5 Changes WWE Needs to Make
My relationship with Professional Wrestling, and more so WWE, is the same as many others: A love/hate relationship. It’s the type of relationship that you know isn’t good for you, but it’s one that you stick around with because you just feel something great is on the horizon.
I’ve been a fan of WWE since I was about 8 years old. I remember the first episode of Smackdown I had ever watched, when John Cena made his debut against Kurt Angle and gave his now infamous, “Ruthless. Aggression!” line to kick off his career. I remember when Kane buried The Undertaker alive, and when The Dead Man came back, I couldn’t believe it.
There was a time where wrestling was real to me.
But as I grew older, I came to understand that wrestling is indeed not ‘fake’ but more, pre-determined. I came to respect the athletes and performers for what they would do to themselves, but at the same time, I became more disconnected with the product as a whole. As the WWE era became more PG and advertiser friendly, I found myself not watching much anymore, not enjoying it like I once did.
I took a good handful of years away from watching, but found myself returning in the later half of 2013, right around SummerSlam, right around the time that the ‘YES’ movement was beginning to take flight. WWE had found lightning in a bottle, albeit accidentally, with Daniel Bryan and his story. From that point to WrestleMania 30, WWE was telling one of its best stories since CM Punk vs. John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011. I was once again…hooked.
I’ve been watching since then, attended a few events, including WrestleMania 32 which was simultaneously one of the most surreal and exhilarating sports moments in my life and one of the most frustrating and disappointing. I even went back through the magic of the former WWE Network (now on Peacock), and watched everything I had missed (not much really). As I sit here now writing all of this out, I feel there are quite a few changes WWE needs to make if they don’t want to fall into obscurity while AEW continues to rise week after week.
So, let’s dive into those changes.
Two Hours
One of the most glaring issues about WWE’s product is how long their flagship show is. Monday Night Raw has been a 3 hour show since mid-2012, and not once has that ever felt needed.
With 3 hours of programming to fill, MNR can become stale very quickly. Too often does the show become more about backstage segments rather than actual wrestling, and with the need to fill those timeslots, WWE tends to throw out retreads of matches we’ve already seen with no real meaning behind them, and by the end of the show you feel exhausted and tired. Think about having to watch one of the Lord of the Rings movies every single week. Sounds fun at first, then it gets very repetitive and very boring.
I know that TV contracts are part of what has locked Raw into this 3 hour time window, but it’s truly incredible that both NXT and Smackdown are 2 hours each and consistently feel like tighter, more focused shows because it. Until a new TV contract comes around the best thing they could do in the interim is have some programming specifically for that last hour, like 205 Live for example, allowing the main roster show to be held to a strict 2 hour time restriction window like WWE’s other major shows.
Giving that hour to 205 Live or the Cruiserweight division as whole also allows them to get some shine, rather than relegating them to a taping prior to Smackdown.
Right now, Monday Night Raw is one of the worst TV programs out there, and a nice time-shave is badly needed.
The Brand Split
We are currently in the midst of year 5 of WWE’s second brand split, and like the first one back in 2002, it’s already worn out its welcome.
Now, don’t get me wrong, At it’s start back in 2016 it was a great thing and made sense. The split allowed superstars who were being held down to get more TV time and grow as a performer. It insured that WWE’s fans were watching all content they had to offer; did you like X superstar? He or she is on RAW, so you have to watch that, but you also like Y superstar? They’re on Smackdown. It worked great and I don’t think we would have gotten KofiMania without it.
For at least the first year as well, each show had it’s own pay-per-views and so WWE would take the time to build it up over the course of roughly 2 months rather and just 3–4 weeks like we see now with all pay-per-views containing all superstars.
But as it’s gone on, what it has really done is showcase just how small the WWE roster is when you have superstars tied to one specific show. I’d say it’s one of the main reasons why we seem to get the same matches every single week, because WWE doesn’t think they really have much else to throw out there at times.
