WWE: It’s time we stopped looking at them as a wrestling promotion

The ending to last week’s edition of Monday Night Raw left the wrestling community shaking their head at the television. At least those that are a part of its dwindling viewership. As some debate about whether this is the lowest point in the show’s history, it’s time for a more pertinent conversation to take place. The WWE is no longer a “wrestling-first” company.

Content is king. Every year there are massive deals for streaming platforms to curate content to draw in viewers. That is what led to WWE being able to sell the WWE Network to be included in the Peacock platform. It was a big deal that continued WWE’s trend to have exceptionally strong revenue numbers even as the COVID-19 global pandemic pushed wrestling to its near brink throughout 2020 and into 2021. WWE’s ability to create content not only kept it afloat but lifted the boat into the skies as money continued to pour in. Listeners can even hear WWE leadership praise themselves for their ability to create content during quarterly investors’ calls. But that content has been highly dissatisfying to those that watch on a week-to-week basis.

Seventy-five-year-old, WWE Chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon once said that “We make movies,” in reference to the content that the WWE creates. This was back in 1999, as a throwaway line in the documentary, Beyond the Mat. That quote is a direct line to what fans see today on television. WWE Studios has created several movies such as The Rundown, 12 Rounds, Scooby-Doo WrestleMania Mystery, and Rumble, set for release in 2022. Movie buffs may roll their eyes at the idea of WWE being a legitimate movie production company, but it is clear that this type of content is here to stay.

And it translates over the television as well. Therefore, Monday Night Raw, a three-hour show, may have only seven matches by the time the night is done. The same goes for SmackDown, which is an hour shorter but also features fewer matches. NXT, which is talked about as “different” than the other two brands, features more wrestling, but there are several examples of booking that screams main roster. Week after week, segments featuring the same talent rematches galore, and spots like Baszler’s last week are stale, continuing to cause fans to tune out. WWE must find a way to create bigger stars, but they consistently miss one important component that fans tune in to see, the wrestling matches.

This does not have to be the situation. WWE could easily use its platform to put on the wrestling that wrestling fans want to see. Women’s wrestling has fallen by the wayside in the worst way. Imagine if the ladies were given their own show on the WWE Network, akin to 205 Live. With this show, they can build up more of the women on the roster who are not seen on television and create even more content that can be used for revenue-driving opportunities in the future. Characters can be built through pre-produced segments, hosted on the promotion’s YouTube channel with nearly 80 million subscribers. Or what about using YouTube similarly to the way AEW uses its account, to build up wrestlers through matches that matter over time.

The opportunity is there for the taking, but the WWE has made it clear that their production focus is not on the matches. Instead, they opt to tell “stories,” that come off so poorly that fans walk away from the show at an alarming rate. It may seem like a joke, but some are even wondering if WWE under its current creative direction will find a way to have a Raw or SmackDown episode that does not even feature any actual matches.

The current dose of content from the WWE continues to fail those that come to the promotion to see some of the greatest men and women in the industry do what they do, wrestle. That has not stopped the company from making millions upon millions of hours of content. Perhaps it is time to stop talking about the WWE as a wrestling promotion. Let them keep their “movies” for the target audience of one sitting at the top.