If I Could Be Serious For A Moment 05.12.09: Stimulus Package

Posted by Chris Lansdell on 05.12.2009

Wrestling is not doing so well right now. Why not? Is it as bad as it seems?

Greetings, humanity! Welcome back to If I Could Be Serious for a Moment, your weekly dose of intelligent wrestling discourse with me, Chris Lansdell. I'll admit, I was struggling for a topic this week. Normally something will happen in my life or in wrestling that inspires a column, but this week that just didn't happen. As has been the case on a couple of occasions, 411's own Vile One Jeffrey Harris came to the rescue with an excellent topic that really suits the scope of this column. What is that, you might ask? Well I'll gladly tell you, right after the…

BANNER!

Wrestlenomic Downturn

If there's one phrase I am tired of hearing, it's "economic downturn." It's right up there with "not tonight honey" on the list of phrases that make my teeth itch. Close behind it is "stimulus package". Unfortunately, two of these three expressions are starting to become à propos when it comes to wrestling. How is our beloved industry suffering? Why is it suffering? Are things really as bad as they may seem?

Cost of living is up and we're going down

As the biggest wrestling company in the known universe, it's only natural that WWE would take the brunt of the fall. Following a brief ratings spike pre-WrestleMania, all 3 shows have started to decline in viewership, back to the average rating for the last couple of years.in Raw's case and dropping in the case of the other two shows. Some drastic reshuffling at the draft doesn't seem to have benefitted Raw yet, and Smackdown just hasn't been the same since the move. ECW has started to drop below Impact's ratings. Buyrates are down (Royal Rumble and No Way Out were both down over 300,000 buys from last year) and live attendance, in North America at any rate, is also down. Although they have yet to cancel any shows, the recent issue with their Mexico tour is an indication of how precarious the situation is: they were going to cancel then quickly changed their minds, in all likelihood because they realised how much it would cost them to do so. Either that or they wanted to show how much they love their fans in Mexico.

It's all related of course, but with less people watching, less people are buying merchandise. The DVD sets still sell well because they still draw in the nostalgia crowd, but things like apparel and memorabilia have taken a dive in light of a financial climate where food on the table is a very real concern for some people. When you consider that wrestling has traditionally drawn its fanbase from the lower and middle classes, this shortfall becomes even more marked. There was a time when you couldn't walk down the street without seeing a WWE shirt, whether it was Austin, DX or Rock. Now if you see one, you almost want to stop the person and hug them.

WWE has had troubles attracting new fans, and that problem continues to present itself. Even at a time when staying home in front of a TV is the cheapest way to entertain yourself, WWE programming is not attracting more viewers. It's a bad time of year for that, with NBA and NHL playoffs along with the May sweeps, but this has been ongoing for the better part of 5 years.

TNA, on the face of it, would appear to be in a better position than WWE. After all their ratings are holding steady and there has been talk of adding a second show. However, there is cause for concern because the thousands that are turning off WWE are not tuning in to TNA. Even with the money they've thrown at Sting, Foley and Angle, TNA just cannot get a significantly larger slice of the pie. They're fairly tight-lipped about things like buyrates, but you can guarantee that if they were increasing we would be hearing about it.

In TNA's case a lack of increase is the same as a decline, because they should be making hay while the sun shines. WWE is stumbling, TNA has a balanced roster for the first time, and yet their ratings stay the same. They've also cut down on PPVs outside of Orlando, which was seen as a big step forward for them last year. A quick look at their schedule for the years shows one PPV (in Detroit on 6/21) outside Orlando.

Ring of Honor has been hit, and hit hard. Despite their TV deal on HDNet (for which we get no ratings, since HDNet do not subscribe to Neilsen) and their apparent success with PPVs (because let's face it, they would have given up if they weren't working), they have also recently cancelled 3 shows in new markets (Montreal, Danbury and Elizabeth) to be replaced with shows in stronger ones. The Montreal show, for example, has already been replaced with a Toronto show, featuring the RoH debut of Bret Hart. There were a few people last year who questioned whether RoH's sudden explosive growth would be too much at once, and this would seem to point to them being right.

Recent shows in some of RoH's stronger markets have reportedly had lower-than-average attendances. The recent Boston show was a stark example of this, with the arena seeming sparsely populated and an estimated attendance of under 600. Their website has been running a lot of drastic reductions on merchandise too, which is an indicator that sales aren't what they should be.

Even smaller promotions are not immune. SHIMMER, the face of women's wrestling in North America, recently taped 4 DVDs worth of action in one weekend because they didn't know when they could afford another show. The Herculean effort of taping nearly 16 hours of wrestling over 2 days has obscured the fact that this little company may not run another show this year, or at the most will run one more weekend. PWG, who already run the bare minimum of shows each year, are virtually silent right now. Even Japan has been hit, with Pro Wrestling NOAH, one of the Big 3 in the country, losing a TV deal and seeing declining attendance as a result.

What would you do if we ran out of feuds?