Additionally, this has created a situation where there are way too many belts to fight over. And yes, I know, if you’re going to keep a set of of the roster on one show, you need to make sure they have titles to go after, but it’s created a problem in terms of, “What is the most important belt?” It should be the WWE Championship, but that belt was defended as the Main Event of a pay-per-view just TWICE in 2020.
With the Brand Split abolished, WWE can refocus on it’s title scene, as I will expand on in the next segment.
Too Many Belts
In the previous segment I essentially detailed why having too many belts is a problem as well as why it makes sense at the same time. But with the Brand Split needing to be over, WWE would finally be able to consolidate just a bit.
Here’s how I see it needs to be:
RAW & SmackDown: WWE World Heavyweight Championship, WWE Woman’s Championship, Intercontinental Championship, WWE Tag Team Championship, WWE Woman’s Tag Team Championship, and WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
NXT/UK: NXT Championship, NXT Women’s Championship, North American Championship, NXT Tag Team Championship, and NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship.
Let’s unpack that just a bit. From the main roster, we’ve gotten rid of the show branded belts, the 24/7 Championship, as well as the United States Championship. The show branded belts are obvious, but the U.S. Title might seem a bit off. Quite simply, there is no need for 2 mid-card titles, plain and simple. I’ve also ousted the 24/7 belt because well, it’s silly.
For NXT/UK, I’ve essentially gotten rid of the UK belts which I will explain in greater detail later in this post.
Limited Pay-Per-Views
Since 1996, WWE has had at least one ‘big show’ or pay-per-view in every month of the year.
What this has done when it comes to creative and storylines is rush them. Pay-per-views are meant to be meaningful and at many times, be a place that feuds can come to a close. But when you have one every month, they become more of just a big continuation of what we have seen on weekly programming.
When you only have 3–4 weeks to build your show, you become very limited in what you are able to achieve.
Additionally, the monthly PPV format was used as a way for WWE to make more money during the year, mostly with PPV sales of around $50 a show. With all PPVs being on Peacock now though, which starts at $5 a month, the need for that monthly big revenue isn’t near as important.
But what about ticket sales? PPV show tickets are always more expensive than a normal show of Raw or Smackdown and that is true, and while this sounds anti-consumer, they can simply charge just a bit more for the shows they actually keep around.
In my opinion, there are 5 major PPVs that deserve to stick around due to either their history or their significance in the overall landscape when contained in a year of wrestling:
- Money in the Bank
- SummerSlam
- Survivor Series
- Royal Rumble
- WrestleMania
Money in the Bank is of course the one most longtime wrestling fans will see as an outlier, given that it isn’t traditionally categorized as one of the ‘Big 4.” I include it because when handled correctly, the Money in the Bank briefcase can create new stars and some of the best stories for the year.
SummerSlam of course is an easy one; it is essentially treated as second WrestleMania and can be a spot where long-term feuds begin or end.
Survivor Series is the oldest of the bunch (excluding WrestleMania), and while it’s lost a bit of it’s luster (mostly due to ‘brand warfare’), it’s history allows it to stick around and fits nicely in the timeline I will present in a bit.
Do I need to say much about the Royal Rumble? The winner of the titled match gets a shot at the top belt at WrestleMania. Enough said.
And of course, WrestleMania. There is no WWE without WrestleMania, so of course it stays.
Now, with there being only 5 PPVs for the year, we can space them out nicely to allow the creative team and writers to tell their stories properly through the weekly programming. I would like to give them closer to 8–10 weeks of story to build towards the big show, so here is the schedule:
- Money in the Bank — Mid June
- SummerSlam — Late August
- Survivor Series — Mid November
- Royal Rumble — Late January
- WrestleMania — Early April
And look, if WWE wants to still have a monthly slate of pay-per-views, use that open space for NXT TakeOvers. They have established themselves enough that they no longer need to be tied to one of the bigger shows of the year to get some eyes on it.
NXT UK
Now look, I know this is going to seem a bit controversial. If you actually watch it, it’s fantastic and features some of the absolute best wrestlers that the United Kingdom and Europe as a whole have to offer.
