This one has been talked about to no end by wrestling fans all over the world. Obviously, the company switched to taping shows as a cost-cutting measure, but that does immeasurable damage to the fan interest of each episode. When WWE has to tape episodes of Raw because of time zone issues (when they're in England, for example), the spoilers hit the internet a few hours before it airs "live" in America, but people already play the "I've read the results, so there's no point in tuning in now" card. It's even worse for episodes of Smackdown, which are taped three days in advance. Imagine how bad it was for TNA towards the end of their run on Spike, when episodes of Impact were taped literally two months in advance sometimes. How in the world are you supposed to keep interest high for your product when your show's results are online for that long before it actually airs? Cost-cutting or not, it isn't going to benefit the company in any way unless Impact is live every single week. It's the only way to convey the "anything can happen" vibe that all pro wrestling shows should try to have. It keeps fan interest higher, it boosts wrestler morale, and it keeps the fans in attendance excited, as they don't have to sit through sometimes six hours of wrestling to get through multiple taped episodes. It's a win/win all around. Live shows in front of smaller, more raucous crowds, building towards special televised "supershows" instead of pay-per-views, and giving your fan base what it wants to see instead of what you think they want to see? That would be a tremendous way to kick things up a notch in 2015.
Columnist/Podcaster/Director at LordsOfPain.net for nearly seven years, with nearly 2000 total columns written. Interviewed and/or involved in interviewing the likes of Tyler Black/Seth Rollins (twice), Diamond Dallas Page, Jimmy Jacobs, Christopher Daniels, Uhaa Nation and more.
