Dear WWE execs,

I stopped watching RAW live because it is absolutely terrible. You probably survive on live events and merchandising mainly because of nostalgia, think about it.

By the way, I understand that one of the keys to business success is to be positive, but ignoring negative reviews and focusing only on the good ones will kill you in the end.

The Attitude Era like it or not was the best run in history for WWE’s product. Brash, creative, and attention to what fans want. I understand that WWE thinks that they are putting out a good product and they really believe they have it nailed in what the fans want. Here’s the deal, they haven’t. They give us what they want. Do you understand the difference WWE? You have to answer to shareholders it appears, and not the fans now so it’s killing the product. Wait a second, in case you missed it WWE.

You have to answer to shareholders and not the fans now and it’s killing the product.

WWE has to maintain a pace that just squeaks by in terms of passable product while attempting to make shareholders and merchandising priorities. The product is stale and WWE is dying despite their optimistic proclamations.

WWE execs you survive on nostalgia alone right now. The generation before today’s Cenation kiddos share WWE with their kids because they remember how awesome and innovative it used to be. This generation’s product is sub par and the superstars are tired and boring. Yes, the crowd is loud sometimes because it’s an event. People get loud at kids basketball games, too. This generation of teenagers growing up will not remember WWE as the juggernaut of entertainment that you believe it to be. They will remember how frustrated they are with the lack of creativity, poor booking, and weak champions. Would you like to know why your champions are weak with the exception of the stale John Cena? You book them to lose.At live events you allow them to win because it’s what we want, but on TV you’ve booked Ziggler, the tag champs, Miz, Sheamus, and you book AJ Lee to lose to name a few. Your championships are nothing to get excited about anymore because you cannot grasp that we want them to mean something. Non-title matches are the absolute worst thing for championships because your MO is to book champions to lose. Wait a second.

Non-title losses are killing the credibility of your champions.

Unless you are Randy Orton or John Cena, a pair the crowd is tired of watching, then you will continue to show us it’s not what we want it’s what you want. What you think we “need”, and not what we are clamoring for. Face it, Dean Ambrose is bigger than John Cena on TV and for male fans. Here’s why, here’s the creative behind good old Cena talking.

“Blah, blah, every night out here for you fans. Blah, blah, blah, boo me or hate me you care about me. Blah, blah, blah, and I never give up. Hot garbage, etc. etc. etc.”

Maybe Dean doesn’t beat good old safe John Cena in merchandise sales, but Ambrose is at least compelling TV when you let him be the lunatic and not reel him in. Give Ambrose all of the wrist bands, headbands, towels, and stuff you give Cena. I dare you to. Watch how close he comes to passing him. The reason you won’t is because Cena is PR for you. All of that Make-A-Wish stuff you awesomely do, thank you by the way sincerly, is amazing PR for you. Cena is the man and we thank him for being that guy, but finger of shame for killing your product so you can milk that publicity.

The hottest shows on TV are dramas, gritty ones and you tout yourself as a soap opera for men. Guess what you have done. You have insulted the intelligence of wrestling fans by comparing something they loved dearly to a cheesy, poorly written TV genre catering to women. Some of us are afraid to admit to our friends we watch it because they make snarky comments about your soap opera product. You have alienated potential male viewers by making the product less manly for lack of a better term. You’ve castrated it. I still cannot get over the out of touch with reality comments of Stephanie McMahon when the Rock faced John Cena the first time at Wrestlemania. She actually said, “Think team Edward vs. Team Jacob”. Those Twilight movies catered to women and teenage girls, not the demographic you covet, the 18-34 year old males.

Total Divas, a failing, fake reality show is crammed down our throats weekly, and women who cannot wrestle actually beat the champions to promote the show. The ego, and delusional people in creative truly believe we know anything about or give a crap about that female targeted reality show. We don’t watch it, hell you don’t watch it be honest. It’s awful and helps bring the terrible women’s division down to the state it’s currently in every time some random angle is played out on RAW without any of us knowing the back story.

Thank you for taking Fandango off of most of my RAW programming. He was the last straw almost for a lot of male viewers. You finally figured out we want Cesaro, Bray Wyatt, and Ziggler. Oh, wait. You book them poorly every week in favor of Randy Orton and John Cena. Why build up talent if you are going to continue to have a glass ceiling.

Why build up talent if you are going to continue to have a glass ceiling.

There is so much wrong with WWE’s programming. That’s why no one buys your network, or if they do they let their subscription expire. Here’s the deal – no one is going to want to go back and watch a product in your archives that was hands down better than today’s. Even the Ruthless Aggression era was better than your attempts at producing something we care about in 2014. It is very hard to want to watch that and then come back to the terrible TV you poop out on the regular. I watch on Hulu because in your 3 hours of programming on live TV there is one hour of commercials, 30 minutes of wrestling, and the rest is meaningless drivel.

In closing if you do not do something that changes the perception of a very weak product soon the future parents in the crowd now are not going to want to share your WWE experience with their children. You are surviving off nostalgia and the hope that you stop playing it safe and giving us the same confusing booking, weak and meaningless angles, and terrible promos.

Bleacher Report wrote a nice article on mid-card champions and their booking.

– Sean McClure

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