If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That old adage could easily apply to how WWE's developmental system has hit the skids over the last five years. They once had a process in place that worked tremendously well in grooming greenhorns into becoming the next generation of WWE superstars, but WWE management decided to tinker with it and ended up with a mess on their hands.
"HBO 24 /7" may be good TV, but just how good is it when it leads to manufactured events by players seeking face-time on the show?
For an extremely ambitious entrepreneur, Vince McMahon has certainly been behind the curve in setting up his own network and is rushing to catch up. Even the former queen of daytime TV, Oprah Winfrey, beat Vince to the punch by launching her own network at the start of this year, but her struggling channel's deep financial losses in year one suggest that Vince may have left things a little too late.
The biggest news story in professional wrestling in 2012 will be the establishment of the WWE Network. Particularly well suited to comment on the network's prospects is former WWE creative team member Court Bauer and he didn't paint a rosy picture for its future after Vince McMahon failed to buy Universal HD.
For all the talk about how Vince McMahon is no longer the creative genius with a Midas touch for promoting professional wrestling that he once was, he's still got the business smarts to eke out a healthy profit, even at a time when many of WWE's key revenue streams are declining year on year. Indeed, just two days ago WWE reported their third quarter results and the news was surprisingly rosy.
WWE had their annual shareholders meeting yesterday. The resounding message was Hallelujah for The Rock who gave something for the McMahons to crow about after a disappointing business close to 2010 at a time when they have to sell their expansionary rebranding plans to a sceptical stockholder base.
The New WWE - Not Bigger, Badder, Better, Just With More Focus On The E. The formal rebranding of World Wrestling Entertainment into simply WWE was made official today in a press release by the company about the name change.
A quick look at WWE's other non-wrestling ventures over the years
Adam Archuleta gets signed! by UFL team. His team's roster reminds me a lot of Shane Falco.
