Welcome ladies and gentlemen to another edition of this column. I’m excited to have all of you reading this week. To read more thoughts from me, including a review of Chris Jericho’s new DVD and thoughts on Chris Jericho’s eventual return to WWE check out itswilltime.wordpress.com.
This week, WWE received yet another piece of bad news. In the midst of falling PPV buys they scored a number on Raw that they have not seen in about thirteen years. Their rating was a 2.7. The interesting thing about this is that it is not a sudden development. WWE is seeing their business go down rather rapidly.
There are a lot of problems with the WWE product as it is now, but I don’t really intend to get into them. Everyone has their own opinions as to what they are and how WWE can fix them. This is not a column about the fixes they should do. I want to discuss the fixes that WWE will most likely do.
As WWE sees their business slump down, we must wonder what will they do to fix it. At the beginning of summer they did one something that no one saw coming with The Nexus storyline. Now, we are seeing that storyline evolve and possibly end on Sunday. As it becomes normal and less spectacular WWE is seeing the short term boost they may have been given fade away while they face their stiffest competition of the year.
WWE has already used one of the biggest aces up their sleeves. The Nexus angle should have been the biggest moment of the year, but now it is just another angle in the long line of angles they have put forth this year. We have to ask what more they can do.
First of all, there is the return of the McMahons to TV. I can not say that seeing Vince and Stephanie on Raw excites me, but I do not know what more they can do. The McMahons have proven to bring in some ratings and make things more interesting on the show. There is the obvious situation where one of them could be the General Manager, but since they work better as heels and the GM has shown a face persuasion lately, they could oppose him. Maybe Vince does not like the power he gave the GM and is now regretting it.
Going towards and obvious comeback solution, there is also Triple H. The real problem is that as a babyface he does not garner sympathy. Randy Orton and Triple H proved that he could have his wife beaten and kissed and no one would care about Triple H’s revenge. I would love to see Triple H eventually turn heel and become Raw’s number one heel force. He has proven that he is an effective number one heel and could elevate the brand.
Perhaps the new revolution is in what people have been requesting for the last four years. Could it be time for the much-fabled John Cena heel turn? Many fans that have been turned off from the product would return to see Cena as a bad guy. It is something that was never seriously done in WWE. He was a rapping heel, but that was just annoying. This version of John Cena would actually have to be evil, not just a rapper. I would even imagine that he would ditch the jean shorts in the same way that Chris Jericho ditched long pants for short trunks. This is probably the least likely solution I am offering. It’s possible that they will hesitate because of merchandise sales, but I do not feel those will matter against their failing business. I might never buy a WWE t-shirt again in my life, but I will buy PPVs I am interested in seeing. A heel Cena would have me interested.
No matter what they do, I do not believe that WWE will stay on their current course for long. I don’t believe that WWE will keep the Championship on Orton for long given the ratings loss in the last two weeks. I do hope WWE turns it around and produces as strong of a product as possible.
Remember to check out itswilltime.wordpress.com for a review of the Cnris Jericho DVD and thoughts on his eventual comeback. That’s all for me this week folks!
