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| Dan Wahlers talks improving WWE PPV business and Bragging Rights |
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Simple Ideas To Improve WWE's PPV Business Plus: Bragging Rights Preview and Predictions This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it First thing today, I want to send out my best wishes to WWE announcer Jim Ross for a speedy recovery from his latest bout with Bell's Palsy. He beat the illness twice before, and I'm sure he will do it one more time. JR is the best in the business at what he does, the best of all-time in my view, and I hope to see him back very soon, and continuing on for many years to come. Hopefully back on Monday nights where he belongs. My thoughts and prayers are with you, JR. Bragging Rights is this Sunday on PPV, from The Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, PA. It's WWE latest PPV concept, attempting to manufacture a brand war between Raw and Smackdown. It's really a giant infomercial for their new “Smackdown vs. Raw 2010” video game, which was just released this past Tuesday. Like with Hell in a Cell and Breaking Point before it, it's a novel concept to try and create these unique PPV's. But I don't see it doing much business, especially coming the day after a UFC PPV. This isn't even what you would consider a major UFC show, either. But it's been proven that WWE shows are hurt somewhat when they happen the same weekend as UFC shows. UFC is in another stratosphere compared to WWE in terms of popularity these days, and if people have a choice on which company to spend their money on, it's going to be UFC more often than not. That's a reality that WWE has to accept and address, instead of keeping their heads buried in the sand, and trying to act like UFC is not their competition. I have a couple simple ideas for WWE to consider, that would almost certainly help improve their PPV business. This isn't anything new or earth shattering, or anything that hasn't been said by other people before. They're just kind of common sense ideas, if you're paying attention to what's going on around you, instead of living in the isolated WWE bubble that a lot of people in that company happily reside in. You have the usual issue of having PPV's too close to each other, and too many PPV's in general. I've said this before, but in these current tough economic times, with PPV business down significantly, WWE should be looking at cutting down its PPV schedule. 14 PPV's is simply too much. The marketplace does not support that number of PPV's every year. When wrestling was hot, and Vince McMahon could do no wrong, adding PPV's to the schedule would have made perfect business sense. But those days are long gone. Instead of cramming the schedule with periods where you have PPV's rushed out every three weeks, where one show runs into the next, they should at the very minimum cut back down to the standard 12 PPV shows a year. Focus on creating one solid PPV every month, where there is a minimum of four weeks in between shows, a longer period of time in other cases. Slow the storytelling down, and get back to creating the heated personal issues between wrestlers that drive PPV business. I would also produce a “Countdown” type show similar to what UFC does, and what TNA just recently did with its Bound For Glory PPV. The week of the PPV, take one of the shows, whether it's ECW or even the Friday Night Smackdown timeslot, and do a show focusing solely on selling the PPV. Video packages on the wrestlers training, and talking about their opponents, and showing clips of the various events that led up to a match taking place. Simple but effective storytelling. You could also do a roundtable type format on the Countdown show, hosted by Jim Ross, similar to what they do now on WWE Classics on Demand. Almost like the NFL pre-game shows that you see every Sunday, where JR hosts a panel of announcers, current wrestlers, former wrestlers, and respected veterans that work behind the scenes in the company now like Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko, and so forth, where they discuss the PPV card in-depth, and give their thoughts on each match, and what they see happening, and that sort of thing. You could give a Countdown show like that one hour of the Smackdown show the Friday before the PPV, and then have a normal wrestling show for the other hour. WWE has the best production team in wrestling, and one of the best in all of entertainment period, so putting a show like that together should be a piece of cake. It would make the PPV's seem more important, and give them more of a real life, sporting feel. That's what people want to see nowadays, as witnessed by the success of UFC. I'm not going as far as some people have suggested, and saying that they should overhaul the in-ring product and make it more like UFC. Certainly there are aspects of the UFC product that you could incorporate into the WWE shows, in terms of making the matches more realistic, and that kind of thing. But at the end of the day, wrestling is wrestling. When the bell rings, you can't mess around with that format too much, because it's what wrestling has been for over 100 years and what it always will be. But in terms of the production of the shows, and the way you present the product to the fans on television, there are a countless number of concepts that WWE should be taking from UFC, that can be done to modernize and optimize the way people look at the WWE PPV's. The main keys are cutting down on the number of PPV's, focus more clearly on the in-ring issues that make people want to buy PPV's, change the way the PPV's are sold to the public, add a Countdown type of show the week of the PPV's, and