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With a new challenger nipping at its heels, it's time for WWE to take action to ensure it remains the dominant promotion in sports entertainment. When it comes to sports entertainment, the WWE has been the globally dominant brand for most of its existence.
Originally called the WWWF, Vince McMahon Sr. ran the promotion in the old 'territorial' style. He only held shows in his region of the country, and often swapped talent with other regional promotions. This is how he acquired the services of Hulk Hogan, for example.
But when Vince McMahon Jr. took over the company, he changed a lot more than the name. Now dubbed the WWF, which eventually became the WWE, he invaded the regional territories of other promotions. Legally, Vince was doing nothing wrong, but he did upset the established status quo.
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Vince's move caused many of the regional promotions to consolidate. Jim Crockett gathered up as many of the NWA territories as he could for Jim Crockett Productions. The GWF quickly sought out a cable television deal, and they were not the only ones.
The 'classic' era of WWF features Hulk Hogan's lengthy title reign and the advent of the Rock N Wrestling connection. For most of the 1980s, WWE was the dominant brand.
That changed for a few years during the Monday Night Wars, when World Championship Wrestling would briefly dethrone WWE. Once WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon, however, the WWE was left without a serious competitor for the next twenty years.
Now, All Elite Wrestling is lurking on the horizon, ready to challenge WWE for supremacy. Unlike other challengers, such as Ring of Honor and TNA/Impact, this new promotion's stated goal is to conquer the North American pro wrestling market and compete directly with WWE for fans.
Here are ten things WWE must do if it wants to beat back the challenges posed by AEW.
#1 WWE must develop new talent
One of the things WWE must do to fight off the challenge posed by AEW isn't going to pay off immediately. In fact, it's a long term investment strategy, and it helped WWE win the Monday Night War.
Developing new talent is key to maintaining WWE's dominance over time. Lacey Evans is a great example of a wrestler groomed by their developmental program. WWE also used this strategy during the Monday Night War when they pushed younger stars like Edge, Christian, and the Hardys.
In order to defeat the challenges posed by AEW, WWE must be mindful of its own future.
#2 WWE Must retain their current talent
In addition to developing new pro wrestling talents, WWE must also take care that they are able to retain their current crop of superstars.
Once someone has performed with WWE, they have a great deal of recognition in the pro wrestling community, even if they never made it out of the lower part of the card. This means that the former WWE wrestlers can find employment most of the time, even if it's on the independent circuit.
In order to prevent AEW from acquiring even more talent than their already stacked roster holds, WWE must try to keep its current superstars happy enough to remain with the company. The WWE has done a good job of this with the Revival, who originally requested their release because of a lack of focus on the tag team division. Now that the WWE has made some changes, the Revival seem to be happier with their position in the company.
WWE needs to keep its current talent pool happy if they want to stay relevant against AEW.
#3 WWE must tell compelling stories
In the modern world, professional wrestling has managed to stay relevant. While the industry does continue to grow and evolve, reflecting the societal mores of the zeitgeist, there is one area where it remains essentially unchanged since its inception.
That area is storytelling. No matter what changes time has wrought over the decades of pro wrestling's existence, at the end of the day the fans tune in for the storylines. This isn't to say that good athletic in-ring performances are not necessary, just that a good storyline is also part of the essential mix to create truly compelling entertainment for the fans.
A great example of WWE's outstanding ability to tell a story relates to Kofi Kingston's recent rise to the WWE Championship. It was handled exceptionally well and has been one of the most successful moves the company has made in years. WWE will need to continue to produce storylines as well done as this one if it wants to remain on top.
#4 WWE must listen to its fans
Again we turn to the Kofi Mania phenomenon to showcase one of the things WWE has done absolutely right, and must continue to do in order to stay on top of the sports entertainment industry.
Simply put, the WWE must listen to its fans. Kofi Kingston was a sudden replacement for an injured Ali, who was unable to compete in the Elimination Chamber event. WWE made the wise decision not to just throw Kingston into the mix. Instead, they had Kofi "earn" the shot at Elimination Chamber by competing in a gauntlet match. During the gauntlet, WWE was taken aback by just how loudly the fans cheered for Kofi.
Notes were taken, and Kofi was soon booked into a program with World Champion Daniel Bryan. Kofi Mania would never have been such a boon for the company if they hadn't listened to the fans. WWE must continue to do so if they want to turn away the challenge posed by AEW.