Probably stand up and walk out on you. Although nobody is suggesting that there are no more feuds to have, there certainly is a lack of fresh ones. Across the Big 3 in North America, the same people are at the top today that were there 3 years ago. You can count the number of new main eventers from last May to this on one hand, and they are spread among the companies. TNA has only one, in Mick Foley. WWE has Jeff Hardy. RoH has Tyler Black and Jerry Lynn. With the same people holding the top spots, there is little to no room for movement below them. There are only so many permutations you can have of the midcard guys, and we're getting to the point now where we've seen a lot of them. People are fed up with seeing HHH, Cena and Taker win constantly. In RoH, the dominant title runs of the last few champions, while great for the champion, have left them with a dearth of legit challengers when the title does change hands. People like Kevin Steen and Claudio Castagnoli are not seen as serious title threats now because of the number of times they came up short. TNA has resorted to multi-man matches just to keep their midcard involved, to the point that they all feel the same now. At one point last year, Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal faced off on 9 straight PPVs! Fans have picked up on this and have realised that they can get more variety elsewhere. It could be argued that the downturn will worsen this problem, as the top guys are now even more desperate to hold on to their spots. At the end of the day, everyone in this business at this level is there for the money, and if they see something that can threaten their ability to make money then the natural response is to shut it out however they can.

This is one of the biggest problems facing professional wrestling in North America: it's stale, stagnant. On April 26th last year, the world champions were Randy Orton, Edge, Samoa Joe and Nigel McGuinness. Nigel got hurt or he may well have made it to April 26th this year (he dropped on April 3), and Joe dropped to Sting in October of 2008 who only dropped a week before our deadline. Edge and Orton both regained their titles on this date. It's all very well to have an established pecking order but at some point you have to change that order, or fans will have no reason to watch. Why spend money on a pay per view when you know that the same person is going to come out on top each time? Why buy a live ticket when you can pretty much determine the way the match will go by looking at the participants?

Professional wrestling has been around a long time. It's adapted to many changes in tastes, attitude and social acceptability to enjoy a longevity that most forms of entertainment never achieve. The problem is that there is a finite number of new stories and feuds that can be used, and right now innovation seems to be very hard. The new things that people are trying just don't seem to be working.

Of course, the economy is playing a large role in the woes of professional wrestling, because it's not a cheap hobby. Tickets, pay per views, DVDs, clothing...it all adds up. Sure you can follow the product for free on TV, but you miss out on so much of the experience that way and that is contributing to the problems we're seeing. As much as I hate to admit to it, wrestling is not immune to the world fiscal climate.

Do we need a bailout?

All hope is not lost. The companies already know they are going the wrong way and are taking steps to correct it. In WWE, HHH has not been seen since his loss to Orton. Cena is out of the title picture for the time being. Undertaker and Shawn Michaels are both out, the former albeit due to injury. There has been a concerted effort to shake up the main event and bring some new names to the forefront, with Miz apparently being lined up with Cena, John Morrison being quickly elevated and MVP finally getting rewarded for everything he's done. TNA finally look poised to pull the trigger on the switch to younger talent, with the Main Event Mafia angle nearing critical mass. We've been saying that for a while now, but I think (or hope) that within 2 months we'll see it happen. RoH has had its hand forced with some key injuries, but they are bringing in legendary names to stoke up some interest and hoping their in-ring product can sell it from there. They've also switched to a more mass-market-friendly sports entertainment style, but are still working out some kinks relating to the balance of quality wrestling and entertainment.

Moneywise, they are learning. Taping multiple shows at once, not flying in the entire roster when only a handful will be used, and only running shows where they can make money. WWE has had some very successful tours, and will continue to do so simply because they draw huge numbers overseas, more than enough to justify the expenses. RoH cancelling those shows should be seen as a good move, as they are 3 weaker markets that can be replaced with Toronto/Boston/Manhattan. TNA seem to be getting ready to say goodbye to Sting and his large contract, as well as subtly switching focus to younger (and cheaper) talent.

The key to fixing this has to be recapturing the interest of the fans. The fact that WWE's lost fans don't appear to be going elsewhere tells us that it's the business in general with which they are disillusioned, and as such somebody should be working hard to recapture them. The message seems clear: what you're doing isn't working. Change it.

Moment over.

Dragon Gate USA are laying on a bus from NY to Philly for their inaugural show - I hope it has one of those dangling air fresheners on each seat

Torrie Wilson to appear on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here - I can think of at least one thing wrong with that sentence.

WWE Films are not likely to do another $20 million budget film - Wait, isn't that what most big films pay their leads? No wonder these things fail...

Dwayne Johnson was at the White House - And was the blackest man there...

TNA to run a high school gym in NC - Next up, bingo halls!

Yeah, I got nothing this week. Slow one. However, I *am* going to be in Toronto for both RoH shows on July 24 and 25. If you can get there, the little that's been announced so far (Flair, Bret and LANCE STORM) is a smark's dream.

Coming up soon will hopefully (read: if I can get everyone together) be the second Serious Wrestling Talk, as well as a look at how we are hurting our own enjoyment of wrestling. If you have any topics to suggest, feel free to do so. I'll see you next week, same time same channel. To make sure you don't miss it, you can follow 411wrestling or just me on Twitter, or of course you can just bookmark 411mania!

Stay Cool, Rock Hard. Lansdellicious – Out.