WWE: ‘Then! Now! Forever!’ How long is ‘Forever’?

then! now! forever?

‘Then, Now, Forever’ Every WWE show that airs on television starts with this phrase.

They started doing this since RAW became 1000 episodes old.

So what is ‘then’?

WWE was founded by one Jesse McMahon along with Toots Mondt back in 1952. That’s what Wikipedia says. That’s how old ‘then’ is. 61 years! It’s been in the business that long.

It has seen talents come, shine and go. Other promotions arrived to the scene, played their games trying to dethrone WWE from the top of the mountain and ultimately falling, failing to do any harm to the multi-million company.

One thing they did though. All of them forced WWE to make changes in its ways to stay in the competition and Vince McMahon never disappointed.

Let it be WCW, ECW, NWA or WCCW. They all came and got valiantly defunct. The question is “Why”?

It’s simple. They didn’t follow one basic rule of nature, “adapt or perish”. WWE was always proactive in getting updated with time and era. It made amendments in its ways of working with changing times.

A few failures did come along the way but mostly changes were for betterment of the industry, or in Triple H’s words, “Best for business”.

Let it be the recruitment of Hulk Hogan and expansion to other parts of America and the World, or it was the idea of a wrestling phenomenon called Wrestle mania.

When gimmicks were high and nearly every wrestler carried one, Vince created one dead zombie like persona who would later be know famously as the Undertaker.

When WCW created troubles for the promotion by creating nWo angle, Vince created a phenomenon called the ‘Attitude Era’.

He was gutsy enough to screw Bret Hart on pay-per-view hence blurring fine line between reality and fiction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xsliuV6Z4og

He was brave enough to sacrifice the ruthless aggression for a ‘PG’ product because things got risky for the industry, blemishes increasing on the face of the entire wrestling business with death incidents and other unfortunate events. He didn’t perish under that wrath. He embraced it with open arms.

He turned one talented young lad with no wrestling background into ‘John Cena’. Love him or hate him, Cena saga would remain a pivotal chapter in the history books of pro wrestling.

And due to the above mentioned changes, McMahon’s promotion still remains the biggest sports entertainment company in the world with its reach over one hundred fifty countries as we talk here right now, 4 shows in a week with more than 1 PPV per month. The performers are on the road for more than 300 days a year.

WWE completed 1000 episodes of Monday Night Raw, its flagship weekly show last year July 23^rd.

The biggest quality of WWE has been the ability to create new stars when the old ones have became too “chewed up” in the words of Mr. McMahon.

Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, John Cena, Edge, Triple H, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan…the list shall go on and on. They are all original, self-made names, not ‘shipped’ from other promotions and they have all sold arenas and Pay-per-views on their own. That’s how good WWE is.

WWE went HD around 5 years back hence enhancing the experience of the viewers. It inculcated social media actively into its programming around two years ago. The video synchronizing team of the company is second to none. With all the money it makes by various avenues, it is very conscious of the visual experience a viewer is getting. Vince has never shied investing money for the visual pleasure.

This evolving ability of WWE ate up its competition in the industry so much so that it has remained the only real big fish in the pond. TNA and ROH with their limited viewership and poor financial status stand nowhere near.

Now the question arises, how long is forever.

An intelligent man defined ‘forever’ as ‘next to never’. So can the circus of Vince McMahon stay that long? Isn’t the term, a little tantalizing? WWE might tweet and tout its way throughout its shows but it remains a wrestling company at its core.

The decreasing viewership numbers of RAW and Smack Down are not what is ‘best for business.’

WWE has upped its game significantly even in the absence of a proper competition. Bringing in talented indie superstars and giving them main event spotlight makes for some amazing bouts and good storylines. Still, the numbers are disappointing. They are depreciating week after week. It seems like perhaps, even the best is not “best for business”.

what is best for business?

The future of professional wrestling industry as a whole hangs in jeopardy right now. It all depends on how WWE performs.

Wrestle mania garners buy rates and it happens only once a year.

Talking of Wrestle mania, you can’t have “once in a lifetime” matches every year. Undertaker who has been a major attraction of the event for last 20 years will soon hang his boots, then what?

how many “once in a lifetime” matches are possible?

The poor booking and overloaded roaster don’t help either.

Vince is not getting any younger. What after him? Can his successors really hold it up like him?

Such questions glare directly into our eyes and we have no answer. Only God knows.

I have been a fan of the promotion for last 15 years and I have seen changes on every nook and corner. I want it to thrive to survive till eternity, but can it?

How long is forever?

As Bob Dylan would say,

The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind, the answer…is blowing in the wind.