10 Reasons WWE Doesn't Attract New Fans
Indie wrestling might be cool again, but WWE is doing a bad job of pulling in new fans of their own.
Once upon a time, WWE was a television behemoth. They pulled in huge ratings and provided all the talk in the playground the next day. Over the years, however, that has fallen off. Wrestling became uncool and with that switch, WWE’s ratings plummeted. While there is always a handful of kids who are sucked into WWE’s world, the numbers aren’t there, and most of them leave when they hit puberty.
However, the last few years have seen wrestling regain some of that cool factor. In the UK, companies like Progress and ICW are recording success that wouldn’t have felt possible just a few years ago, while America is packed with fantastic indie companies. Wrestling is becoming a thing again, and WWE has the chance to make some new lifelong fans.
Yet, they seem incapable of doing so. Attendances are down and WWE is still seen as being a bit lame. They haven’t done enough to convince people that they are a company worth getting behind. No one is expecting a return to the glory days, but surely something can be done to make sure that new fans at least stick around?
10. Embarrassing Moments
We’ve all been there. You’re casually watching wrestling with someone who doesn’t understand the noble sport, and then something happens. Something so toe-curling and cringeworthy that all you can do is put your head in your hands and hope it doesn’t go on for too long. It always goes on for too long.
Thankfully, the days of bra and panties matches and Mae Young giving birth to a hand seem to be behind us, but that doesn’t mean that these moments have gone with them. Right now the World Champion of SmackDown attempts to get people to boo him purely off the back of the country he was born in. How are we supposed to explain to someone in 2017 that Jinder Mahal is a bad guy because he’s Indian? There is no way to make that sound good.
These embarrassing moments can break a new fan's interest in wrestling before it begins. It confirms it to be the stupid show that they have always been told it is. Whether it’s cheek-reddening backstage segments or xenophobia, WWE has too many of them for it to go unnoticed.