Can the WWE recover?

Even though there's a pro wrestling thread and a Chris Benoit thread, I felt this specific topic needed one of its own. In the aftermath of this crime, coupled with the awkwardly timed "McMahon death" angle, will the WWE be able to survive the oncoming media storm? More and more people are bringing up issues like the number of premature deaths of wrestlers in the last 25 years, lack of health insurance & medical coverage for the performers and, of course, the steroid & drug dependence that runs rampant in all locker rooms.

Personally, I think this is the bullet that McMahon can't dodge. But if he somehow escapes with the company still in his possession & not in jail, he won't see that much of a decline in profit over the long-term. Just like Eddie Guerrero, and most other tragedies in the news, people will eventually forget & not care.

 

I honestly believe this one will leave them a shell of what they used to be.

 

God willing, no.

But as I've noted before, people will just forget about it soon. It's not their bodies being destroyed.

 

I disagree with the "God willing, no" because the business can be entertaining if promoted and done the right way. But that's an entirely different argument.
I 100 percent agree with your second assessment, though. WWE will be fine because people forget and move on. It's human nature.

 

This might come off as a little odd, but do you think Congress will take a look at how pro wrestling organizations abuse their talent with the NFL Veterans issue being on the front burner, or do the stuff-suits have too little respect for pro wrestling?

 

Don't you think you're overreacting quite a bit here?
McMahon wasn't brought down by any of the past deaths. He wasn't brought down by people saying it was his fault Owen Hart fell to his death.
I'm trying to remember a business as big as the WWE failing because of a crime or even a series of such problems.
People who follow wrestling know what they are watching. It's a bunch of men on steroids pretending to beat on each other with horrible storylines that are often WAY over the top.
Sure, the WWE might lose some people from this deal, but I seriously doubt it is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

 

They are already releasing statements that distance themselves from steroids, Benoit's useage and subsequent double murder and suicide.

This is exactly what's going to happen:

Vince McMahon will vow to strengthen WWE's joke of a "Wellness Policy" to the media. We'll watch WWE to see if he's living up to his word for several months. When we stop watching and reporting, his wrestlers will go back on the juice. Until the next wrestling death.

Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

 

Probably not, because ultimately it's the wrestlers' decisions to be there and do the things they think they need to do to be successful.

The TNA model (no, pervs, not that) is much easier on the workers. Shows taped in two and three-week batches at one site (Orlando). Most PPVs at Orlando, though there've been a couple in other towns. No house show schedule. Wrestlers can spend, at most, eight days out of the month working for TNA, add a handful of independent promotion dates of their choosing, and work a lot lighter schedule still than if they were with WWE. If you have a home in Chicago, for example, you can fly to Orlando maybe twice a month (they do tapings on Mondays, so you can fly in for a PPV and three weeks of tapings and be back in your own bed come Tuesday). You can throw in a few dates at shows within a reasonable drive of you; no West Coast or Northeast road trips.

But Christian is the only wrestler I can think of who left WWE on his own volition to go there. Everyone else (Kurt Angle, Rhyno, Billy Gunn) were let go. So people see that this model can work, but they stay in WWE anyway.

I suspect you'll see some major (to the naked eye) change like when WWE instituted a "wellness policy" in the wake of Eddy Guerrero's death in 2005. In time, they'll temper it to the point where it's not even worth it (Bryan Alvarez said that nowadays, the wellness policy doesn't mean suspensions, just loss of pay, and wrestlers are willing to accept a month's loss of wages to get main event pay for 11 months rather than stay clean and get 12 months of mid-carder pay).

 

Their stock price is down almost 10% since McMahon's fake death: http://www.cnbc.com/id/19448064

 

I'm not sure how Vince or any other promoter could end up in jail, unless he's held liable for performers contracted to him for having illegal substances in the locker room.

If that were the case, though, executives or promoters in the music industry also would be held liable when some musician takes cocaine or heroin backstage before a show.

Personally, I'd hope that in the wake of this we see WWE mandate time off for all its talent, a less taxing schedule, less of an emphasis on musculature (wrestling did just fine in the territorial days when many of the top guys were skinny or flabby by today's standards thank you very much) and a product that focuses more on the in-ring action than the ridiculous storylines.

I won't hold my breath, though.

 

Just in case anyone wasn't sure of WWE's feelings on the topic:

 

First, I have a bit of problem with the WWE calling ANYTHING sensationalistic. They did fake McMahon's death a few weeks ago, right?
Also, I guess I missed the memo that said no member of the media could ever speculate about anything.
The WWE needs to spend more time cleaning up its own house (which is among the filthiest in America) before it starts pointing out a few dust bunnies in ours.