Jimmy Van: WWE Should Implement a Talent Wellness PR Initiative

Much has been said about the saturation of the WWE product since the addition of the third hour of Monday Night Raw back in July of 2012. Add to that the launch of NXT on USA, monthly PPVs, live specials like the Saudi shows, WWE Network shows like NXT UK and 205 Live, not to mention competition from the likes of AEW, Impact, ROH, MLW and others, and it’s simply become too much. Too much content, and too much saturation of the WWE product, and of pro wrestling in general.

Back when Raw was a two hour show, the ratings peak would come at the end of the final hour as viewers tuned in for the climax of that week’s main event. But now due to viewer fatigue and burn-out stemming from the added third hour (among other things), Raw’s biggest numbers typically come early, while the third hour generally shows the lowest viewership of the week. Combine this with the fact that WWE’s live event business has essentially declined to the point of break-even, and the fact that television rights fees are now the company’s largest revenue stream making them more profitable than ever in their history, and it’s not hard to see the decisions that need to be made here for the long-term health of the talent roster, and the long-term health of the brand. WWE needs to scrap the third hour of Monday Night Raw.

The immediate reaction to this idea, which I’m sure has been broached before at WWE headquarters, is probably one of “no chance” (insert Vince McMahon’s entrance music lyrics). WWE earns tens of millions of dollars a year for that third hour, plus USA Network averages around two million viewers per week between 10PM – 11PM and need it to help boost their sagging weekly primetime average. USA won’t risk their primetime average dropping further, and WWE shareholders won’t be happy losing that extra revenue, so this is a dead issue right? Wrong.

To be successful in business you need to take calculated risks – Vince McMahon knows that as well as anyone. I believe that cutting Raw back to two hours would help “stop the bleeding” with respect to eroding popularity and viewership. Sure, creative needs to be more consistent on a weekly basis and that’s another topic for another day. But a two-hour show will decrease viewer fatigue and product saturation and make more people more likely to give the show a chance. What would it be worth to USA Network if Raw were able to get back up to three million viewers a week (or more) over two hours instead of two million viewers a week over three?

That brings me to the live event schedule. WWE’s talent roster is its life blood. If you have no wrestlers, you have no show. And if your top stars suffer long-term injury because you’ve got them on the road 200+ days a year working 4-5 matches a week, you’re obviously damaging the value of your brand and the value of your show. And for what? For an archaic business unit that was integral to WWE’s bottom line thirty years ago but not so much today. It seems like a no-brainer decision to cut one event per week to start, meaning the crew works three shows per week instead of four and has an extra day to spend at home. They had already started cutting back due to the decision to temporarily waive the brand expansion and put talent from both brands on each show so this idea would simply be a natural extension of what they were already doing.

I’d previously suggested that WWE implement time off cycles, and I stand by that as something WWE should implement in addition to cutting back on live events. We’ve seen time and time again that when a wrestler takes time off for whatever reason, they’re hotter when they return than before they left. The crowd is happy to see them, plus they return energized, healthy and happy. I would implement a minimum of two, one-month sabbaticals per year per talent. Give the roster a chance to relax physically and mentally, to heal up any nagging injuries, and to miss what they do so that they’ll be that much more excited to return. I think you’ll have less talent looking to leave for supposedly greener pastures elsewhere if you simply give them more time off the road since that’s one of the selling points of working for AEW currently. You’ll also see a spike in fan interest and subsequent talent popularity as well, so it’s really a win-win.

So the question is, how do you make these changes without upsetting shareholders and potentially crashing the stock? Two keys: message, and timing. First, the message. I would implement a public relations initiative built around talent wellness. Come up with a catchy name, tag line and logo for it. Make some of those promo spots that air during Raw and Smackdown as well as on the Network showing select talent enjoying family time with their own children, or nieces and nephews. Have Stephanie McMahon put over the initiative whenever she does her speeches and interviews. Emphasize how the WWE superstars are the life blood of the company and so for their own physical and mental health and well-being, WWE has launched an initiative to give them more time at home with their families and less time sacrificing their bodies in the ring for the entertainment of the fan base. Also mention – yet emphasize less – the fact that Raw is going back to two hours as part of the initiative.

Next, the timing. Time the launch of this initiative with the financial results of a quarter. WWE is going to be more profitable than ever given the new deals with USA and Fox, and I think those numbers will make shareholders more tolerant to news about less short-term revenue resulting from this initiative and the long-term plans associated with it. Bundle the news with a nice positive press release, and they should be able to avoid any substantial negative backlash.

This leaves WWE with one last task to scratch off the to-do list – appeasing their strategic network partner, USA Network. I would really push USA on the fact that less saturation should lead to higher ratings. I’d work out some sort of financial credit for the loss of the third hour of Raw, plus I would offer up a make good such as non-Raw content to fill that third hour slot with the idea that if the average viewership of the 8PM – 11PM time block gets to within range of where Raw was before the change (ie around 2.1M viewers), USA will honor the original financial terms of their deal.

Even though all of these changes appear on the surface to be net-positives for WWE, they still need to bet on themselves. That means they need to work on better creative on a consistent basis. Otherwise whether Raw is two hours or three, viewership numbers likely won’t improve, at least not to a significant level. But if WWE can listen to its audience and make creative changes accordingly, I think cutting Raw back to two hours will show great long-term benefit for the company, for the talent, and for USA Network.