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Supreme
OVR: 24
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 5,787
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Why the WWE shouldn’t cater to their “fans” (Long)
Is the customer always right??
Imagine you sell a product. For argument’s sake, you run a hamburger stand. Unfortunately, your stand has a well-known reputation for selling “bad food”, and the fact is that only the lowest common denominator ever eats there. By virtue of eating at your stand, patrons have the label of “trash”. Despite all of this, your client flow is pretty steady and you make decent enough money from the customers you do get.
Of those customers, you have some that come and go depending on what’s on the menu, and a few diehards who are there every day after work throwing their cash at you. However, these same customers are the ones that think that because they paid three dollars for a sandwich, they should have a say in how your business is ran, what food you should serve, and how much you should charge. They sit at “their booth” every single day and complain about the food, while continuing to eat there. Your stand has an awesome location, and is one of the only spots for a burger in the neighborhood, but a quick drive down the road, and they could eat somewhere else. You know they won’t though.
So what do you do? Do you cater to the customers who tend to complain about your food no matter what you serve? Or, do you try and reinvent yourself as a “family restaurant”, not just one where drunk kids and slobs go to gorge themselves on grease and fat? This is the WWE’s dilemma. However, when spelled out, it doesn’t seem like much of a dilemma at all.
Analogies aside, this is the WWE’s current situation, and they are actually handling it well. An argument could be made that by going “trashier” and more risqué they could actually attract a wider fan base (like the Attitude Era), but with little competition in the mainstream, there is little need. The second dilemma they face aside from content, is who to push and when. Again, the diehards are going complain no matter what, while there are a select few who sell to the masses.
Casual fans of sports entertainment need something more than “a solid workrate” to be hooked. They need larger than life personalities. They need the John Cena’s, the Stone Cold’s, and the Undertaker’s to draw them in. They also need a reason to care. This is why the Miz is champion before John Morrison. People hate the Miz, and they want to see him lose. People care what the Miz has to say. The Miz has a well-developed character and not just a fur coat, sunglasses, and slow-motion entrance.
John Cena (even with all of his corniness) can draw fans in. He has that “it” factor. He has that larger than life personality that makes you care. John Cena on the card, is like a McRib on your menu. It sells. Sure there are people who will complain about it being on the menu again, and they’ll make fun of all the stupid people who come to eat it when it’s in season, but those same “idiots” will stop coming when the food is no longer appealing to them. The diehard customers, who always complain, never get what they want, and even predict a meal will be bad, STILL eat there. Things that make you go hmmm...
Not too long ago, all you heard from wrestling fans was, “John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H, and Batista” are the ONLY people who EVER hold the championship!”. The WWE was smart to shove this food down the public’s throat because people eat those guys up. WWE has given guys like Sheamus, Swagger, Kane, and Miz extended runs. They have given guys like Morrison and Ziggler shots. But, it’s never enough for the diehards. As soon as it goes back to Orton, people complain, and the casuals don’t care about them like they do the Cena’s and Edge’s. When Ziggler loses clean, “fans” will be mad. If Orton and Cena headline Wrestlemania (again), “fans” will be mad. The fact is that WWE "fans" (women and children aside) think they can do the product better and like complaining about it almost as much as watching it.
The WWE is starting to turn a youth corner, but they’re not doing it for the internet. They’re doing it because they lost Jericho, HBK, Triple H, Batista, etc. They’re doing it because their current stars won’t be around forever, and one day these young guys will be the Cena’s and the Orton’s of the WWE… one day. Not today. And, in the case of John Morrison, Dolph Ziggler, and Kofi Kingston, not until they get much better on the mic.
This is why a guy who is a “horrible wrestler” in Randy Orton has a leg up on a Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler can carry him in a match, but Orton will carry him emotionally with the crowd. He’ll be the one to make people care if Dolph wins or loses, he’ll be the one to make people care about Dolph period. Ziggler can’t make the masses tune in… yet. Maybe one day, but the fact is there are people who can today. Dolph will make people look good in the ring, but only a small fraction of people actually care. Hulk up-big boot-leg drop, punch-kick-stunner, clothesline-spear-jackhammer, and RKO! RKO! Will always matter more to the masses.
The WWE is insanely smart in who they push, how they push them, and who holds the belts (except the tag division); though this is something for a whole different rant all-together. Complainers will always complain, but the WWE has themselves set up nicely right now, while also setting themselves up for the future. While their skits are corny, and the wrestlers have much less freedom (partially because of PG, partially because of how scripted wrestling has become), there is a lot of good stuff in the WWE (I wouldn’t waste my time watching it, much less writing about it if that weren’t the case.) Catering to the people they do is a very smart move, because the people who complain the loudest are the people who watch the shows religiously (What?), buy the PPV’s (What?), play the games (What?), and buy the merchandise (What?)
The WWE is smart to have it their way (What?).
Last edited by Streets; 01-19-2011 at 07:23 PM.
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01-19-2011, 12:08 PM
