The revenue generated by sports entertainment-innovator World Wrestling Entertainment have been in a free fall. As new superstars have been slow to catch on, WWE struggles to regain its former place of prominence. Illustration by John Hubbard.
By ROBERT WALKER – Digital Managing Editor
As the WWE exits the worst period in its history, there have been issues in bridging the gap from the former generation to the newer, “improved” generation.
After hemorrhaging money in 2014, World Wrestling Entertainment’s Vince McMahon and his team finally realized that the mid-2010s iteration of the company had failed, and improvements were needed. The new season of WWE, so far, has been better than it has been in years, thanks mostly to the introduction of new superstars that will be able to carry the company.
Without question, the “Attitude Era” of WWE (WWF at the time) was the best, as it featured the superstars that everybody knows like The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Kane and The Undertaker, but the WWE had no luck in following this era with anything that was remotely as good.
What followed was the worst era in WWE history, with superstars like Brock Lesnar, Edge and Kurt Angle. The only superstar from that era that has managed to stand the test of time and the infamously tough WWE crowds is John Cena. Cena has been the golden boy since he defeated Triple H for the first time, and is now the undisputed best wrestler of the current WWE roster and has done a good job in being the United States Champion by letting younger stars challenge him, so they can build a fanbase in WWE.
Of course, wrestlers like Randy Orton are still around, but never reached anywhere near the cultural icon status that people like The Rock or Hulk Hogan did. And halfway through 2015, WWE is clearly very interested in a reshuffle of talent.
At Wrestlemania 31, after Seth Rollins cashed in his Money In The Bank contract that he won, he essentially created a three way title match between himself, Brock Lesnar (the defending champ) and Roman Reigns, and he won.
This was the first sign that the company was looking to bloody their new talent, and see how they responded on the big stage. WWE followed this up on Raw on May 4 by introducing Sami Zayn against John Cena in a United States Championship match, that while Zayn lost, was a massive success among fans.
WWE’s plan of introducing WWE NXT, the equivalent of the NBA D-League, wrestlers into the show is quite a good one, as they can then hand pick people, and assign them appropriate personalities and ways of presenting themselves.
One of the other signs of growth within the company is the introduction of The New Day, the current Tag Team Champions, which consists of veteran Kofi Kingston, and lesser known Big-E and Xavier Woods. This new group has the potential to be a big plot point, as they defeated very well known stars Roman Reigns and Randy Orton in a 3 on 2.
Overall, WWE is on the upswing, rather than the free fall it was in before, but to return the company to its previous heights, the new superstars will have to step up significantly, if the WWE is to be returned to former glory, as it deserves.
