Wrestling Gone Corporate

The original title of this post was "Did Going Public Hurt The WWE Product". In reality it is not just the simple act of the company being traded in the stock market but the overall corporate nature that wrestling has taken on. Don't get me wrong I am not vilifying Vince McMahon for making money but I do think he has slowly taken apart the foundations of what made a lot of the old school wrestling fans connect to the product in the first place. This happens in all areas of business and especially in creative forms of business. As the music and movie business got more MBA's involved it slowly got less interesting. What happens is that the business people do not understand the business they are in and just understand the numbers aspect of it all. What drives profit today could hurt long term profits.

The Fall of The Territories

The territory system did a lot for the wrestling business in a few ways. It gave a lot of wrestling talent more than just one place to hone their craft. Gimmicks were able to be rehashed if they worked and scrapped if they sucked. Not sure if the territories could have survived in the current media market but who knows. With increased national exposure there maybe 3 or 4 viable top tier wrestling companies. Right now we only have one and them not having to compete for talent or for the market share has hurt the business as a whole.

The breakdown also took away the regional and local attachments that the area fans had to the product. The promotions used to travel to the same cities on a routine schedule that made talent have to keep continuity of their storylines and allowed the fans to be emotionally invested in the product.

Too Many Non Wrestling People In The Mix

Just like the music business, the interest of people who are just interested in making a profit has watered down the business. Vince McMahon has to now try to make people understand a business that they would never be involved with otherwise. This is believed to be one of the things that led to the downfall of WCW. One advantage the WWE has is that they are not owned a by more profitable parent company. In attempting to maintain the the mainstream appeal and attract more advertisers and merchandisers the company has slowly over time irritated their core audience. The core audience that made the brand what it is in the first place.


CM Punk Promo



Some Ring Time Pro Wrestling Podcast