What WWE Could Do To Reinvent the Wheel Once Again

I have been a fan of professional wrestling for 17 years. I couldn't explain to someone why we, the fans, watch wrestling and why we like it, we just do.

However, most wrestling fans can face the facts that the WWE is stale, and has been stale for sometime. Sure, they've changed the way they've packaged it a bit. There are new performers. New theme songs and different sets. However, for over 10 years now, WWE has told us the story the same way week in and week out. We have Monday Night Raw is War. We open up with an interview segment. Those segments setup the main event, which was booked by the boss. We have our main event and we get left with our cliffhanger. In between the main event and the opening segment, we have your backstage stuff, a few meaningless matches, and sometimes another interview segment. This all builds up to our monthly Pay-Per View where things may or may not be resolved. THIS HAS BARELY CHANGED.

Before this current era in wrestling, WWE had the same thing happening to them for years. They taped at least month or two of action at a TV taping which had several squash matches. There were backstage segments and interviews. Mene Gene or someone else would interview someone near the entranceway, or we would have something on Piper's Pit/Brother Love Show/Barbershop/Etc where the big stuff would happen. A few times a year, they would settle the score either at a Pay-Per View or Saturday Night's Main Event. They changed the performers and the sets once in awhile, but roughly, it was the same show for many years.

So now, the year is 2008 and WWE does reasonable business. They have enough going on to where the make some good money. Wrestlemania always does well, and they have their devoted core following of fans. However, since about 2003, everyone can agree that they can do so much more. WWE has tried delivering to us the next Hulk Hogan or the next Rock. Sure, John Cena and Batista are exciting performers, but its hard for a new guy to carry the same old tired model of wrestling with them.

"But WWE has done just about everything there is to do!"

I disagree. The biggest problem is that WWE has lost touch with its fans.

WWE recently announced that they are marketing more towards kids... including them have their own magazine.

Your solution to reach a younger audience is to put out a new Magazine? You've gotta be kidding me.

Technology has evolved and so has our tastes. We look to other sources other than Television and Magazines for entertainment.

Today's young generation now looks to our cell phones, MySpaces, Facebooks, YouTubes, iPods, and more for their entertainment. The older generations also followed suit and now even your grandmother has their own damn MySpace setup.

So, perhaps WWE has been missing out on a big opportunity for quite some time. They just recently opened up accounts on MySpace and YouTube that help promote their brand. I see that http://wwe.com/community is launching soon and I think WWE should consider some of these suggestions.

I think they should just do more than promote their brands. I think they should be telling storylines on these mediums. WWE should greatly expand their community section and offer several things for free to their fans.

Imagine, wrestlers AND fans setup accounts like on this new community website. You have forums, groups, photo galleries, and more, setup similar in that format. Let's say they integrate the current sections on WWE.com such as the Superstars section and shows sections into this community portal.

Here's an example:

CM Punk talks on his latest Video BLOG on WWE.com and issues a challenges to Chavo Guerrero where he talks trash about him. Chavo Guerrero posts a comment accepting his challenge for ECW on Sci-Fi or better yet, they recap what happened on ECW on Sci-Fi, and have the match be exclusively online where people will pay $0.99 to view it and even download it. Why not also host those matches on WWE On Demand, as well?

I am not saying all of it should occur online, but some of the developments can, which would make both TV shows and online developments important and get fans involved!

Going back to the Video Blog, in these comments posted on CM Punk's hypothetical video, fans also get to participate. Granted, their will be thousands of comments to wade through, but the wrestlers could reply to a few of the more steamy comments. Imagine how you would feel if you posted a comment and Chavo replied telling you (in character) "blah blah blah" and then CM Punk were to reply to that comment in your defense or continuing the story. You would have contributed to the story, and fans would eat that up and try to get themselves involved in future storylines.

Another example, WWE has a streaming video section similar to YouTube. They host their exclusive matches, past classics, and heck, post some house shows on there! Not only that, but also allow fans to post videos. Obviously fans can't upload WWE TV shows or matches in their entirety, but allow them to post their Vlogs, fan music videos, and even give indy wrestlers a chance to post their videos on there. WWE could take some of the fan comments in their video blogs and show them on RAW for a minute or two before a match. That would really get more fans involved if they could get on TV!

Right now, WWE's video section is pretty limited in selection and they still use Windows Media Player instead of Flash Video. It can be so much more and WWE is really missing the boat on that.

Here are some of the things, technology-wise, that WWE is doing right:

- WWE Mobile is perfect. Then again websites with mobile content ain't exactly brain surgery.

- WWE Auction sites... see WWE Mobile, only insert "mobile content" with "auctions."

Now, I know of some of the drawbacks:

- This could potentially alienate some of the fans. So, WWE would have to develop a healthy balance, but I think they could do it, and successfully get their fans more involved with WWE.com since the majority of their target audience has the internet these days.

- Fans love to reveal spoilers and expose kayfabe online via dirt sheets. Well, if you go to WWE.com and click on the "Industry Tab," they seem to be doing that already!

I am no business man. I was only a commentator for a local indy fed for a month and that doesn't even make me close to being qualified for making business decisions. I realize this and am not going to be making any such claims.

However, as a fan of wrestling of over 15 years who is craving something different, these are some things that WWE could provide to us, the fans, that I feel would be new and exciting.

WWE now is giving themselves that opportunity with this pending community website. Will they take advantage? Time will tell.

Even if my ideas suck, WWE needs to be thinking of new ways to tell stories, and that is something I think most wrestling fans can agree on!

RJ45