WWE: 7 Greatest Innovations To The Wrestling Business

6. Merchandising

The idea of merchandise was not invented by WWE. They perfected it, though. Some might say they mastered it. If you think about the most popular wrestler of any era in WWE history though the WrestleMania years you can think about their merchandise and it will remind you just how great they are at promoting their talent. Think about Hulk Hogan. As a child of the 80s, I grew up with Hogan merchandise all around me. His face and likeness was everywhere. The t-shirts were the biggest sellers, but I remember things like action figures, thumb wrestlers and of course there were plenty of Hogan lunch boxes at school. They even made pasta with his face on it. Remember Pastamania? Hogan merchandise was everywhere. When Steve Austin became the man in the late 1990s his "Austin 3:16" became the most popular wrestling shirt ever. It wasn't even a complicated shirt. It was a black shirt with white lettering. That simple. Those shirts were everywhere. I had one. If you were watching back then you probably did too. As we think about current WWE, do you wonder why there have been so many different kinds of John Cena shirts in so many colors? It's pretty simple. They make money. He moves merchandise like nobody else in WWE for the past eight years and that's why he is where he is. Never give up, kids. Just read it on the t-shirt. These days in WWE there are so many talents that have merchandise. It has evolved to be much more than t-shirts too. If you browse WWEShop.com you can see all kinds of thing such as a Daniel Bryan hat that has a beard on the bill of the cap. No idea if it sells, but it's available. Wrestling is a business first and foremost. The way WWE conducts its merchandise business is second to none.