What if: WWE Programming Took a Break? (POLL)

[ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕋𝕠 𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝]

Hey guys! Just wanted some civil discussion on a topic I know is getting a bit tense in wrestling.

I have saw a lot of rumor that I won't get into too much because its nothing but that, but do you guys think WWE would benefit from a halt in production for awhile?

My view:

BIG Fox money lost. Obviously, I think this is probably the number one point on why you can't stop producing. Even USA's deal with RAW would probably cost something major. 

But away from that, the last few days with COVID in U.S. has gotten me pretty concerned. After Rene Young came out with her positive test, seeing that promo where she was in the ring with AJ Styles, Riddle, and then about ten other talent got in the ring afterwards, was unsettling. People like AJ, Riddle, Kofi and other have kids at home. Daniel Bryan's wife is pregnant! This just opened a new viewpoint to how reckless I see WWE's stance on the virus. 

This is one of the worst PR disasters for the WWE EVER. Owen was bad, Eddie was bad, Benoit was terrible, and this is really something else. Every other live event is cancelled but for some reason, WWE felt like that rule didn't apply to them, and even took a step backwards in terms of safety by adding dozens of 'crowd members' without masks.

I also think programming has been extremely stale week-to-week. I suppose there's always a group that says this no matter what, but really, I have found RAW and Smackdown unwatchable since the pandemic began. With how mediocre the product is, I would really not mind a halt.

I really like how the WWE is putting old PPVs on FS1 lately. Even though I could watch these on my own on the Network, there's some reason why I wanted to tune into Rumble 2008 the other night while it was airing. I would probably be more interested in showing some classic RAWs or Smackdowns in place of new content. 

I'll leave off with just saying Bryan Alvarez (whether you like him or not, or find him credible or not) said "whatever you've heard, its much worse," on the topic of WWE and COVID-19. Adam Pierce and Jamie Noble also announced they tested positive, and they were sharing the PC's Gorilla position with Vince, and presumably Prichard, Triple H, etc., during tapings. 

I'm saying shutting down is the best option. Find an alternative or just air some of your insanely large library. I'd also say same goes for AEW. It might kill the company with the lack of the big TNT contract if they quit airing, and they don't really have much of a library to pull from, but both companies have the creative integrity to find something.

What do you guys think? 

[Next Man’s Knowing Rock]

The question in the poll isn’t whether we would prefer it to be shut down. It’s would WWE benefit, and the answer to that is of course a huge no.

The one advantage of WWE to a TV network is it delivers solid ratings with a new live show pretty much every week of the year. Not 8 weeks like Game of Thrones, not the length of a season like sportsball. Every week. If WWE goes on hiatus, that appeal is lost. USA and Fox shouldn’t pay them new show money for reruns.

By the same token, WWE’s appeal to viewers is also that its every week. It’s a habit. Both for people who enjoy it, and people who don’t. Look at every thread ever created in this section of the board - so many people HATE the company and the show, but watch it because they’re locked into that cycle of watching on Monday to consume the new content to discuss (complain about) online for the rest of the week. If WWE severed those strings and disappeared for months, the people who watch out of habit may not all come back.

[Deleted]

Jun 26, 2020 11:32:02 GMT -5 @tang said:

WWE should do the right thing and shut it down. But they won't cause all they care about is money.

They are a for profit business, they exist solely to make money. By their standards, shutting down would not be the right thing unless it lead to more money. If consumers really wanted them to shut down and their viewership would increase by showing reruns, then they would do that. But the amount of their viewership that would stop watching ensures they have to keep running. Or rather, that is what they expect would happen. They could try stopping for a couple of weeks and showing reruns to gauge the market and to slow their outbreak since they can't use people who they know to have covid, and I could see them trying that. But they couldn't take too long of a break or else like was previously said, they may not get those viewers back. Every wrestling program has dropped about 20% since this started and there is a large question of how much of that 20% will actually come back.

[hbkbigdaddycool]

If a WWE talent ends up dying from it.... well then WWE will clearly be looked at in the worse possible way after all other sporting places closed down back in March.

[ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕋𝕠 𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝]

Jun 26, 2020 12:42:04 GMT -5 Next Man’s Knowing Rock said:

The question in the poll isn’t whether we would prefer it to be shut down. It’s would WWE benefit, and the answer to that is of course a huge no.

The one advantage of WWE to a TV network is it delivers solid ratings with a new live show pretty much every week of the year. Not 8 weeks like Game of Thrones, not the length of a season like sportsball. Every week. If WWE goes on hiatus, that appeal is lost. USA and Fox shouldn’t pay them new show money for reruns.