then last but certainly most important comes the idea of creating new stars, and creating new matches that people want to pay to see. That's WWE's biggest issue today, and the one that they just can't seem to wrap their head around. You can do all of the things I've talked about in terms of how you present and sell the PPV's, but when it comes down to it, you could have the coolest, slickest production around, but if you have the same stale matches on top month after month, year after year, people are going to go do something else. It's as simple as that, and it's probably the number one reason why PPV business is down right now. If UFC had Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin headlining their next three or four PPV's in a row, people would be sick of it, and you would likely see the number of PPV buys decrease with each successive show. One of the reasons why they're so successful on PPV is they present something new and fresh every time out, or they headline with a rematch that people want to see. WWE should take some lessons from them. That's why with this Bragging Rights PPV on Sunday, you have John Cena vs. Randy Orton headlining the fourth consecutive PPV in a row, and people are sick of it. You can make it an Iron Man Match, a Hell in a Cell, you can light the ring on fire, you can put the match on top of the Empire State Building, you can make it whatever kind of match you want, what it all boils down to is the same two guys on four consecutive PPV's. They've said that this will be the last title shot for Randy Orton, if he loses, so hypothetically we should get a new match at Survivor Series next month. But will it be new, or will be something like Triple H vs. John Cena that we've already seen before? I would bet heavily on the latter. Here are my predictions for Bragging Rights: Iron Man Match for WWE Championship: (c)Randy Orton vs. John Cena The stipulation for this match is that John Cena has to leave Raw if he loses. He would end up on Smackdown if that were to happen, and I can't see that happening at all. Cena is the face of the company, and Raw is the most watched show. Smackdown is on a network that isn't even rated anymore, which tells you about all you need to know. Smackdown has been a great show for the most part this year, way better than Raw on most weeks. But Cena would be wasted on that show, let's be honest. It's common sense that you would want your top star on your number one show. Prediction: I think Cena will pick up the win in this match, which will be his seventh World Championship win, and the eight time the WWE Championship has changed hands this year. Which is just ridiculous when you think about it. The belts just get more watered down and meaningless with every successive title change. But it's what you get in a company that is run by a man that changes his mind daily, like most people change their underwear. Based on the fact that Triple H pinned Cena on Raw this past Monday, I think they'll be going with Cena/HHH next. While it's not nearly as played out as Cena/Orton or HHH/Orton, it's also not something that anyone would consider fresh, either. Cena/Orton for one hour could be challenging. They usually always have good matches together, but I'm not quite sure what they're going to do to take up an hour. That's worth about at least a 20 minute Randy Orton chin lock, I figure. With the no DQ and no count out aspect of the match, I would expect a lot of the usual brawling around the building, and basically anything to waste time. You may see Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes get involved. I love the storyline that they're building with Dibiase that will lead to him eventually breaking out from Legacy. They're telling the story in a slow, deliberate fashion so far, which I like to see. And I hope they'll have the patience to let it out play out naturally, and not rush from the beginning to the end of the story, forgetting everything in the middle. But as far as this match, Cena wins back the title, and I'll say he wins it 4 falls to 3. Fatal Four-Way Match for World Heavyweight Championship: (c)The Undertaker vs. CM Punk vs. Batista vs. Rey Mysterio Undertaker is likely going to drop the title here. I can't see him holding on to the title beyond this point. Him beating Punk for the title at Hell in a Cell was the wrong decision in a lot of ways. He's physically shot right now. I saw him in person at Hell in a Cell, and after the match was over, he could barely walk up the ramp after the match. It was a sorry sight to see. From all accounts, his body is in terrible shape right now, with his hips and knees giving him the most problems. So he's basically doing just enough to get by in the ring. He's not working many house shows, and the World Champion should be doing house shows. Plus Undertaker is a legendary figure on his own standing, and he doesn't need the belt to be over. Not to mention the fact that Punk was on a roll, and just hitting his stride as the condescending, self-righteous heel World Champion on Smackdown. During a time when everyone in the company knows that new stars need to be created, and with Punk as one of the few lucky enough to break through, it was the exact wrong time to take the belt off him. Undertaker should have done what was right for business, and put Punk over at Hell in a Cell. He didn't, and he deserves to be criticized for that, the same way we all criticize Triple H when he does the exact same thing. Undertaker is no better than Triple H in this instance. Prediction: The fatal four-way stipulation allows Undertaker to drop the title without actually being pinned, and that's exactly what I see happening here. I could see them putting the title back on Punk, but