Cyclical Nature Of The Biz

[Guest Boomer Sprinklespax]

I often hear talk of the cyclical nature of the wrestling business as if it is an unavoidable, unstoppable fate. Is it? If WWE suddenly started kicking major ass, putting on great shows with great angles and firing all its useless pieces of ass, and HHH were dropped into the midcard for good measure, would it be enough to stop the business from going in the crapper? Or would the business still go down for a couple years and come back up at some point? Would a new promotion getting a major TV deal help increase interest ratings-wise (NWA-TNA for example)? Or are all ratings doomed to hell for at least a couple more years?

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Isn't it amazing how the low parts of the "cycle" happen when the product sucks?

The one and only exception imo being mid 97 when TV was pretty good. But even that was soley b/c of Bret and Austin and not the product itself.

 

What an amazing coincidence!

[Ultimo Dugas 0]

According to my reference point for all things, EWR, nothing can stop the business from going into a slump.

[Guest Sakura]

It's BS. This down cycle started when Steph became head writer. That is not a coincidence.

[Guest Boomer Sprinklespax]

According to my reference point for all things, EWR, nothing can stop the business from going into a slump.

That is actually what prompted the creation of this thread.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

^ (pointing to Sakura's post) I know. i was being sarcastic.

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

I'd argue that the down cycle started before then. Fully Loaded 2000 can be pointed to as a turning point in the company in terms of political maneuvering and them blowing the chance to put their "Next Big Things" over in Benoit, Jericho and Angle. Benoit is the only one out of the three who escaped with minimal damage, only to get jobbed out to HHH soon enough. Nobody's safe........

[Guest JDMattitudeV1]

People usually only lose interest in the product when it becomes stale and unentertaining. Look at WCW in the mid to late 90's. In 1996 the nWo was a fresh, original concept that brought in a whole heap of fans. But by late 1997 fans were sick of the cheap finishes, sick of the dinosaurs in the main events and sick of the nWo. Therefore fans switched over to Raw as they had younger wrestlers in the prime of their careers that had characters that the fans could connect with. However after 3-4 years of the same guys in the main events, the same McMahon soap opera bullshit and a slump in the creative department, the fans once again left. I think there are some people that just become sick of wrestling in general, but for the most part fans will stick around as long as there is a fresh and creative product, which at the moment the WWE is not providing.

[Guest Boomer Sprinklespax]

If the WWE started doing something original and wonderful, I don't think their numbers would shoot up to 6's and 7's like they used to get. But I could be wrong. Maybe since the business is down there is no incentive to get better, i.e. the management and wrestlers have taken a defeatist attitude. I'm not necessarily saying I think that, I'm just saying it's a possibility.

[Guest JDMattitudeV1]

If the WWE started doing something original and wonderful, I don't think their numbers would shoot up to 6's and 7's like they used to get. But I could be wrong. Maybe since the business is down there is no incentive to get better, i.e. the management and wrestlers have taken a defeatist attitude. I'm not necessarily saying I think that, I'm just saying it's a possibility.

You're right, it wouldn't shoot up straight away, I think the WWE would have to consistently produce great TV for at least a year or so for that to happen. In 1997 the WWF Raw was a hell of a lot better than WCW Nitro, but it wasn't til 1999 it started doing great numbers. Unfortunately I just can't see the WWE doing that right now, because entertaining their fans is no longer their top priority.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

What goes up, must come down - there *is* a cycle to the wrestling industry - but it is incredibly irregular. The WWE could not have kept the 7's and 6's, but they could have kept the 4's and 5's for a much longer while than they did.