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INCONSISTENCY IS WWE'S BIGGEST ENEMY

The fact that WWE has been steadily losing viewers for a while now isn’t recent news - it’s a widely documented phenomenon which has caught the attention of people far removed from the pro wrestling business, and it's been going on for a while now. The question of why it's happening is another matter. 'Terrible creative' seems to be a common answer, as does 'Vince McMahon' in general, but there may be another factor at play; consistency.

If WWE weren't trying anything new, it would be one thing, but they are. Over the past twelve months, they've attempted more innovation than they have in years. Lack of trying isn't their enemy here - it's their lack of commitment to ideas after they've come up with them. WWE has picked up and dropped ideas so quickly that we've almost become numb to it, and we sometimes forget it's even happening. 

There is plenty of evidence that if they give us something new, and keep working at it, we’ll enjoy it. On the flip side, if they then stop giving us that thing - or take it away from us - we’ll switch off. There couldn’t be a better example of this than the 24/7 title. People laughed at it when it was introduced, feeling it was just a watered down version of the Hardcore Title, but now it racks up big YouTube numbers for the company. It’s a funny, silly title that gives people who otherwise wouldn’t be on television something to do, and (largely thanks to R-Truth) it’s entertaining. People like to see Truth and his misadventures with the title - and yet he didn’t feature at all on Stomping Grounds. 

The 24/7 Title can't call itself badly treated just yet though. That 'honor' has to go to the women's tag team championships. It seems like a lifetime ago now, but when they were first introduced, they were treated as a big deal. Bayley and Sasha were the perfect choices as a championship team, and their defense of the titles at WrestleMania was treated as a prominent match. Then, the Iconics were given the belts. That would have been fine if they went on to do anything with them, but we're three months down the line from WrestleMania, and they're yet to have a meaningful defense. Many weeks, Peyton and Billie aren't on television at all, and it becomes easy to forget the titles even exist. That's to say nothing of the fact that the move appears to have permanently cost the company the services of one of their most popular female stars. 

To give a third example from the last three months alone, we have the absurd situation with the brand split. In the month running up to WrestleMania, it seems like the divide between the rosters was out of the window, and everyone could turn up everywhere. At the time, we could just about make sense of that. Matches were happening on the show which involved competitors from different brands, and so they had a storyline reason to be on each others' show. When the 'Superstar Shakeup' was done shortly after WrestleMania, it appeared that we'd regain the definition which once made one brand different from another. If you can't remember what that definition felt like - and we don't blame you - think back to how fresh and unique SmackDown felt during the first Styles title reign, with 'Talking Smack' and 'The Fashion Files.' Instead, we have a 'Wild Card' system, which makes the split pointless. All the top stars from one brand can appear on the other, and as it's only the top stars who get any TV time anyway, it makes both shows feel the same. When the announcement of 'Wild Cards' was made, Vince McMahon said it would be limited to four superstars on each show. That became five very quickly. On some weeks, it's been as many as eight. 

We could go on with this. There was the vague promise of the third hour of RAW being 'darker,' with a new logo and lighting. That idea lasted precisely one week. Now, the latest idea is apparently that matches won't continue through commercial breaks. Given how many commercials air during RAW and SmackDown, that's going to mean lots of three-minute matches, lots of multi-fall matches, or the abandonment of the idea two weeks from now. 

The only thing that WWE do appear to be committed to is the one thing that fans don't want, and that's the push of heel Shane McMahon. The idea of a heel authority figure went to the retirement home a long time ago. People are bored with it. It's been played out to death. Shane is booed when he comes out, but he's also subjected to 'AEW,' 'CM Punk' and 'Boring' chants. That's the audience's way of saying they don't want to see you. While they're chanting about unrelated companies and wrestlers in the arenas, the viewers at home are switching off. There's a time and a place for Shane. 'All over half of your television time on both shows each week' isn't it. 

It's easy to see why WWE wants to try whatever it can to bolster viewing figures. They have television deals and revenue figures to maintain, and shareholders expecting a substantial return on their investments. Vince is, therefore, trying idea after idea to see if he can make money from it. That's like roaming around an mobile casino and playing slot game after mobile slots game in the hope that you're eventually going to hit the jackpot on one at the first time of asking. You might - and if so you'd be very lucky - but any casino game player will tell you that winnings come more frequently when you pick one game and stick to it until it pays out. Keep putting money into the game, and eventually, you'll get your reward. Lose interest in it because it's not giving you what you want immediately, and you'll likely find yourself running out of money faster than you think. 

By picking up ideas and dropping them just as fast, WWE is telling us that the ideas don't matter. Over time, the message gets through to the audience that there's no point investing in anything that's happening on the screen, because the chances are it will be dropped a few weeks from now anyway. That disengages people from the product, and they eventually tune out. AEW may very well turn out to be the biggest threat WWE have faced in decades, but their own inconsistency may be doing far much more damage to their audience. 

 

 

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