FanPost

Should WWE Promote Internationally?

WWE is the apex of wrestling. People work their entire lives, put their bodies on the line countless times, just for the opportunity to job out on the mid-card of WrestleMania. Hundreds of stars have stepped into Vince McMahon's squared circle, and a couple of them became real stars. Most of them vanished into obscurity. The Zack Ryder's, Robert Conway's, and Mark Jindrak's of the world barely even get 15 minutes of fame. There is just not enough space at the top of the card for everyone, and that is a real shame. However, many really talented guys don't even get the platform these gentlemen got -- the vast majority don't even make it past a tryout.

By the same token, talent nowadays has a huge problem with overexposure. Time was, you only saw the World Champion at important events, so every time Hulk Hogan came to the ring it felt exciting, fresh, and not like something the audience has seen a million times before. Now, though, the same matches between the same guys dominate the airwaves because, paradoxically, despite having little room to bring in new talent there is also not a deep enough roster to make a true variety of interesting matches. The average wrestling fan is gonna watch WWE and only WWE. Those of us with the Network can break some of the monotony of seeing the same faces every single week by tuning into NXT to get fresh matches with fresh faces. However, a lot of the time the only matches that a fan is going to see are WWE matches because WWE has the money and the production values to completely outclass everything else out there.

These are two big problems, but there is another one just as large in my opinion. Do you all want to know where to find passionate fans and great wrestlers who are constantly screwed by WWE?

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via upload.wikimedia.org

None of the fans there can legitimately get the network, and yet WWE has had massive success in the European market whenever they go there, and Raw is one of the highest rated programs on SkyTV. This is also the continent that gave us Cesaro, the British Bulldogs, Andre the Giant, Bruno Sammartino, William Regal, Fit Finlay, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Wade Barrett, and more. Imagine, if those are the people that made it to the big dance this side of the Atlantic, what else is waiting for a chance at the big time over there? What talent, what legends, what potential icons are separated from their big break by a vast ocean? And why does WWE seem to, for the most part, ignore some of their most passionate fans? Shouldn't they try to tap the European market more?

Of course, Europe is just an example. WWE ignores great potential stars and rabid fans worldwide, from Mexico to Japan to South Africa.

Hell, Canada gave us the Harts, Benoit, Edge, Christian, Chris Jericho, Trish Stratus.....why don't we see more Canadian love from WWE? They only got two wrestle manias despite being some of the best fans in any sport!

All of these things I have addressed can be resolved with one super-expensive, super-risky, super-profitable idea.

I call it WWE Worldwide, the parent company of a couple of smaller WWE backed promotions, namely WWE Canada, WWE Europe, WWE Japan, WWE Mexico, and WWE South Africa.

It would be a crazy risk, but it would give many fans worldwide an opportunity to attend live events with WWE's signature production values and featuring their own hometown heroes.

The way it would work is by taking one of them, lets just use WWE Europe as an example, and sending over a couple of decently-mainstream stars. Let's say send Cesaro and Barrett over there. Then you bring in a bunch of talent from across the continent to match up with them at live events televised on European television stations. Bring back the European Championship to be the top strap in that promotion and periodically trade talent between the promotions to keep everyone fresh. Maybe, since Brodus Clay doesn't really do TV much anymore, you send him over to get him experience and exposure to other styles and other audiences. Then, periodically, have the World Champion drop by to defend his title at special events, so the champion can prove he is truly the WORLD champion. Faces can defend often whereas heels can take advantage of a clause in their contract saying they only have to defend in America or some crap like that. That would get some heat.

Now, the most important bit: Raw is still #1 worldwide. You send Tensai over to get WWE Japan off the ground and lets say it competes with some of the promotions there. It would never air on Monday. It would never compete with or contradict Raw. That way, the main branch of WWE is still the most important, but fans can tune in to see other faces and other matchups in other markets.

Significantly, this provides a buffer between NXT and WWE if a star is ready to leave NXT but needs some experience in front of the larger crowd. Also, by swapping talent between the promotions you open up a whole can of fresh matchups and a massive pool of superstars without overexposing anyone.

Imagine a European champion feuding with a Mexican champion and each of them works a few matches in each others' "territory"! That would be awesome and expose them both to different kinds of audiences!

Great talent, great variety, and not ignoring so freaking many passionate fans - this seems like a great idea to me!

That being said, it would be risky and expensive as all hell and wouldn't happen overnight. I would recommend starting with Canada, as WWE can just buy a local promotion and re-brand it and send some of their money and talent over to make it bigger in a market that is very familiar with and passionate about them and their stars. They might take years to grow and a few might fail. However, think of all the great talent, think of all the great matches, and think about the truckloads of cash a truly multinational corporation would have! Vice might even be able to get that second billion!

I have no idea how they would handle Wrestlemania, whether they would try to incorporate the other promotions in some way or have different big events for each market. I'm sure that would work out in the end, though.

What do you think? Anything I haven't thought of? Any suggestions for things that I may have overlooked? What would be the best part and the worst part about this idea?

Thanks for reading! I hope you and your loved ones are well!

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.