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SASHA BANKS KNOWS HER WORTH, WHY I THINK THE WWE STOCK DROPPED, BRINGING TOO MANY PEOPLE BACK AT ONCE AND MORE

By Dave Scherer on 2023-01-01 10:00:00

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I listen to a podcast about criminal athletes. There’s a huge chunk that are wrestlers. When someone does a podcast or show about a talent and their faults/arrests, how do you feel about it? Do you find that entertaining, or would you rather the person get better and move on?

I never even knew there were shows about criminal athletes.  Personally, I don’t have much interest in why scumbags commit crimes.

That last question where you bring up the numbers for that 1 elite match where the viewership plummeted I always wonder why you don't discuss the competition on tv from that night what other higher viewership segments from that episode were up against etc etc. I guess at the end of the day I'm wondering if you didn't just find a niche that makes for easy clicks and work by filling the void when Cornette evolved his AEW stance from constant to quote the other reader vitriol to a more neutral stance allowing you to take in the more extreme WWE good AEW bad viewers that Cornette might have lost.

First off, it was THREE Elite segments where hundreds of thousands of viewers left from the start of the show that I referenced, not one.  One is not a pattern.  Three IS a pattern.  Why don't I look for lame excuses to keep from putting the blame where it belongs?  Simple, I am not a fan boy.  That isn't my role.  It's the role of people who want to do whatever they can to justify what they like.  So have at it!  I don't even understand what your last comment even means.  I have been consistent in what I have said about AEW from day one, you just haven't been paying attention.  Then again, you are so dim that you think we post things “for clicks” so I shouldn’t be shocked by your “logic”.

I feel so torn about Sasha Banks. On one hand, I consider her to be an extremely gifted performer, she has connections, she has star power, she branched out on her own into a franchise like Star Wars, and she is on my shortlist of favorite matches against Bayley in Brooklyn. Yet, I also understand WWE being sheepish about a star, who has repeatedly acted disgruntled and unprofessional before and is not willing to cut the company any slack even after the changes in high management. When you compare to her to someone like Becky, who has been leading the division professionally and without star antics outside of maternity leave, I can see why WWE doesn't wanna give Sasha the same amount of trust or finances like her. But is she really expendable? How much of a gain would she be for other companies, like New Japan or AEW? Where do you see Sasha's true value?

I think she is very valuable and even gets a bit of a bad rap.  For everyone who says bad things about her, they should go back and watch the look of sheer joy on her face when she put over Bianca Belair. 

 I understand why she left WWE.  In essence, by pitching the creative that he did, Vince McMahon told her he saw her as a second tier player.  I respect that she walked.  I also still wonder if her being in Japan is a ruse to lull us into believing she is done with WWE.  That would make a return at the Rumble really pop the fans.  Either way, I see her as much more than a midcard talent and if WWE disagrees, I completely understand why she wouldn't want to be there if that is the case.

Triple H taking over the wrestling side of WWE has been a breath of fresh air, feuds were tightened up, good workers were rewarded and talent was brought back, but there have been reports of him being underwhelmed with some of the returning folks and I must admit, I am also disappointed in a few names (Karrion Kross, who got everything he didn't under Vince and yet failed to impress in a big time feud), but isn't Hunter just facing the Tony Khan Curse? I'm sure he had the best intentions, but when you bring in new talent, they must be given focus and direction in order to be engaging. When you are bringing in 20 new talents in 2 months, there simply isn't enough room to focus on each and every one of them. Sure, Tony was adding members to an already bloated roster and probably has no clue how to use them, and Hunter was taking over a depleted roster after the budget cut firings and he is familiar with the new talents, but he may have forced his own hand into an impossible task with filling the roster up this quickly. I'd welcome your thoughts on the matter and also whether the rumours of management being underwhelmed with certain names had any merit.

I agree that too many people have been brought back too quickly.  It’s never a good way to get people over when they come en masse.  With that said, I wouldn’t put HHH in Tony’s sphere.  HHH has showed me that he knows how to book long term.  His work in NXT was great.  I think his major issue right now is that WWE has been in a dead zone for all of December.  They are just treading water until WrestleMania season starts this month.  I think things will heat up now that they have something to build to.  We shall see!

What do you attribute the WWE stock decline to? Has HHH already run out of ideas and the honeymoon is period over? Or are the recent stories of Vince dragging it back down?

First, I don’t think the stock price and creative have much, if anything, to do with each other.  The creative is still way better than it was under Vince McMahon and his boring shows never drove down the price.  I think a few factors are in play.  One, the overall market had a really bad December.  Two, I think the rise in price after Vince left was a bit of a mirage, with no real financial reasoning behind it.  It was more that they were glad the issue of Vince’s dangling dingle had been taken care of and he wouldn’t be around to cause more issues.  The Journal article about Vince making noise about coming back didn’t lead to a big immediate drop.  Another issue that very well may be part of the price drop is the state of television programming business overall.  NBC pondered giving the 10 o’clock hour back to the local affiliates recently.  They may do it in the future.  Programming is costly and ad revenue that supports it is down.  The business is in flux, with people cutting cable by the day and the streaming medium adjusting after the boom years.  It could be that the market is wondering what kind of deal WWE will get when they Raw and Smackdown deals expire.  That is the lion’s share of their revenue so it’s a legitimate thing to be concerned about.

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