I haven't followed wrestling like that in a while but it's been really interesting to read headlines recently with WWE's business under the microscope like it's never been before.
Now a billion dollar conglomerate is not folding anytime soon, WWE is gonna be straight even just playing it safe. But that's also what people were saying 10 years ago, now I'm reading house shows are being cancelled over low ticket sales, long-standing executives are getting the boot, and hardcore fans are leaving again at the rate they did in 2001.
So how did all this compound? (I'm only talking about WWE, not NXT or AEW or Japan)
- WWE made its billions on being a balance of superhero-like fantasy for young viewers, and edgy excitement for mature viewers. Anime, Marvel movies, Game of Thrones, those are all popular genres channeling the same appeal WWE / wrestling has or is supposed to have. After WWE went "PG" they didn't know how to gracefully give what fans wanted. No one over the age of 12 is buying any of that shyt because it just looks and feels ridiculous and the stigma of wrestling being "fake" is a turn-off for a lot of people, that's never going to change. WWE can navigate around that but there's just segments of age groups they'll never get back because they done moved on.
- Vince spent the last 15 years pissing off and disappointing his fans, now they're
because people actually stopped watching.
- WWE’s business model relies a lot on weekly cable programming which is becoming niche due to cheap online streamed content. No other entertainment show (sports, TV, Netflix) runs weekly programming all-year round, and it's 2020 where there's a million options to entertain yourself with on any given night and consumers care more about content quality. They might have to start thinking about implementing an off-season, or alternating Raw and SmackDown every half year. The writing is slowly being written on the wall.
Now a billion dollar conglomerate is not folding anytime soon, WWE is gonna be straight even just playing it safe. But that's also what people were saying 10 years ago, now I'm reading house shows are being cancelled over low ticket sales, long-standing executives are getting the boot, and hardcore fans are leaving again at the rate they did in 2001.
So how did all this compound? (I'm only talking about WWE, not NXT or AEW or Japan)
- WWE made its billions on being a balance of superhero-like fantasy for young viewers, and edgy excitement for mature viewers. Anime, Marvel movies, Game of Thrones, those are all popular genres channeling the same appeal WWE / wrestling has or is supposed to have. After WWE went "PG" they didn't know how to gracefully give what fans wanted. No one over the age of 12 is buying any of that shyt because it just looks and feels ridiculous and the stigma of wrestling being "fake" is a turn-off for a lot of people, that's never going to change. WWE can navigate around that but there's just segments of age groups they'll never get back because they done moved on.
- Vince spent the last 15 years pissing off and disappointing his fans, now they're
- WWE’s business model relies a lot on weekly cable programming which is becoming niche due to cheap online streamed content. No other entertainment show (sports, TV, Netflix) runs weekly programming all-year round, and it's 2020 where there's a million options to entertain yourself with on any given night and consumers care more about content quality. They might have to start thinking about implementing an off-season, or alternating Raw and SmackDown every half year. The writing is slowly being written on the wall.
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Why was that an example?
