Professional wrestling is, above all, a sport. Two guys (or gals!) duking it out for supremacy in front of the world. In no way do I want to diminish the pure competitive sport that is occurring on a weekly basis on WWE television shows. Yet, when you boil it all down, WWE is a television company and its stock-in-trade is weekly television shows. Shows that, lately, have been quite bad.
Much of this is out of WWE's control. Can we fault the NFL for a poor matchup on Sunday Night Football? Of course not. There's no way to guarantee that any given game will be entertaining when the schedule is set far in advance.
There is the injury factor. WWE's roster was been wrecked by catastrophic injuries. Seth Rollins, Hulk Hogan, Sting, and probably Mr. McMahon himself would all love to be in the ring on a regular basis, but physical limitations prevent this desire from becoming reality.
Though, that is not the only problem. John Cena, The Rock, and Triple H would make fine rank and file wrestlers for the roster, but they are all too busy with entanglements that keep them pre-occupied and largely absent from the company. Their unbridled success in the ring has drawn them away from it.
WWE must take action because ratings are suffering. As a publicly traded company it is beholden to shareholders, but they can only do so much. The commentary team has already been shaken up. Further alterations to television production are possible, but music, graphics, and fireworks are not really the problem.
Bringing back retired wrestlers and other stunts is a surefire way to temporarily raise interest, but that has been done to death already.
In the end, the actual quality of the show is at the mercy of the athletes in the ring and a lot of luck. If WWE brass could dictate the action on the screen to their best advantage, then surely they would. Sadly, that is not the way sports works. Unless you're talking about the NFL. Those guys are crooks.
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OFFICIAL WRESTLER WRANKINGS FORMULA
ANY WIN = 2 POINTS
US OR INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE BOUT = 1 POINT
WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE BOUT = 3 POINTS
NON "BIG 4" PPV BONUS = 1.5X
SUMMERSLAM, SURVIVOR SERIES, ROYAL RUMBLE = 2X BONUS
WRESTLEMANIA = 3X BONUS
The WWE season begins on the day after WrestleMania 31 and culminates with WrestleMania 32. The wrestler who accumulates the most points over the course of the season, wins the coveted Wrankings Championship!
Monday Night Raw-- 11/30/15
Main Event-- 12/1/15
Smackdown-- 12/3/15
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WRESTLER WRANKINGS, WEEK 36 *TOP TEN*
1. Seth Rollins -- 92 points
2. Roman Reigns -- 76.5
3. Ryback -- 72
4. John Cena -- 71.5
5. Neville -- 63
6. Kevin Owens -- 60.5
7. Dean Ambrose -- 56.5
8. Sheamus -- 51.5
9. Randy Orton -- 39
10. Dolph Ziggler -- 37.5
Thanks for reading, Cagesiders. We'll see you back here next week!