If the WWE folds... (please look at first post)

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

I am not asking you whether or not you still have faith in WWE's output. I am not asking you if you think the WWE's approach to wrestling is "correct". I don't want the discussion to take those roads.

What I'm asking is: If the WWE were to go out of business (which I do not believe it will unless their overseas market goes under), would wrestling go with it, or would the business self-repair?

Personally, I am of the opinion that wrestling would survive. I enjoy WWE, but I'm a wrestling fan first and foremost. I see no point in being a promotion homer, because I'll give nearly anything a chance if you stick it in front of me. (Besides, has there ever been a company that could fulfill the needs of everybody?)

[randomranter]

I think we'd go back to some form of pseudo-territorial system.

[Deleted]

It would lose steam and probably lose quite a few viewers permanently, but I'd venture to say it would be okay.

TNA would pick up some, a new promotion would appear and pick up some, and some would just stop watching.

[MGH]

It would survive. Just take some time to rebound.

[Agent P]

Even if International dries up, the company (and Vince McMahon himself) has enough money to survive at least 15-20 years of WCW 2000 level losses.

[fabulousfreebird]

Jun 17, 2008 12:32:10 GMT -5 randomranter said:

I think we'd go back to some form of pseudo-territorial system.

Convince me how this would be a bad thing? We'd have territories starting up again. We'd have Texas, California, Pacific Northwest, Southeast, Mid Atlantic, Northeast. The NWA would obviously be at an advantage since they have so many satellite orgs. This may be a good thing. Won't happen though.

[Robbymac]

Its tough to say, but I would imagine in the event WWE folded it would be because the overall view of the product had sunk so low that not even they could survive. I would imagine in this scenario TNA would have long since gone out of business and most Indy's would have been gone too.

My thinking is WWE would be the final domino to fall and North American Wrestling would be dead.

[Vince's Torn Quads]

I don't think it would ever fold in the sense that it would cease to exist and leave a massive hole in the market - I'd see it folding in much the same way as WCW, in that it would be bought up by a bigger entity (not necessarily bigger than the WWE is now, but bigger than the about-to-fold hypothetical WWE in terms of cash reserves).

This could be a whole new company, or a collection of experienced ex-WWE/WCW people who know what they are doing - in which case, some things would change, but an awful lot would stay the same.

Although knowing our luck, it would be a bionically reconstructed Vince Russo (I've no idea what has happened for him to need this, but no one would really be sure whether it was a work or not) and TNA coming in with the money and stupid storylines and angles to make all our lives hell until TNA itself inevitably went out of business.

Sorry, I think I may have confused even myself with all that.

[randomranter]

Jun 17, 2008 12:37:05 GMT -5 fabulousfreebird said:

Jun 17, 2008 12:32:10 GMT -5 randomranter said:

I think we'd go back to some form of pseudo-territorial system.

Convince me how this would be a bad thing? We'd have territories starting up again. We'd have Texas, California, Pacific Northwest, Southeast, Mid Atlantic, Northeast. The NWA would obviously be at an advantage since they have so many satellite orgs. This may be a good thing. Won't happen though.

Didn't say it would be a bad thing. Just saying that if wrestling survived at all, it would be back to some form of territorial system.

[Randy Barber 4-Life]

How would it go out? I mean if TNA or another promotion actually becomes a true competitor and eventually takes them out then wrestling would probably be fine. But maybe not since if you think about it, if WCW had beaten WWF enough to shut them down, I doubt that would've kept WCW from folding a few years later considering it was there own decisions and corporate goings-on that ruined them as much or more than anything WWF did.

If it's a scenario where WWE's ratings dwindle, even with no competition, and the McMahons pull the plug, I think it would kill wrestling on a national level for a long time. If in the current landscape the one serious national power, WWE, no longer had a viable audience, who else could possibly have one?

I can't imagine either actually happening though, there will always be enough audience for wrestling to keep WWE afloat. In the absolute worst case WWE will recede back to Saturday and Sunday mornings, but even that is a very long shot from where they are now.

[Jay Peas 42]

Anything big enough to take down Vince McMahon would be big enough to take down any other promoter, and the industry as a whole, or at least by the time it affected him, everyone else would be wiped out by it.

[nerdinitupagain]

Jun 17, 2008 12:36:54 GMT -5 Agent P said:

Even if International dries up, the company (and Vince McMahon himself) has enough money to survive at least 15-20 years of WCW 2000 level losses.

WWE's Operating Expenses are in the 100's of millions a year I'm guessing though because while WCW was bleeding money, WCW operating expenses were lower because they were a department of a major company who didn't have nearly the staff of WWE since Turner already had lawyers and marketing people.

So if Vince puts out a couple bad years, that corporate money dries up fast. And remember how much of the company is trading on the stock exchange.. if that crashed, it would really hurt them.



There will always be pro-wrestling. Sports entertainment will die though.

[Jay Carroll]

we would be looking at a territorial system. not that i'd have a problem with that

[big nasty]

if vince just woke up tommorow and said "thats it, im out" and the WWE closed shop...

it would go back to some form of territories, but probably not at the level of the peak territories, at first. eventually you may have strong regionalized feds, but the money would be way down for a lot of guys. thing is, in this age if on demand TV and internet feeds, no reason it couldnt work extremely well. when i was a mere lad, only thing i ever heard of 'the territories' was reading some results in PWI. only got WWF and some NWA on TV. so the steadfast fan could still watch all he likes, but the casual fan (meaning, the fan who watched when its hot, or for only a few years in their teens) would most likely be gone.