As we start of the new year I thought it would be fun to have a thread where we come up our boldest predictions for the year. Offering people to have up to 5. Doesn’t have to be insane, but something of significance (not Roman Reigns wins). Will make it a mini competition if we can with a winner based on how many are correct. Tie breaker will be who was boldest! I have a nice prize in mind!
Looking back at 2022 who would have said
Vince would leave
CM Punk Vs Elite fight
Cody jumps to WWE
Regal leaves WWE, joins AEW, and then comes right back to WWE
CM Punk returns to AEW and teams with FTR against the Elite for most of the summer. It builds to matches of Punk vs Omega and the Bucks vs. FTR at All Out.
Vince McMahon returns as head of creative in early-March. The entire wrestlemania card is rebooked and Brock Lesnar leaves Mania with the RAW title.
Impact Wrestling destroys a ton of good will and puts the world title on 51-year-old Bully Ray.
Billy Corgan folds the NWA and sells the trademarks and licences to Conrad Thompson.
Honor Club will be a flop and ROH will transform into Dark.
Leaving AEW: Miro, Andrade, Buddy Matthews and Santana.
Leaving WWE: Roderick Strong, Riddle, Ronda Rousey and Mustafa Ali.
Punk returns to AEW. He will align with FTR (who will take a short sabbatical in the spring, playing with the expectations of them leaving.) The Elite vs. Punk & FTR will start at or around Double or Nothing - and lead to Punk vs. Omega at All Out.
If it’s Punk vs. Omega at All Out, it will be a stadium show (30K). FTR vs. Bucks III will also happen at that show.
Sasha Banks will debut in AEW, and quickly become one of the top draws in the company.
Forbidden Door 2 will take place in the UK.
TV deals will go unexpected places. If Smackdown goes to NBC Universal, AEW will see interest from FOX and other potential outlets. Dynamite will likely stay within Warner’s Discovery for a major increase. If Smackdown goes to NBC Universal, like Raw, it will increase to three hours.
CM Punk returns to AEW and much of the rumor and innuendo is left in 2022 when he does (but not a moment before he’s back)
Part of the new TV Deals includes Raw moving back to 2 hours as the company and network realizes it has soiled its own product and hurting themselves respectively
There is no real negotiation period of AEW as WBD picks up the option for another year making the AEW bidding war of 2024 one for TK and Max
Vince returns to the public light somewhere around Wrestlemania to very little non-IWC shock or dismay. Many fans will cheer this.
WWE is sold to a Major broadcast company which spins off a division in doing so. I’m thinking Comcast/NBCU or Disney/ESPN
Could a publicly traded company pull this off without shareholder ramifications? I’m assuming, of course, that if two hour Raw was more profitable in a demonstrable way, they’d have done it by now.
Yes, just needs Board approval as the Board of a public company has fiduciary duty to its shareholders (lmfao at this notion for $WWE). I’d they believe it produces the most long term shareholder value they can do whatever they want. In this case to enhance its content offering and stop over-saturating the content with diminishing returns it would be accepted as long as the money was significantly different. In a deal where the Next Day Rights are likely bundled it’s possible they can wind up with same money and less hours produced as prior deal. It’s not just black and white where more is better. Good companies find the right mix without over-saturating demand for their product or content. I’m a big believer in this pivot for WWE as a way to continue to freshen up perception of the product amongst an eroding viewership.
If you are WWE would you trade 4 hours a month for 1 Saturday night NBC hour slot on broadcast?
Mj thinks WwE should be targeting less hours delivered on Monday and tap into the NBC relationship as they have shown network vs cable is a meaningful difference due to reach. Unfortunately NBCU needs that extra hour on Mondays to help its overall rating in a stupid and muddied Cable world where Nielsen can’t die soon enough. Both companies would be wise to break from that old model as it’s inevitable so might as well move first. Also why NBCU should buy WWE because then it can air reruns whenever it wants to do a rating as it’ll wound up being consumed. IMO. What Sinclair coulda done with ROH but opted not to
I believe unless Nick Khan is not in the position he is - we don’t ever see this. He’s about content hours and getting the most money for that. He’s gone on record saying he believes Raw could be longer. More hours of TV is more guaranteed revenue. They’ll never turn that down.
Nobody would disagree the product would be juiced from being trimmed to 2 hours. Better engagement and viewership for a better Raw would drive Ad revenue for the TV partner and interest for the company. Maybe even ticket sales (2 hr vs 3).
Is it likely - no. Does it have some benefits worth a debate by Network Partner and WWE, yes. Especially if the next package includes a lot of other stuff like my above post references.
When HHH did an interview years back and was asked how he would fix WWE he said cut RAW to 2 hours. So it’s possible.
Now of course it’s less income bc it’s less hours of TV but you might be able to convert that hour to another hour of scripted programming and perhaps the ratings would be higher for the two hours
I agree with the line of thinking. I’m just not sure if you can make that sell to your board/shareholders (especially with your majority shareholder being a noted old cretin)… biggest question would probably be how long it would take to restore the profits that you’ve sacrificed in the short-term.
The fact he has voting power means it would be easy and basically no shareholder concern(s) if he was on board.
Who says profits are sacrificed? If you subscribe to the idea that the next deal will be higher because LIVE “Sports” only go up and Cable Ranking matter then the value of WWE as a property is going to increase regardless. Producing one less hour of TV may not result in an actual loss of revenue if the total package for the rights is at a higher value than prior. Live Gates aren’t changing because the show is on TV for 2 hours not 3, fans hate the third hour so there is also good-will you gain. Which could result in better fan engagement in the product which can be turned into revenue. We saw how fans gravitated back to WWE when they viewed Hunter taking over Creative as favorable. More fan service may serve the company well since…
The LAW of Diminishing Returns (Google It). The current 3 hour format has eroded an audience that scaling back content may be the only way to prevent further erosion. Oversaturation, too much meaningless TV time. Less can be more, especially if re-imagining it means creating a more must see product that drives better Ad Rates. I wonder how NBCU justifies 3rd hour Raw Ads vs. 1st hour Raw Ads - though I would suspect until recently Advertisers probably weren’t closely examining their spend. Also, who says NBCU doesn’t want to pay less if all they are losing is a diminished 3rd hour but maybe use the property better on NBC or Peacock for different hours of content. Going back to the idea of replacing the revenue. As somebody in and out of the stock I know what would interest me as a shareholder, and its definitely not 5 more years of status quo. Content game is evolving and changing. WWE needs to show willingness to do the same.
