WWE under TKO isn’t fan friendly, look no further than the ticket prices Wrestlemania 42 cost over 2,000$ tickets for WWE’s weekly shows Raw and Smackdown cost over 500$ Under Vince Mcmahon the average cost to attend a pay-per-view was under 20.00$
WWE under TKO puts more focus on celebrity involvement than their own wrestlers. Jelly Roll and Patt McAfee were heavily involved in one of the main events for WRESTLEMANIA 42 the more often celebrities get involved fans will get irritated with the product during the 1980’s and 1990’s celebrities were used sparingly as of today one word from a TKO higher up such as Eri Emanual and a celebrity will get involved, this sets a bad president.
Just recently as last week, the majority of wrestlers are being asked to take up to 50% pay cut per “wrestling news.co,” the shocking part is? Most of the wrestlers have agreed to do so. Unless your name is CM punk, Cody Rhodes, or Roman Reigns you will be asked to take a significant cut in salary whenever TKO sees fit. Let’s see how long this will last?
Before the days of TKO a wrestlers contract was honored, when Dean Ambrose (Now Known as Jon Moxley) chose to leave WWE other wrestlers, writers, and producers expressed their gratitude for everything he has done for the company in today’s WWE a wrestler is expendable.
There is too much ad placement in today’s WWE product such as Slim Jim, General Insurance and many others placed all over the ring, the props and the broadcast area, this makes it very difficult for the fans in attendance and watching on TV to pay attention to the match or promo segment going on. A commercial break can last up to four minutes. It’s as if TKO doesn’t trust the wrestlers to bring in the crowds so they use the ads to make up the revenue.
TKO/WWE have to get back to basics if they want to regain the trust of fans first, they have to lower their ticket prices. Also, the bosses of TKO Eri Emanuel, Mark Shapiro, and Nick Khan need to stop meddling in WWE’s creative process and significantly reduce celebrity involvement. Trust the wrestlers and their head writer/producer of content HHH have faith on where the stories are heading in the long term. Don’t just do things for spur of the moment shock value, a perfect example of this is Jon Cena’s heel turn during last year’s Elimination Chamber event. As shocking as this moment was, WWE didn’t have a proper plan for it going forward and the product suffered because of it.
If changes are not made soon even hardcore WWE fans will stop watching and turn to watch the newest wrestling company AEW, or support independent wrestling promotions will TKO make these changes or will they continue to take their fans for granted? WWE is no longer the measuring stick when it comes to pro-wrestling its not as popular anymore.
