Do you see a wrestling boom ever coming again?

[JerseyBoy23]

From "weekly viewership" perspective you are entirely correct

From a business perspective, this take is slightly incorrect. What we see as a "boom" may not be what people behind the curtain see as a boom. We think about viewership declining. But in 1997 we had Raw and Sunday Night Heat...that was it. People had to watch Raw in order to see what happened. In 2017 we have Raw, Smackdown, NXT, 205 Live, The WWE Network, etc. so they are able to capitalize on one person multiple times. They diversify what they have and are making more money now then they ever were.

Hypothetical numbers:

a fan in 1997 was worth $10 a week (watching Raw for free and the PPV monthly)
a fan in 2017 is worth $25 a week (watching Raw and Smackdown, Paying for NXT, watching two PPV monthly)

so though viewership is down, they are able to monetize off of fans differently.

Yea that's why I asked what the OP considered a boom. To me it's popularity of the product. To others it could be production values, money, or in ring quality

Monetarily sure it's different because pre-Network the cable and sateliite providers took about 50 to 60 percent of PPV buys. Now WWE's getting 80 percent or more of 9.99 from a 1.5 million people. So fans are worth more.

And yeah, I've seen them in press releases in the past combine the RAW and SD viewership to represent WWE viewership so they definitely present your idea to stockholders and TV networks.

At the same time, we're talking about WWE only. What about every other promotion that non-WWE wrestlers perform at?

 

[White City Black]

You need to have at least one other promotion with enough financial stability, popularity, a good tv deal that doesn't have them on at 1am, beside WWE, in order to sorta jump start any kind of boom. ROH, NJPW, and LU are showing themselves to be some good alternatives...TNA should've been in that category on a much bigger scale many moons ago.

 

[TheWhackMamba]

Yep, in about 6 years. shyt is cyclical yo

 

[Kidd Dibiase]

unless another billionaire is gonna come through with a major tv deal..nope

 

[Apex]

Yep, in about 6 years. shyt is cyclical yo

wrestling is cyclical

but the cycle still has not led to another boom. '84 and '96 were 12 years apart. it's been 21 years since '96.

it's been 16 years since the decline started.

i think it's almost time.

 

[El Cocodrilo]

wrestling is cyclical

but the cycle still has not led to another boom. '84 and '96 were 12 years apart. it's been 21 years since '96.

it's been 16 years since the decline started.

i think it's almost time.

I honestly believe the powers that be fukked up a serious boom by not capitalizing on CM Punk and Daniel Bryan

We should be living in the aftermath of a world where CM Punk was actually rebelling against a fully heel Laurinitis followed by a fully heel Triple H and Stephanie

Also mad kids would have been into WWE if the company had gotten behind Zack Ryder

Instead everyone was half-stepping and booking like shyt

 

[ChuckTaylor84]

Not going to boom with the current product

There's many opportunities but the whole product just feels bland

 

[Piff Huxtable]

I honestly believe the powers that be fukked up a serious boom by not capitalizing on CM Punk and Daniel Bryan

We should be living in the aftermath of a world where CM Punk was actually rebelling against a fully heel Laurinitis followed by a fully heel Triple H and Stephanie

Also mad kids would have been into WWE if the company had gotten behind Zack Ryder

Instead everyone was half-stepping and booking like shyt

Bryan? Punk? fukking Zack Ryder?

 

[Vinny Lupton]

Wwe doesn't want boom periods, because a low period must follow. They are a stock now and as such they want predictable, steady gains. As a publicly traded business you shouldn't be surprised by anything because it means you didn't plan it

They'd rather predict that 'attendance will be up 2% this coming year' and be right than say they don't have a prediction and attendance goes up 20%

 

[Grifter]

I don't see the general public caring about wrestling that much again.

 

[Momentum]

I honestly believe the powers that be fukked up a serious boom by not capitalizing on CM Punk and Daniel Bryan

We should be living in the aftermath of a world where CM Punk was actually rebelling against a fully heel Laurinitis followed by a fully heel Triple H and Stephanie

Also mad kids would have been into WWE if the company had gotten behind Zack Ryder

Instead everyone was half-stepping and booking like shyt

Punk's post WWE career proved he was not the star he looked like inside the company.

They gave Bryan and his fans EVERYTHING. He buried the entire Evolution stable on Wrestlemania night and won the belt. Nah, don't do that.

They randomly push Ryder to this day, he just isn't a transcendent star. Braun or Roman may be but again they don't even own those names outside of the company.

 

[SpacelySprockets]

wale and montez ford will make wrestling cool again

 

[El Cocodrilo]

Punk's post WWE career proved he was not the star he looked like inside the company.

They gave Bryan and his fans EVERYTHING. He buried the entire Evolution stable on Wrestlemania night and won the belt. Nah, don't do that.

They randomly push Ryder to this day, he just isn't a transcendent star. Braun or Roman may be but again they don't even own those names outside of the company.

Dude they never push Ryder, they let him win sometimes cause they like him as a person but that is not the same as making programs, storylines, feuds etc involving him.

Punks post-WWE career doesnt prove anything just like Hogan's shyt career outside of wrestling doesnt prove anything. In the WWE Austin is a megastar, outside hes a straight to home video c-list celebrity.

Daniel Bryans fans forced the company to go with him so its not like they were really trying to do the right thing, but this one is debatable I will give you that.

 

[El Cocodrilo]

Bryan? Punk? fukking Zack Ryder?

I know that no one here likes Zack Ryder but you dont speak for all the crowds chanting 'we want ryder' and buying his merch and watching his vids

CM Punk and DBry were mad over man, its not really a debate

Who you gonna pick over them?

 

[Cheech&Chong]

were in the middle of the indy boom right