Another Pay Per View? Already?!
One of the notable features of the war between WCW and WWE in the 90s was the way it changed the business model of professional wrestling. In an era of constant escalation, first Eric Bischoff’s WCW and then, in response, Vince McMahon’s WWE began adding pay per view events to their schedule. Before anyone could have guessed, both companies were running a pay per view every month. Even more amazingly, it worked. Very soon it became accepted as the standard way of doing business in the wrestling world. TV was used primarily to persuade viewers to buy the pay per view each month, which increasingly became the most lucrative part of the wrestling business. Thus it has remained to this day. Unfortunately, in my opinion this business model is drastically, if not fatally, flawed.
Firstly, of course, there is the obvious problem of market saturation. In an age where UFC, not to mention many other mixed martial arts outlets, are also putting on pay per view, along with movies on demand and other such services, the entertainment dollar of most families is subject to severe pressure. There are those within the wrestling business, such as Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon, that like to downplay MMA in general and UFC in particular as competitors to wrestling. Nevertheless, the fact remains that there is significant (although by no means total) crossover between the two audiences. People only have a finite amount of money, so in truth, all those who offer pay per view services are, to some extent, in competition with each other. In the late 90s this was not so much of a problem. In many cases, the only competition that WCW and WWE PPVs had was with each other. That is no longer the case.
More important than this, however, is the fact that the monthly pay per view is, in and of itself, unsuited to the wrestling business. It puts the wrestling promoter in a series of no-win situations. Firstly, one month is not sufficient time to properly build up a wrestling angle. Most of the really great wrestling angles were several months, even a year or so, in the making. The way to sell a pay per view match is to ensure that the audience are begging to see it. That’s very hard to achieve in just a month. The most obvious answer to this is to stretch feuds and angles out over several pay per views. Straightaway, however, this approach runs into problems. The easiest way to stretch a feud is to have the supposedly feud-ending match end inconclusively – via a disqualification, count-out, run-in or similar. Yet, fans tend to expect clean finishes and resolutions on pay per view. “I didn’t spend $40 just to watch a bunch of disqualifications” is the likely response. The pay per view is generally hyped as being the show that you must see; if it turns out to be just another chapter in the story, one can’t help but feel a little cheated.
There is also the effect on TV to consider. The purpose of a wrestling TV show is to persuade viewers to buy pay per views; no one would dispute this. However, one can only do this if people actually watch the show, which means putting on a compelling wrestling show every week. If a company saves all of its best matches for pay per view, why should anyone watch the TV show? On the other hand, if that same promotion loads up its TV shows with big matches, why would anybody fork out good money to watch shows that are substantially the same as those that they are seeing for free on TV? Promotions are also under pressure to deliver ratings to their TV stations, again increasing the pressure on promoters to use up their good bouts on TV. One possible solution is to tease the big match on TV. Say, for example, you want people to buy your pay per view featuring John Cena versus The Undertaker. You decide to put this match on your TV show, give the audience just enough to whet their appetites and then end the match in a flurry of outside interference. Fine, in theory but that only increases the pressure on the company to deliver a clean finish in the pay per view. The audience have already been teased once on TV; they’re not going to appreciate getting the same experience on pay per view.
These conflicting pressures, therefore, force professional wrestling promotions to start and finish angles too quickly. This has yet another negative consequence, as it means that promotions quickly rush through all the potential combinations of their top guys. Between the demands of TV and pay per view for compelling match-ups, promotions quickly reach a situation where all of their top stars have faced each other on multiple occasions. This, in turn, can lead to premature and unbelievable face and heel turns as stressed bookers and writers seek ways of making the same old matches “must-see” viewing once again. TNA and WWE have, in recent years, frequently been accused of throwing away dream matches without maximising their potential and I would agree. Joe-Angle, for example, in TNA was a match that fans should have been forced to wait for until they were clamouring for it. What were TNA supposed to do in the meantime, though? If they had not gone straight for Joe-Angle then they would have been criticised for making the audience sit through the same old situations while they had a match everybody wanted to see ready-made.
It can work, of course. In the Attitude Era WWE enjoyed their greatest period of success using exactly this business model. However, one thing that is often forgotten is that Raw and Smackdown were united back then. Each monthly pay per view was actually being built up by twice as much TV, so the angles did not feel quite so rushed. Before Smackdown debuted Sunday Night Heat was used in a slightly similar role and, in any case, the “In Your House” series of pay per views represented a sort of halfway house between TV and the “Big Five” (Royal Rumble, Wrestle Mania, King of the Ring, Summerslam and Survivor Series). For those who didn’t watch back then, the “In Your House” series were shorter, cheaper pay per view events that took place in the months between the “Big Five” events. This allowed WWE to lengthen feuds somewhat since fans, although expecting something a bit bigger than the average TV show, did not necessarily expect these shows to be definitive statements that ended angles.
The other major difference, of course, is that WWE were constantly pushing the envelope in other ways. Even if the big pay per view event did end in some sort of fudge, fans seldom minded because they were still liable to have seen something memorable on the show. Take No Mercy in October of 1999. Triple H defended the title against Stone Cold in the main event, which ended when The Rock accidentally hit Austin with a sledge-hammer. It was far from a conclusive ending but who was worried about that, given that the Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian had just contested the first ever tag team ladder match and, in the process, redefined the genre? In this era of PG programming and, more importantly, increased concern for the well-being of performers, that sort of compensation is no longer an option.
WWE, of course, are tied to this model nowadays. Cutting pay per views is a massive decision for them, as the lost revenue will have to be made up for by increased sales of the remaining pay per views, something that can hardly be relied upon at the moment. TNA, however, have the freedom to be more flexible. No one buys their pay per views anyway, so why persist in following a business model that isn’t working financially and is, at best, problematic creatively? TNA like to present an image of themselves as being bold and daring. Now is the time for boldness. If I were the head honcho at TNA, I would cut all of their pay per views except for Slammiversary and Bound for Glory. Freed from the pressure of having a pay per view every month, the company would then be able to concentrate on delivering engaging, long-term, storylines. One could replace the missing pay per views with free TV specials, based around different themes – the X-Division, the Knockouts, the Heavyweights, the Tag Teams and so on, which would give TNA more chance of increasing viewership.
With only two pay per view events each year, it would become much easier to present them as must-see events and thereby dramatically increase the buy-rates. Spike TV would be happy since TNA Impact would become important in and of itself, rather than simply as a means to an end. Moreover, the company would probably engender considerable goodwill by reducing the bills of its fans in this way. Or, they can carry on as they are, with a mish-mash of pay per views that fail to stand out from TV, rushing through angles and wasting big matches. They taped Jeff Hardy versus Samoa Joe this week on Impact. Another big first ever match up thrown away on TV with no hype and nothing to gain from it. That is the wrestling business as we know it today. TNA have an opportunity to change it by doing something truly daring. I hope that they take it.
Looking Back on the Week in Wrestling
There have been plenty of interesting developments this week, so I have decided to do a few quick hits, rather than one long piece. Here goes!
Survivor Series No More
Vince McMahon announced this week that he is retiring the Survivor Series name, feeling that it has outlived its usefulness and is no longer relevant. The Survivor Series that took place in November 2009 will be the twenty-third and last pay per view to go out under that name. A few points occur to me, so here they are. Firstly, why does Vince seem to think that changing the name of a pay per view is the best way to increase buys? Frankly, he could call a pay per view WWE Pukathon and, as long as he offered good matches with well-thought out storylines logical builds, people would buy it. Now, as to the traditional Survivor Series elimination tag matches, maybe he’s right. I will miss them myself, but perhaps they have lost their appeal. Who’s fault, then, is that? Vince is the one who has consistently booked tag team wrestling as an afterthought for years, convincing fans that it is unimportant and not to be taken seriously.
It seems a shame to strip away the history of the company in this way. It’s far more impressive and meaningful to be watching the twenty-third annual instalment of something than it is the first. I will be most surprised if, in twenty-three years time, any of the current pay per views are still running (with the exceptions, obviously, of the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania). I’d suggest to Vince that he stop focussing on cosmetic changes and address the real issues facing his business.
The Road to Wrestlemania
Speaking of Vince focussing on the real issues, he and his creative team have done it again. Almost every year it’s the same. Between the Royal Rumble and ‘Mania, Creative (and the on-screen talent) raise the bar to such an extent that one can only wish that they would write and perform to this standard all year around. Since the Rumble I’ve watched Raw two weeks running for the first time in I don’t know how long. More to the point, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both shows and fully intend to watch again this coming week. The Bret Hart-Vince McMahon storyline is heating up nicely, the “Shawn Michaels is losing it” plot is just awesome, the break-up of Legacy is holding my attention as well. Add to that the return of Edge, the unpredictability of the title scene going into the Elimination Chamber, never mind Wrestlemania and you have a recipe for success. Oh yes, and CM Punk and his Straight Edge Society continue to rule every segment of TV they appear in. Punk instructing his minions “Luke, Serena, bring me Jared from Subway” on Raw this week was hilarious.
The End of WWECW
Should have addressed this last week but Vince’s decision to re-brand the C-show is, frankly, overdue. ECW has produced a lot of good wrestling under the WWE aegis but the viewing figures show that it is just not working. Old ECW fans hate it and newer fans just don’t value it. In a way, winding it up has come at a good time, as the uncertainty over the future of the ECW Championship is playing into the general uncertainty that’s making WWE so enjoyable as we head towards ‘Mania.
Everybody Has a Price
Ted DiBiase is the first inductee into the 2010 class of the WWE Hall of Fame. Awesome! If there is anyone out there who deserves this, it is The Million Dollar Man. A consummate performer both in the ring and with a microphone for many, many years, in his prime DiBiase was as good as it gets. I haven’t the time to really pay tribute to all of his accomplishments here; suffice it to say that I am thrilled that he is going in and am greatly looking forward to this years’ Hall of Fame show.
TNA
For the first time since the Hogan-Bischoff regime took over, the ratings of TNA wobbled a little (although they still stood at the top end of anything the company had achieved before their arrival) last week. However, I have to say that I am once again cautiously optimistic over where TNA is going. Everyone seems to be getting a fair amount of TV time, the right guys are increasingly winning matches, Samoa Joe is back in the main event and the show is beginning to calm down a little from the insane pace it set when Hogan debuted. With the exception of The Nasty Boys, most of TNA is moving in the right direction. Even the Hall-Waltman storyline has the benefit of unpredictability. Granted, the recreation of Montreal recently was unnecessary and disappointing but, by and large, this may work out. The decision to re-brand the March pay per view, Destination X, as an all-X Division show is a great idea, and will really help showcase some of the best high-flying talent in wrestling today. This Sunday’s show, Against All Odds, has some compelling match-ups: The Pope versus Desmond Wolfe, Mr Anderson versus Kurt Angle and, of course, AJ Styles versus Samoa Joe with Eric Bischoff as the guest referee.
Another great idea by TNA is apparently on the way soon, as Dixie Carter tweeted this week that the company would soon announce a UK pay per view. This is awesome news, as WWE fans in the UK have been crying out for a pay per view for years. TNA should make it their policy to give the fans anything they ask for that WWE are not prepared to offer. Having decided to stay on Bravo in the UK TV market, TNA are currently enjoying very high viewing figures. Given the potentially larger audience that they can reach, when compared to WWE, TNA have every chance of becoming the number one wrestling promotion for UK fans.
Let’s Get Ready to Ruummmmblllllllllle!
Ask any WWE fan what their favourite time of year is and they’ll likely answer right now. This period, starting with The Royal Rumble and ending in Wrestlemania, generally known as The Road to Wrestlemania, has for some years now been associated with a general rise in the quality of WWE programming. For creative and backstage personnel, this is the time to step up one’s work since the success (or lack thereof) of Wrestlemania is the key barometer by which the overall success of WWE will be measured. For wrestlers and other on-screen talent, this is also the time to step it up, in order to ensure an appearance at Wrestlemania, and the prestige, not to mention additional payday, that goes with it. In short, this is the time of year in which everyone in WWE is, or should be, giving everything their very best.
Judging by this year’s Royal Rumble, the 23rd since Pat Patterson had what was quite possibly the greatest single match idea in the history of wrestling, this year will be no exception. Sunday’s pay per view was undoubtedly the best thing that WWE have put on for some time, and bodes very well for the future. The show opened with a good match between Christian and his challenger, Ezekiel Jackson, for the ECW Championship. The match sensibly played to the strengths of both men, the power and size of Jackson being contrasted with the veteran guile of Christian. It was nice to see that, even given the lowly position of ECW in the WWE priority list, the match was given a reasonable length of time. The only problem with it is that Christian has become such a dominant champion. It’s hard to see where we go next for him, which in turn, makes one question whether or not the ECW Championship will be featured at Wrestlemania. A strong feud is required to get the brand on the biggest show of the year, and currently it’s difficult to see where that is coming from. Certainly, Christian can give Jackson a rematch – the victory was hardly so dominant as to deny the big man that. Unless something happens to lift Jackson to another level, however, it’s hard to imagine that contest taking place on pay per view at all, much less on the grandest stage of them all.
Elsewhere in the WWE Universe, there are people with clearer futures. Next up, after some backstage “comedy” shenanigans, was an impromptu match between MVP and The Miz, for the United States Championship. One of the great success stories of 2009, it is nice to see that The Miz has not yet started to rest on his laurels. One just senses that he knows how close he is to achieving real success, and he is not going to let up until he gets there. This feud is also invigorating MVP, as well. Porter, once tipped to be a future top guy, has seemingly floundered for some time, particularly since moving to Raw. Going after the US Championship has helped restore his profile, which is no bad thing. This sort of feud is exactly what secondary championships are made for, in my opinion. One only has to look back at The Rock versus Triple H in 1998 or Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit in 2000 to see that these kinds of mid-card feuds can enhance the profiles of all concerned.
The match itself was entertaining without being a classic. There was good back and forth, and either man could believably have won. The booing from the crowd came after the match. The Miz won with a sneaky roll-up, and then began taunting MVP, who promptly nailed him with the Playmaker. Most of the crowd seemed to regard this as sour grapes, which also indicates the rising popularity of The Miz. One can’t help but remember that MVP was far more successful as an arrogant heel than he has been lately, so maybe this would be a good feud to accomplish a double-turn, when the time is right.
Staying with the Raw brand, we moved from the US Championship to the WWE Championship, with a rare heel-heel match, Randy Orton versus Sheamus. Before the match, both members of Legacy separately found Randy to assure him of their loyalty and support, while casting doubts on that of their team-mate. Understandably, Randy grew tired of this and told Ted DiBiase that he did not want help from either of them in his match. The match itself was fine, and featured a few nice moments, such as a brawl outside the ring where Sheamus sent Orton into the ring-post and, as Orton staggered back, shoved him straight into the same post again. A very simple manoeuvre, but one that looked effective and made sense. Orton appeared to have the upper hand when Cody blindsided Sheamus in clear view of the referee. Although Orton hit the RKO on the Irishman, the ref called for the bell and Orton was disqualified.
After the match, Orton attacked Cody, to the delight of the crowd, and dealt with Ted in similar fashion when he came out to intercede on his partner’s behalf. A recovered Sheamus then levelled Orton with a bicycle kick and left the ring. Obviously, Orton had the crowd during this match but I had to agree with Jerry Lawler when he remarked that the audience were not as vocal in Orton’s support as he (or I) had expected. To be honest, I have heard Orton garner bigger pops when wrestling faces (and not just John Cena). Orton got more cheers for his post-match attacks than anything in the match. It seems clear now that Randy is turning face again and I do believe that that is what the crowd wants. However, he has built up a very distinctive in-ring style that I believe is more suited to a bad guy. To really go over as one of the good guys, although it would be a mistake to alter too much of his character, Orton needs to adopt a faster pace in the ring.
Next up was the conclusion to the “Piggy James” feud over the Women’s Title on Smackdown. I have enjoyed this feud a lot, more than any women’s feud I can remember for a long time. It’s the same formula as Miz and MVP – take two characters that can’t stand each other and give them a championship to fight over. Works every time. In this case, Women’s Champ Michelle McCool was being challenged by Mickie James, so, she decided to combat this threat by undermining the challenger’s confidence. For the last few weeks, McCool and her friend Layla (LayCool) have subjected James to increasingly nasty and brutal taunts regarding her weight. Many fans have taken offence at this, proving two things. One, that the issue is a good one since it clearly gets under people’s skin and two, that many wrestling fans seem to forget that it is the job of wrestling villains to be hateful, nasty and un-likeable. LayCool managed this very well. In this case, the match was extremely brief, which was not really a bad thing, since this story was not about the match, it was about retribution and vindication. Swiftly winning the championship (her fifth) with a typically brutal looking DDT, James was joined by the other baby-face women of Raw and Smackdown, led by her friend and ally Maria, bearing an enormous cake. As her friends held down LayCool, Mickie smashed the cake in their faces, gaining her final revenge. The two heels sold the humiliation beautifully, so this was a segment that was satisfying.
After that it was back to the business of world championships, specifically The Undertaker’s World Heavyweight Championship. Rey Mysterio, who has really been on fire for the last few months, was challenging the Deadman in a match that I was really looking forward to. The awesome video recap of their feud only heightened my anticipation. The match itself was, far and away, the best match of the night thus far, a classic case of little man with heart taking on dominating big man. Mysterio kept coming, ‘Taker kept swatting him down, Mysterio kept coming back again. The two men worked numerous and inventive counters and reversals and Undertaker did a wonderful job of selling Mysterio’s offensive moves. Finally, ‘Taker nailed the victory with The Last Ride but honestly, Mysterio came out of this defeat looking more credible than he did any of his world title victories a few years back. I would happily watch these two again.
Finally, then, The Royal Rumble Match itself, one of the most hotly anticipated matches of any year. At its worst, this match is always entertaining. This year, it was a long way from its worst. Many people complain nowadays that the prize for the Rumble, a shot at a title at Wrestlemania, makes the match more predictable, guaranteeing that only a handful of entrants have any chance of winning. So what? In any real sporting contest – be it a golf major, a tennis championship or whatever – only a handful of the entrants have a genuine chance of winning. The dream, however, is there for every entrant, however faint it may be. Moreover, the Rumble isn’t just about the winner. Done right, this match can elevate a number of guys, and that is exactly what this year’s Rumble did.
Firstly, we had CM Punk, who dominated the opening stages of this Rumble. Fair enough, Punk lasted only a few minutes and got nowhere near victory. The point was what he was allowed to do with his time. He eliminated five competitors personally and he underlined every aspect of his character by virtue of his little speeches in between waiting for opponents – his cowardice, his arrogance, his dishonesty and his skill. This was Punk’s fourth Rumble but it felt like his first as it was the first time he was in the match as a major star. Further, his elimination at the hands of Triple H, coming hot on the heels of their excellent match on Smackdown last week continues a potential feud that I would love to see played out further.
No one, with the possible exception of Matt Hardy and Zack Ryder, really came out of this match looking weaker than they had going in and almost every entrant was allowed to hit at least one finishing move on somebody, if not score any eliminations. Several guys were allowed to be extremely dominant, if only briefly, including Carlito and Kane. Beth Phoenix popped the crowd big-time when she eliminated the gigantic Great Khali with a kiss, in what has to be one of the greatest bits of booking I have ever seen. Nobody wants to see Khali main-event Wrestlemania but this allowed him to be taken out of the match while in no way diluting his aura as a dominant giant, gave the crowd a good laugh and gave Phoenix a major feather in her cap all in one moment. The feud of MVP and The Miz also continued to heat up. First, Miz regained his status as bad guy by blasting MVP in the back of the head with the US Title belt, before MVP could even get to the ring, then later, a recovered Porter eliminated both himself and Miz from the match with a clothesline, before they continued to fight on the outside. These two characters now really hate each other.
R-Truth did his cause a world of good by simultaneously eliminating both Mark Henry and The Big Show, which comes as a welcome addition to his recent victories over Chris Jericho and proves that he is moving in the right direction. And, of course, there is Shawn Michaels. HBK was both dominant and desperate in his quest to win the Rumble and challenge The Undertaker at Wrestlemania for the second year running. The moment when he eliminated his tag-team partner Triple H with a blindsided Sweet Chin Music underlined both his determination to win and the growing tension between DX. Once again, it also allowed Triple H to be eliminated while in no way detracting from his status as a dominant ass-kicker. When Michaels was himself eliminated by Batista, he played it beautifully, moving from disbelief to frustrated rage very quickly. Re-entering the ring, he super-kicked referee Charles Robinson, who was attempting to persuade him to leave, only to seemingly be overcome with remorse as he realised that he was reacting badly. This story is fascinating, and could go in many directions as yet.
But the ultimate story was, of course, the return of Edge. His shocking return from an injury that, we were told, might even keep him out of ‘Mania itself may have been reminsicient of John Cena’s 2008 victory but so what? Edge’s return shakes everything up and gives a whole host of new possibilities for ‘Mania. I also love the fact that he has opted to postpone his decision as to who he faces until after The Elimination Chamber in three weeks. The tension should only continue to rise. All in all, then, this was a cracking pay per view, with an excellent conclusion. We had both conclusions and beginnings on the show and, as The Road to Wrestlemania stretches out before us, it looks both exciting and unpredictable.
Marshall Law 