WWE Re visit the creative spirit of 1997
to make positive creative change in 2019
to make positive creative change in 2019
WWE is the most successful sports entertainment companies in the world.
WWE command massive fees for their weekly live TV shows WWE Raw and WWE Smackdown and WWE are worth millions on the stock market, there is no denying the fact that WWE know the formula to make money from Sports Entertainment.
Where WWE are struggling though in 2019 has been struggling creatively.
Jon Moxley ( Formally Dean Ambrose) recently detailed his WWE experience on Talk is Jericho Podcast and explained the frustration with creative, the multiple re writes for shows, Illogical creative and his on going battle every week "To try and go to Raw and not look like an idiot"
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| Jon Moxley |
You can listen to the full Jon Moxley podcast here
As a fan I love Wrestling and i love WWE its provided so many great moments over the years and been my escape from the world, but as the years have gone on it has become less immersive to a fan like me.
WWE have had 2 main issues I think since 2010 an inability to create new stars and an inability to be able to put those stars into credible, exciting story lines that draw in the viewer and keep their attention.
While WWE corporate generated money and has been increasing year on year, their TV ratings and live attendance to events has been going down.
That made me think, eventually WWE will have to address this, the money wont keep going up forever and a less captivating product and less viewers means in the long term less advertising revenue and the less a TV company will pay for the rights for it, so how do you address this?
Why not go back and look at what Vince Mcmahon did in 1997? Click the video below
Mick Foley Wrote in his excellent First Book "Have a Nice day" that shortly following the death of Brian Pillman that Vince Mcmahon had a meeting with all the wrestling talent and stated "Maybe I'm out of touch" Vince Mcmahon admitting that and letting the talent have more input on their characters and development led to one of the most successful eras in WWE history.
It showed that Vince Mcmahon and WWE cared and in changing showed the fans they acknowledged their frustrations and were wiling to address them
I am not saying that WWE need to go back to the Attitude era there is no way in 2019 that would ever work, it was a different time and era, but what i am just saying is that Vince needs to look at what he is doing, what he is presenting and is it the best way of doing things in 2019?
WWE is over-saturated with TV shows in just one week
WWE Raw = 3 Hours
WWE Smackdown = 2 Hours
WWE 205 Live = 1 Hour
WWE NXT = 1 Hour
WWE Main Event = 1 Hour
= 8 Hours of TV per week
= 32 Hours of TV per Month
That's 8 hours of original content in one week not including a PPV its too much, there is no creative team in the world that can consistently keep coming up with great ideas with so much Television.
That in turn leads to talent being overexposed and fans becoming burn out.
So If i were Vince Mcmahon here's what I would do
- Stop Re Writing Shows
Vince and his Team consistently will re write a WWE Raw show reportedly 4-5 times and sometimes have re written the show while it is on air, write a show with your team, have an idea about where you are going and stick to your ideas, the less indecision you have, the less illogical booking you have, meaning you hopefully have stronger storyline that fans can gravitate towards.
- Short term loss for long term gain
Make Raw 2 hours again, Yes I know this seems crazy but honestly when was the last time you were able to give 3 hours of your life on a Monday night to see 3 hours of RAW? I know USA Network pay for it and WWE love the extra advertising money but if hour 3 disappeared i think it would help TV ratings, keep fans more engaged, help with the over exposure of talent and help keep the attention span of the audience.
- Work with the talent you have to create more captivating TV
The wrestlers love wrestling otherwise they wouldn't be in it, alot of the wrestlers and performers in WWE are wrestling fans, they understand what fans want to see and as Jon Moxley said in his interview the wrestlers want to be involved they want to be creative and they want to contribute, enable them to do this and enable them to help you - working together means better results.
- Really Truly Listen to Your Fans before its too late
I really want WWE to listen to their fans. For example recently Vince, Triple H and Stephanie are in the ring and say "you fans are now the authority" following this we all waited for something to happen................WWE called up some talents from NXT which they handled poorly and nothing has changed since. If you really mean what you say listen to the fans, start making some significant changes and shows the fans that have been with you, that pay for WWE network and that pay for merchandise and tickets to live events that you actually DO care and you DO want to change and make this better, because as a fan of 25 years all it feels like is that your telling fans what they want to hear but aren't delivering.
WWE fans want you to make changes and to make changes that are viable, are visible and make a positive difference to the product they are watching, so go back to 1997, don't change back into the attitude era but instead make a positive significant changes which show us you care, summon up the spirit of 1997 and change for the better.
Thanks for Reading
@jon422002
Jonathan Orchard
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