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THE MOVE WWE CAN MAKE TO GET PEOPLE EXCITED ABOUT THEIR PRODUCT AGAIN (AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BOOKING)

After taking what was, in my opinion, far too long to address the morgue-like nature of their TV programming due to lack of audience participation for months after the pandemic began, WWE finally created ThunderDome and added a much needed change of atmosphere to what had become sterile presentations of both Raw and Smackdown.

The new set was pretty much universally loved, and rightfully so.  It was innovative and brought a great vibe to both Raw and Smackdown.

And now?  It’s time let it go when the contract with The Amway Center runs its course next month.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am a big fan of the set.  It has made Raw and Smackdown much more fun to watch, without a doubt.  But as it turns out, WWE has a much better, and cheaper, alternative in house, The Capitol Wrestling Center.

Ever since NXT debuted their new set, it has become clearer and clearer to me every week that it leads to a far superior viewing experience than the larger, more ornate and expensive ThunderDome.  Sure, the CWC is smaller.  It’s not as glitzy as The Amway Center.  Amd that is exactly why it’s better.  The size and logistics of the CWC make it both a better fan experience but also allow the fan interaction to come across better and more naturally to the viewer at home, and that makes the show more fun to watch and seem more important.

The Amway Center is so much larger that whatever noise WWE gets from the people on the screens just isn’t loud enough to come across as what a real crowd would bring to the show.  That leads to sweetening that often sounds out of place, and the viewer notices it.  On the other hand, the smaller size of the building, plus the layout of the screens being right on top of the action, leads to better and louder crowd noise.  It’s more crystal clear every week when I watch Raw and Smackdown, then NXT, that the reactions in the CWC are so, so much better.  The crowd is much liver and louder.  True, the product is (in my opinion) much better and easier to react to, and Raw is three hours vs. two for NXT, but still a crowd feeds off of itself when the show emanates from the CWC.  I see that every Wednesday night while I rarely, if ever, see it on Monday or Friday.

Sure, WWE couldn’t do pyro in the CWC, that’s true.  But pyro is an artificial pop, a crutch if you will.  True fan reaction makes a show.  It makes the viewer engage more.  It makes the product seem more important.  At a time when WWE is losing viewers year to year, any option to get them back should be under consideration.

Do I think Vince McMahon will ever make the move?  Unless the third quarter earnings, which they will report later today, are abysmal, I don’t see it happening.  Vince loves big and glitzy, and ThunderDome is absolutely both of those things.  He likes to be “major league” and The Amway Center is just that in his view.  I doubt that the CWC is.

However, with the changing landscape of cable television, WWE has to look to the future.  There have been estimates that cable television subscribers will drop by a third in five years due to cord cutting.  Many cable companies and cable network owners have already started cutting back significantly on costs.  WWE has four years left on their TV deals.  What will their TV rights be worth when the deals expire?  Will Raw be worth $5 million dollars a week to USA?  No one can tell you that since things change so much, so quickly.  Is it possible they could see an increase?  Sure.  It it possibly they could take a pay cut?  Absolutely.  

The fact of the matter is, even before the pandemic, back when WWE was still running shows in arenas, the lion’s share of their revenue was derived from TV rights fees.  That has led to the company changing the focus of what they do now so that their main priority is what takes place on their TV shows since they have to feed the TV beast.  House Shows and even PPVs have become secondary to TV.  If their revenue percentages were to change significantly, they could be in a position to have to readjust their approach, thus putting a bigger focus on live events and PPVs once again.  Would they be able to change their business in that direction?  I honestly don’t know but it sure won’t be easy to undertake as, for years, they have shifted people away non-TV events (and have promised to fix it for years, to no avail).

In addition to the changing landscape of pretty much all things that are worth seeing being available to watch on TVs or devices, as we have seen this past year a pandemic can shut down house show revenue in a quick second.  At this point, there is no credible information as to when WWE will even be able to tour again, and even then how many people will be allowed at shows.  Counting on fan attendance as a significant revenue source, even if they could fix their house show problem, would be a dicey proposition.

So it makes the most sense to do all that they can to stop the bleeding on the erosion of the their TV viewership.  Obviously, better creative and character development would be a great place to start but we have to deal in reality, Vince McMahon has been giving us his vision of creative for decades now and barring and unforeseen development that won’t be changing any time soon.  

So WWE needs to focus on things that could help change the current perception of WWE for all of the people who have stopped watching.  Their deal with Amway ends next month.  What do they have to lose giving the CWC a shot for the month of December?  See how it goes and how viewers react.  If they see a rise in their ratings they will also save money in the process since the CWC is much cheaper to run.  It’s worth a shot.

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