WWE identity crisis Credit: WWE
By Matt Yoder on

WrestleMania 42 presented the best and worst of modern-day WWE. The question now facing the pro wrestling giant is which direction it takes from here.

The feedback for WWE in the build to WrestleMania 42 saw the company take incoming fire from all sides. The ticket prices were too high. Attendance was down compared to last year’s event in Las Vegas. Storylines were stuck in a rut compared to the highs of the Bloodline Era. And the most intrigue centered on whether a behind-the-scenes Civil War was about to break out on-screen between TKO corporate overlords and WWE creative, thanks to the bizarre last-minute involvement of Pat McAfee in the Night 1 main event between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, which was widely denounced as poorly executed.

But what wrestling fans saw on WrestleMania Saturday and Sunday was a company simultaneously being pulled in two different directions.

WrestleMania Saturday was heavily criticized for the lack of ringtime action and heavy commercial overload. McAfee did get involved in the main event, as did Jelly Roll. Rhodes got the victory, and McAfee was written off, but it was yet another main event for him that seemed to be overshadowed by a celebrity that was inserted into the picture not because it was the best story, but because it would please Ari Emanuel and TKO bosses. (See Travis Scott at WrestleMania 41.)

In addition to the flat main event, other matches on the Saturday card looked more like what you might see on an episode of Raw or SmackDown instead of the showcase event of the year. Four matches received less than 10 minutes of bell-to-bell action, which has to be a huge disappointment for fans and performers alike.

Just one night later, WrestleMania Sunday presented WWE at its finest. And the difference between the two nights was like a Minor League game trying to sell fans on meeting Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell to come out to the ballpark to a World Series Game 7. It’s actually shocking that it was the same company putting on the same show.

WWE crowned a new megastar in Oba Femi with his stunning squash of Brock Lesnar, who seemed to then surprisingly announce his retirement. The multi-man Intercontinental Championship match delivered an incredible spotfest won by the reigning champion Penta. Finally, the main event between CM Punk and Roman Reigns was one of the greatest WWE matches of all time. Notably, there was no sight of Jelly Roll or Pat McAfee. If fans felt WWE was losing the magic after the first night, then it was instantly recaptured with a pro wrestling masterpiece on the second.

The question for WWE now is which company they want to be moving forward.

There is now a very real perception of an internal tug-of-war within WWE between the corporate TKO enterprise and the creative team that lives the business day in and day out. That was evident to the world in the McAfee saga, as he was reportedly hand-picked by CEO Ari Emanuel (who also serves as his personal representative) for a major role leading into WrestleMania 42. Current WWE stars like Damian Priest were vocally against the idea.

McAfee’s heel turn made no logical sense, his promos undercut the industry, and it was maybe the sweetest irony of all for fans that the second night of WrestleMania was far superior to the first,t when McAfee said it would be “ass.” Now he appears to be holding to his word (this time) that he has moved on from the industry.

Celebrity involvement is nothing new in professional wrestling. Mr. T was in the first WrestleMania main event after all, with Muhammad Ali and Billy Martin there as well. Mike Tyson was instrumental in Stone Cold Steve Austin’s crowning moment at WrestleMania XIV. And in recent years, everyone from McAfee and Jelly Roll to Bad Bunny and iShowSpeed has actually impressed when they have gotten in the ring. But it has to flow within the pro wrestling ecosystem, not something dropped from above by corporate edict because it’s a favor to friends or what will look good in spreadsheets.

Further alarm bells went off when recent audio of TKO President Mark Shapiro speaking to a class at the University of Alabama went viral on Monday, in which he said the company has “complete” creative control over WWE. That sent wrestling fans into a furor, suggesting that Chief Content Officer Paul “HHH” Levesque has both hands tied behind his back by his TKO bosses. He also defended the increased celebrity involvement and TKO’s deals with ESPN, Netflix, and The CW, which have seen more WWE content behind paywalls than ever before.

“When you do that, you’re going to win some folks over, but you’re also going to chase some folks away,” Shapiro admitted.

This is an existential dilemma for anyone who produces sports content. It was the same for Netflix on MLB Opening Night. But as we’ve seen many times before, it is a delicate tightrope to walk between attracting new fans and driving away your actual fanbase.

And if the sports business executives are going to tell the actual wrestling people what’s best for them, it’s going to continue to create issues moving forward.

Nowhere is that seen more than in the commercial overload that has overtaken the television product. Ads ran rampant across both nights of WrestleMania 42, prompting Ariel Helwani to call the entire event “soulless” as commercial time nearly exceeded ring time.

While NFL or NBA fans might be used to regular commercial interruptions, that’s not the case with the pro wrestling audience. Compared to the stacked card of yesteryear, current WWE premium live events offer only around five matches per show, except at WrestleMania. Not only does this leave plenty of time for commercials, but it locks out some of the company’s best performers from appearing on its biggest shows.

But it’s not just the commercials that play between matches; it’s that the mat is covered in ads, the individual matches are sponsored, and the Prime drink carts are parked outside the ring. The WrestleMania III main event between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant probably wouldn’t have hit the same if Bobby Heenan had sprayed Hogan with a can of New Coke.

It’s those ads and the increased celebrity involvement that represent the TKOization of WWE that has begun to run wild. Even just a few years ago, the famed WrestleMania 40 main event featuring past and present stars, which has gone viral as the greatest five minutes in wrestling history, didn’t need any celebrity interruptions.

Fans can forgive some of those things if they are watching something that they truly enjoy. Pro wrestling has always been about the suspension of disbelief and making fans truly invested in the stories and the athleticism they watch. The “cinema” of the Bloodline Era, the Punk-Reigns main event, and the Oba Femi arrival are all evidence of that. The Raw after WrestleMania continued the optimism with a great show featuring new debuts from NXT, Jacob Fatu challenging Reigns, and the tease of a future program between Punk and Rhodes.

WWE is coming off a period when they reached their highest cultural zenith since the famed Attitude Era and are more mainstream than ever before, thanks to deals with ESPN and Netflix, before pessimism began to build over the last several months.

Now WWE has to ask itself, moving forward, whether it is still going to make pro wrestling television for pro wrestling fans, or if it is just going to serve as a promotional vehicle for stars and sponsors to sell their own things. And the answer to that question could be vital to the industry’s future.

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