Setting up a Sunday Night’s Main Event match between his client Bron Breakker and King of the Ring Oba Femi on this week’s Raw, Paul Heyman said of WWE:
“This is the biggest promotion in the world. We don’t just answer to the people live and the people at home, we answer to shareholders… Here’s what I know after 40 years in this business: When two main eventers are standing in the ring, you don’t do an impromptu match to decide who the future is.”
I’ve seen the “impromptu match” line interpreted as
a jab at AEW’s strategy of occasionally putting big clashes like Kenny Omega’s World title win over MJF on television rather than PPV. That’s not what former WWE and current AEW star Ricochet chose to respond to, however. In reposted aggregation of the “answering to shareholders” bit from Heyman’s promo, the former AEW National champion focused on that part
We’re the Greatest Wrestling company in the world. So no we don’t answer to “Share Holders” we answer to OUR fans.
Because they’re the ones who deserve it.
No matter how much truth we perceive in their statements, both men are in character here — and play heels. So it’s not worth spending too much time on it. But “spending too much time on it” is kinda my job description. I strive to be reasonable though, promise. Anyway…
There really shouldn’t be a difference between Ricochet and Heyman’s points. In a well-functioning society there wouldn’t be; management would already consider fans key stakeholders in the business, whether they held literal shares or not. If that’s too much to ask, we could at least expect shareholders to want fans to be satisfied to ensure their continued patronage of the business.
In the world we live in, though? Many of those invested in WWE’s parent company TKO are only interested in short-term profit. That means I’m awarding Ricochet the point here, because I would rather back a company trying to please its loyal customers than one trying to please the latest room of wealthy folks who were wow-ed by a CFO’s projections for the next quarter or two.
But… if we’re going to dive back into the real world from the kayfabe one, that means examining whether AEW’s attempts to please its fans are effective — or effective enough — to merit its approach and ultimately sustain its business. And a closer look at how management short-term focus has impacted WWE’s on-screen product. And maybe even a breakdown of how much of the frustration is actually with creative, and how much is about things like the perpetually rising cost of keeping up with the product?
I definitely don’t have time to get into all that right now. So I’ll leave discussion of Heyman’s promo and Ricochet’s response to y’all in the comments. Or even with a longer post in The Feed!
