Thought of the Day: The WWE Is Wrestling
Matt Striker made some comments after being released from WWE. Among other things, he had this to say:
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that company on top of the food chain, nothing else trickles down. There are no independents, there is no Japan, there is no Europe or ‘that other place’ without WWE. So say what you want, but when you strip away all the things you don’t like about [WWE] you have to respect what they do.
While the stuff about Japan and Europe aren’t true, there’s something in there that I think gets overlooked.WWE is so far and away the biggest and most dominant wrestling company in the world that it’s unreal.
TNA is the second biggest company in the US. Last Saturday night they drew 1000 fans at best to a baseball stadium in Lexington, Kentucky where the majority of the seats cost $15. Let’s say they made $20,000 in ticket sales. At Wrestlemania this year, WWE made $12.7 million in ticket sales alone while selling out an NFL stadium.
ROH had one of their biggest moments ever when another company bought them and they were syndicated nationwide. WWE has had a show on cable TV for over 20 years running now which dominates whatever network it airs on. It’s publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange alongside companies like Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart.
Have you ever seen a TNA or Chikara shirt at a retail store? WWE has a section at Wal-Mart next to stuff like Disney and Marvel Comics. If wrestling isn’t your thing, go to the electronics section and buy a movie for the night. If you’re interested, you can get one produced by such studios as FOX, Warner Brothers or WWE Studios.
TNA made a big deal out of getting a two hour timeslot on Spike several years back. ROH is thrilled by having an hour a week at whatever time you can find them in your area if your area happens to get the Sinclair networks. WWE has at least 6 hours of new televised shows a week plus several hours of internet content a week.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea: WWE is so ridiculously far ahead of everyone else that they are wrestling for all intents and purposes. If TNA went out of business tomorrow, they would be missed for a bit and then a lot of people would forget about them in a few years. If WWE went out of business tomorrow, the entire industry would be in chaos.
Now go ahead and tell me how wrong I am and how WWE really isn’t all that great. I look forward to laughing at your false hope.
