3. Triple H Taking An Executive Role In WWE Ushered In Massive Labor-Force Changes
Upon taking a position of greater executive control in World Wrestling Entertainment, Triple H's first move was to heavily invest in the WWE Performance Center. On one level, it's amazing because the structure allows for fitter and better-educated performers to be called up to TV in an era lacking territories. However, upon deeper review, there's something that falls into a cost-benefit analysis that - especially in the post-CM Punk era - are not so easily seen. Upon hire, all future WWE performers will be indoctrinated into a system that de-emphasizes the very notions that allow for the creation of labor struggle and unionization. Wrestlers will come into a system featuring state-of-the-art equipment, health management, fitness care and professional development - all done without having to provide insurance of greater benefits to their employees. Ideally, gone will be the days of an independent iconoclast who can buck the system because he initially was able to meet a certain expectation of quality of life and quality of job without the need for World Wrestling Entertainment. Now, if you're an independent wrestler, the idea of hustling on the road for paydays and learning at shows where there are no veterans to offer feedback or the potential for unsafe conditions that can lead to injury is not so romantic and fun. Rather, the idea of getting signed by WWE and being put into the most ideal of talent systems finally breaks the notion that independent free thinkers like Punk have it right.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