The fact of the matter is though, nobody really watches it, at least, not as much as Raw, SmackDown, NXT (US), or even WWE’s biggest competitor AEW. It is quite frankly, at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to mainstream professional wrestling, save for 205 Live, and that’s a shame.
Back in 2016, NXT started expanding further into the UK market, holding a 16-man tournament to crown the first United Kingdom Champion. In 2018, the NXT UK brand was officially given it’s own show that is one hour long and is taped and managed inside the United Kingdom.
For fans of WWE, this was fantastic. We were all exposed properly to the likes of Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, WALTER, and many more incredible talents. This wasn’t really great though for the British wrestling scene.
WWE signing all of these huge British and European stars meant that major UK promotions like ICW and Progress suffered severe losses, and emerging brand WCPW/Defiant had to close it’s doors all together. From the outside, with all of the signings they’ve made, and the lack of proper promotion and exposure, it feels as if WWE is trying to kill the British wrestling scene.
That’s harsh, but with that being said, in my opinion, WWE needs to close the doors of NXT UK. Any talent that wants to stick with WWE should be used to fill out the main roster as well as NXT and especially the Cruiserweight division. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a sad reality.
As for those who don’t want to stick around, like WALTER for example who has stated multiple times that he has no desire to work full time in the States, can be simply go back to the larger UK brands and help reestablish the greatness they had once created, or wherever they would like.
Yes, this would be a big blow, and making this statement now as a global pandemic, which saw the loss of many jobs, is coming to an end (hopefully) doesn’t seem like great taste. But the talented people at NXT UK deserve to either be on a bigger stage, or be given the freedom to find the stage they feel they can gain more exposure with.
Bonus: Kevin Dunn
Now look, I am not going to follow up the CLOSENXT UK segment with ‘fire somebody else.’
This is more of a statement on how WWE is produced and shown to the masses, which of course is headed by Kevin Dunn.
Let’s have a quick experiment here, tell me which one of these giphs appears to be a more enjoyable way to watch wrestlers throwing strikes at each other:
EXHIBIT A
EXHIBIT B
If your answer is A, then you are correct.
If the giph shown in Exhibit B gave you a slight headache, then I apologize. What you see there is just a small sample of what all modern day WWE wrestling looks like; quick jump cuts that are designed to make the punches and kicks look more ‘realistic’ but instead, cause headaches and chaos to your eyes.
There isn’t much left to say here, just please WWE, fix it.
Conclusion
I know this was a lot to get through and read but I hope it provided some insight into the things that are plaguing modern WWE. Below is a simple round up of the how programming would look in my WWE with the changes I have implemented:
Weekly Programming
Monday — Raw (2 Hours), 205 Live (1 Hour, taking place of Raw’s typical 3rd hour)
Tuesday — NXT (2 Hours)
Friday — SmackDown (2 Hours)
All superstars on the main roster compete on both Raw and SmackDown. NXT UK is absorbed by standard NXT as well as the other rosters.
Pay-Per-View Schedule (Main Roster & NXT)
Early May — NXT Takeover
Mid June — Money in the Bank
Mid July — NXT Takeover
Late August — SummerSlam
Early October — NXT Takeover
Mid November — Survivor Series
Mid December — NXT Takeover
Late January — Royal Rumble
Early March — NXT Takeover
Early April — WrestleMania
Championships
WWE World Heavyweight Champion — Top Main Roster Male
WWE Women’s Champion — Top Main Roster Female
NXT Champion — Top NXT Roster Male
WWE Cruiserweight Champion — Top Cruiserweight Division
WWE Intercontinental Champion — Main Roster Mid Card
NXT North American Champion — NXT Mid Card
WWE Tag Team Champions — Main Roster Tag Team Male
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions — Main Roster Tag Team Female
NXT Tag Team Champions — NXT Tag Team Male
NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions — NXT Tag Team Female
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you have any thoughts, please leave a comment down below and tell me how wrong I am.
