When I was young I would dread going to the dentist for weeks beforehand and treat it with an almost terminal sense of finality. I would count down the days until my visit and think of nothing else. Of course, you would go to the dentist, it wouldn’t be very nice and pretty soon you’d find yourself walking home realising that life carries on and, for a while at least, it’s not going to involve sitting in a large chair having your teeth pulled out by a child-abuser in a white coat.
To date, I have not seen one column posted on the Internet that deals with what the short and long-term prospects for the WWE are post-Wrestlemania as most people’s attention seems to be focussed, quite rightly, on the night of April 3rd. Whilst television ratings for both Raw and Smackdown have shown a slight increase in recent months the PPV buy rates are significantly down on previous years and the house show attendance has fallen in the United States to alarming levels. It is abroad that the WWE is finding renewed success with tours drawing good popularity and large audiences here in the UK as well as the rest of Europe, Japan and Australia, to mention just a few. The WWE is expanding with varying degrees of prosperity into the world of film and music and the company newswire regularly announces new marketing opportunities and corporate deals that promote a healthy business standing. But then we don’t give a crap about any of that do we? Whilst the collapse of the XFL several years ago was an unmitigated embarrassment for Vince McMahon, my only concern was that the funds he wasted on that venture, and several others, could conceivably have been subtracted from the money allocated to the wrestling product. Ultimately, as long as no wrestling decision is made within the WWE based solely on the fact that they can’t afford it then Vince can do what he wants with his spare cash. Most fans, myself included, only care about what we see on the screen and in front of our eyes at live events and, seeing as it is our hard earned money that is the financial foundation for all of Vince’s new external projects, we like to think that our interests as wrestling fans will not be neglected under the weight of outside distractions.
So what of the bigger picture? As the spectre of another draft lottery looms large in our horizons, the majority of wrestling observers are hoping for an end to the brand extension and a return the idea that the tv shows are drawn from the whole roster and the house shows are run as A and B tours like before the split. If a draft happens after Wrestlemania, I find it highly unlikely that a removal of the roster split will occur anytime soon, probably not until next year’s Wrestlemania event at least. The problem is that the existence of unique, disparate groups benefits nearly everyone; the mid-card wrestlers get more air-time, the main eventers can be pushed for longer, I’d imagine days-off are more available and the touring schedule whilst still hectic must be lighter than it would be running the same number of shows with one tour. In fact the only people who suffer from the split are us, the fans. This idea that the WWE audience is happier because we know that Raw is one thing and Smackdown is another is a complete fallacy. Vince talks about the branding like he’s created two shows in competition with eachother and that this might stir up the same level of interest that the Monday night wars did but it won’t. I might be willing to cut Vince some slack if he afforded the two shows the same level of attention but Smackdown is by far treated as the inferior brand and is very much represented as a secondary show to compliment Raw but not to threaten it, much like Thunder was to WCW Nitro. Even though the ‘humble’ variety is not the type of pie that Vince McMahon prefers, I heartily recommend that, when he has to negotiate a new broadcast deal after the current one with Spike tv expires, Smackdown becomes a live show and end the damn split once and for all.
From a product point of view, it seems unlikely that the WWE will make any dramatic changes to the overall style and content of its programming in the near future. It would be a dangerous move to adopt a more hardcore approach to the ring style and a resurgence of the ‘attitude’ era would be injudicious considering the recent clamp down by the Christian right, topped by the Bush administration, on anything that goes against the so-called realms of decency. I find it a shame that a country founded on the freedom of speech is reduced to using it as a defence for unrestricted entertainment and not, as it should be, a construct that guarantees liberty of and from religion and political opinion. I digress. It also appears as though Vince will continue to prefer to employ wrestlers of and above a certain size, the basic premise being that bigger equals different and different, as proved by circuses and freak shows, is the kind of attraction people are willing to pay money to see. We can only hope that the acquisitions of Super Crazy and Juventud Guerrera will raise the profile of the Cruiserweight division and pave the way for exciting smaller-size indie wrestlers like AJ, Daniels and Williams to be more acceptable to the mainstream WWE audience should the possibility arise.
Something certainly needs to be done with the tag team division, if there is one anymore. Someone in management should realise that tag team wrestling is a massively useful tool in developing good ring craft and preparing talent for a future singles push. It’s no good letting a wrestler be an OVW champ for a while and then think he can make the transition to the big game smoothly enough that he doesn’t lose momentum (even Brock Lesnar took a long time to adjust). The fact that both Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart founded their WWE careers in the tag ranks should be incentive enough to bring back some legitimacy and prestige to the tag titles and create specific teams with names, characters and patented tandem moves. Throwing two wrestlers together because you can’t think of anything else to do with them or combining them solely for a split and subsequent feud is not good enough, the belts and those who have worn them deserve more respect.
I’ve talked about women’s wrestling in WWE before so I’ll keep this short. I understand why Vince felt the need to strip the division back to its bare bones but to neglect it now will be a death knell and condemn women’s appearances on WWE tv to garnish or exploitation. Vince has his franchise player in Trish Stratus and the time is right to rebuild bringing in new talent to benefit from her experience and ring qualities but it shouldn’t be rushed and characters should be given some depth and room to grow. The answer is definitely NOT Diva Search 2005 unless they make the competition quicker and only thrust the winner upon us in a promotional capacity.
The biggest change in terms of personnel seems to be behind the curtain. The addition of Keirn, Steamboat, Dibiase and possibly Jake Roberts as road agents will be a great boost for the on-screen stars and the amount of wisdom and usable information they can garner from these highly experienced veterans will be invaluable. It will also be useful having a part of the management structure that understands what the wrestlers are going through with performance anxiety and issues relating to travel and the pressures of celebrity, primarily because they’ve been there, done it and sold the tee-shirt.
As for the wrestlers themselves, I run the risk of alienating myself if I list the people who I think the WWE could live without so I’ll decline. It should be noted though that when Vince cleans out his closet he tends to go for those people who no longer look likely to be able to draw from the mid-card, even with a title run with one of the lesser belts, so Val Venis, Steve Richards, Rosey, Maven, Spike Dudley and Heidenreich (to name but a few) should be reconsidering buying that new car in the next six months. I will however stick my neck on the block in one regard; if a performer not only has no discernible talents but is bad at everything other than quick-release nipples then she must go, and join her Dad if we’re lucky.
For now the immediate future of the WWE lies in the hands of Batista and John Cena, regardless of results from Wrestlemania 21, and the main event circles on both shows should be doing all they can to make these guys seem like a million bucks in the eyes of the fans. The draft lottery should throw up some interesting feuds and friendships within the limitations of the roster split and there’s always the ECW PPV to look forward to. Oh, and if a British wrestler called Burchill comes up from OVW, give him a chance. Not many guys his size can do a no-handed suicide dive over the ringpost or a standing shooting star press.
So, even if Wrestlemania 21 is as much fun as having teeth pulled, just remember that as fans we have a job to do and that’s to keep talking, shouting, booing, cheering, and complaining. How else can we influence the future? Altogether now, “I’d like to teach the world to sing…” What do you mean, “shut up”?
Lee
