10 Reasons WWE Is Losing Their Audience
7. Politics Matter Above All Else
Politics have always been a huge part of pro-wrestling, but the difference between today's environment and yesterday's is that politics didn't always trump everything else. Today, they do.
The WWE environment used to be conducive to producing new stars, with talent being told to focus primarily on getting over. Regardless of whose idea the talents used or what agent or executive they were close friends with, if the talent could get over, they would be pushed, or featured. This led to the development of stars like Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, Mr. Perfect, Bret Hart, Diesel, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the New Age Outlaws, The Godfather, Val Venis, and nearly every popular act from the Attitude Era.
Today, getting over is not enough. Talents need to be aligned politically with certain powers-that-be in order to be heavily featured on TV. At various points in the recent past, talents like Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, and Damien Sandow have all gotten over naturally with the crowd but weren't featured to the degree they probably should have been.
Of them, only two remain with the company today. What does that tell you?
It tells you that getting over and generating reactions are no longer the most important thing, and the audience can tell.