The Business of WWE

The Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California (which will be hosting the Hell in a Cell Pay-Per-View) may have pulled a Paul Heyman and given WWE fans a spoiler by announcing in a tweet that Bray Wyatt will be facing either Seth Rollins or Braun Strowman in a Hell in a Cell match.

Personally, I don’t think this is a great idea (it’s definitely not what I would do because Bray does not necessarily need a title to remain relevant right now) but it’s not a bad idea by any stretch of the imagination. It might be more interesting to see Wyatt go up against Strowman because of their history with the Wyatt Family (Strowman was first introduced to the main roster as a member), but WWE may not be quite ready to have Seth’s Universal Championship reign come to an end.

There is some irony occurring in terms of the booking of Roman Reigns. WWE has tried so hard for a number of years to get Roman to a point where he is universally excepted by the WWE universe as WWE’s top dog.

This is the ironic part though: as soon as WWE stopped trying so hard to get him over and projecting a sense of desperation that was palpable to the WWE universe, he began receiving the positive reactions that WWE dreamed of for him all along because WWE let go of the reigns a little bit in terms of his push and they decided to let the WWE universe determine his spot on the card with their reactions, and it is working beautifully.

Fans began reenacting more favorably towards Reigns when he made his return after putting his leukemia into remission a second time. This turned the reaction he received from the WWE universe into a universally positive one, in part because of the fact that many fans, including myself, could relate to him when his career was put in jeopardy.

In summation, Roman Reigns is exactly where he needs to be right now, and WWE is doing a fantastic job of no longer forcing his push. Reigns will undoubtedly work his way into him title contention again, but WWE should be in no hurry to make this happen. It needs to be an organic rise to the top, so the company doesn’t risk a repeat of the last 3 ½ – 4 years in which fans felt Reigns was forced down their throats.

Recent reports are suggesting that 205 Live will either:

1. Be completely scrapped from WWE programming due to the additional hour that is being added to NXT TV with its recent move to the USA Network
2. Or, it could be absorbed as a part of SmackDown Live when it moves to Fox Network, because Fox reportedly would like to see SD LIVE move from two hours to three.

It is also worth noting that Braun Strowman had a deep conversation during a production meeting with Vince McMahon in which the two men found common ground. This connection largely influenced Strowman’s decision to sign a new contract not too long ago. As a result, superstars will be Getting These Hands for years to come.

This is probably a big part of why “The Monster Among Men” is receiving more of a push as of late, winning the Raw Tag Team Titles with Seth Rollins and potentially receiving a Universal Championship opportunity at Clash of Champions on September 15.

Personally, I feel that WWE desperately needs to add a significant amount of meaning to this year’s King of the Ring Tournament. I mention this since they have billed this year’s edition as possibly one that will create another huge superstar like Stone Cold Steve Austin (this is why my pick to win the tournament was Kevin Owens. He has unfortunately been eliminated by Elias with the help of Shane McMahon, who is not going anywhere anytime soon).

Someone like Drew McIntyre, who is my second pick, could still win it and be subsequently given a number one contender’s match for the Universal Championship against Braun Strowman after presumably losing a title match to Seth Rollins at Clash of Champions.

This number one contender’s match could take place on the September 23rd episode of Monday Night Raw, so both men have a little time to rest after the pay-per-view. From WWE’s perspective, the act of going through with this plan would help bring a significant amount of prestige to the King of the Ring Tournament and make it a really coveted accolade in WWE.

The King of the Ring Tournament was viewed as a big deal in the 1990s and the 2000s, but it hasn’t been as much of a priority in this decade. It would be a real asset to the business of WWE if the tournament was prioritized more. That could begin this year, and this would be excellent for the business.

It is fully understandable why WWE is slightly concerned that Bray Wyatt’s new character The Fiend may be too intense and might be scaring away the demographics of younger children, but WWE is absolutely doing the right thing in this situation. The Fiend is being presented exactly the way the characters should be as a menace to the entire WWE roster does not show up often but is constantly feared.

This sort of character will appeal mainly to the 18 – 34-year-old demographic, which is extremely coveted. WWE very successfully went after this demographic during the Attitude Era and the company is attempting to create an edgier product as of late. I feel The Fiend could be used as a central pillar to accomplish this goal, if booked well.

