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January 2nd, 2023.
It’s hard to believe we’re only a few months away from, not only WrestleMania, but perhaps the most important and historic wrestling event since WrestleMania 1.
So much has happened over the last 12 months in the industry, and now we sit at the precipice of a new era. This is the first WrestleMania season ever to not involve Vince McMahon, the show’s creator and the man responsible for the past 38 broadcasts of the event. There is a new regime in charge that has already made subtle, yet important changes to the WWE presentation. For wrestling fans, this new and unknown scenario breeds a wide range of emotions, from tepid optimism, to staunch doubt, to unshakeable faith in the new direction. This year, the “Road to WrestleMania,” along with the event itself, will have more of an impact on the future of WWE’s business and the wrestling industry as a whole than anything that has taken place since WWE purchased WCW in 2001. This will, without any doubt, be the most important 4 month stretch in professional wrestling over the last 20 years. It’s important to understand why this time period bears so much significance, and it’s fair to wonder what the outcome of the next 4 months will be. The future of the entire industry is at stake, and it all falls onto one man’s shoulders: Paul Levesque.
To truly understand this story, we need to go all the way back to 2014. CM Punk had just wrestled his last WWE match. Dave Batista, despite his own opposition to the idea and ever increasing fan demand to see Daniel Bryan as champion, won the Royal Rumble and the right to face Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 30. The WWE Network was in it’s infancy, having launched at the end of February. But what’s most important about this time period (the same thing that is ALWAYS the most important part of wrestling), was the booking of the product. The shows were primarily dominated by the same 2 people that had dominated WWE programming for the prior decade, Randy Orton and John Cena. The characters that WWE fans wanted to see featured in prominent roles were, as usual, cannon fodder for these 2 icons. From CM Punk, to Dolph Ziggler, to Bray Wyatt, all the way to the most over character in WWE, Daniel Bryan, all of them were used to reinforce the story that Vince McMahon wanted to tell, the same story he had been telling for the last decade: That John Cena and Randy Orton are one level above everyone else. A few people had their own moments of importance during that 10 year span, but no one outside of those 2 characters saw sustained, “WrestleMania Marquee” success with Vince McMahon at the helm. The WWE product as a whole suffered for this. Fans lost interest seeing the same two people always on top, and the product had become increasingly more predictable and less exciting than the previous eras in WWE history. The aftermath of WrestleMania 30 only exacerbated this problem, as Daniel Bryan had his crowning moment on that show, but was quickly defeated and injured, and Vince McMahon went back to the same, predictable booking. The audience had been beaten down during those 10 years. A decade of seeing their favorite stars rise up and grab the proverbial “brass ring,” only to tap out to the STF or lose after an RKO out of nowhere, then tumble back down the card. That decade of frustration reached a boiling point after the 2014 Royal Rumble, when crowd after crowd began hijacking WWE shows by chanting endlessly for Daniel Bryan, in hopes that somehow, someway, the man that spent 10 years largely ignoring them would somehow actually listen this time.
While WWE fans were attempting to start their own fire on the main roster, the sparks of a revolution began igniting down in Florida. WWE’s developmental promotion, NXT, that was being run not by Vince McMahon, but by Paul “Triple H” Levesque, had been generating buzz around the industry. NXT was presented as an entirely different product than what was found on Raw and Smackdown. The stories revolved around interesting characters that were grounded in reality. They had easy to understand motivations, along with believable, relatable personalities. The product began as a small, local production in Florida, but began growing into a full-fledged, self-contained wrestling promotion. Paul Levesque listened to his audience and gave them what they hadn’t had in over 10 years: A serious wrestling product with a WWE-level production, with matches and stories that revolved around pro wrestling. NXT didn’t feature stories about incest, or illegitimate children, or necrophilia, or superstars wrestling matches with their “mommas,” or characters with horrible face tumors having that tumor bitten off by a man who eats worms, or the owner of the company forcing his employees to literally kiss his bare ass on national TV, or the owner of the company being murdered in an exploding car on national TV, or the owner of the company wrestling and defeating GOD on a PPV (yes, that actually happened)….you get the point.
