Vince McMahon is the epitome
of the American Dream. A man who went from the trailer park to the
penthouse because he had a vision and acted upon it. He believed in
himself and those around him and by god he didn’t let anything stand on
his way. Vince McMahon is capitalism incarnate. Without any of that nasty
government intervention (such has plagued Bill Gates) Vince has been able
to destroy all competition and crown himself the King of his Industry. WWF
became WWE but it remained the very definition of the wrestling business.
A business – a device for making obscene amounts of money.
Only it isn’t. Yes, it does make obscene amounts of money (to still be
alive after the XFL, Owen Hart lawsuit and WWF New York payouts it must be
cash-rich) but it isn’t run as a business. It is like a bitter old writer
who publishes his novel through a vanity publisher rather than accept the
advice and criticism of a publishing house. WWE is run for one man’s ego
and that is it. Don’t believe me?
If WWE was run as a business... Paul Heyman would be in total charge (of
creative only, not financial) of Raw. I say Raw because it's on cable and
therefore subject to less strict controls. There he could push the
envelope and create quality television. Heyman made the mistake of
opposing the McMahons while he was in charge of Smackdown and a job with
no creative power is the result. Dammit, Eric Bischoff would be a better
head of Raw creative than Brian Gerwitz but Vince likes Gerwitz because
they both find poop, flatulence, women being degraded and S.H.I.T. funny.
If WWE was run as a business... Smackdown would be the wrestling show. It
would be high quality athletic entertainment, it would be tailored to be
something that UPN would be proud of rather than a sleazy show with Vince
McMahon abusing his daughter, the monthly Torrie Wilson stripper match and
tag team champions being spanked before every match.
If WWE was run as a business... they wouldn't be defensive every time
someone criticises them. They would accept their failings and work on
resolving them rather than Vince adopting his Mr McMahon persona and
shouting "you're either with us or your against us". They group all
internet fans together. The morons on the message boards who steal news,
can’t spell / won’t spell, have never heard of Bruno Sammartino and who
don’t “get” Ric Flair are the same people as the Meltzers, Kellers and
Sherers of the cyber-world. Because it is easy to dismiss insightful
criticism when you spin it so it is contaminated by the ignorance of
others.
If WWE was run as a business... they would look to their own past to see
that clearing away the old stars and creating new ones was the single
biggest factor in their two boom periods. 1984 - Backlund, Slaughter and
Snuka are dumped to clear the way for Hogan, Savage and Steamboat. 1996 -
Hall, Nash and Savage are dumped and the way is clear for Austin, Rock,
Foley and HHH.
If WWE was run as a business... they wouldn't operate on the logically
flawed premise of one giant = money therefore ten giants = tens times as
much money. They would realise that whatever value Batista, Nathan Jones
or Matt Morgan may have is instantly removed when you have all three of
them. The key should be variety - understanding that some people will pay
to see slow lumbering giants but also that some people will pay to see
cruiserweights having good matches. A strong push for Nathan Jones AND
Paul London would make more money than Nathan Jones squashing Paul London.
If WWE was run as a business... they would stop screwing their fans. Be it
three minute house show main events, house shows where guys are advertised
but don't show up and they send out a fall guy (Cena, Finkel etc) to say
"Vince isn't here tonight because this town sucks" which kills the town
for good, PPV stips that are reversed a week later (the build up to
Coach/Snow vs JR/King was about 4 times longer than the aftermath) and
overseas tours where fans pay more to see a show that isn't written until
they arrive in the arena that night.
If WWE were run as a business... they wouldn't need competition to
motivate them - the making of money would motivate everyone involved to
try and improve what they do.
Alas, the only ways in which WWE IS run as a business are that all the
profits go to the shareholders (ie about 80% goes straight into Vince's
pocket) while the workers suffer pay cuts, redundancies and ever declining
morale.
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