WWE鈥檚 glaring problem
For years now, Vince McMahon has stated that WWE will be about the company and never have individual stars like John Cena, Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan again.
That trio makes up the three highest-grossing merchandise sellers in WWE history, but, for whatever reason, McMahon decided a while ago the company would no longer be built around one star.
He said that Cena would be the last person to be the complete face of the company, and for years experts said it was going to hurt WWE down the road.
Well, WWE is now down that road and will no set star as the person to carry WWE.
During WWE鈥檚 best periods, the Rock-N-Wrestling era in the 1980s with Hogan and the Attitude Era with Austin leading the way, the company drew sellout crowds, whether for TV tapings, pay-per-views or live event house shows.
Attendance fell with Cena on top, but this was when WWE was trying to branch out with up to three brands at once, if you include the short-lived ECW resurrection.
It was while Cena was the top dog that McMahon (and Triple H, to a point) said that WWE was the star and not specific talents.
Well, fans have to look no further than this past Monday鈥檚 edition or Raw to see where a major problem lies.
WWE has been receiving flak from USA Network executives as of late about ratings, so what does the company do? It traveled down Memory Lane, like it usually does, when it needs to pop ratings.
The Legends edition of Raw averaged 2,128,000 viewers per hour, which is the first time going over an average of two million fans since Aug. 24, the first show at the ThunderDome.
The average number of viewers was the highest since the March 16 show, which happened to be the first show from the Performance Center after the shutdown due to the pandemic.
Back to Monday, as the show was a perfect example of what is wrong with WWE.
The company trots out several legends like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair hoping to pop a higher rating, but did you notice any legends in their respective primes 10 years ago? What about 15?
In terms of legendary status, there is a gap.
Sure, WWE could have had Shawn Michaels or Triple H appear, but most of the names they had show up were midcard talents and nothing more.
Then there is what WWE had Flair do. He trips Charlotte, costs her a match, get belittled by her and then later in the show he is laughing in the hallway with other so-called legends?
It made no sense.
Maybe the biggest example of WWE not building stars the last so many years was the end of the show.
Goldberg comes out and challenges Drew McIntyre to a WWE championship match at the Royal Rumble. Just like that, Goldberg is getting a title shot.
WWE gives away a tremendous McIntyre versus Keith Lee match on Raw instead of saving that for the Rumble to give Goldberg the spot?
It is obvious what WWE鈥檚 glaring problem is, with not wanting to have stars and have so many of the wrestlers having even won-loss records.
But, maybe if the company took time to build stars, they wouldn鈥檛 have to keep going back to shows with legends, most of which were never close to being a true star to begin with.
WWE has had 10 months without crowds to build stars and create storylines that it could control the narrative without having to worry about how fans would react in person.
But instead, WWE keeps trying to run through a dead end with the same old worn-out approach on Raw.
Yes, Universal champ Roman Reigns is more interesting than he has even been and Jey Uso has been elevated on Smackdown.
I was going to ask who else WWE has elevated in the last 10 months, but we already know the answer to that question.
This Day in History
In 1998, the WWF and Mike Tyson announce an agreement that would see him eventually serve as the special enforcing referee in the heavyweight championship match that saw Steve Austin defeat Shawn Michaels to win the title.
This week鈥檚 question
Will Jon Huber (known as Luke Harper in WWE and as Brodie Lee in AEW) go into the WWE Hall of Fame? Timmy from Brownsville.
I can see it happening, yes.
In fact, he could go in twice, both as Luke Harper and as a part of The Wyatt Family.
Now, does he really deserve it? Maybe or maybe not, but if it does happen, I would think it will happen down the road and not in the immediate future.
With the way AEW has said they will take care of Huber鈥檚 family, I don鈥檛 think his wife, Amanda, would accept a WWE Hall nomination in the next so many years.
Email questions/comments to powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to @BillHughes_III.