Pleased to announce my first diary since Shane McMahon's WCW back in 2016. It's going to be me learning how to use TEW 2020 along with some self-indulgent angle/match writing, all while trying to steer the McDonalds of wrestling. Managed to convert the database and successfully book my first show but it'll probably be a couple of weeks before the diary goes live -- I do like to build up a little bit of a backlog.
WWE 2018: MONOPOLY MATTERS by blaustein
"Seventeen years ago, World Wrestling Entertainment vanquished its biggest opposition with the purchase of WCW. For a generation and around the world, WWE is wrestling -- this publicly-listed company has built multiple brands of content, a world-class development system and its own streaming platform. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tickets are sold to Wrestlemania week events, and rights to broadcast Raw and Smackdown Live are more valuable than ever. No other wrestling promotion has the exposure, infrastructure and sheer finances to challenge them on a global scale.
But something is wrong. WWE have amassed one of the deepest talent rosters in history yet haven’t produced a break-out star in over a decade. It leans more heavily than ever on yesterday’s stars for ever-diminishing returns while its brightest developmental prospects flounder on the big stage. With five weekly shows its reach has never been greater, but the programming is homogenous and stale; the writing shallow and nonsensical. The promotion is too big to fail and yet struggles to attract fresh new fans.
WWE is a victim of its own success. The man with most claim to its rise and stagnation is Vince McMahon -- when WCW was at its peak and his company’s future uncertain, his vision and willingness to embrace change and invest in new stars heralded the Attitude Era, Stone Cold, The Rock and more. Yet increasingly in 2018, it’s Vince’s inability to evolve to modern tastes and constant micro-management that are holding WWE back from critical if not commercial success.
In January 2018, competition arose -- not for WWE, but for McMahon’s attention. With the announcement of a relaunched XFL kicking off in early 2020, more of Vince’s time, money and energy are going into restarting the league and avoiding the failure of its 2001 incarnation. Though still majority owner and CEO of WWE, Vince has placed the long term creative direction of his promotion in the hands of Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, his son-in-law and senior producer of NXT.
How much WWE will truly change and what that might look like is yet to be seen, but first in Paul’s in-tray is steering the promotion through its biggest show of the year, Wrestlemania. With fourteen matches announced and seven days to go, this week’s Raw and Smackdown will present the final build to the event."