Roman Reigns has officially signed a new multi-year deal with WWE which is obviously huge for the company from a business perspective. Despite the fact that Roman does not currently hold a major title, he is still considered WWE’s top dog. Let’s look at a few other contenders in the current universe in addition to Roman:

• Seth Rollins can be thrown into that same mix considering he is the current Universal Champion and has beaten Brock Lesnar on two separate occasions.
• Kevin Owens could also be included in that conversation in the future. While I feel his push to get him to that status is still in its embryonic stages, after WrestleMania next year in Tampa, we could be talking about Kevin Owens as one of the top guys. Speaking of Kevin Owens, he’s still under contract with the company for a few more years.
• I still don’t quite view Kofi Kingston as being in that conversation, even though he has done surprisingly well as WWE Champion and the WWE universe is receiving his title reign along with The New Day with open arms. If his popularity continues into ‘Mania season next year (combined with his strong booking), however, he may have to be thrown into the discussion (which I would love by the way). I have always had a real appreciation for the quality of work that Kofi Kingston puts in each night).

Back to Roman: He is without a doubt, more than deserving of at least one (probably two or three) extended title runs; with him signing a brand-new deal, WWE will have a few years, if needed, to build a story that fans can wrap their arms around.

Another event that will be happening regarding Vince McMahon but not necessarily WWE aside from SmackDown’s big move to Fox is the draft for the XFL, which begins play in 2020. 70 players will be drafted to each of the 8 teams. College players who are potentially eligible for the NFL draft will also be eligible for the XFL draft.

The only reason I even mentioned this is because it will shortly take up a large portion of Vince McMahon’s time and that means he will need to delegate some of his responsibilities with WWE to Shane McMahon, and Triple H. This should not be a worry at all (if anything I see it being a positive because Triple H has a real provision for what he would like the WWE to look like and represent in the future.

Just look at the state of NXT as a prime example. This was probably a reason behind the hiring of Eric Bischof as the executive director of SmackDown Live and the promotion of Paul Heyman to the same position on Monday Night Raw.

There are two things WWE should look to do at SummerSlam to make sure the entirety of the show goes over smoothly.

• First, they need to be careful about how long the show goes. You don’t want the main event starting after midnight as was the case at WrestleMania because then the vast majority of people watching will not care enough to tune in for that long.
• Second, the commentary team needs to justify, and provide reasoning, as to why certain superstars are left off the card. It would be too much to feature everyone on the show, so the commentators will need to at least mention superstars who are not performing, as this will help maintain their credibility despite the fact they are left off the show.

AJ Styles brought up an excellent point last week when he said that he would like to see some “unpredictability” incorporated into matches through superstars having the ability to finish matches with any move rather than having one or two signature finishing maneuvers.

WWE would have more freedom if this were to be incorporated and there would be more creativity put into each match with this philosophy. The audience would constantly be on their toes wondering when exactly the matches would end. Audience members may be a little more reluctant to get up and get food or something because they’d be unsure if they were going to miss the end of a match, so in that sense, it may draw more eyes to the WWE product.

For example, almost every time Roman Reigns hits a Superman Punch a WWE fan knows that the match is most likely almost over but not quite. And when he hits his Spear that’s it. It might be refreshing to see him win matches with a Powerbomb or a Legdrop in the ropes. It was great to see one night on Raw about eight months ago when Seth Rollins won a match (I’m pretty sure it was against Dolph Ziggler) with a Superplex off the top rope into a Falcon Arrow because no one knew for sure whether the match was going to end.

This proposal may be a little too far outside the box for WWE to go through with, but I’ll propose it anyway: what if “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt were to become the man to take the Universal Championship out of the clutches of Brock Lesnar, because it won’t be Seth Rollins (does anyone honestly think that, he would cash in the money in the bank contract and win the Universal Championship only to lose it in his first defense against the former champion. It would be awesome if it were Seth Rollins but based on history that is not likely). Wyatt will presumably go over and beat Finn Balor at SummerSlam given that Balor is preparing to take a hiatus from WWE. The creative team could use this victory to springboard Wyatt and make him an immediate title contender, facing Lesnar at either Hell in a Cell or at Survivor Series.

This may be wishful thinking, as it seems more likely that WWE would orchestrate something like a triple threat match down the road between Lesnar, Rollins and Reigns. WWE could have Roman Reigns claim to Seth Rollins that he obviously cannot get the job done against Lesnar so The Big Dog needs to be involved. Reigns also has not been in the picture for any major championships since his return due to the fact that WWE has wanted to ease him back into full-time competition. Consideration also needs to be given to Drew McIntyre.