This was written back on September 9th, 2015 and not surprisingly still rings true.
The flagship enterprise in the world of professional wrestling and sports entertainment is the World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE. This company has dominated the wrestling business for several decades and has blown away any and every competitor that has dared challenged them. Honestly, other than a few brief years during the Monday Night Wars no one has presented a challenge to them. However, that changes now……I challenge the WWE and all there creative and business officials, I challenge the man behind the brand Mr Vincent Kennedy McMahon, I challenge principal owner and his daughter Stephanie McMahon and I challenge WWE COO Triple H. Here is my challenge to you…..I challenge you, no I dare you to provide “Professional Wrestling Fans” with content worthy of our loyalty and our time. The WWE Universe are some of the most loyal fans in all of the sports and entertainment world. We cheer our heroes and we boo our enemies. We live vicariously through our favorite “Superstars” hanging on every action waiting and anticipating for the next time we have to cheer.
But yet professional wrestling fans have had to endure some very deep valleys in our search for what used to be the deepest root in the wrestling tree of life. Monday Night Raw the premier and longest running weekly episodic television show in history used to be must see tv. You couldn’t afford to miss any bit of the show. At a time when everyone on the roster was a main event player, even when they weren’t in the main event picture. At a time when the supporting case talent would still give people a reason to tune in. What happened to those times. I realize that life is different now, that you are functioning under the weighted cloud of the “PG” rating system, that we aren’t under the no holds barred life of the “Attitude Era”. And honestly as much as I loved that era because that is what I grew up with I know the product has to change, it has to adapt in order to survive. But what happen to the content ??? What happened to the storylines ??? What happened to babyface characters that I couldn’t help but care about ??? What happened to heel characters I couldn’t wait to see get beaten up ??? Why has the WWE gone so “Hollywood” they have forgotten what precedes the entertainment in their business mantra…..What happened to the sport of professional wrestling ??
Obviously not everyone is going to think like me however I feel like the WWE is ignoring us. Us the diehard true lovers of the sports entertainment business and is playing to much to the multimedia masses of this watered down politically correct generation. WWE has a unique opportunity to display there product on a twenty four hour bases. The WWE network should be bringing in tons of revenue for the company and yet it hasn’t caught on the way they had originally hoped. And I don’t think it’s for the reason they think it is.
What I think it is, is simply the lack of meaningful pro wrestling content. Give me meaningful wrestling content. Give me a Smackdown that matters. Where even if I read the spoiler message boards with exactly whats happening I still need to tune in because it is can’t miss WWE TV. Yes we all know that pro wrestling is scripted but please don’t insult our intelligence !!! We watch wrestling because we love it, because in the time we are watching wrestling escape our reality and live through what’s happening in front of our viewing eyes. Think it through, the greatest feud in wrestling history was Austin vs Mr McMahon. What made the Austin vs McMahon feud of the Attitude Era so memorable was the fact that each week we lived out our lives through everything that was happening Stone Cold Steve Austin reached out and identified with not just a small percentage like the WWE higher ups are shooting for now but he resonated with an entire nation of people. Wrestling gives us the inherent belief that anything can happen. That a guy the size of Rey Misterio Jr who has the heart of a man the size of Andre the Giant can win the world title and triumph over an animal like Batista. That a technical wrestling thoroughbred like Eddie Guerrero can “Lie, Cheat, and Steal” his way into our hearts. That when we hear the glass shatter we know that “Business is about to pick up !!!” WWE we understand the viewing restrictions of the PG era but don’t take away our love for the sport of professional wrestling because your trying to sell t-shirts or fruity pebbles. Don’t deprive us of our common sense finish off storylines before you jump into the next one. Give me a story start to finish, then make the next feuds introduction make sense. Don’t fast forward me into the next chapter build up this book.Build up the story, make it mean something again. You have the means to deliver, you have incredible talent who are being under and improperly used, you have the power to change the game. So please take advantage of it the WWE Universe begs you. Don’t pander to the fair weather bandwagon followers who will stop watching as soon as the next fade becomes apparent. Give us the loyal true blue fans who watch wrestling all year long not just during Wrestlemania season the real wrestling we want. And I guarantee you that your business will pick up. I assure you that ratings and buyrate will sky rocket simply by doing one thing. Give me meaningful wrestling content.
SIncerely,
A Professional Wrestling Fan
