10 Major Challenges Facing WWE In 2019
Wrestling is changing, and so must WWE.
Modern WWE is a paradox of stunning business highs and terrible creative lows, with their longstanding monopoly over the wrestling industry protecting the balance sheet from any and all shortcomings on Raw or SmackDown.
They're in an interesting place in 2019. Competition has returned to the business, though whether or not All Elite Wrestling mount a serious long-term challenge remains to be seen. WWE's roster has never been so huge, nor so talented, yet they're only capable of presenting a handful in their best form at any given time. Their financial success is spectacular, but how long can they sustain a business model focused more on squeezing existing fans for every last cent rather than attracting new consumers? SmackDown is routinely great; Raw is often terrible. All these things and more make WWE a promotion of apparent contradictions.
2019 brings many challenges to the world's biggest promotion. Some are brand new, while others are decades old. Successfully navigating them is critical for a company that isn't going to go out of business anytime soon (barring a catastrophe), but may find their iron grip slipping if the rest of the year is as chaotic as its first few weeks...
10. The Live Event Slump
WWE's Q3 2018 financial report dropped in late October, revealing a worrying slump in the promotion's live event business. Long considered 'a barometer as to how well we're doing' by Vince McMahon, it revealed a 15% decline in house show revenue compared to the same period the previous year, coupled with attendance drops of 8.2% domestically and 17.6% abroad.
McMahon claimed to know what the problem was, and said he'd "re-imagine" live events "very, very shortly," promising a "pretty good turnaround in short order." We're still waiting three months later.
The decline's reasons are legion, with WWE's relative lack of stars and legitimate individual draws a major contributor. The idea that the company, not the wrestlers, are the new draw is a lame excuse for a broken star-making machine. Fixing it must be considered a priority if they're to reverse the negative trends.
Rows of empty seats are embarrassing for a company that loves its imagine as the indomitable wrestling market leader, and while the rest of WWE's balance sheet looks stellar, this significant blip clearly irks the Chairman. To fix it, he must identify and eliminate the myriad of solvable problems dampening his audience's enthusiasm.