It's Official: WWE Has Debuted A New Era

Given the immense, almost endless resources it has to create stars and tell stories, it probably still is closer to a disgrace than a success. Look at Ronda Rousey: the most famous person on the roster is rendered unrecognisable with the make-up she wears and her jokes are cringe-worthy. Anybody with a semblance of an imagination knows that the character could be presented in an exponentially more flattering way.

Subjectively, the TV is still brutally dull, repetitive and infested with dire tropes, but objectively, WWE is doing very well in the Nielsens.

In the late summer of 2021, when AEW defeated RAW in the demo across two consecutive weeks, it was felt that a paradigm shift was imminent. It never happened. WWE's vision - of presenting TV matches between established weekly members of a small cast in situations that aren't drastically stupid - appears to be a winning one.

So what is this new era called?

'The Isn't Interesting Enough To Bury, But The TV Audience Is Shockingly Into It Era' isn't snappy, but that's where we are, and it's actually a long way away from the Wild Card rule. Think about this: when was the last time WWE was unfavourably compared to the very worst of death throes WCW? That was once the ultimate frame of reference on podcasts, but you don't hear it much these days.

WWE appears to have located the rarest of niches - the sports entertainment hardcores - and they're winning as a result of delivering to them what passes in contrast to its modern history for solid, inoffensive product.