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Post by WinOwensWin on Jan 8, 2023 8:38:03 GMT -5
I honestly don't know how likely it is that WWE finds a buyer. But if they do, how much do things change? Does the new buyer drop Saudi shows? Mass firings? Brodus Clay brought back to dethrone Roman? NXT 3.0 featuring pets?
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Post by Feyrhausen on Jan 8, 2023 8:58:40 GMT -5
Probably very little. Vince will most likely demand a Dixie clause where he stays in charge of the product. Saudi shows may go away but that depends on the contract and its length. Cant see a new owner wanting to give up that cash cow though.
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ssdrivin
ALF
Claims to be squishy, has yet to be proven.
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Post by ssdrivin on Jan 8, 2023 9:04:09 GMT -5
Depends. Could be "everything" or "absolutely nothing".
Some stuff is probably contracted for years to come (talent contracts, TV deals, Saudi deal, brand deals, merch and media like the 2K game series, action figures, etc), I wouldn't expect everything to immediately become a whole different company. There might be some chance Vince gets kept on anyway, even if for a while to ease the transition.
After that? Who knows. The buyer might just let it run independently so nothing much would change except whatever Vince or HHH (depending on who's in charge after the buyout) decide to change, which obviously HHH had some kind of plan for going forward. Or the buyer might overhaul the entire product into something we haven't even thought of.
Might be a bunch of "streamlining", a bunch of higher-ups might get cut, the roster might get thinned out. Touring might get bigger or smaller (or abandoned entirely), they might do more international stuff or they might just TNA it and do it in the same place every week because that's cheap.
Could also get more adult, or less adult, depending on the demographics and where they want to put the show in terms of networks and timeslots and stuff.
Maybe if it's a TV network they'd bring in their own writers, or maybe they leave it entirely up to WWE and HHH brings in a bunch of wrestling-centric booker types instead of sitcom writers.
It's pretty much impossible to predict at this point, it'll depend on who's buying it and what they want out of it, along with how much they need to "fix" it to fit their media portfolio.
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Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
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Post by Bo Rida on Jan 8, 2023 9:09:14 GMT -5
Everything or nothing depending on the owners and how they manage it
Most likely an even more sanitised product, Saudi's hosting WM and mismanagement of aspects of the business those outside wrestling don't understand.
Probably more celeb involvement and crossovers. That shit with the egg and zombies is one potential blueprint for a bleak future.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Jan 8, 2023 9:11:51 GMT -5
might be a wild take but I bet whoever buys the company has 0 interest in and in fact would incentivized not to preserve Vince' legacy. that in itself would probably be a good thing.
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Post by Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story on Jan 8, 2023 9:29:57 GMT -5
Nothing would change overnight.
It depends on who has control of the product. I suspect whoever buys it buys it for content and not really to run the day to day. I think the McMahon family, or at least Steph/HHH, will retain control.
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Post by Gerard Gerard on Jan 8, 2023 9:33:32 GMT -5
Not sure what happens, but would love to be a fly on the wall when actual functioning members of society take over and learn of all these pro-wrestling/WWE customs and habits.
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Post by polarbearpete on Jan 8, 2023 9:34:39 GMT -5
Nothing would change overnight. It depends on who has control of the product. I suspect whoever buys it buys it for content and not really to run the day to day. I think the McMahon family, or at least Steph/HHH, will retain control. That’s my hope if they do indeed sell. Sell to NBC and hopefully they keep the McMahons in charge.
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ssdrivin
ALF
Claims to be squishy, has yet to be proven.
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Post by ssdrivin on Jan 8, 2023 9:59:41 GMT -5
might be a wild take but I bet whoever buys the company has 0 interest in and in fact would incentivized not to preserve Vince' legacy. that in itself would probably be a good thing. There's definitely a realistic chance that whoever takes it over doesn't know (or necessarily care about) the finer details of wrestling, other than it being a live sports media product that gets views, but I wouldn't go as far as to say I'd want Vince's legacy erased. One of the best things WWE has done for the wrestling industry is the WWE Network (even if Peacock has screwed with that in recent times), preserving in pretty decent quality literally decades of multiple very important wrestling companies, that's massive, and something a lot of media/content owners don't do, or certainly don't do to the extent that WWE did. I wouldn't want a company that doesn't care to come in and just throw all that in the trash because it's got Vince stank all over it. To erase Vince's legacy, whatever his personal or business practices, would be to burn 40 years of wrestling history, which would be absolutely tragic.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Jan 8, 2023 10:54:27 GMT -5
might be a wild take but I bet whoever buys the company has 0 interest in and in fact would incentivized not to preserve Vince' legacy. that in itself would probably be a good thing. There's definitely a realistic chance that whoever takes it over doesn't know (or necessarily care about) the finer details of wrestling, other than it being a live sports media product that gets views, but I wouldn't go as far as to say I'd want Vince's legacy erased. One of the best things WWE has done for the wrestling industry is the WWE Network (even if Peacock has screwed with that in recent times), preserving in pretty decent quality literally decades of multiple very important wrestling companies, that's massive, and something a lot of media/content owners don't do, or certainly don't do to the extent that WWE did. I wouldn't want a company that doesn't care to come in and just throw all that in the trash because it's got Vince stank all over it. To erase Vince's legacy, whatever his personal or business practices, would be to burn 40 years of wrestling history, which would be absolutely tragic. I was more referring to Vince himself. I don't think anybody who buys the company is going to do any lavish "remember how great the sex pest who almost killed this company was?" retrospectives. Vince won't be easily forgotten because of how large his shadow looms, but I'd imagine a prospective buyer would probably not be as keen on constantly talking him up and doing tributes to him as WWE currently is with his family still running things.