NXT featured stories that not only got their audience invested, but were so well received that they were able to sell out the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in less than 24 hours for their first live show EVER outside of Florida. These shows were anchored by some of the best stories in modern wrestling history; Bayley proving she wasn’t just the “super fan” that was happy to be there, that she was a legitimate main-event level talent. Sami Zayne proving to himself and the world that he was good enough to become NXT Champion doing it HIS way, the RIGHT way, not taking shortcuts. The emergence of the 4 Horsewomen, the breakthrough performances from 2 young UK stars in Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate, the revitalization of tag team wrestling thanks to show-stealing performances from The Revival, American Alpha, DIY, and so many others, NXT was the *perfect* wrestling show. It had everything a fan could possibly ask for…except for one major issue. NXT was still, despite it’s success, WWE and Vince McMahon’s developmental system. So as major stars arose and began to take shape in NXT, Vince would pluck them away to bring up to Raw and Smackdown. At first, NXT fans were excited and happy for their NXT stars to get “called up” to the main roster, but as each star left the NXT brand, that enthusiasm grew dimmer and dimmer. Much like most talent that entered Raw or Smackdown over the last decade, the new NXT talents were criminally underutilized. Many of them were forced to change their characters, the same characters that got them to the main roster in the first place. Many of them were booked to lose to established WWE stars, presumably to make Vince’s roster appear stronger than the much beloved NXT roster. Many of them were never even given a fair chance from the moment they left NXT. And the audience knew this. They watched as NXT mega-star after mega-star became shadows of their old selves on the main roster. Not only did this add fuel to the fire of the already dwindling and frustrated WWE audience, it began to affect the NXT audience as well. The NXT fans that invested so heavily into the promotion were “rewarded” by seeing their favorite stars leave the promotion after roughly a year in most cases, then become immediately less important and less interesting on Raw or Smackdown. This ultimately began the downfall of the NXT “Black and Gold” era, and the end of one of the best 3 year spans any company has ever had in the industry.
Things got worse once the pandemic hit. AEW had formed and gave the wrestling audience an alternative to NXT and WWE. NXT had been stripped of so much talent over the prior 3 years that it was hard to maintain interest levels while crowds were not allowed to attend shows. It was a recipe for disaster. Then, the unthinkable happened. Paul Levesque was removed from power in NXT, despite building the hottest, most successful wrestling brand of the last decade.
Fast forward to 2022, and the landscape of professional wrestling was bleak. AEW’s momentum had begun to flounder as the booking of the product had gotten worse and worse as the year progressed. WWE was at an all-time low creatively, perhaps only matching the early 90’s WWE programming. Ratings, merchandise, attendance, overall interest was down across the board, continuing the trend WWE had seen since the early 2000s. The industry was bleeding out, losing viewers by the month. Lifelong fans who had given WWE chance after chance after chance completely turned their back on the entire industry, refusing to watch wrestling in it’s current state. Anyone reading this likely knows at least one person who used to love professional wrestling, that hasn’t watched in years, primarily because of Vince McMahon’s booking. The immediate future of the business was dark, and many were worried the product would never be able to rise to it’s former glory.
But then, news broke of the single biggest story in professional wrestling, perhaps ever; Vince McMahon was leaving WWE after multiple stories of his professional and personal misconduct had come to light. WWE without Vince McMahon was something very few of us thought we would see for a long time. Many people expected the “Genetic Jackhammer” to run WWE well into his 90s. But, that all came crashing down on June 17th, 2022. The entire landscape of professional wrestling changed that day. Every promotion, every talent, every aspiring contributor to the business had to completely reevaluate what the future of this business would look like. WWE moved the previously ousted Paul Levesque into the head of creative for WWE, a move that NXT “Black and Gold” fans celebrated as the best possible outcome for WWE. They had seen what he was capable of in NXT, imagine what he could do when he’s not losing his top talent every 4 months. Imagine what he could do with the full force of the WWE production team and one of the deepest rosters of the last 2 decades at his disposal. WWE fans finally have the one thing they’ve been searching for since WrestleMania 30. Hope.
Everything has led to this moment. January 2nd, 2023.
It’s hours before the first Raw of 2023 airs, hours before the most important time period of our generation begins. But the question becomes, “Why are the next few months of WWE programming so critical?”
