Why WWE's Ratings Desperation Is A GOOD Thing
Your writer noted that money was the REAL Reason Vince McMahon ironically didn't want to start sharing his wealth, because money is still the driver now that it was then. The missing piece of the creative puzzle has been in how little the dollars have been impacted by the output.
It was in 2018 that WWE first posted figures that placed a higher percentage of earnings in corporate deal columns than customer takings ones. This cruel turning point came as they turned blind eyes to Saudi Arabian insanity for all the money that made, and signed eye-watering TV deals that were immediately used as the stick to beat the product with.
Fox - long considered some of the biggest heels in news media - may be the babyfaces wrestling fans needed all along. The bulk of the cash needs to be earned, and SmackDown's current figures won't come close to satisfactory based on current indications. WWE worked against wrestlers to put the brand over as the draw, but television viewers and ticket-purchasers alike have lost faith in the three letters. It's time for stars again - and many more than just the Brock Lesnars and Ronda Rouseys that are almost certain to only do numbers the odd weeks they're actually there, rather than in the barren months they're not.
After years of hand-wringing and temple-massaging from incredibly patient punters, McMahon's original motivations may insist upon his mismanaged organisation getting its f*cking sh*t together for the good of its future. It's as crucial as shaking off the ghosts of its glorious past.
The Revival were filmed shaving their backs a week before their trunks were coated in mysterious miasma by the other best tag team on the roster, so, at very least, they are categorically not fighting over shampoo. This long, spiralling period - first birthed in 2002 - has now literally reached the skin and bones beyond whatever meat once still remained from The Attitude Era. Like its own inception in 1996, financial motivations put food back on the table. Here's to Fox growing rapidly impatient with SmackDown Live's p*sspoor numbers, and the new feast that awaits.