While this Roman Reigns’ quote from his Club Shay Shay spot flew around the wrestling world…
… this one, which provides context for the above, flew under the radar:
“The first day I went around the ring, my dad told me, ‘Don’t ever be confused; this ring is only about money. Don’t treat it any other way.’”
Reigns’ father, WWE Hall of Famer Sika Anoaʻi, was not the first person to espouse it, nor will he be the last. And he was right. The pro wrestling business is, in fact, a very big business. And WWE is the biggest
show in town.
What happens in boardrooms is just as important as what happens in the ring. Maybe more. Reigns’ schedule is a leading indicator of that idea at a time where the territory and its parent company wants to maximize revenue. Reigns’ status is not just a sign of the times, but possibly portends a not too distant future for top stars of his ilk.
“We’re at a business model where TV rights are TV rights. And there’s just so much money on the line that we got to that point where it’s just like, it doesn’t make sense for me to do live events anymore. What if I got hurt?”
I get it. In fact, Reigns makes a very salient point. Before he said all that, he talked about the necessity of live events for reps and how the company is slowly getting back into that line of work. Reigns believed he doesn’t need those reps anymore and I agree. There are certain wrestlers who are so high on the mountaintop that they don’t need to come down just to determine how to climb back up. CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, Bayley, Charlotte Flair, and Reigns are a few WWE names that come to mind.
They’ve put in the work for multiple decades and understand their craft. In an industry that’s more industrial today than at any other time in history, there’s no business need or professional need for them to wrestle when the TV cameras aren’t blinking red.
Therein lies the conflict between what’s “best for business” and what’s best for fans.
Reigns is absolutely correct that there’s more value in him wrestling at a PLE than a house show with “4,000, 5,000” clamoring fans. But for those few thousand, that might be their only realistic chance to see him, live or otherwise. The barrier for entry for pro wrestling fandom isn’t cheap.
If past is prologue, it won’t get cheaper either. The price for Raw, SmackDown, or PLE tickets, plus the subscription fees just to watch them at home on a regular basis amount to a small fortune for some. For others, it’s more like a king’s ransom.
The house show traditionally provides an inexpensive means for fans to see their favorites. It’s practice for those who need it but fan outreach for everyone involved.
“TV rights are TV rights” holds a ton of weight in Reigns’ quote. Those deals loom over everything WWE does while making the house shows less financially viable. For Reigns, who always sees the bottom line as the bottom line, working every Monday night makes zero sense. Even if those on his echelon do so, he doesn’t see the need. Nor does he have to. I don’t think that means he loves wrestling any less than them. He just has a perspective at odds with what fans want to believe their favorite grapplers have. But it’s one aided by the dollar signs in his bank account, and the bank accounts of everyone who works in WWE’s C-Suite.
Even Roman’s answer when Shannon Sharpe asked the cliched “Mt. Rushmore” question revolved around money. He didn’t parse words based on drawing power or in-ring prowess. Reigns said the most important aspect is money, so a list with Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and John Cena fits his view like a snug winter glove.
I’m not saying he’s right or wrong for that either. I have my qualms but they’re mine, just like his mindset is his. I understand the champion must feel special. But I don’t think the champ is less special if they show up every week. Austin didn’t wrestle every Monday but he made his presence felt on a weekly basis. Yes, the business overall isn’t what it was in 1988, 1998, or 2008, but some constants remain. I prefer the champion being a part of the show, not being above it. And Raw’s World Heavyweight Championship picture is hazy and uninspiring in part because of Reigns’ schedule. That might work really well for business but I can’t say it does much for me as a fan or a writer.
That’s not solely on him though. When any wrestling company stakes its reputation on making gargantuan TV deals, those execs offering said deals become their biggest stakeholders, not the fans. It’s an old saying that’s trite but rings true in this instance:
Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
The game changed for WWE a long time ago. Reigns is simply playing the ball where it lies.
