Why WWE Needs an Offseason Break

For the sake of health and improved storylines, giving WWE an offseason might be one of the best ways to allow superstars and divas to recover and give writers a more time to create a better television product.

In just about every form of professional sports, there is a regular season, followed by a postseason where championships are won. Then athletes usually get a chance to recover, take some time off and get away from the field of action.

Professional wrestling doesn’t have that. World Wrestling Entertainment likes to have their superstars and divas travel around the world for a total of about 250 shows that last throughout all 12 months of the year. I can tell you right now that, despite the high ratings they get every game, the National Football League would never go to an all-year schedule.

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With safety being such an important focal point to preserve athletes and a number of other factors, now might be the time to have a serious discussion about putting WWE on a set season and giving themselves some time to regroup. If they were able to maybe even take just a two-month offseason, there could be a lot of benefits.

The most important benefit of all is being able to allow the superstars to take time off for healing. How many times do fans read online about some of the talents trying to work through multiple injuries and despite all the pains? And yet they continue to wrestle four shows per week.

While there are some of us who enjoy being able to come home and watch Raw after the Monday grind to start the workweek. But are having an accumulating number of sprains, dings, dents and possible fractures be worth the ratings they earn on television?

Speaking of ratings, the WWE has not done very well with ratings having continued to dwindle for both Raw on Monday nights and SmackDown on Thursday nights. A lot of that is blamed on the often criticized creative staff; a group of writers who have the daunting task to write fresh content for two television programs each week and a pay-per-view per month.

If we want to treat WWE programming similar to how other television shows like the Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, the writers aren’t going to try to write an episode for every week of the year nonstop. Not only would it break a number of labor laws and would cause issues with the Writers’ Guild of America, but the idea box would empty out rather quick.

Giving the writers an extended period to sit in a room and write out a script for a set season during the offseason would give them a chance to develop more depth to their storylines without the constant daily pressures. Granted, they will still be needed at all the shows in the event of injuries that can still happen at any time; but they could still develop backup plans for their plans due to injuries and other issues.

Now that might mess with some traditions of having a champion hold a title through the offseason, but it would feel more like the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL. Maybe everyone attempts to earn points throughout the season in different kinds of matches that help set up the playoff season that would start at the Royal Rumble. The 30-man over-the-top-rope battle royal we all know and love done every January would still send the winner to the main event of WrestleMania, which can provide an automatic bye while others attempt to go through other qualifying rounds that utilize the Elimination Chamber.

WrestleMania would still be treated like the WWE’s Super Bowl, with the post-WrestleMania episode of Raw becoming something like an All-Star game held as the final episode of the season. The champions can then make appearances through autograph signings and live events, which will be used similar to the NFL preseason for the superstars to tune up for the start of the new season in time for SummerSlam.

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It may not come to a reality any time soon, but this could be a proper topic of discussion to help mix things up and do something different to pique the interest of the WWE Universe.

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