WWE is creatively stagnant.

 

A lack of interesting characters, a non-existant mid-card, prescriptive weekly television, increasing ticket prices, and more frequent Saudi-shows has inspired many fans to dub this the "Ruthless Depression" era. While meant partially as a joke, the popularity of the phrase/meme is indicative of where WWE is at today.

 

Every Monday begins with the same twenty minute promo. Every episode features poorly filmed and poorly acted backstage segments. The mid-card is a cast of feckless buffoons who battle one another in a sprint toward the bottom. Yes, CM Punk is the World Champion. Yes, John Cena is on his farewell tour. Yes, Dominic Mysterio is hilarious. And yes, women feature better representation than they did twenty years ago. But none of it seems to matter. Why? Because the creative apparatus is fundamentally broken. Professional wrestling wants to be an improvised art, and yet WWE insists on scripting its characters out of a personality.

 

Not a single word comes from the heart.

 

Criticizing all of this, even playfully, will get fans nowhere fast, though. We need our agency back. If we want to affect change we have to offer WWE well-considered, respectful alternatives. If this is a depression (and it certainly feels like one) how are we going to get ourselves out of it? Let's treat WWE (and its fans) like a patient in need of help and offer up actionable solutions so that it might thrive.

 

 

I believe the opening twenty minute promo is killing WWE. It saps the in-attendance audience of their energy and excitement, inspiring them to sit on their hands in a cold, predictable process. One wrestler comes out to talk about how great they are. Another wrestlers interrupts them. Perhaps someone else interrupts that wrestler. It all ends in fisticuffs or a main event match being booked (impromptu). Rinse. Repeat. Every week. No change. Nothing different. Nothing exciting. Even CM Punk and Paul Heyman can't make this good.

I suggest WWE try starting one show (just one) in a different way. Begin with a match already in progress. Begin with a vignette. Begin with a backstage interview (though more on that later). Begin with basically anything else.

 

Then, after that one week experiment, check the temperature of the room. Did doing something different shut down the entire machine? Was it that much harder to produce? Did fans respond positively to the change or did they not even seem to notice? Allow that reaction to inform what you do going forward. If, as I predict, the reception is positive, do something different the following week. Develop, over time, a new default opening to the show that is more engaging, entertaining, and creative.

 

I recommend WWE's default opening should be nothing more than a wrestling match, making adjustments as needed week after week. But, rather than the slog of a promo, the action of a match is the company's go-to beginning.

 

How would the audience learn about the rest of the night's matches or events?

 

Simple. Something a little old-fashioned that WWE used to do all the time (that AEW does now). Have commentary announce the entire card at the start of the show while there are lulls in the opening match. Yes, this represents a fundamental philosophical change in the way these shows are booked. Laying out the entire card at the start, reaffirming the reality that Monday Night Raw and SmackDown are fully booked by the time they go to air, will mean an end to the "impromptu match". Impromptu matches worked when an evil overlord (Vince McMahon) used them to catch his rivals off guard. They are an outdated narrative mechanism. WWE presents a sleak, organized company and that should be reflected in the show itself. Impromtu matches don't even get pops because the audience is so thoroughly numbed by the preceeding twenty minutes of talking. Jettison all of it. Shake things up and do something different if for no other reason than to do so. Do this, and you will be rewarded with positive word of mouth, unburdened by memes like Ruthless Depression.

 

 

I don't know what a single character in WWE actually wants. Sure, CM Punk recently reiterated he's here to "make money" (and added "to win titles" in a bit of revitionist history), but that's not exactly a crowd-electrifying ethos. What does he desire? Who does he dislike? What is a wrong that needs to be righted? I know even less about the desires of WWE's ensemble cast, a collection of action figures who sometimes go smash in the ring and sometimes recite dialogue in the backstage. No one is motivated by anything. They all exist in this banal, backstage existence, all lacking agency, and all completely inept.

 

Let's hear what they actually want to accomplish for a change!

 

How do you do that?

 

Bring back the short, unscripted promo. Or, put another way, a "talking points" promo where the wrestler creatively touches on a few key points they want to make all while imbuing the performance with their unique personality and take on events. These promos could be recorded before the event goes live and inserted throughout key points in the broadcast.

