Is the WWE Gaining Momentum Again?

WWE achieved the height of its popularity in the late ’90s and early 2000s during what became known as the Attitude Era. This period within the sports entertainment powerhouse continued to deviate from the “sports” based aspect of pro wrestling which was made famous from the days of the territories and more into the “entertainment” part. However, what catapulted the company to mainstream popularity was the believability of many of their biggest players, namely “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the two biggest stars in the history of pro wrestling. People understood the business was a work (meaning “fake” in wrestling terms), but they had stars they could believe in who were involved in conflict they could buy because the stars themselves lived their wrestling personas 24/7. While the rest of the 2000s saw some relative success for the WWE, the company ratings, viewership numbers, and ticket sales have plummeted ever since. The reason is simple: the product sucks. For years, the company has insisted on going all in on egregiously phony TV programs, overly scripted and bad material, obnoxious production value, and just straight-up terrible wrestling.

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This is all from the boss at the top, Vince McMahon. McMahon has tried to run the program as if it is some sort of dramatic scripted serial and would run the show according to his personal preferences and tastes. However, now that McMahon is out of the picture and with the WWE’s biggest competitor, AEW, in uncharted waters, is the time for the company to get itself back into fighting shape and release a fresh spin on the programming?

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Vince Out Of The Picture

This past summer, after multiple allegations of misconduct and hush money payments made by McMahon, the 77-year-old billionaire officially stepped down from his role as CEO of the WWE. His daughter, Stephanie McMahon, was announced as Chairwoman and Co-CEO along with company president Nick Khan, likely handling the overall business wing of WWE. Her husband, Paul Levesque, better known as “Triple H”, was announced to be taking over the creative aspect of the company.

The details surrounding McMahon’s situation have been extensively documented across multiple media outlets and are not worth rehashing here. The point of focus here is what McMahon’s exit means for the company’s product. After seeing what the show has looked like in recent years, it’s hard to see how there is anywhere to go but up. The insufferable weekly shows on Monday Night Raw, NXT, and Smackdown gave McMahon the reputation of the narcissistic billionaire who produced shows based around what only he wanted to see and buried many fan-favorite wrestlers.

The Competition In Chaos

AEW, a new wrestling promotion started back in 2019 by a group of independent wrestlers, most notably Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, Matt and Nick Jackson, which promised to be an actual sports-based wrestling promotion that would allow its talent total creative freedom and listen to fan feedback. This marked the first time since the peak of WCW that the WWE had any considerable competition. Ring of Honor had become a shell of its former self. Impact Wrestling is practically a zombie company. Yes, it’s still around. Seriously. McMahon would understandably be concerned once AEW jumped onto the scene, but once he got a glimpse of what his competition looked like, even he had the sense to realize that there was nothing to worry about. After a few weeks on TV, it became clear that AEW’s business model was having its wrestlers jump off of high places, do as many crazy acrobatics as possible, and beat each other up with different kinds of furniture. The booking was all over the place, the matches made no sense, and the shows overall were just incoherent. It was no wonder that McMahon decided to kick his feet up and release talent by the handful, allowing them to run off to the competition.

Two years later, however, AEW CEO Tony Khan did something wrestling fans never thought they would see again: bring CM Punk back to the world of pro wrestling after seven years. From the moment he debuted, Punk distinguished himself from the rest of the AEW roster by putting on believable programs that audiences can care about, whether on the mic or in the ring. Khan then signed Bryan Danielson, arguably the greatest wrestler in the world, who for the first month became the best on-screen heel in wrestling. For a moment, it seemed as if AEW was starting to shape up as a wrestling promotion. However, Punk was later injured, taken off television for a few months, returned briefly, and is now suspended after a backstage altercation with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, the EVPs of the company. Danielson was soon booked into an ineffective faction with an undercard talent and is now involved in a dull feud with Chris Jericho. To top it all off, the handful of stars fans want to see (FTR, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks, etc.) end up horribly misbooked or simply absent from the shows altogether.

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Small Signs Of Change

While fans have had the impression of the WWE as the big evil corporation that sabotages all their favorite wrestlers, they are mostly rooting for Triple H, to oversee the creative decisions at WWE. One reason is that he was one of the biggest wrestling names that fans grew up watching at a time when audience viewership was at its highest. Another is that Triple H is a creature of pro wrestling, not sports entertainment. He has admired some of the most prolific figures from the days of the territories such as Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes. Levesque has also stated his wishes for what modern wrestlers need to learn going forward. In a recent interview, he explained how he would like talent to be less focused on the types of moves and spots they do and more on telling a captivating story. Not the meticulously scripted, overly cartoonish, and phony types of “stories” that fans have come to expect from the WWE, but believable storylines between athletes involved in sports based confrontations that fans can buy into.

For the longest time, Levesque was the main force behind the company’s developmental program, NXT, WWE’s best show for a while until McMahon and his army of TV writers turned it into some kind of game show. But Levesque will have to do far more to prove his team deserves attention again. A swift and massive shakeup within the company’s creative department is sorely needed. Levesque will surely need to get rid of their entire writing staff. I say this as a writer, we do not belong in the pro wrestling business, especially those of us who have never understood or are unfamiliar with the way it should be presented. Levesque will also need the talent to learn everything they learned under McMahon’s regime, mainly that they are not performers or actors, but athletes in a combat-based sport. In other words, they need to believe themselves as pro wrestlers.

By Nader Chamas

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Nader Chamas

Nader Chamas is an aspiring television writer who seeks to fuse thought provoking progressive ideals into the films, shows, and stories that he loves. Having graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Screenwriting, Nader seeks to use his writing to advance causes that do not get enough attention or input across mainstream media. Like most, Nader has his own share of his favorite franchises and stories across pop culture. However, he seeks to contribute timely and relevant topics into these stories as well as in his own original material. This is why Nader’s analysis of popular films and tv shows matches The Hollywood Insider’s practice of discussing entertainment from a socially cognizant and critical perspective.
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Nader Chamas

Nader Chamas is an aspiring television writer who seeks to fuse thought provoking progressive ideals into the films, shows, and stories that he loves. Having graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Screenwriting, Nader seeks to use his writing to advance causes that do not get enough attention or input across mainstream media. Like most, Nader has his own share of his favorite franchises and stories across pop culture. However, he seeks to contribute timely and relevant topics into these stories as well as in his own original material. This is why Nader’s analysis of popular films and tv shows matches The Hollywood Insider’s practice of discussing entertainment from a socially cognizant and critical perspective.

Nader Chamas

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Is the WWE Gaining Momentum Again?

Vince Out Of The Picture

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Small Signs Of Change

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