WWE’s Push for Production Value

Once upon a time, the WWE spared no expense. On anything. What Vince McMahon set out to create was truly realized to it’s full potential in the late 90’s during the Attitude Era. Every night on Raw, the show would open with a blaze of pyrotechnics and it would only go up from there. Great matches, every character (including jobbers) fully fleshed out with character development that would put The Sopranos to shame, backstage segments that could feel not only incredibly intense and scary but also like sketches torn from the scripts of SNL, and the most ludicrous and insanely fun plotlines that any writers room could ever dream of. It felt like everything was a go, everything was green lit, and it made for weekly can’t miss television. But even greater than that was how they did it. Whether it was the Ministry of Darkness performing human sacrifices or Stone Cold and the Rocks epic WrestleMania X7 promo set to the beautiful music that is Limp Bizkit’s “My Way,” the production value made you truly feel what the writers and producers aimed for. 

And then there was a lull…

It felt like the bubble popped and there was nothing left. After Ruthless aggression ended in 2008, it felt like production value and the exquisite story telling was gone. Promos were stale. Backstage segments were unimaginative and video packages felt forced. And it continued this way up until recently. But, the last two or so years of WWE programming give me, someone who appreciates production value to a fault, hope. The Triple H era has been built on realism, whether it be using social media to it’s advantage, or having WrestleMania press conferences, the WWE feels like a sport more now than ever. And with that comes a lot of opportunities for great production value. A perfect example is Roman Reigns face off with Cody Rhodes in the Georgia Tech football field. Some people hated it but personally I loved it! Intense entrances, wide sweeping camera shots and extreme close ups of Roman and Cody’s eyes as they broker a deal really heightens the intensity of the entire situation. It almost feels…attitude era-eque? Plus the recent news that the company will begin using licensed, popular music in shows? Did you see that new Mania in Vegas spot?! It feels like the perfect storm as the brand heads to Netflix and promises a perhaps edgier product. The WWE needed a return to form, and while that’s not exactly what they’re doing, they’re giving us an updated, RAWer (wink wink) and realer version of what once was. I hope that they capitalize on this because it’s something they did so well at the turn of the century, better than maybe anyone else. But until Cody Rhodes is blasting the new Bloodline with a hose connected to a truck full of Coors, I’ll be running back my WrestleMania 17 tape and singing My Way the whole time. 

Oh, and I think they should bring back making wrestlers on the active roster the CEO.

-Roman