10 Things Japanese Wrestling Does Better Than WWE
9. Keeping Fans Refreshed
Do you ever like you’ve seen a specific match combination or storyline so many times that, no matter how much the company tries to spin things in a new and creative way, things still end up feeling repetitive and unoriginal? If so, then you’ve found one of the biggest problems in WWE: the full-time schedule ruins fan interest.
In Japan, fans are given a ‘refresh’ from the intense action and excitement with the idea of tours. Most Japanese wrestling promotions work on a touring schedule, where the company will host shows for a four-week period, and then they will take four weeks off.
During that time, the wrestlers have time to heal and come up with new ideas, the company can analyze ticket sales and wrestlers’ popularity, and most importantly, the fans can digest what they’ve witnessed and are given a reason to look forward to the beginning of the next tour.
This is a business model that would work wonders for WWE in terms of building drama for their TV programs. Imagine if WWE had this touring schedule, and at the end of a tour, John Cena was ‘injured’ in a storyline. Instead of learning what happened within a week, fans would have to wait a whole four weeks to find out what happened to their hero.
That kind of curiosity and excitement would translate into more viewers and greater interest in WWE as a whole, while the wrestlers themselves wouldn’t suffer from so much burnout.