7 Reasons WWE Has Already Lost 2027
New Year, Same WWE? Paul Levesque looks set to fall into several familiar traps in 2027
First, the good news.
In Oba Femi, WWE have have successfully fostered a talent from NXT to the main roster to - theoretically at least - the main event of WrestleMania. 'The Ruler' looks set to win the Royal Rumble, or at very least do so well on the lead-up to the 'Show Of Shows' that he'll be the unstoppable force going head to head with immovable object Roman Reigns.
Elsewhere, Trick Williams feels as though he'll make it through a collective force of will. He might not yet be having matches befitting of the minimum expectation (more on that elsewhere), but the reactions that greet his entrance alone are evidence to higher ups that he's a tip for the top.
And then there's Sami Zayn. The man that could one day be the key to Femi or Williams permanently residing in headline spots has been WWE's MVP in 2026, scoring two unexpected Undisputed Title wins that have cemented his already-solid reputation as a man powerful enough to haul a product back from the brink. He did it with The Bloodline in 2022, and did the same again across the summer, elevating SmackDowns and Raws with his presence alone, WWE Championship belt so tightly around his waist that he looked like an action figure designed with it pre-attached.
His job might be even harder heading into 2027...
7. The Lame Counter-Programming
Like most things in wrestling, it's become familiar to the point of being ineffective, but WWE positioning a show against literally anything All Elite Wrestling promotes has worn thin by every metric. The irony here of course is that, beyond AEW going out of business, it's already mission accomplished for WWE.
Creatively, the challenger brand has had a much better year than the market leader, but there aren't too many figures that reflect that. Buyrates for Tony Khan's pay-per-views remain strong, but crowd numbers don't particularly spike either way. WWE's arena gates are trending downwards almost everywhere, but the lead is comfortable enough for them to simply stop alienating the audience members that follow both companies. Philosophically, the products have never been further apart, so the idea that fruit fans are being forced to decide between the apples and oranges rather than enjoying both is becoming even more redundant than before.
Vince McMahon used to pretend he loved competition, but in reality, he just liked clearing the runway of any on a regular basis. From TitanSports to TKO, the mindset seems to run through the DNA of the company, and while nothing about that will change in 2027, it'll only make the substantially bigger of the two organisations look all the smaller.