WWE Unpopular Opinion: Vince McMahon is operating the WWE in panic mode
In December 2018, the McMahon family came out on Monday Night Raw and declared that things would start changing for the better. They informed us that we would be the authority and that they would listen to us.
Some of us would have scoffed upon hearing this as Vince usually does what he wants, not what the fans want them to do. It does seem at times though that this was merely done to stop talent leaving, and to keep the audience watching their product.
Lately, there has been a growing number of talent wanting to be granted their release from WWE. Superstars such as The Revival, The Good Brothers, Mike and Maria Kanellis, Rusev and Lana, and most recently Sasha Banks have all been unhappy with their standing in the company.
It certainly is understandable as an outsider looking in, seeing world class athletes being misused by a global company.
It is even more understandable for those who actually want to showcase their talents and passion for pro wrestling, and not just be there to collect a paycheck ( looking at you Brock Lesnar).
WWE has an extremely bloated roster and while it is natural that not everybody is going to get TV time, it is the same talent who miss out and get to be underutilized by the company.
People like Finn Balor, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze, Asuka, and The Ascension are all superstars, who came through NXT, and have been misused badly by WWE.
It certainly doesn't look good when backstage officials are constantly making last minute title changes, or not giving certain superstars a chance to succeed.
It seems to have become a custom for WWE over the last few months, (namely since the announcement of AEW), that there is going to be backstage changes to matches or match endings.
It has caused people like Road Dogg to step down as head of creative on Smackdown Live, and a couple of writers have either been fired or quit for upsetting Vince McMahon. Between this, the amount of talent wanting to leave, problems with WWE management, inconsistent booking and the locker room morale being at an all time low, it is little wonder why the product is suffering.
As we all know, if everything in the company is suffering, then it is clearly coming from the top (i.e Vince McMahon). Vince has been known to be extremely paranoid about things, especially presentation of the product.
He is well known to yell at people backstage for the littlest things, which basically means that he expects perfection. His micromanaging of WWE though has only hindered the company of late, due to inconsistent booking/ last minute changes to matches.
Arn Anderson was somebody who was fired from the company for constantly disagreeing with McMahon (and not realizing Alicia Fox was intoxicated at a live event), however it does seem that Arn was merely fired just because him and McMahon butted heads constantly.
There have been many contradictory statements made of Vince McMahon, with some wrestlers like Chris Jericho saying that Vince likes people to stand up to him and not think of him as intimidating, however people backstage are getting fired backstage for this reason, standing up about the current product being poor.
It really does make you believe what CM Punk said in his pipe bomb promo had a lot of truth about McMahon, how he " surrounds himself with gladhanding, nonsensical, douchebag yes men ". It seems to be the main reason why guys like Bruce Pritchard and John Lauranaitis are in high profile roles backstage.
Vince McMahon needs to listen to those people backstage who know exactly why the product is getting stale, as they could help turn things around if Vince would allow it. The current status quo of WWE that lead them to beat WCW and become the global empire of sports entertainment, doesn't work anymore.
It's time to put somebody in charge that is younger, who is prepared to adapt with the rapidly changing times of the product.
Triple H has shown in NXT, the changes he could bring to the whole company if he was in charge.
What we do know is that Vince McMahon is not the same brilliant promoter that he used to be. His failure to adapt his product, instead choosing to rely on the same formula and same sort of storylines, has really stinted WWE's overall growth. The company should be focused on the in ring action, rather than trying to sell soap opera type storylines in repetition.
The action needs to be showcased more in the squared circle, not worry about presenting " Sports Entertainment". That is why the company is in panic mode, because it's not focusing enough on the wrestling aspect of its product. Triple H has both NXT shows set out beautifully and that should be how the main roster is presented.
WWE have given us many memorable moments and a few classic matches. They have the depth of talent who are capable of putting on classic matches, as well as having incredible in ring storytelling.
If they allowed their talent to be more creative over their characters, adapted with the times and stopped the ridiculous booking issues they have, it would help them get things back on the right track at least.
At the moment, WWE is appearing like a ship about to sink, but only they can turn it around. One thing for sure is, Vince needs to start listening to the right people.
What are your thoughts on it all. Comment below.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article belong to the writer and doesn't necessarily represent Sportskeeda's stand.