5 Reasons why the WWE product is the best it has been in years

Moving on to the Reality Era from the PG Era has served the WWE product wellAs wrestling historians would attest, the WWE has expanded tremendously in both size and reach from the Madison Square Garden days, predominantly under the auspices and astute leadership of one Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Taking over from his father who was content with maintaining and respecting the older territorial divisions of the industry, Vince McMahon Jr's vision for the product and the company shared neither the same limitations nor the restrictions that had reigned his father in.Today the WWE has morphed into a multi-million dollar publicly traded global powerhouse, thereby also asserting its monopoly as the leading promoter of pro wrestling and sports entertainment in the world.Throughout all these years though, while the company has firmly held on to its roots and historical significance, there is no debating that the product itself has adapted and suited itself to the changing trends and audience demographic.Succinctly summed up in a nutshell by their slogan, "Then. Now. Forever.", the all-conquering WWE machine marches on into what we have come to know as the Reality Era today, characterized by a gamut of changes to the manner in which the product is being produced and packaged.On the back of the dreary and exasperating PG era - that put even the most forbearing of fans to the test - here then are 5 reasons why today's product is a breath of fresh air, and can be considered to be the best put forth by the company in recent years.

#5 Reality shows

Reality shows produced by the WWE has helped tweak the product to cater to a larger mainstream audience

A show like the Total Divas may not be everybody’s cup of tea, and present a considerable deviation from how wrestling products have been packaged in the past, but there is no denying that it has added greatly to the mainstream appeal of the WWE.

Rather than portraying Divas to be merely eye candy, as was the norm during the edgy and brash Attitude Era, a show like Total Divas allows the WWE Universe to understand and connect with them as human beings outside of the ring as well.

Coupled with shows like Tough Enough and Legends House, the window of access into the real-time working environment of the industry and an all-revealing low down on Superstars behind the scenes has catalysed a huge paradigm shift in how pro-wrestlers are viewed by the audience.

Moving on from the days where kayfabe was preserved as an entity onto itself, the advent of WWE reality shows has somewhat diluted that dynamic, resulting in greater connectivity to the Superstars, and conversely the industry, from an audience standpoint.

#4 Podcasts

Wrestling related podcasts have opened up the back door of the industry to fans worldwide

Another major contributor to the uniqueness of today’s product over the yesteryear versions – when the hardcore fans used to obtain any and all backstage information through dirt sheets – is through the snowballing popularity of wrestling podcasts.

Whether it be Stone Cold shooting from the hip about the internal workings of the industry, or Chris Jericho engaging in an absorbing tete-a-tete with his guest, the range of podcasts available to the WWE Universe to inundate themselves with ‘wrasslin’ talk has never been more widespread.

With the likes of old timers in the industry – like Ric Flair and Jim Cornette – also getting in on the act, along with a fair few fan podcasts that approach the industry from an educated audience standpoint, interested listeners are often spoilt for choice in today’s dynamic.

While the pro-wrestling industry has massively been successful in the past due to its uncompromising adherence to kayfabe, the availability of authentic sources of inside information through podcasts has meant that it has had to embrace change, and assume a more transparent and “bear-all” nature today.

#3 Indie stars

The in-ring wrestling style has become more absorbing due to the influx of Indie talent into the WWE fold

One of the most pertinent facets of the product, that has also served to demarcate it from what it used to be, has to do with the quality of the roster available to the company today as compared to that of the somewhat middling and mediocre PG era.

And while that is of little surprise given that a considerable number of the WWE and NXT roster today is comprised of the top talent from around the world, it also represents how far the company have come from the days of conveniently ignoring the independent circuits.

Superstars like Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Cesaro, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe and until recently, Daniel Bryan are some of the Superstars of the modern era that have set the WWE alight with their pyrotechnics inside of the ring.

And although much of the talent signed from the Independent promotions are required to acclimatize to a WWE style of performance in the NXT brand, the eventual funnelling of talent into the main roster has definitely had a profound and positive effect on the nature of in-ring action that we witness today.

#2 A Safer and cleaner environment

Gone are the days of the prototypical heavily roided WWE Superstar

Even after the infamous steroid scandal that rocked the company in the early 90s, it wasn’t before the dawn of the 21st century that the WWE imposed stringent guidelines and penalties to curb the rampant usage of performance enhancing drugs that had become a staple of the pro-wrestling industry.

It took the sudden passing of Eddie Guerrero and the horrific double murder-suicide of Chris Benoit and his family before the company decided to thoroughly clean up its act and ensure that its wrestlers weren’t abusing banned substances to compensate for the gruelling workload.

After that, not only has the company stomped out the misuse of drugs over the years, but it has also curtailed certain risky in-ring performance aspects by banning chair shots to the head and other spots that could potentially cause head or neck trauma if repeatedly exposed to.

While this also meant that blood and gore were relegated to a thing of the past, it was certainly a step in the right direction as it ensured that performers that were putting their bodies on the line close to 300 days a year do not have to ultimately pay too steep a price for doing so.

#1 Passing of the Torch

The rise of NXT and the WWE Network bears all the markings that a changing of guard is afoot in the WWE

Although Vince McMahon still holds the final sway over how the product is ultimately presented, the past few years have been categorized by the rise of the NXT brand and a slow but sure infiltration of the main roster by its talent; something that has been majorly chalked up to the influence of Triple H.

Already 70 years old, although reportedly still defying the clutches of his age with his active involvement behind the scenes, Vince McMahon is primarily a businessman who – logic dictates – would have set a succession plan in place should Father Time finally catch up with him.

It has been apparent for quite some time now that his daughter Stephanie McMahon and son-in-law Triple H have been earmarked to assume the mantle once Vince is unable to continue, but the effects of the changing of guard can already be perceived in how the product is inching towards a wrestling-heavy dynamic once again.

Vince McMahon may have been the genius behind turning a national industry into a global phenomenon, but in today’s era of digitization and the internet, the product has had to yet again evolve for the better, both behind the scenes and on it, in order to keep up with the changing times and the audience.