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Popping the Bubble

I decided my last article needed further explanation. The wrestling industry is made up of all types of fans; hard core, common six pack Joe, kids, girls, women, teens, tween’s, and the like. The hard part about running a wrestling or any TV show is balancing what you want to do as entertainment and how much of that audience you want or need to target.

The problem with the WWE is the idea that they keep decreasing their share of targeted audience while attempting to expand its influence around the world. I actually think part of their problem is an idea in the WWE that the American market is played out, and that they really can only maintain the status quo. All more the shame, as they redirect their market internationally.

Case in point in a Podcast interview between John Cena and Stone cold Steve Austin Cena explained he was learning Mandarin to help the WWE enter the very lucrative Chinese market. The trend continues with their network as they expand internationally hoping to make up for not obtaining the one million subscribers in the US that they needed. Now while I understand the need to grow past our boarders I feel the WWE may be taking us for granted.

If you check out any of the Podcasts many of the current and former WWE talent has, you will learn most of them agree that the current three-hour format of Raw is atrociously repetitive, and most of it is hopelessly derivative. Long talking segments, bad finishes, poor ring stories, no urgency in the work, too many replays, short sited planning. I for one thought the Last Man Standing match between Kane and Roman Reigns was terrible.

Even simple things like the order of how the wrestlers are introduced during the main event have been botched. The devil is in the details and lately the WWE has missed many important details. Part of the problem is the fact that WWE creative is bloated with too many cooks in the kitchen. I find this funny because the first thing the WWE dose is release talent then did a seven percent over all firing. They fire the actor who is only doing what the writers tell him to do when they should start by firing the writers. They write the promos, they set up the fudes and matches. Their heads should be first on the block.

Worst is the amount of redundant staff on hand. Back in the ‘Attatude’ days it was McMahon, Russo and one or two other guys at the most and look at the ratings. Many people have compared the current corporate environment of the WWE product to the way things were back at the end of the WCW days. That is not a good thing.

I find many fans ask the same questions around the net. Why did they let this guy go, or couldn’t they see this guy was a star. Why did they not see this, or that? Most of these questions seem pretty basic. So why don’t they? Are they that arrogant?

That’s where we go back to the bubble analogy. I didn’t make this term up. It was actually first mentioned some time ago by Vince Russo. You guys know him right? Everyone on the net calls him the devil. Your all wrong, but hay everyone has the right to be wrong. I just chose being right all the time.

You must understand that Vince McMahon is a very driven workaholic, and that he sleeps around four hours a day. He sometimes works late in the morning and expects all those around him to do the same. This environment is challenging because as driven as it sounds no one really sees where they are heading. This is where the bubble comes in.

Vince don’t watch replay’s of the show. Hell, he may not watch the show at all. He don’t watch the competition, he don’t pay attention to his own NXT talent. They don’t know because they don’t look, and that’s the irony. They say they do what the fans want, but they are too busy and don’t spend time where they should. They need to reflect what’s going on around us. Am I the only one that wonders why the WWE don’t do a weird Lady Gaga like diva?

As for the fan bubble, that’s irritating too. So many hardcore fans need to chill out. Some of us are here for the entertainment as much as the ring action. I want the entrance, the music the talk and the fight and done in the right way.

I’m not one that loves a hour long marathon match. I more often will go get a snack during that then a diva match. That’s what I mean about fans, and there are all types. Until now mostly all I read about on the net are the hardcore wrestle till you drop fans. Problem is those fans are dwindling, that’s why the ratings are low. If they want higher numbers then the WWE needs to look at ways to get the casual fan back, or those that stopped watching because they only watched when things were really hot about ten years ago. They need to diversify their talent roaster. The problem with the NXT is the idea of a company cookie cutter like factory putting out all the same guys. Before they scouted various places, which brought in all sorts of different talent and the less they do that the less verity they can bring us.

It’s time to pop the bubbles look around and create a product we all can enjoy. From the crazy hardcore guys to the casual fan.

 

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