The Winds of Change: How WWE will retake the throne in 2014
Op-Ed by Dave Meltzer
The last 7 years have seen the rise of the EBWF as the number one wrestling promotion in the world. The St. Louis based company has enjoyed undisputed dominance over ratings and PPV buy rates since 2006. It seemed that Wes Ikeda et. al. were making all the right decisions, finding the perfect balance between pushing new stars and poaching the best talent from its competition. All Vince McMahon could do was watch as the top athletes of his company jumped ship, one after the other. In 2012, WWE had to cut expenses by consolidating its road schedule and reforming its pay scale for top talent. Many market analysts expected more drastic cost cutting measures in 2013, but WWE made moves that that no one expected.
This past summer, in the boldest move made by Vince McMahon since the late nineties, WWE staged an aggressive recruiting campaign designed specifically to poach talent from the EBWF roster. Many inside sources state that Vince McMahon himself had meetings with nearly all of the top paid superstars, a venture that proved successful over the long term as WWE was able to recently reacquire Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and Ryback.
If that wasn't enough, WWE also just unveiled its pièce de résistance - the WWE Network. For $59.95 every six months, fans can enjoy an impressive package of wrestling content including original shows, classic archives, encores of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown, and all of WWE's ppv offerings in a 720p live stream format. This innovative over-the-top distribution system is something EBWF cannot compete with, as Wes Ikeda does not possess the capital to fund such a venture, nor does the EBWF have the over 50 years worth of video content that WWE has in its vault.
For the first time in 7 years, the EBWF finds itself on the ropes. Wes Ikeda is going to need to come up with a creative solution to compete with WWE's new PPV strategy, which may wind up costing them some income. Add that to the fact that John Cena's contract is expiring in April, and EBWF's cash-flow positive trend may be coming to an end this year. EBWF will either need to fork over the incredible amount of cash that is necessary to keep Cena on the payroll, or risk giving him up to a strengthening rival in WWE.
The wrestling industry faces a litany of unknowns going into the new year, but I believe one thing is a near certainty - Vince McMahon is going to see WWE back on top before the end of 2014.
