8 Ways We Didn't Realise WWE Has Been Re-Living The New Generation

5. A Downturn In Business

WWE NEW GENERATION
WWE.com

As much as WWE would love to tell you these days that TV ratings don’t matter, they do. They really, really do. As do live event attendance numbers. And it's back with the New Generation that you can pull similarities to the current faltering figures.

Business was famously down for the WWF for large portions of the New Generation days. Across the board, the company could not pull in close to the numbers that it had seen in the Golden Age of Hulkamania and the Rock 'n' Wrestling days. Shawn Michaels and Diesel were two notable stars of the New Generation who drew some disappointing numbers, particularly when it came to house show business, and it was only really Bret Hart who was a semi-reliable draw back then.

The situation became so bad for WWF that the company even began to run far smaller venues than those they had become accustomed to. After all, there's no point in booking a 14,000-seat arena when you're only expecting to sell 4,000 tickets.

The story is similar with WWE today. It's not just TV ratings and PPV buys that are disappointing - attendance is also dwindling. For example, last month's Stomping Grounds event only had an approximate attendance of 4,500 fans. Considering that the Tacoma Dome was configured for 18,000 people that night, and WWE was offering 2-for-1 and even free tickets, that figure is absolutely shocking.

Whether you look at live events, weekly TV shows, or PPVs, business has been so bad that Vince McMahon has finally had to make some drastic changes – as seen by the recent appointments of Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman, not to mention the ridiculous 'Wild Card' rule.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.