Will this be a challenge for some wrestlers? Of course, especially because over the past twenty years WWE has effectively phased out this style of promo. Bringing it back will mean reconditioning the performer, and the audience. But I dare anyone to suggest this wouldn't bring life back to the show. Rather than a cast of neautered idiots, WWE's halls would be pregnant with wrestlers motivated by something (anything), and the results would be overwhelmingly positive.

 

Take, for example, Rhea Ripley, the most "over" woman and, arguably, the most "over" performer in the company today. She looks super cool, and is great in the ring, but the moment she attempts to recite her memorized lines her mystique takes a dent. These scripted backstage segments are killing performers, making it impossible for them to genuinely "get over" with the audience. Giving them controlled yet creatively liberated space to succeed or fail on their own merits, in their own voices, will go a long way in curing this depression.

 

 

Between Peacock, Netflix, and ESPN Unlimited, the working class wrestling fan has been priced out of their fandom. This will continue to have a negative impact on the audience and, by extension, the perception of WWE. We get it. WWE and TKO are all about making money. The problem is they're assuming their value is greater than it is. I refuse to subscribe to ESPN Unlimited because I have no interest in any of its non-WWE content and, very simply, I can't afford $30/month for a streaming service I'll barely use. And even if I did, I'd only subscribe for one month to see The Royal Rumble or WrestleMania, and then I'd cancel it. I'd wager I'm hardly alone. Is that really the business model TKO and WWE want to create? Wouldn't it be better to establish some goodwill with the wrestling fan?

 

That's why I suggest WWE offer it's PLEs through ESPN Unlimited as one-time purchases, essentially reverting back to the pay-per-view model. This would be an option in addition to subscribing to ESPN. 

 

Rather than regarding this as a fundamental change to the subscriber-model, think of it as yet another way to get money - money that may not come any other way because, as I've written, many fans just can't afford thirty dollars a month. Few things are as depressing has not having money in this cuthroat capitalist world. Easing that burden on the fan and giving them more options would be doing right by them.

 

 

Watching WWE is a hard habit to break. It took years of increasing frustration with the company and encouragement from my listeners for me to venture out and start watching promotions like New Japan and Insane Championship Wrestling. Other wrestling has never been more accessible. If you're frustrated with WWE, why not turn on an episode of Dynamite and see if it strikes your fancy? Set aside the toxic discourse and watch it for the stellar wrestling. If you watch it with an open mind and an open heart, I bet you'll find something to like. While there are a lot of similarities between the companies, AEW actually has a midcard populated by fascinating, three-dimensional characters. It's clear what everyone wants and what they're fighting for. And some of its wrestlers are genuinely funny - not just "wrestling funny". Nothing like sincere humor to elevate the soul, even momentarily, out of a depression.

 

 

And, finally, this treatment goes out directly to WWE-fans. If you're dissatisfied with the company's creative, cultural, or financial direction simply stop supporting it. Don't buy those tee-shirts, toys, tickets, or networks. Instead, disengage and allow your silence to be deafening. The only way WWE will change is if they see how unsustainable their creative moves have been. If tickets aren't selling, if merch isn't moving, and if no one is subscribing, they'll get the message. Rather than continuing to hate-watch something that makes you depressed, watch other television and movies that fulfill you. Stop listening to toxic podcasts, stop posting on social media. Instead, rediscover what it means to be a fan and genuinely love something that rewards your emotional investment. 

 

There are myriad other ways large and small to get us out of The Ruthless Depression Era, but these five simple approaches to storytelling and fan-engagement will start us on the right path. I can't emphasize enough how much you don't need to watch WWE, despite how not watching feels like it would violate your constitution in some way. That's just the company's capitlistic hooks in your brain, manipulating you into thinking they're the only game in town. They're not. If what we really want is just good professional wrestling, we don't need to look very hard. It's all around us, from the gymnasiums of the indie scene to the stadiums of the mainstream.

 

It's my hope that this message sinks in, and WWE recognizes that a creative shake-up is not only beneficial for its longterm health (both creatively and financially) but necessary.