tl;dr I'm annoyed.
"That's just the way of the world"
Then change it. Be the difference. Don't alienate your fanbase just because "that's what everyone else is doing".
Wrestling isn't like football or other sports because in those, your team can win or lose depending on the day. Wrestling is about being a fan of a character, a person who you relate to, or who impresses you. Enjoying the stories and the drama.
Wrestling fans want to be entertained and engaged with the people on screen. They're not there to spend their whole earnings to watch their team win, they are there to escape and enjoy themselves.
@TKOGrp need to realise that some people rely on wrestling for a multitude of reasons, be it for social interaction, emotional support, or just finding something that makes them smile. Abusing that trust is not what pro wrestling is built on.
Business is business, we get that. All wrestling companies are looking to make money. But even WWE knew when they were taking too many liberties, but now TKO is at the helm, that care for fans has gone.
As someone who has been a fan for roundabout 25 years, it's just a direct insult. I used to tell myself I was gonna get to a WrestleMania in the States at least once in my life. Now I've pretty much resigned to the fact that it's impossible, because I simply cannot afford it. And there will be many fans who feel exactly the same.
I know this is just a rant into the void, nobody actually gives a shit, but it's been boiling my piss for the last 12 months and it feels good to write it all out.
“First of all, [TKO] has complete control. So we’re responsible, good and bad, fact or fiction,
— Having Hollywood tie-ins and celebs and stars, and Logan Paul, Pat McAfee, Mark Wahlberg shows up and does his thing, Tyrese Haliburton last year got in a fight in the ring with Jalen Brunson of the Knicks, that’s not new. It’s just on a larger stage.
And we’re spending a lot more money to market the brand and market the content. And when you do that, you’re gonna win some folks over, but you’re also gonna chase some folks away. They don’t like this or they don’t like that. This is too expensive or, ‘Oh my God, to watch the WWE, I gotta buy Netflix which costs this much, I gotta watch SmackDown on USA, I gotta do that, I gotta have CW so I have to have cable. And now I have to pay for ESPN.’ And you can make some enemies really quickly.
I was just reading something today that if you want to watch the Yankees games this year, the full season through the playoffs, you’ll have to watch them across 10 platforms at the cost of a thousand dollars when you add up everything you have to buy to see them. That’s just the way of the world today.”