Why WWE's Ratings Desperation Is A GOOD Thing

Vince McMahon Point
WWE.com

Is Vince McMahon still in tune with his audience, or did he stumble and fall on Twitter and land headfirst in his own notifications as liked by Triple H? Does he bother to read the aimless-but-able output on WWE.com, or scroll below the line to test the pulse of his self-styled "Universe"? None of the above, obviously. In between workouts and one hour's sleep, he's got no time for bothering to check what any portion of his audience wants, when his entire fortune has been built up simply telling them or actively working in spite of it.

Why, then, have his most recent appearances frequently steered towards the contrarian chaos of a comments section?

Before WrestleMania, he willingly threw himself under a company-branded bus to get Charlotte Flair in main events and take Kofi Kingston out of them. On the second SmackDown Live after the 'Show Of Shows', he laughably lauded Elias as the biggest acquisition in the show's history as a red herring tease for Roman Reigns. There's light relief lurking below the darkness of this booking pattern - the daft old f*cker knows what he is. He knows he's out of touch, operating on a level below even levelheaded expectations of his most ardent supporters.

Or at least, the Mr McMahon gimmick does. He'd have to, in order to still have the grapefruits to call himself "brilliant" in the middle of the ring on Monday's horrendous edition of the show. Vince McMahon's been wanting to kill the character for years, so said Bruce Prichard before he got his job back. Might this be The Chairman's latest attempt to put a bullet in the evil billionaire's brain?

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett