So it’s back to USA for WWE and it could prove to be a catalyst for the next “wrestling boom”. Is that a ridiculously bold statement? Absolutely, but we should take a look at the situation before we call it crazy.
WWE was a fixture on the USA network for quite some time. Before moving to TNN/Spike, WWE was crushing all cable competition on Monday nights with USA being the ultimate tag team partner. Spike was, well, Spike didn’t really fare well with the hot tag so to speak. Dating back to the days that ECW was on TNN, the network really showed that they didn’t know how to promote wrestling in any form. WWEs move to TNN, while financially the best move, hurt them in the long run, as Spike isn’t available everywhere that USA is, which caused some casual fans to drop away from the product. Obviously that isn’t the only thing that caused decline in interest, but we’ll stick to the TV here.
With WWE coming back “home”, they have the opportunity to bring back the old days where they were on a station that would promote them. USA will promote the hell out of WWE as they are getting a SUBSTANTIAL cut of advertising profits (too much for some shareholders). Additionally, USA knows the product and knows it in good times and bad. They can adjust their game plan depending on where WWE is, making everything run smooth as Kurt Angle.
The “Homecoming” show itself should provide enough of a spark to get some casual fans back into the mix. With Hogan, Austin, Foley, Triple H and others, the commercials alone will get people to tune in to see what’s up. As we all know, you only need one moment to get hooked, and I’m sure WWE is going to try to provide as many of those moments as possible to start to reel them in again. Between a ladder match, an abbreviated Iron Man match, returning legends and bra and panties, WWE was looking to explode back on USA. With Spike looking to counter with UFC and TNA, Vince McMahons competitive juices are seemingly already starting to flow.
Couple this with WWE en espanol on Mun2 and WWE is really expanding their audience. Fact of the matter is, WWE knows how to grow their audience in an advertising sense and taking advantage of multimedia. It’s simple for them, and they do it well.
So look at the facts and forget about the dog show. WWE is primed and ready to boom again. Vince and co. are holding the bottle waiting for their lighting. It isn’t a question of when, but a question of who will fill it.