That answer is simple. You only get one chance to make a good first impression.
For the last 20 years, WWE’s audiences for Raw and Smackdown begin to rise as the build for WrestleMania starts. Who will win the Royal Rumble? Which stars will be made? Which stars will return? Who will main event WrestleMania? Buzz and interest around the industry always increase as the audience awaits the answer to these questions. This year, however, there is one major difference. The return of the lapsed fans this year will be higher than it's ever been, and WWE will have a major opportunity to recapture them. Because of the intrigue created by Vince McMahon’s absence, Paul Levesque’s command of the WWE product, and the attention that he has already created for the product since taking over, Paul Levesque has a chance to do something that the lapsed audience would never have given Vince McMahon: a chance to win them back.
I personally know of many lapsed WWE fans that will be giving this “new” WWE a chance over the next few months. Many lapsed fans traditionally come back for WrestleMania as it is. Paul Levesque and his team have a chance to recapture a MASSIVE portion of their audience that left the product under Vince McMahon. We’ve seen merchandise, attendance, ratings (mostly) and overall interest level rise under Paul Levesque’s watch, and now he has a chance to do so at a much larger scale and in a much more meaningful way.
How does he accomplish something that Vince McMahon couldn’t do in the last 20 years?
By being himself and doing what he and his team do best. Paul Levesque showed the world what he thinks wrestling can be when he booked NXT. WWE doesn’t have to be an NXT clone to succeed, but if he can merge the core principles he maintained in NXT (a strong in-ring product, stories that are believable and relatable, characters based in realism that the audience can connect with) with the talent and production capabilities he has at his disposal, then WWE has a chance to create a new “golden era” in professional wrestling.
WWE has proven throughout the years (mostly because of Vince McMahon’s ineptitude as a booker) that there are MILLIONS of wrestling fans that WANT to participate and be enthralled with the business again, but what WWE was giving them for the last 2 decades wasn’t what they wanted.
This is a monumental task, to re-engage millions of people that have likely moved on with their lives and to try to reach audiences that have never given WWE a chance in the first place. But with 2 massive TV deals up for negotiation in the coming years, and the landscape of television and streaming rights changing before our eyes, growing the television audience is the most sure-fire way to strengthen the company’s position at the bargaining table. Interest in WWE and rising ratings has an effect on the entire industry. If ratings and interest are rising and WWE gets big TV deals, that can open avenues for AEW, MLW, Impact, even ROH to pursue better television opportunities. In the off chance that WWE squanders this opportunity and ratings begin to fall, doors could start closing for those other promotions as it pertains to their ability to get on TV. More places to work and make a living will always equal better opportunities for talent and a better product for the audience.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that this could literally be the ONLY chance WWE has to recapture this lost audience. We’ve seen with companies like Impact how these stories go. Impact spent years burning out their audience and trying to reset the product over and over again. By the time the Impact product became watchable again, virtually the entire audience has left and none of them have been willing to give the product a chance again. WWE is lucky in a sense that they have the ONE magic button they can hit to try to re-engage their lost audience, Vince McMahon leaving the company. If they squander this opportunity, they could lose these fans forever. That’s not hyperbole. Impact is the perfect case study.
The eyes on the wrestling world, both old and new, will be on WWE starting tonight. It is imperative that Paul Levesque and his team put their best foot forward to make this WrestleMania, and the build to it, the best they possibly can.
I hope that all wrestling fans, both old and new, are standing united, celebrating together at the end of WrestleMania 39. I hope that we have the chance to come together to expunge the last 2 decades of frustration and disappointment, as we watch confetti fall from SoFi stadium. I hope that we can all move forward, together, with a reinforced love and trust in the product, and that we all find the passion for this business that many of us have kept with us since we were children. For myself, after driving 10 hours to watch Bayley vs. Sasha Banks at Takeover: Brooklyn, I believe in my heart that Paul Levesque is the right man for the job. I believe and I have hope. And I hope you do too.
Thank you for reading. I can be reached at TJ.Parsons1@gmail.com. Happy New Year, and let 2023 be the best year for wrestling fans around the world.
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