Hello again my fellow wrestling fans. For what seems like a long time coming, I’m finally back with a new article. A subject which I’ve written about for but always gets people talking. I want to talk about the concept of a seasonal break in WWE.
From what I will be writing here. I am going off the basis that if they were ever to be a season break. It would happen in April after Wrestlemania and would end in July. So the next show after Wrestlemania would take place in July. Wrestlemania just seems to be the logical place to end the season. The pinnacle show of the year will serve as the parting show. Now, lets get down to the reasons.
We all get little pains and aches from time to time. They’re not exactly injuries and they’re not dangerous, but they do cause some discomfort which slows you down and make every day tasks in life just that little bit harder to do. Having time off, not having to worry about getting to the next arena or making your flight. Being able to rest up these little aches and not risking the possibility of it turning into something more serious which in turn brings me to CM Punk an an example. He’s a huge presence on Raw and with his recent injury he’s likely to be of TV for the forseeable future. His lack of time on TV is already been felt. It’s not a good thing to have the best thing you have not be able to compete.
It’s pretty much down to common sense. Either rest up a little ache with the season over, then arrive back when the season starts fully fit and raring to go. Or have no time off. Work through the pain and hope it goes away. Then. Boom. Small little pain turns into an injury putting you out of action for a considerable amount of time. Possible surgery, then rehab, then waiting for the injury to heel. Depending on what the injury is, you could be out for anything up to year. Now if a season break could possibly prevent that from happening. I know I would be pushing for it to happen. Two month season break or six month injury lay off. I’ll use the example of Punk again, if we had a season break we wouldn’t be missing the presence of Punk on Raw because he’d be at home healing up along with every other member of the roster.
I’ll use John Cena as an example. I’m not entirely sure about the legitimate status of current injury. But if it were to be serious and he ended up being legit injured and had to spend a significant number of months on the shelf, WWE could be faced with the uneviable challenge of planning Raw with no CM Punk and no John Cena to work around. Of course this is just me speculating, I’m not saying its going to happen, I’m just saying it could.
Give them some time to be with their family. Let them be husbands, wives and parents. Give them time to do the simple things like visit their parents, sit down with their families to eat a meal. Let them help their children with their homework, drive them to school in the morning. Just let them enjoy a normal life without having to concern themselves with pro wrestling. One of the best feelings in the world is waking up in your own bed. How many times to pro wrestlers get to do it over the course of a year? Obviously, they’re going to miss their families. This is the perfect moment to spend time with them. Just think, spending a few months with their family, they could come back to work happy. Morale would be up in the locker room. It would be a happier work environment. To be safe in the knowledge that your family is doing well at home while you travel to make the money. This is why some independent wrestlers prefer the indie scene. The money may not be as good but at least they can schedule their own dates which can fit around their lives.
A season break would also decrease the number of pay per views over the year. Say for example a two month break is brought into affect then two pay per views will be cut, saving the fans who would usually buy them some cash which could be put to other uses. Fans have been calling for years for WWE to reduce the number of pay per views. There has been some truly dreadful events over the past few years which did not seem to fit any other purpose than simply being a pay per view. In all honesty, some of the smaller pay per views just seem like three hour Raws on occasions and I certainly wouldn’t miss them if they weren’t shown. Obviously, this would have an adverse effect on the WWE as they would be losing the income generated from two pay per views. They would need to find revenue from elsewhere to plug the gap.
I think by developing a season finale, they could make Wrestlemania bigger than it already is. Wrestlemania would be billed as the end. On this night everything is dealt with. Championships are decided and feuds would be settled. Get the point over that this is the end, the final time to see your favourites in action before the season draws to a close. Just like the superbowl, the world series, any kind of sporting event. Give Wresltemania a new meaning. The daddy, the one true go home show that closes out the entire season. We wouldn’t have to see Wrestlemania rematches just a month after they’d taken place. We would see Wrestlemania, then that’s it, nothing else for two months. They would be no Raw the next night or Smackdown on Friday, the fans would have to wait. That’s another point. Fan’s too can get frustrated and bored. Let them anticipate the new season. Use social networks to be able to keep in touch with your favourites. Have the WWE website post reports counting down the new season. Then bring it on. A new season. A new start. The first Raw should be huge. The fans have waited, the wrestlers are happy and rested, the season has started.
An off season would have a large affect on the finances of the WWE. As I mentioned earlier. Two pay per views would need to be scrapped which would be losing WWE a considerable amount of money. Not to mention a two month break would also mean two months without any house shows, which will again be forcing WWE to find other ways to generate income. It has to be a balance of keeping your employees happy and being able to make a healthy profit. Due to these factors, I don’t forsee an off season ever happening. It’s a sad thing because we watch these guys work so damn hard every week. Yes people could argue that they knew what they were getting themselves into and that they’re being paid good money but they still do deserve to have time off. Not just a few days here and then, I mean an extended break. As a wrestling fan, I want to see whoever is in the ring put on the best show possible. I also want them to be healthy when they do it. If that means cutting out two months of year for an off season, then so be it. Will it ever happen? Probably not. Should it happen? Yes it should.
Let me know your thoughts by posting your thoughts, comments, feedback and opinions below! Should an off season be enforced in the WWE? What benefits do you think it will bring? What negative aspects will it bring?
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Until next time. Thank you for reading.