By the same token, WWE’s appeal to viewers is also that its every week. It’s a habit. Both for people who enjoy it, and people who don’t. Look at every thread ever created in this section of the board - so many people HATE the company and the show, but watch it because they’re locked into that cycle of watching on Monday to consume the new content to discuss (complain about) online for the rest of the week. If WWE severed those strings and disappeared for months, the people who watch out of habit may not all come back.

I suppose I would look at the idea of television ratings and the necessity for the programming, versus the public perception of the company. It might not turn into a huge media topic on the five o'clock news or even a minority fan boycott, but it certainly could if it comes out that a huge number of infections happened because of the WWE's practices. 

Imagine if another sports team said it was OK to continue on with the games, and two entire teams came down with COVID-19. That would be in huge question and would probably call for the NFL to cancel or postpone the season. The backlash would be huge: the media coverage would be volatile, the tone people talked about the NFL would be degrading, and there would hardly be a public acceptance of the "money left on the table" by shutting down. 

I guess what I am so interested in on the topic is why is WWE the only pass? Why has every other sport shut down for three months but for some reason, WWE was good to go the entire time? Even now, every sports outlet is so thorough with their action plan and is transparent with their team testing, limited staff, CDC-recommended compliance, etc. If any sports entity wasn't doing this, the public would be all over it. Even people who don't give a lick about sports would be buzzing about their lack of care. 

Maybe I am just shocked that the WWE hasn't made more mainstream news. At this point, its seem inevitable. 

[Eugene69]

How long do you suggest they shut down for? A week, a month, a year, forever? This virus isn't going anywhere anytime soon and people are going to test positive. Should wwe be safer about things, yes. But to shut down would be stupid. They went 3 months with no positive tests, they should get rid of the crowd again, its stupid anyway.

[Yambag Jones]

Ethically they should, but it won’t happen

[theoutlaw1999]

If they aren't going to close they would be best cutting down. For the time being cancel Smackdown, reduce Raw to 2 hours and merge the rosters.

[Deleted]

I mean, rather than shutting down production, they could try actually testing people for it every time they show up. It's not perfect since the tests aren't 100%, but it would be a heck of a start. UFC, AEW, and now recently returning New Japan have all completely outdone WWE in terms of protective measures. Nothing is perfect and without any risk beyond actually shutting down, but the other three I mentioned are all setting pretty good examples of how to make it as safe as you can relatively speaking. Would also help if so many of the wrestlers weren't out just living exactly like they were pre-pandemic too.

[FLUX '97]

Just run old Ruthless Aggression era Smackdown and Raw shows with you-know-who completely cut out and you'll probably do just as good if not better in the ratings.

[k5]

at this point, they've made their bed and are lying in it as shutting down would almost be admitting to error. but ideally, as others said, they'll adopt safer practices following rene's COVID confirmation.

[IRS]

They're supposedly on track to still have their most profitable year ever, so unless they got their TV contracts yanked, or were down for an actual extended period (I presume they would only shut it down two weeks to "quarantine" at the most), it most certainly won't kill them. But would it benefit them? No. Not monetarily, most certainly not in terms of publicity. Creatively? Doubtful.

But I can't see them shutting down in any way unless they are forced to. Vince is way too stubborn for that.

[Yambag Jones]

Jun 27, 2020 9:19:55 GMT -5 IRS said:

They're supposedly on track to still have their most profitable year ever, so unless they got their TV contracts yanked, or were down for an actual extended period (I presume they would only shut it down two weeks to "quarantine" at the most), it most certainly won't kill them. But would it benefit them? No. Not monetarily, most certainly not in terms of publicity. Creatively? Doubtful.

But I can't see them shutting down in any way unless they are forced to. Vince is way too stubborn for that.

They’d be dead in the water if they stopped giving FOX SmackDown episodes and their deal was scrapped.

The fans WWE have left will never leave. If they went away for a bit, they’d still have 1-2 million people who’d come crawling back.

[kennyw86v2]

Wouldnt mind at all. My wife wanted to watch that Paige movie, so after I turned on the actual episode of raw to show her how badly that moment was portrayed.

Raw was a lot better in early 2014. And i ing miss Aj Lee. A break could help one of those.

[BØRNS]

Jun 26, 2020 11:17:04 GMT -5 ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕋𝕠 𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝 said:

But away from that, the last few days with COVID in U.S. has gotten me pretty concerned. After Rene Young came out with her positive test, seeing that promo where she was in the ring with AJ Styles, Riddle, and then about ten other talent got in the ring afterwards, was unsettling. People like AJ, Riddle, Kofi and other have kids at home. Daniel Bryan's wife is pregnant! This just opened a new viewpoint to how reckless I see WWE's stance on the virus. 

