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WHAT IF THE USA NETWORK LEAVES THE WRESTLING BUSINESS, WHY YOU CAN’T HOLD HHH ACCOUNTABLE FOR TODAY’S BOOKING, ONE REALLY HYPOCRITICAL THING ABOUT TONIGHT’S PPV AND MORE

By Dave Scherer on 2017-06-04 10:00:00

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I was just reading the article on the site about the future of WWE on the USA network and had a few questions I was wondering if you could answer.  Suppose NBC Universal execs decide to pull the plug on WWE programming on their network, what would WWE's next move? Do they try to shop around for another cable network like TBS or even ESPN, or do you think it would be wiser to move all programming exclusively to the WWE network? 

If USA leaves the WWE business, they will absolutely do their due diligence and see if any other network wants to pay for the rights to carry the shows.  Television Rights Fees is the number one source of revenue for the company, so they would try and garner a new deal.  If they were unable to do that, then it seems very likely that Raw and Smackdown would move to the WWE Network in the US. 

If they did move Raw and Smackdown to the network, would they have to raise the price of the network to make up for the lost revenue from being on USA network and if so how long do you think they could last airing all their programming on the network?

If they lose that revenue, they would have create a tier where fans would pay for Raw and Smackdown.  We see on YouTube that they can generate advertising but not THAT much.  They may be able to do a hybrid where they charge a buck or two for the shows only, and subsidize that with ads on the show.  I highly doubt that they want to be in a position to find that out however.

There's a lot of belief online that when HHH takes over after Vince that things will improve. My counter is this. He is extremely high up with alot of power. In 1997 with no power he along with Shawn Michaels persuaded the company go in a different direction as fans were walking away. Ffwd 20 years and fans are walking away again, now in a company role shouldn't we be seeing things improving if he truly was this Knight in shining armour?

Here’s why your counter is wrong.  In 97, Vince was getting thrashed by WCW and his company was teetering on the precipice.  Due to that, he was willing to leave his comfort zone.  That isn’t the case in 2017.  Unless he is forced to make changes, by say NBC Universal, he doesn’t have to leave the comfort zone at this time.  Vince had to be receptive to things then, he doesn’t now, at least not right now.

First, credit where it's due. Vince McMahon is a great businessman. He's taken a niche interest and turned it into a global brand, monopolizes the industry and makes a lot of money from a pretty poor product. I've heard him touted as a genius, and I would say he is in business, but as a wrestling booker? To me he's only ever put out a great product when he's stepped out of his comfort zone and/or given someone else more control. My question is how do you guys rate Vince as a booker/head of creative, now just now but over the years?

I have said the same thing many, many times.  As a businessman, he is a legend.  As a wrestling booker and character creator?  I can’t go that far.  He did a great job in the beginning, appealing to the masses with his dramatic good vs. evil stories.  Then it petered out in the early 90s.  He made a renaissance in the Attitude Era, and yes a lot of that came from other people.  Since the Era ended, it has been pretty bland from a creative standpoint so I just can’t say that he has shown himself to be a creative genius when you look at his entire 30 plus year run.

OK, so, let me get this straight. At a pay-per-view called "Extreme Rules," the Intercontinental Championship will be defended in a match where if one guy gets disqualified he loses the title? Isn't that the very antithesis of Extreme? I mean, wouldn't it make way more sense (and further cement Kurt Angle as a babyface GM) to have Miz ask for that match and have Angle "give him what he wants" by eliminating DQs entirely and making Ambrose/Miz a No DQ Match?

When you put it that way, yep it is pretty stupid on their part!

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