The Evolution of the WWE

In what will be remembered as either a return to glory or the possible end to wrestling, WWE Monday Night Raw witnessed an angle involving WWE CEO Vince McMahon committing apparent suicide when his limo was engulfed in flames while inside. McMahon for the last few weeks has been severely depressed after losing the ECW Heavyweight Championship to Bobby Lashley. While some fans did actually witness McMahon leaving in another vehicle, it is unclear what this will inevitably lead to. What is known is that the WWE has garnered much attention, both positive and negative, over this recent event.

Throughout his tenure as owner of the WWE, McMahon has always found away to put out a good and entertaining product. One thing that McMahon has always done is gamble on a new and innovative idea even when those close to him thought it was ridiculous to try it. The biggest gamble that he ever made was the very first WrestleMania. That event put wrestling back on the map, and launched the entertainment era in the industry. With the company booming in the mid to late 1980s, the promotion was able to launch more pay-per-views as well as target the younger generation of fans with babyface hero Hulk Hogan leading the way.

However, fans grew tired of the good vs bad storylines in the early 1990s, especially involving Hulk Hogan because more often than not, he was victorious in his matches. Also, McMahon was under heavy fire with the steroid scandal in the 1990s that nearly crippled the promotion. One such idea that he tried around this time was to launch the World Bodybuilding Federation(WBF) in 1992. When the steroid scandal hit the news, that ended the company's chances of cross-promoting it with wrestling.

Because of severe cutbacks and money that was lost from the steroid scandal, many employees find work elsewhere. Long-time wrestling notables such as Randy Savage, Bobby Heenan, and Jimmy Hart left for World Championship Wrestling. Hogan and McMahon were at odds after the steroid scandal. But, Hogan find his way back into the main event spotlight in 1993 when he regained the WWF Heavyweight Championship. However, Hogan used backstage politics to regain the title while making then-champion Yokozuna look incredibly weak in the process after he beat him in mere seconds at that year's WrestleMania event. McMahon agreed to let Hogan hold the belt one more time provided he put over Bret Hart at the next pay-per-view, The King of the Ring. Hogan failed to live up to that because he did not defend the title after winning it. McMahon was angered by this and ordered Hogan to drop the title to Yokozuna at The King of the Ring instead. Bret Hart went on to win the tournament at that event while never facing Hogan in the ring which is something he got used to later on. McMahon then saw many stars leave the promotion because of "The New Generation" was alive, but that was out of lost revenue.

Meanwhile, the WWE struggled along by using the same redundant storylines and ridiculous gimmicks in the mid-1990s. They almost declared bankruptcy at one point when ratings plummetted to an all-time low. It wasn't until McMahon finally changed his ways by launching the "Attitude Era" that brought the promotion out a serious trouble. Plus, Hart was a victim of the famous "Montreal Screw-job" that saw McMahon double-cross him by putting the belt on Shawn Michaels. What this did was catapult the WWE to the highest ratings they would ever see. Playing the role of an evil boss, McMahon feuded with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who went on to be the biggest draw in the company's history after being abruptly fired by WCW two years earlier.

Eventually, WWE battled back to overtake WCW in the ratings war. WCW never could recover after using lame and repetitive gimmicks that fans grew tired of very quickly. So in 2001, WWE bought the rights from WCW. Many thought this would turn out to be the biggest storyline and ratings booster in the history of the industry, but it was not to be.

Former WCW stars invaded the WWE, but were humiliated in their matches so much that fans really were not buying into the fact that WCW was a legit threat to McMahon's company. For example, Undertaker's wife Sara, beat former WCW World Champion Diamond Dallas Page in a match and most WWE wrestlers won against WCW as well. This looked strikingly familar to when the NWO dominated WCW to a point where fans grew restless over what was a one-sided feud during their heydays in the late-1990s. The feud ended at the end of 2001, but things were just about to get worse.

When given the opportunity to build up yet another WWE vs WCW angle, McMahon literally flushed away millions of dollars when he hired former WCW CEO Eric Bischoff to be GM of Monday Night Raw. This was the perfect time to have the long-awaited McMahon-Bischoff match and angle, but they instead embraced in the center of the ring during Bischoff's debut.

In another attempt to bring back fans, a WWE Draft was held in 2002. While this was a good idea, it still did not bring back fans like expected. Many stars such as Austin and The Rock left the promotion and the WWE has still never recovered even though they occasionally make appearances.

Because of backstage politics and veteran wrestlers often receiving the majority of title pushes, many fans have tuned into other shows as a result. In probably the worst attempt to bring fans, McMahon agreed to let the storyline involving Triple H, Kane, and Katie Vick take place. In short, Triple H(then a heel) threatened to show footage of Katie Vick's corpse being raped by Kane. It was later acted out by Triple H wearing Kane's mask on video. This storyline was extremely unpopular and was put to an end at the next pay-per-view event in October of 2002. It is often referred to as the worst angle and idea in pro wrestling history. Ratings suffered in a very big way because of this.

Much of the reason the WWE has problems winning back fans is because of the McMahon family running the promotion. The WWE has sent talent to Ohio Valley Wrestling to help polish their skills to make a jump to the WWE. However, few outside John Cena and Batista have been able to make serious headway in the promotion. The creative writing team is often criticized for extreme favoritism because of the McMahon family being in charge of it.

Just recently, Stephanie McMahon-Levesque was promoted to Executive Vice President of the WWE. This has added to the frustrations of fans as many wrestlers have lost their jobs since she took over. However, the biggest storyline that Stephanie has approved took place on the June 11 edition of Monday Night Raw.

Vince McMahon is now presumably dead after his limo was engulfed in flames on Monday night. It appears that the WWE is getting desperate for ratings that they would pull off a stunt like this. Ratings were better than expected on that show, but it remains to be seen if can stay that way. With many wrestlers like Triple H, Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels being injured, it will cause depth problems on the roster which is the biggest reason the interpromotional draft took place on that same show.

Another huge problem is my mind is McMahon getting too involved with the storylines. In the past, the concept worked because of the circumstances in how he got to be a hated boss. Times have changed, and airtime is lost for some wrestlers because of McMahon's over-involvement in storylines. This is why the "death" angle could backfire in a big way because of McMahon getting too much attention in the end when they should give it to another deserving wrestler.

The current McMahon "death" angle will determine when and if the promotion can see a long-term increase in ratings. So will it be a remembered as a one night attempt to spike the ratings? Will the backstage politics keep it from reaching consistently higher ratings? Or will the WWE put out a good product on television again that is accepted by fans? And, will some wrestlers see a bigger push as a result of this, or will McMahon continue to find more ways to work himself in unnecessary storylines. Only time will tell the fate of the WWE.

Sources: wrestlecrap.com