Wasn't this all obvious from the beginning? I don't understand how a confirmed COVID diagnosis changes your perspective of the risk WWE voluntarily took - and against everyone else's recommendations - by continuing business as usual and considering themselves an "essential business". That is completely unbelievable. Pro wrestling is not even in the top 1000 categories of essential businesses. WWE deserves ALL it is currently, and will be getting. I pray ratings continue to drop and WWE be forced to shut down operations. WWE has demonstrated time and time again how irresponsible their decision making is, and I hope that the ones who benefit the most from those decisions are negatively impacted the most by them.

[Yambag Jones]

Jun 29, 2020 1:05:56 GMT -5 BØRNS said:

Jun 26, 2020 11:17:04 GMT -5 ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕋𝕠 𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝 said:

But away from that, the last few days with COVID in U.S. has gotten me pretty concerned. After Rene Young came out with her positive test, seeing that promo where she was in the ring with AJ Styles, Riddle, and then about ten other talent got in the ring afterwards, was unsettling. People like AJ, Riddle, Kofi and other have kids at home. Daniel Bryan's wife is pregnant! This just opened a new viewpoint to how reckless I see WWE's stance on the virus. 

Wasn't this all obvious from the beginning? I don't understand how a confirmed COVID diagnosis changes your perspective of the risk WWE voluntarily took - and against everyone else's recommendations - by continuing business as usual and considering themselves an "essential business". That is completely unbelievable. Pro wrestling is not even in the top 1000 categories of essential businesses. WWE deserves ALL it is currently, and will be getting. I pray ratings continue to drop and WWE be forced to shut down operations. WWE has demonstrated time and time again how irresponsible their decision making is, and I hope that the ones who benefit the most from those decisions are negatively impacted the most by them.

Some people will defend WWE no matter what and put their head in the sand next to Vince. I'm honestly shocked no one in WWE has died from Covid since this started. I'm not wishing that on anyone AT ALL. It's just baffling to me what Vince can get away with and rarely have to face the consequences of his actions. He'll do whatever he wants, unless the stocks start to go down or a tv network isn't happy.

[IRS]

Jun 28, 2020 20:47:51 GMT -5 Yambag Jones said:

Jun 27, 2020 9:19:55 GMT -5 IRS said:

They're supposedly on track to still have their most profitable year ever, so unless they got their TV contracts yanked, or were down for an actual extended period (I presume they would only shut it down two weeks to "quarantine" at the most), it most certainly won't kill them. But would it benefit them? No. Not monetarily, most certainly not in terms of publicity. Creatively? Doubtful.

But I can't see them shutting down in any way unless they are forced to. Vince is way too stubborn for that.

They’d be dead in the water if they stopped giving FOX SmackDown episodes and their deal was scrapped.

The fans WWE have left will never leave. If they went away for a bit, they’d still have 1-2 million people who’d come crawling back.

Yes, if their TV deal was yanked, they would be screwed. However, if they were to shut down filming new content for two weeks, I'd imagine they could work something out with FOX/USA to air Best Of episodes of SD & RAW for those weeks. Honestly, with the filming of almost all other TV shows halted, something like WWE is too valuable for FOX or USA to drop right now.

[Yambag Jones]

Jun 29, 2020 12:52:41 GMT -5 IRS said:

Jun 28, 2020 20:47:51 GMT -5 Yambag Jones said:

They’d be dead in the water if they stopped giving FOX SmackDown episodes and their deal was scrapped.

The fans WWE have left will never leave. If they went away for a bit, they’d still have 1-2 million people who’d come crawling back.

Yes, if their TV deal was yanked, they would be screwed. However, if they were to shut down filming new content for two weeks, I'd imagine they could work something out with FOX/USA to air Best Of episodes of SD & RAW for those weeks. Honestly, with the filming of almost all other TV shows halted, something like WWE is too valuable for FOX or USA to drop right now.

It entirely depends on how's valuable FOX thinks it is. I'm sure they're disappointed that at best Smackdown only pulls in 2 million (.5 in the key demo) for the amount of money they're paying for it.

I don't think WWE is in danger, but they sure are acting like it.

[ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕋𝕠 𝕂𝕚𝕝𝕝]

Vince McMahon’s Fortune Increases --

www.pwmania.com/vince-mcmahons-fortune-increases

Interesting article to add to the discussion here. According to this source, "Vince McMahon has seen his fortune increase by $177 million dollars over the last three months."