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XIII
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 18,957
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Post by XIII on Jan 8, 2023 11:14:52 GMT -5
I will say that by having someone else own it the WWE runs the risk of WCW’ing itself. In the past the product may be down but the McMahons kept it afloat because of the family legacy but once it becomes owned by a giant corporation it becomes a commodity(instead of a passion project)and everything that comes with that. That kind of even happened to WCW once the merger happened and Ted Turner didn’t have full power. I don’t think that it’s going to happen anytime soon but the future as always is uncertain.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2023 12:39:50 GMT -5
To echo what others have said either everything or nothing changes as it is impossible to predict anything else.
But having WWE under the thumb of anyone else that is not the McMahon family is just not good because so much can change on a whim...that could just shut the company down because the overheads wanna save some dollary doos.
Or they keep it around and like someone said just TNA it by keeping it in a singular location.
The McMahon bullshit may have changed the company but this sale IMO is gonna change the business..for better or worse who knows but once you hand those reigns over to a conglomorate it tends to lean to being worse.
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Post by Aceorton on Jan 8, 2023 13:27:18 GMT -5
I want to think that a new owner would not be inclined to settle for the bleak ratings and untapped audience that Vince increasingly hasn't seemed to give a shit about. The man has left so much money on the table over the last 20 years when it comes to the quality of the product. "Millionaire who should be a billionaire." With good writing and a return to solid formulas that have worked in other boom periods, WWE could have returned to level-10 popularity at some point, but Vince was fine with it being level 2 because the TV deals and Saudi money meant they were rolling in cash anyway.
Now, do I think a new owner would understand how to "do" wrestling the right way to achieve boom-period popularity again? Most likely not.
I feel like it'll become American Gladiators if a bunch of goofs with no wrestling psychology roots take over creative. Best case would be Triple H still overseeing the actual content and talent, along with some old-school minds and maybe a qualified media consultant who can help them recognize why certain things in the past worked and others didn't.
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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 8, 2023 19:48:00 GMT -5
The thing that sticks out to me as a question is how new ownership would approach hirings and roster size. Like, would new ownership not be interested in attempting the whole "NXT (insert country/region here" thing? Would they cut the roster down to the bare minimum to save costs, or would they see growing it as an investment?
The other part I wonder about is how much potential a buyer sees in leveraging the IPs associated with WWE, like all the merchandise with retro wrestler logos and vintage PPVs and whatnot.
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Post by Banjo Is Broken on Jan 9, 2023 2:57:49 GMT -5
FAN buys WWE, appoints Salem the Cat as RAW General Manager, and Doink the Clown as Smackdown General Manager.
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john84
Fry's dog Seymour
Proud Father of 3 :)
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Post by john84 on Jan 9, 2023 4:26:30 GMT -5
FAN buys WWE, appoints Salem the Cat as RAW General Manager, and Doink the Clown as Smackdown General Manager. As long as Doink is heel I'm in
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Post by Feargus McReddit on Jan 9, 2023 4:38:32 GMT -5
As people have said, it honestly depends on who buys it. It could be integrated into a company's portfolio and able to blend in with the other companies and do crossover deals and such or a company that tears it apart and sells the scrap to others and sells it off again.
There's really no way of knowing but it is a bit more likely to be the former than the latter.
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Post by sdoyle7798 on Jan 9, 2023 8:56:59 GMT -5
FAN buys WWE, appoints Salem the Cat as RAW General Manager, and Doink the Clown as Smackdown General Manager. Who gets the pizza oven?
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Post by ariestheram on Jan 9, 2023 10:58:08 GMT -5
A lot could depend on if the new owner keeps it a publicly traded company or takes ot back private.
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Post by Loser troll. Please ban me on Jan 9, 2023 11:26:35 GMT -5
Nothing. As much as I would love to see Vince eat shit as his product slowly falls apart the reality is they'll probably get 3-4m consistent ratings because of all this.
Dude is karma proof
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