Why WWE Is In For A Rude Awakening

Ratings have just plunged to an all-time low on RAW. SmackDown's numbers are plummeting to empty Performance Center lows. NXT is performing worse with no wrestling competition than it did throughout much of the Wednesday Night War. But it's OK. There's an in-built excuse fans can cling to: closed-set shows were always bittersweet, and any bargaining that empty arena wrestling works because it's something is impossible in the wake of WrestleMania 37. We've glimpsed the end of dystopia now.

If WWE returns to live events, and those events aren't crowd-pleasers, what does that say about WWE's product?

Something very, very bad.

AEW Double Or Nothing, the European Championships, Wimbledon: the fans in attendance at those events have vocalised the sheer excitement of escapism so loudly that it is almost moving. People have spent over a year trapped indoors doing their jobs on kitchen tables with children running amok in the living room. They have spent over a year with a maelstrom of anxiety and uncertainty whirling through their heads.

If WWE can't make them feel relief, much less excitement, it will represent complete f*cking embarrassment - and the format of a WWE main roster show in 2021 cannot possibly generate a hot atmosphere.

WWE isn't quite or maybe anywhere near as profoundly awful as some critics would have it. Xavier Woods Vs. (sigh) Riddle from RAW a few weeks back was as thrilling as it was thought-out. Drew McIntyre and Sheamus have conspired to make everything feel less depressing by beating the absolute sh*t out of another. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have worked a very good if uninspiring retread this year.

The problem is that, with WWE shows in 2021, this all means so little.

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