The United States economy is in the toilet right now and the world of professional wrestling is being affected. The WWE, for one, has to cut $20 million, which is why they are handing out the dreaded "future endeavors." Wrestlemania XXV tickets went on sale and the sale numbers aren't where they normally are.
So what is a company to do?
Releases
Well, the tactic they are employing now, cleaning house, is indeed a good option. There's no need to hold on to people if you aren't going to use them.
Unfortunately for the WWE, they don't always know what they have until it's gone. Let's hope, for their sake, that the talent they released doesn't come back to bite them in the rear. Then again, if a talent goes elsewhere and blows up, the WWE can always try to resign him.
Here are just a few suggestions for talent that can go bye bye: Snitsky, Deuce, Eve Torres, Paul Burchill, and Katie Lea. There's no need to hang on to people if they are never on television or lack a knack for wrestling.
Melting down Gold
I am a huge fan of cruiserweight wrestling and was disappointed when the Cruiserweight title was retired. Yet, the fact that the WWE went and shelved that title means they should think about retiring another championship.
There was no need for Smackdown to get the Divas title. Was that done to get Michelle McCool a title because of her relationship with The Undertaker?
Let's also get the tag team division up and running again with just one set of titles across the promotion. There are definitely not enough teams in the WWE to warrant two sets of tag belts.
They can keep the three different shows but have tag teams wrestle across all three brands. We have seen John Morrison and The Miz on all three shows recently so obviously we can do the same with Jesse & Festus, Cryme Tyme, etc.
Good Showing
Instead of trying to save money, perhaps they should focus on making some. How do they make money? Put on quality shows. If you make wrestling interesting again, viewers will return.
There's no way that RAW should be getting a weekly rating of 3.0. Last year they were getting four ratings and wrestling in the past years used to get five or six ratings. That was of course, during the Monday Night Wars.
We were witness to some excellent matches this past week: Jeff Hardy versus The Undertaker, Matt Hardy versus Shelton Benjamin, Matt Hardy versus Finlay, Kozlov versus The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels versus Chris Jericho. These matches should be done on a weekly basis, not just when the product is overseas.
Interesting and good shows lead to more fans. More fans mean a bigger take at the gate and more televisions tuned to WWE programming. This can lead to better buy rates for pay per views.
PPVs
I have not ordered a PPV in nearly 10 years. One reason is because the option wasn't available in my home. The cable that came with my dwelling didn't have the pay per view option. But the bigger issue is the price of these events.
Every couple of years the cost of the big shows would increase. Now pay per views are running at $40 a show. Wrestlemania is $55.
I am confident the economy will bounce back, but even when it does return to normal, those prices are just too high for television. I figure the WWE felt that if they increased the prices then they would make more money. Well, a higher price may mean fewer orders which can leave you at exactly where you started. Drop the price and more orders will come in.
John Cena
How many times do we need to see that John Cena promo? The guy is the biggest merchandise mover but you would think he was the second coming of the man upstairs himself.
Did the WWE have to pay those celebrities that commented on how great Mr. Cena is? If they did, that was money they could have saved. Where's Al Roker talking about the impending return of The Boogeyman?
I'm not fully serious with the last suggestion; I just get fed up with the seemingly five-minute long promo shown on every show.
Conclusion
There are several ways that the WWE can right the ship; these are just my opinions.
If this article was too heavy for you and you need a laugh, check out this piece that I've been told is laugh out loud funny.
8 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment
Lexx Alguire 7 months ago
you mean the SARA tattoo that has been slowly disappearing due to laser therapy?.....hmmmmmmmm wonder why you'd want to remove a tat??
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john landrigan 7 months ago
here is how to fix the tv ppv problem. start raw smackdown with a match. as it is now we get 20 minutes of blather from 1 2 3 different boring whining people. stretch the ppvs out maybe every 5 weeks, the higher price of them wont be so bothersome that way. make the results of the PPV meaningful, no more rematches the next night on raw of the day before match. longer breaks from ppvs will allow feuds, storylines to actually develop instead of the forced condensed versions we get now. i think my third suggestion is already in the works, Make ECW on par with the WWE shows. I believe Morrison will win the ECW title soon, and when he does he will win the raw smackdown cross promotions that Hardy loses now.
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Shane H. 7 months ago
all very good ideas John. I wouldn't mind seeing that Morrison winning the title come through. Hardy is wrestling in pain (groin pull and partially torn ligament) so I would definitely want him to drop the title to someone credible so he can get healthy.
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David Taplin 7 months ago
Shane as seems to be the norm i do agree with your rants on WWE programing. I order ppv's but only the big 4 Mania, SSlam,SSeries, and the rumble. The prices of PPV are incrediblely high for what the used to be and honestly I would love to see more PPV but trying to budget it into my currently tight budget is a little difficult indeed as i think it is for most regular long time wrestling fans. I do believe the tag division does need some help in a serious manner. I do see the need for releasing talent that isn't being used but how about the talent your keeping that you aren't using as singles make them a tag team and see what happens. Those are my thoughts atleast
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Shane H. 7 months ago
always good to know that we continue to agree.
i do agree that despite releasing talents, the WWE needs to take a look at the talent they still have and utilize them better.
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Ross 7 months ago
On your comments about the ratings:
I think people just don't care anymore. The WWE can have all of the "Million Dollar Give aways" and 3 hour Raw's they want that still won't make a diffrence. The WWE's demographic is shrinking and there just isn't much anyone can do about it. We might have to accept that and move on. I will still watch Raw and Smackdown. I will not order PPV's monthly.
Maybe the WWE needs to try something new. Something ground breaking and soemthing the wrestling fans have never seen before. Now the only problem is that we don't know what that is. Lol
Graet read shane this is just an awesome article.
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Shane H. 7 months ago
yeah that's funny and true. I've sat down and tried to think of something monumental that wrestling hasn't seen yet, but I keep drawing a blank
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Ross 7 months ago
As do I.
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