10 Reasons Why WWE Needs To Fundamentally Change Everything About The TV Product
Vintage tedium.
WWE is more lucrative than ever, if nowhere near as popular as it was at its Attitude Era zenith.
The company has compensated for lapsed fans by reorienting its strategy. Those left behind are now inundated with obscene levels of content. House shows are more expensive to attend and there are considerably more promoted than at the turn of the millennium. This strategy of "super-serving" content reaches across every area of the business; merchandise, original Network programming, social media traffic - everything is oversaturated to meet the needs of the remaining few.
TV revenue remains the most lucrative stream - but crucially, that first domino is teetering badly in 2017, potentially setting off a chain reaction affecting rights fee negotiations and with that, sponsorships, advertising platforms, Network subscriptions...
Ratings are absolutely dire, and they are tumbling into something both embarrassing and potentially dangerous. WWE is no immediate or long-term danger; the market share they enjoy is vast, its cash reserves even more so - but the episodic televisual output, vital to its success, is abysmal and increasingly unpopular. RAW used to WAR, but now it's just RAW. It's just there - a weekly chore absolutely nobody seems to enjoy for what it is.
WWE needs to rip it up and start again.
10. Commentary
Michael Cole is only part of the problem. The exposition that pours out of his mouth is dictated to by Vince McMahon - but his trademark insincerity does so much to ruin the product.
Take Jeff Hardy Vs. Sheamus from this week's RAW. Hardy started the match with a barrage of hammer blows out of the gate. Sheamus had turned heel on him in a brutal post-match attack at Payback, just minutes after getting his tooth knocked out by his opponent's Brogue Kick. He was out to settle a score.
Cole initially sold his babyface fire, but soon settled into his default mode. Hardy vaulted spectacularly over the top rope before Sheamus captured him in an impressive feat of strength. Cole reacted to this by listlessly recapping the story of their feud. When Sheamus drilled Hardy into the barricade, Cole let out a halfhearted "Oh!" The message was clear: none of this matters, it's not urgent. It is just a prelude to something else. No wonder fewer people are tuning in every week.
When the action picked up, Cole did little but run through his gamut of cliches. "And that was vintage Hardy!" he said, evidently bored, when Jeff nailed Sheamus with a double leg drop.
The Cole business is so appalling because WWE is incredibly easy to follow. We're not reading Infinite Jest here; we're watching black and white heroes do battle with black and white villains. McMahon-as-Cole insults both the intelligence of the audience and the story being told when the hybrid explains everything away ad nauseam.