Concerned For The Future Of Pro Wrestling

Professional wrestling is on the decline to such a degree that promoters are patting themselves on the back for reaching one million viewers on major networks. The time has come to stop the bleeding and turn the fortunes around before we’re all attending its funeral. Am I the only one concerned for the future of pro wrestling?

When Chris Jericho took a controlled bump onto cushioned padding from over 30 feet in the air on a regular weekly episode of Dynamite at the ripe old age of 50, I had to ask, why? This is not going to grab the attention of the casual viewer flicking through channels. If they come across an old, out-of-shape man plunging from great heights into what looked like a sack of pillows, they’re simply going to roll their eyes and laugh at the pathetic state of pro wrestling. These promoters and wrestlers are allowing this laughter to continue, and it has to stop.

It’s been 22 years since Raw garnered its best ratings with over 8.2 million people tuning in to watch Stone Cold Steve Austin battle The Undertaker. Now, I know our viewing habits have totally changed since the late ‘90s, but the principle of television remains the same – if it’s good, they’ll watch it. That’s why shows like Breaking Bad and Game Of Thrones were so successful. They gripped the world and had huge ratings. Pro wrestling may never get to those heights again, but that’s not to say that WWE or even AEW can’t reach three, four or even five million viewers on a weekly basis. To do so, they will have to press the reset button, pop the “wrestling bubble” once and for all and revolutionize the business.

How do they do that? Well, that’s simple – we move with the times and bring wrestling to the 21st century. The world has changed so much and continues to do so at a rapid pace, and if it’s not careful, sports-entertainment will be left behind for good.

Vince Russo has been ridiculed for years – unfairly in most quarters – but he has his finger on the pulse more than Vince McMahon and Tony Khan. Say what you will about the guy, but he knows what it takes to get ratings. He helped WWE achieve its best viewing figures, as well as taking TNA to its peak, and his WCW angles are still talked about to this day.

If Russo was to return to the wrestling fold, he’s spoken about how he would transform the industry by taking the cameras behind the scenes and making the weekly shows more about what goes on behind the curtain as opposed to what happens inside the squared circle. There will be many wrestling fanatics who will instantly turn their nose up at this notion, but they need to realize that to keep pro wrestling alive, a huge change needs to happen.

Of course, the in-ring product will still matter. It has to. But the stories will grow organically from real-life relationships, backstage cliques and the power struggle between the higher-ups attempting to unseat McMahon. This is the way forward for WWE. What else can be done to save the sinking ship? More 30-minute matches with 50/50 booking between two guys or gals attempting to kill each other in the hopes of becoming a meme on social media? Wrestling has become so far removed from what made it popular in the first place that it’s not even recognizable anymore.

Imagine the next episode of Raw opening with a stressed-looking McMahon sitting in Gorilla reading the night’s script, angrily ripping it up before hurling abuse at Bruce Prichard, Triple H, Paul Heyman and others for constantly letting him down. Then have the enraged chairman storm down to the ring to apologize to fans for Raw being so poor in recent years, and that he’s going to turn things around by firing everybody in the back whose vision has “sucked the life out of the business.”

After calling them all out on stage to presumably fire each one of them, he suffers a heart attack in the middle of the ring before Raw goes to commercial. Now, don’t lie, you’re gonna stick around to see what happens next, and it’s also going to catch the attention of many casual viewers, too. In just fifteen minutes of Raw, the whole landscape has suddenly changed and there’s finally interest and intrigue in the product for the first time in decades.

So, what happens next? You could have the power struggle begin backstage with Triple H attempting to take charge by sending two of his top NXT guys to the ring to steal the show while they sort things out. You could have Paul Heyman on the phone to Brock Lesnar hoping to sway him into returning, and help put his name in favor with the decision makers should the worst happen to Vince. Have the wrestlers discuss what this could mean for their futures throughout the evening, while Prichard and others attempt to motivate them to have the best match possible, and let them deal with everything else.

The end of the evening could see a big-time main event between Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns, for example, be thrown into complete turmoil following the invasion of NXT talent, led by Triple H, to take down WWE from within. And as he stands tall in the ring with his army, Shane McMahon appears on stage, full of emotion staring down his brother-in-law, who he always feared would attempt a hostile takeover of the company once his father was out of the picture. And with that, you’re off to the races with a story that people can believe in because it’s based on reality, and if done well, will help catapult WWE once again.

I’m almost convinced WWE will never do anything like this because it will be “breaking the fourth wall” that it seems terrified of doing. But why? What has it got to lose? The ratings are in the toilet. Once these current TV deals are up, do you really expect USA or Fox to re-sign Raw and SmackDown to their lucrative deals? No chance in hell. WWE has to act now because time is ticking.

The question is always asked – do you think WWE will be better without Vince McMahon? Mostly everyone automatically says yes. But that’s a crazy notion. Despite his age and declining facilities, McMahon is still the best promoter in wrestling, and knows what he’s doing at the highest level. Does Triple H possess the same acumen? Or Shane? What about Stephanie or Prichard? Unfortunately, I don’t believe any of these have the capabilities to drive the business forward and move it to the next level. They’re all of the same mindset, which will ultimately be the death nail for WWE, which in turn will kill off the entire wrestling industry.

The positive is that there is still time, albeit limited, to make the changes needed to turn this juggernaut around and create compelling television once again that draws the masses. I don’t know about you, but I’m fed up of watching guys smaller than me play wrestler and jump around the ring like glorified gymnasts injuring one another on a regular basis because they don’t know how to get over on character alone. Nothing will ever change unless someone takes the plunge to take wrestling in a bold, new direction that, if done right, will have the world talking about the business for all the right reasons again.