Being a WWE fan right now is exhausting. After Cody Rhodes capped his storyline and became champion at WrestleMania 40, ushering in what appeared to be a new golden era, the promotion faltered without a consistent creative vision. It has failed to build big new stars as it increasingly relies on nostalgic pulls while failing to deliver a worthwhile long-term narrative. Don't even get me started on John Cena's failed heel turn or the constant use of generative artificial intelligence despite being a billion dollar company. I am so very tired.
As we approach this year's WrestleMania, which is currently three weeks and gone, the match card is in shambles and the hype is tepid. Having a huge event in Vegas for a second year with a naturally weaker product means fewer people are buying tickets as well, which hopefully puts WWE in a position to respond to the vocal criticism and try to come up with something better. But what happens when the money keeps rolling in? This is where her current advertising strategy and unforgivable breaks come into play.
Why do WWE Raw and Smackdown have so many commercial breaks?
During the average match on Raw or Smackdown, you'll probably experience at least three commercial breaks where the screen will suddenly go black and you'll be thrown back into the action with absolutely zero idea what happened in the last few minutes. This wouldn't be such a big deal if most of the matches on his weekly schedule weren't less than ten minutes in total, but it adds up and it's a pretty frustrating experience keeping up with all things WWE.
I love wrestling. I love how big, plus-sized characters and immensely talented athletes take part in choreographed spectacles of violence where the melodrama is heightened at every turn. It's gorgeous and exactly what drew me to the medium as a child all those years ago. I'm still a big nerd as an adult, so here I root for characters who put their bodies on the line for my entertainment.
But my tastes also matured as I invested myself in new promotions like New Japan Pro Wrestling, Stardom, RevPro, and AEW. WWE, at least in its current form, feels bizarrely embarrassed to be a wrestling company. In his usual two-and-a-half-hour shows, you'd be lucky to see a full 40 minutes between all the overlong promos, commercial breaks, and other things being sold to you.
I'm not trying to start a clichéd tribalist argument about WWE and AEW here. It just pisses me off that one of these companies is pushing the envelope and the other is content with their own mediocrity.
With the sheer amount of wrestling talent that WWE has on its roster – some of the best in the world calling it home right now – it breaks my heart that its weekly television lineup is continually neutered and its current pay-per-view roster is limited to just four matches. House shows aren't really a thing anymore, so the namesake match continued to feel like an afterthought. Triple H has said in recent years that WWE is in the business of telling stories, but the thing is, even those are useless.
Is there a chance WWE will learn from their mistakes?
Instead, I would argue that WWE is in the business of making money. All companies are, but few are so brazen. Since buying TKO, WWE has become a soulless product in which the ringmat is covered in corporate logos (the recent promotion of the US Air Force after the outbreak of the Iran war was particularly grim), the wrestlers sport logos on their gear, and every single interaction you can have with the huge company is geared towards making more money.
It has often come under fire for appalling ticket prices that price out working-class fans in favor of those with much higher incomes, which has usually meant abandoning its roots and venturing around the world to places not known as matchmaking hubs but attracting wealthy tourists. What made WWE what it is is being phased out and its identity is suffering for it at every turn.
Don't even get me started on how the company is adjusting to the Trump administration, with Chief Content Officer Triple H making several appearances at the White House and wrestlers like El Grande Americano walking a fine line between cute luchador parody and vicious racism. There's also a tag-team pair of Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky who are very heavily implied to be more than friends, so much so that their tag team partnership has generated a fair amount of fanfiction, but I doubt WWE is willing to create a queer relationship when they've pushed out all the other aspects of diversity they once represented.
It says a lot that the funniest part of WWE programming in recent weeks has been Danhausen – a weird, evil man who hasn't wrestled for a second and spends his time walking backstage cursing at people. His latest victim? iShowSpeed.
As you can probably tell from all of my vents, the aggressive commercial breaks that are rampant in WWE programming right now are systemic to many broader issues. This is a company that has lost sight of the art of wrestling and the amazing stories it can tell in favor of maximizing profits in the form of expensive merchandise, tickets and ever-lucrative sponsorships.
I'm afraid they won't bother listening to widespread criticism or trying to change when it's making record profits and knowing people will show up no matter what. I want to be excited for WrestleMania next month and I want to see incredible stars like Finn Balor and Gunther wrestle banger after banger, but I'm not sure WWE will do that.
WWE Raw
- Release date
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January 11, 1993
- Network
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USA Network, Spike, The New TNN
- directors
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Kevin Dunn
- Writers
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Cast: Daniel Truly, Paul Heyman, Patrice O'Neal, Virgil Runnels, Stephanie McMahon
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Chris Mordetzky
Chris Masters
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Maria Kanellis-Bennett
Maria
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