he's back in the doghouse politically yet again. What else is new for him? He ruffled some feathers during the last European tour for not following the dress code, and reportedly having words with Undertaker over it. My thoughts on that are, if the company you work for has a dress code, like most places do, you follow it. Plain and simple. That's the way the world works. Do people always like doing it? No, but you do it because you have to. So Punk should be following the dress code, and so should John Cena or anyone else. There shouldn't be one standard for one person, and then a different standard for everyone else. With Punk once again residing at 1 Bow Wow Lane, I wouldn't expect him to be given back the title. Rey Mysterio isn't going to win it, so that leaves Batista. And that's who I'm going with to win the title, which would be his sixth World Championship. I think Batista wins by pinning Punk, and your top two matches at Survivor Series are Cena/HHH and Batista/Undertaker. Team Raw (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry) vs. Team Smackdown (Chris Jericho, Kane, Finlay, Matt Hardy, R-Truth, Tyson Kidd, David Hart Smith) If the members of Team Smackdown look different to you compared to what you saw Monday on Raw, it's not your imagination. Vince McMahon got out of bed on Tuesday, and apparently decided that the original Team Smackdown was too weak, and changes were made at the tapings on Tuesday night. Out are Cryme Tyme, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, and Eric Escobar, and in are Finlay, Matt Hardy, R-Truth, and The Hart Dynasty. So basically Vince changed one of his PPV main events less than a week before the show, on a show itself that will actually air 48 hours before the PPV. I honestly feel bad for the people that have to work for him. I couldn't even begin to imagine. I'd be about ready to jump off the nearest bridge by now. It's almost laughable, but it's things like this which are a microcosm of what's wrong with WWE today. Decisions gets made, and changed so many times, that people don't even know what the hell is going on. In this case, the changes were made for the better, since the new Smackdown team is better than the old one. I'm very glad to see The Hart Dynasty finally getting a spot on PPV, it's been long overdue. It is too bad for guys like Ziggler, McIntyre, and Escobar that could have used the rub and exposure of working with guys like HHH and HBK on PPV. But instead of that, the three of them got buried in the opening segment on Raw, which apparently was a little too close to home for Vince, which prompted him to change the teams. It's true that most people don't know who McIntyre or Escobar are, but to actually say that and bury them under ground on live TV, that's just total bullshit. It's no wonder that new talent has a hard time getting over. Prediction: It's a one fall match, and not an elimination match, like it probably should be. I guess they don't want to steal the Survivor Series gimmick, which I imagine they'll be rolling out in some form next month. With HHH and HBK on the Raw team, and especially if Hunter is going to be doing a program with John Cena like most people expect, I can't see anything other than a convincing Team Raw victory. The new team Smackdown is better, but in the case of Kane, Finlay, Matt Hardy, and R-Truth, they are also guys that won't be hurt as much by losing, since they aren't really in the company's long-term plans, if they have any long-term plans that is. The entire concept of doing this match is stupid, since so many guys come and go on the various shows, that there is no real brand loyalty. They've tried to manufacture a rivalry between the two shows, but it really rings very empty at this point. Smackdown I-C Champion John Morrison vs. Raw United States Champion The Miz Prediction: The battle of former partners, and two guys that are on the rise. Morrison is more talented in the ring, and Miz is more talented on the mic. But they have both carved out nice little positions for themselves on their respective shows. They had an entertaining Dirt Sheet segment on last week's Smackdown. Morrison called Miz husky, which is a word that they use to call fat kids. Miz isn't fat, though, so it was kind of weird. But I guess in WWE, you're considered fat if you don't have a ripped six pack like John Cena or John Morrison. This should be a good match, and I think with Raw winning the 7 on 7 match that they'll throw Smackdown a bone by having Morrison win this one. Raw Divas (Melina, Kelly, Kelly, Gail Kim) vs. Smackdown Divas (Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, Natalya) Prediction: As far as WWE divas matches go, this one could actually be pretty good. You have a couple of the better female workers in there in Phoenix, Natalya, Kim, and McCool. How did Mickie James not get a spot on the Smackdown team? I guess they wanted to keep it face vs. heel, and plus Mickie is also reportedly being punished right now, because she had the nerve to gain a few pounds. Cause after all, all the divas have to look the same, like they just came off the assembly line. Lame. I think the Smackdown divas will win this match, although they will probably tease some heat between Michelle McCool and Beth Phoenix, which could actually be a pretty damn good feud on Smackdown. That way, Smackdown can save face by saying that they won two of the interbrand matches, while Raw won the big one. That's it for me today. Thanks for taking the time to read my column. Until next time, take care and be well. You can send feedback to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or track me down on Facebook, if you'd like. |
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