/are the most talented prospects signed early on. But there are those that have flourished and come into their own, James Drake and Zack Gibson come to mind as well as recent stable Imperium.
WWE is and has become a very frustrating wrestling company, especially for those who wish to support and want the company to thrive artistically again. The most recent example is Jon Moxley, who earlier this year decided to leave WWE once his contact expired. Since his debut with the Shield in 2012, Moxley’s on screen persona slowly deflated, there were highs but overall his act was not catching fire. He explained recently on numerous podcasts, his frustrations and limitations with current WWE programming, this fuelled his decision and finally he left for artistic satisfaction. After the success of his AEW debut, he has since debut for NJPW to again great success and again at several independent dates, even on screen you can see the freshness of his act. Moxley broke the WWE mould and like many before him, bet on in himself, there is no reason why he can’t become an even bigger star outside of the WWE bubble. But WWE obviously are not concerned, why, because they’ve pushed Baron Corbin into the WWE title scene.
So Punk left, revenue went up, the machine kept moving and the system worked. That was until people started turning off, WWE agreed a deal with Saudi Arabia, and then finally AEW become a reality. Tony Khan and his team are looking to reimagine the wrestling scene in their vision, they have the resources, a following and goodwill with new fans to really establish themselves once their tv deal starts. Most fans, including myself do not want WWE to fail, they are the reason I am a wrestling fan, they have one of the best rosters, best production and money to spend. WWE won’t be dislodged as king, but they may in time be challenged, so they shouldn’t continue to decline as eventually what challenge will there be?
