The Forzese View - Brand Extinction
Submitted by Jim Forzese on Wednesday, November 12, 2003 at 7:57 AM EST



Brand Extinction

It appears to me that still one of the greatest topics of concern to the fan is the brand extension. Has the brand extension worked and done for WWE what they expected it to do? The simple answer is no, so how long is WWE going to let it’s “work in progress” last? Obviuosly the ratings are down from what they used to be and the buy rates are coming in as low as the levels back from before the last big boom. Is the brand extension the cause of blame to what WWE is going through right now? I think that the mathematical equation is very simple, half of the roster per show with only half of the show drawing real interest equals half or less of the viewing audience. That seems like basic math to me and I completely understand why the fans are disillusioned with the brand extension concept.

If HHH were my favorite wrestler (of which he is not) and he is only on Raw on Monday nights then the rest of the TV shows that WWE produces may not make me overly interested to watch religiously. HHH is only on Raw so after I watch Raw on Monday I won’t get to see HHH again for an entire week because HHH does not appear on Heat. The big names only appear on Raw and or Smack down so usually it takes a week to see your favorites wrestle again. I don’t need to see the recap of Raw on Heat because I already saw it live on Raw. Here though is what I truly do not understand as it relates to the brand extension. Now I am not saying to WWE that they should end it but I do need to understand what WWE is trying to accomplish a little bit better.

Since the start of the brand extension WWE has given us roughly seven Heavyweight Champions. Brock Lesner, Big Show, HBK, Kurt Angle, Undertaker, Goldberg, and HHH.With the Taker and HBK most likely winning the title because of a respect WWE has towards all that these two legends have given to WWE and as a way of saying thank you, so this leaves five other wrestlers that have held the belt. So if there was no brand extension how many out of the five would have held it? Answer, at least four would have definitely still held the title so the extension has not created any new World Champions that otherwise would not have become the champion regardless. WWE has Eddie Geurrero and John Cena now at the doorstep ready to take over the spots that were occupied by Taker and HBK so roughly seven World Champions or main eventers a year with or without the extension.

PPV’s roughly contain about twenty wrestlers per show on them. So the following is a list of who should be on PPV for WWE.Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley, Y2J, Christian, D-Von Dudley, Goldberg, Kane, Randy Orton, RVD, HBK, HHH, Big Show, Brock Lesner, Eddie Geurrero, John Cena, Kurt Angle, Mattitude, Rey Mysterio, Taker, and Chris Benoit.Now the majority of these names will always appear on PPV and so they should but how many wrestlers are on PPV that are not one of these names? How many wrestlers are on PPV that should not be? Obviously some PPV’s like Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and Wrestle mania can house a lot more wrestlers but the standard ones roughly have twenty or so wrestlers on them. Take out a name here and insert a name there and the majority of PPV is roughly the same. There is more opportunity per PPV with the extension for wrestlers who are not on this list but not many. WWE could increase the amount of tag matches and three way dances to add more names to the standard size PPV to accommodate adding more talent per event.

The b-level shows have the ability to roughly have twelve wrestlers per episode. That would be twenty-four wrestlers that would be on either Velocity or Heat. So the list for those shows are as followed-Maven, Rico, Rosey, Spike, Val Venis, Steven Richards, Tommy Dreamer, John Heidenreich, Goldust, Hurricane, Rodney Mack, Chris Nowinski, Chuck Palumbo, Funaki, Johnny Stamboli, Nunzio, Orlando Jordan, Sean O’Haire, Shannon Moore, Spanky, Paul London, Kanyon, Ryhno, and Kidman could all still be on the b-level shows. That is absolutely no difference from what is happening now with these wrestlers. So there would still be opportunity for brand new wrestlers or wrestlers coming up from OVW to have a spot.

Now I know that WWE likes that they are doing more house shows per month because it generates more revenue for them however, if the talents are losing money because of the low pay-offs compared to the road expenses well, to me that makes no sense at all. If WWE did not do the brand extension then maybe the house shows would increase because the fans can pay to see the entire roster not just the half of either Raw or Smackdown.The repetitiveness of the house shows because all the same feuds between all the same talents will not help to get people to shell out their hard earned money. House shows are even more watered down than the product on TV so why would fans pay top ticket price to see the Funaki’s and the Shannon Moore’s of the wrestling world?

Bottom Line:

So as the ratings are in the same ballpark now for quite some time and the buy rates are steadily declining at a rapid pace I ask, what did the brand extension bring about for the WWE? House show attendance is atrocious, moral is at an all time low and things do not look like they are going to change. The McMahon’s are dead set on making this concept pay off and I just can’t see how. I do applaud that WWE tried such a bold concept and are intent on making it a revenue generator but again I just can’t see it happening. I think that the facts speak for themselves and the facts are that the fans are unhappy. The TV shows are much better than they were a year ago but life in WWE does not appear to be any better. Wrestler’s are continually stepping forward now and discussing their displeasure with the current direction of the company.

If WWE were to re-combine the rosters as I stated above there still should be room for everyone currently under contract. Also if all the wrestlers were together again then maybe there would be less room for filler since every segment would have to be more important because there would be added star power per segment and no show could be centered around one wrestler. Titles would become far more critical because there would be less of them for starters and secondly a wrestler like Kurt Angle holding the IC title instantly makes it more credible. Go back to the IC champion being the number 1 contender to the WWE champion so that both titles are made to look important in the fans eyes. Champions need to be the champion over the entire roster to be seen as completely legitimate.

The brand extension has helped a few wrestlers like Matt Hardy stretch their characters legs and get into some new situations but it still could have been done with a combined roster. I guess as it relates to the brand extension I am not a visionary where as I can’t see the forest through the trees. I can’t see the long-term goal and benefits through all the bad of the ratings, buyrates and house show attendence. Making fans wait a week at a time to see their favorite wrestler may not sound like a lot but if the fans don’t watch the other show because their favorite isn’t on it then it is a mistake. In some cases WWE is asking fans to choose which show is more important to them and that is asinine since WWE owns both.

There are definitely reasons as to why the fan like the combined PPV’s better than the brand exclusive ones. Just look at how the fans are clamoring for brand vs. brand matches at Wrestle mania twenty, the fans are trying to tell WWE that they want the rosters put back together. Vince is going to have one hell of a time trying to convince the fans he knows what the fans want better than the fans themselves. Is the brand extension killing the WWE? I can’t say that for sure but Mr.Neilson and Mr.Buyrate certainly have me thinking that it might be correct. So it’s time for the next great angle, Spoiler Alert…Vince admits he screwed up by ending the brand extension, that and HHH to regain the title at Survivor Series. Until next time that’s just my view.

Jim Forzese
forzeseview@yahoo.com









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