Chicago, CM Punk, Heyman, and the Art of Working a Crowd

Wow. I have to admit I was disappointed to not see CM Punk last night, but I must commend the way that the WWE and in particular Paul Heyman worked the crowd to minimize the damage.

I wouldn't be surprised if WWE execs just went to Paul and said "this may very well be a disaster...what do we do?" and Paul came up with this. It didn't shy away from the CM Punk situation, which I was terribly afraid they would do, and it cleverly segued the frustration into another, real program. Granted, a lot of the audience saw right through it, but enough of the Chicago crowd was behind what Paul Heyman was saying that they completely bought into the seamless way he associated Punk with Lesnar and Taker. It was promo psychology at it's best, and a prime example of how a good talker can work even a hostile crowd, provided the crowd is invested in the product as a whole.

Again, I am disappointed to not see Punk, just because I am a fan of his. That being said, if he is indeed not coming back immediately, I now see him not returning until after WM30. What would be the point of a surprise return at Wrestlemania? You would want to advertise a draw like that.

I was very impressed with Raw last night. I am still not sure if I am completely sold on the emerging card of Wrestlemania, but of course I will watch it regardless. That leads me to another topic I want to briefly tackle today: the success of the WWE Network.

I have seen a lot of people online saying that the network will fail because of the number of subscribers presumably needed to break even. I think I am a good example of why it will ultimately succeed. I have not purchased a WWE ppv since Wrestlemania 18, and only them because I hosted a party for my employees at the time. I consider myself a pretty devoted fan of wrestling, I have been watching ever since I saw WCCW on my grandmother's tv when I would visit her on the weekends. As a kid, I only had three channels and would watch the WWF every weekend. I followed the entirety of the Monday Night Wars, and I am a wrestling trivia buff (perhaps not to the extent of someone like William R. Washington but I pride myself on my personal database). My point is, the WWE Network has convinced me to subscribe, because $9.99 a month is much easier to swallow and the value is so much greater than buying inflated ppv prices each month. I wonder how many other wrestling fans are of the same mindset. Even if I had pirated ppv's, which I didn't, but if I had, $9.99 would be low enough to make me go legit. Those are my two cents.

The Road to the WWE Network

I feel a renewed sense of vigor when it comes to the wrestling industry this week, but also a new sense of apprehension.  At the center of this contradiction of emotions is the WWE Network.

I signed up for my free trial on day one, and based on the traffic and the issues that I had, I certainly wasn't the only one. I've seen a lot of news reports online regarding the problems that the network had with signups, as well as the issues with on-demand content, and I for one didn't have that many issues. I had to refresh several times during registration, but a little perseverance got me through just fine. I did have issues watching content on the PS3, and if I hadn't had my laptop to fall back on (not literally), I certainly would have been much more frustrated than I was.

After tinkering around with the network for a few days, I do have one glaring concern that has worried me...over-saturation of content. I remember when I was a kid, playing Nintendo games that I rented on the weekends for $2.52 at the local video store, or watching Saturday morning cartoons on the three channels that we had at the time, and I remember being very very content with the entertainment that I had at my disposal. Fast forward to today, with the instant streaming of Hulu and Netflix, the constant gaming content of Gamefly, the massive amount of channels at my fingertips, and I find myself more ADD when it comes to my entertainment. It is harder to keep my attention, and often times I spend my days off trying to decide what game or TV show or movie to watch, and at the end of the day I have wasted it.

My point in relating all of that is, sometimes too many options is a bad thing, and over saturation is a bad thing.  What if, after six months, we all realize that we don't want every wrestling match ever at our fingertips? What if we slowly stop watching Raw because we have gotten burned out? The quickest way to devalue something is to almost give it away. Don't get me wrong, the price point is very desirable. But in a way, I am afraid that Wrestlemania this year will feel more like a ROH iPPV than the big league, high dollar spectacle that it used to...simply because I bought something for $9.99 and basically got Wrestlemania as a free bonus (at least that is how my brain is going to look at it).

I hope that doesn't happen, mind you. I hope that this is a new era for the WWE, and the original content is going to be key here. In a few weeks, once we get a few episodes of the original content under our figurative belts (can I say belt or do I have to say title?) we will have a better grasp of what the network will be like as an actual network instead of an archive. I suppose we will all see.