#5 WWE must acquire to female wrestling talent
Ten years ago, women's matches in general and on WWE programming in particular were often brief, poorly planned, and mostly existed as an excuse to showcase divas in skimpy clothing.
But after the Women's Evolution, that is no longer the case. Now for the first time ever the main event of the most prestigious and grand sports entertainment event, WrestleMania, was headlined by women. Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair made history with their WWE championship bout.
With women's wrestling becoming a big deal, this means that WWE must continue to find and sign top female talent, such as Io Shirai. Since AEW's stated goal is to make their women's division just as competitive as their men's, WWE needs to take this step to continue their dominance of the North American pro wrestling market.
#6 Mix up the sometimes stagnant world title picture
If there's one thing the WWE has a tendency toward, it's having the same handful of Superstars compete for the world title on a rotating basis.
For much of the mid 2000s, men like John Cena, Randy Orton, and Batista were in nearly every pay per view competing for or defending one of the 'big belts' from Raw or SmackDown. This led to stagnation which turned off a multitude of fans.
By freshening up the world title picture, and allowing new and exciting challengers to have their day in the sun, WWE can hold their fan's interest. An excellent example of this again involves Kofi Kingston, and also Kevin Owens. The two men are relatively new to the main event picture, though Owens flirted with it in the past and is a former Universal champion before sliding down the card. They have never worked a program against each other for a long term, either, so fans are getting something new. WWE needs to do more of this if they want to retain their fans in the face of AEW's challenge.
#7 Showcase 205 Live stars on Raw and SmackDown Live
The great thing about sports entertainment is that there are a wide variety of matches, wrestling styles, and Superstars.
What fans really want is to see more than just the same type of match between the same size wrestlers day in and day out. Variety is the spice of life, so the saying goes, and by offering variety in their programming WWE can continue their dominance.
One great way to compete with the younger, smaller athletes AEW has been signing is to showcase members of the 205 Live roster on Raw and SmackDown. They can wrestle a similar style to what many of the AEW athletes utilize, and could be an incentive to tune into WWE programming rather than the competition, whether it comes from AEW or another source.
#8 Extend the proverbial Olive Branch to former WWE stars
One of the major themes of most pro wrestling shows of the regional era was 'new stars and old favorites.'
WWE has enjoyed the efforts of dozens of the world's best professional wrestlers over the years of its existence. Some of these wrestlers remain on good terms with the company, such as Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase and Shawn Michaels.
Other stars, however, have felt disenfranchised by the WWE and have been quite vocal about it on social media. While in some cases it's best for WWE to cut its losses, such as with Ryback, other former WWE stars still have a lot to offer for the company.
CM Punk is high on the list, as is current Impact champion Johnny Impact/Morrison/Mundo/Nitro. These men are stars and can draw fans to the WWE product, and if the company wants to stay on top it might want to extend the olive branch and try to get these stars back under contract.
#9 Put on free PPV quality shows on network television
In order to remain on top of the pro wrestling industry, WWE must not just retain its current fans, to keep them from watching another show. They must also try and gain new fans who haven't watched pro wrestling much or at all.
There is a great way to do this, and WWE has used this method in the past. By putting on high quality PPV level shows on free television, they can help grow their fan base while keeping current fans satisfied. The WWE did this already in the 1980s and early 1990s with their Saturday Night's Main Event, which was a once a month replacement for NBC's Saturday Night Live.
The NWA also used this technique when they put on the first ever Clash of the Champions on TBS. The high quality card, headlined by Ric Flair vs. a very young Sting, is credited for creating a lot of new fans for the NWA promotion.
WWE could take this step if they want to remain on top of the industry.
#10 Get Raw and SmackDown Live on streaming services more quickly
We've already established that one of WWE's strengths, at least when they choose to employ it, is their storytelling ability. However, it can be hard to tell a story if no one can read the chapters therein.
This is what happens when their flagship show, Raw, and SmackDown Live are streamed up to a month after their initial air time. As wrestling fans know, this is a long time to wait and the entire program can be completely different by the time the shows finally air on streaming services.
In order to retain old fans and retain new ones, the WWE should consider trying to get their programming available to streamers more quickly. With cord cutting already endangering the cable industry, it makes little sense to snub a huge portion of the WWE audience who choose not to subscribe to a cable company.
There you have it; Ten things WWE must do if they want to stay on top of All Elite Wrestling's challenges. Questions or comments? Please leave them after the article and as always thanks for reading!
