Hot Hot Heat
WWE Monday Night Raw starts in about sixty minutes. In ninety minutes, Raw gets obliterated.
The irony is in which network will be doing the obliterating: TNT. A shade over twelve years after Vince McMahon's pyrrhic vanquishing of WCW, the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers will cause TNT to smack Raw down to a number that belongs in the pre-Attitude era dark ages. That TNT is paying the NBA an average of $445 million per year over their current contract is all the more delicious. If WWE was booked for intelligent adults, Stamford wouldn't be left slurping the gruel of a USA network contract that draws about 10% of that.
I submit that more 90's wrestling fans will watch the latest vanilla babyface try to vanquish basketball's monster heel tonight than will watch WWE's flagship wrestling show on the other channel. Pity, that.
Back when Vince fashioned himself the big dog (or other d-word) on the block, he'd have never gone down like this. He'd have put up a fight. A pay-per-view main event would've been hot-shotted, an old star would've resurfaced or a big angle would've been ready to go. Anyone want to bet that we'll get that tonight? You'd have better luck on the Indy moneyline at +315.
This is what happens to a scuffling company. Everything is hard and you hold on to the wrong things. The NBA makes ten times what WWE makes in U.S. television rights and most weeks Raw out-draws them. Yet, do you see David Stern sweating a 1.6 for Nuggets vs. Jazz in March? Does the league book a Heat/Lakers doubleheader every Thursday because they're worried that casual fans will tune out? No and no. The NBA knows it has a good product that it believes in. WWE doesn't.
WWE needs to embrace the natural ebb and flow of serial television. Not every segment has to have a twist or turn. That may be good storytelling, but what's great about wrestling is that it's not 100% story. A scene in "Scandal" that has no surprise or conflict would be left on the cutting room floor. An NBA game that plays out as expected will lose some viewers and return the next week. Which would you rather be? An episodic drama with a three year half-life or a sport that keeps its place for decades?
I hope that Vince & Co. fight tonight, but then I hope they sit back. Show the fans that you recognize what they are giving up to watch Raw when a massive NBA game is on, but then next week show fans that you believe in pro wrestling.
The irony is in which network will be doing the obliterating: TNT. A shade over twelve years after Vince McMahon's pyrrhic vanquishing of WCW, the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers will cause TNT to smack Raw down to a number that belongs in the pre-Attitude era dark ages. That TNT is paying the NBA an average of $445 million per year over their current contract is all the more delicious. If WWE was booked for intelligent adults, Stamford wouldn't be left slurping the gruel of a USA network contract that draws about 10% of that.
I submit that more 90's wrestling fans will watch the latest vanilla babyface try to vanquish basketball's monster heel tonight than will watch WWE's flagship wrestling show on the other channel. Pity, that.
Back when Vince fashioned himself the big dog (or other d-word) on the block, he'd have never gone down like this. He'd have put up a fight. A pay-per-view main event would've been hot-shotted, an old star would've resurfaced or a big angle would've been ready to go. Anyone want to bet that we'll get that tonight? You'd have better luck on the Indy moneyline at +315.
This is what happens to a scuffling company. Everything is hard and you hold on to the wrong things. The NBA makes ten times what WWE makes in U.S. television rights and most weeks Raw out-draws them. Yet, do you see David Stern sweating a 1.6 for Nuggets vs. Jazz in March? Does the league book a Heat/Lakers doubleheader every Thursday because they're worried that casual fans will tune out? No and no. The NBA knows it has a good product that it believes in. WWE doesn't.
WWE needs to embrace the natural ebb and flow of serial television. Not every segment has to have a twist or turn. That may be good storytelling, but what's great about wrestling is that it's not 100% story. A scene in "Scandal" that has no surprise or conflict would be left on the cutting room floor. An NBA game that plays out as expected will lose some viewers and return the next week. Which would you rather be? An episodic drama with a three year half-life or a sport that keeps its place for decades?
I hope that Vince & Co. fight tonight, but then I hope they sit back. Show the fans that you recognize what they are giving up to watch Raw when a massive NBA game is on, but then next week show fans that you believe in pro wrestling.
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