How to fix what’s broken in WWE
The ever-declining ratings of Raw, ECW and Smackdown may, in fact, be part of an overall audience erosion due to the writers strike, but those excuses are wearing thin. The bottom line is that WWE hasn’t really changed or revolutionized its television product in the past decade, and the audience is getting bored with it. It’s time to stop looking like a bunch of used Harleys, and put some fresh product out there.
I don’t mean replacing the Top 4 dawgs in each promotion with a new Top 4 dawgs, either. I mean completely remaking the way pro wrestling storytelling takes place in each weekly broadcast. I think the latest ratings decline for the current format was sparked when Raw GM William Regal literally pulled the plug on a Raw main event, a few weeks back. That wasn’t compelling television; it was a cheat to loyal viewers, and became a “Jump the Shark” moment. Now, the trick will be to radically undo the damage.
Here are some tips and strategies for the WWE’s perusal. Hopefully someone’s actually listening.
1) Once the WWE Draft is over, seal up the brands tightly this time; the idea of Raw, ECW and Smackdown as separate brands only works if the talent stays on the shows they’re supposed to be on.
2) Go back to single-brand PPVs. By having stars from all three brands appear in every PPV, what you lose is the ability to build up your mid-card guys with meaningful resolutions to fueds. PPVs need to stop being the domain of just the top four guys in each brand; only SummerSlam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and WrestleMania should be multi-brand PPVs, so that it’s meaningful when it happens. The rest of the time, the smaller-scale PPVs should be opportunities to build up the profiles of each brand - including and especially the midcard guys.
3) Make title pursuits central again. Your midcarders should all be pursuing (depending on brand) the US or Intercontinental title, with the title holder using their reign as a launching pad to reach the next level; or they should be involved in a reinvigorated tag team division. Your headliners should all be pursuing that brand’s respective world title, with a lot more guys than just the top four dawgs involved in that pursuit.
4) Give the midcarders meaningful storylines and motivations that help each TV match mean something. Develop storylines that take a long time to develop, and start planning longer story arcs. While injuries and suspensions may make revisions necessary, each broadcast should leave the viewer feeling confident that ever match advanced both wrestlers involved in a specific, planned direction.
5) Cut down the overlong in-ring chatter and backstage skits; re-embrace the importance of sharp interviews and in-ring storytelling over juvenile humor and stupid skits. The Mick Foley-Rock stuff was golden, but it was also about eight years ago. Time to move on.
6) Reduce the on-screen roles of the GM and the McMahon Family. Use this as a symbol that the way WWE broadcasts tell a story has actually changed.
7) Treat traditions, like King of the Ring, with a whole lot more respect than the most recent edition did. Book these things right, or don’t book ‘em at all.
Cut back on the theatrics and instead of modern “heels” and “faces,” all of whom are on incredible ego trips anyway, try letting the crowd decide who to cheer and who to boo based on who wrestles clean and who breaks the rules. Sounds like a return to a simpler era? It doesn’t have to be in execution, but it’s clear the “male soap opera” thing has run its course.
9) Try something fresh and unexpected, like posting a wrestler’s won-loss record for the month, the year, and career. Yes, we know results are booked and scripted, but something like this would appeal to sports stats geeks, and would reinject a sense that wins and losses mean something.
10) End the “pass the main title between a handful of guys” tradition and open the gates wider to all the established guys. Having Triple H and Randy Orton and John Cena at the top of the card all the time wears out the welcome of those fueds. If you book Jeff Hardy to be on a hot winning streak, it should earn him a title shot at the next PPV.
11) Stop giving away so many PPV-level matches on broadcast TV. The Monday Night Wars are over, and you can save matching up your top contenders for PPVs. Make people want to see Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy because it’s something they won’t see, in any variation, until the next Raw PPV.
12) Building on point 9, establish gimmicks like a Sizzling 7 list for which superstars are winning and closing in on title shots, for the main titles, the second-tier titles, the tag titles and so on. Having people move up and down that list could be made into a regular segment each week, giving the Raw, ECW and Smackdown broadcasts more of an ESPN SportsZone type feel.
These are just some basic ideas, but I feel more than a few of them would be fresh, new ideas that could reinvigorate WWE broadcasts, given a decent chance. The branding catchphrase could be along the lines of, “WWE. Putting the sports back in sports entertainment.”
What does WWE have to lose?
Tags: used Harleys, WWE