WWE in 2025 and Beyond

WWE in 2025 has been somewhat polarizing to say the least. They came into 2025 off an incredible 2024. They looked to ride the momentum with new media rights deals like Raw on Netflix. I have seen the highest of highs like the Monday Night Wars and I’ve seen the lowest of lows such as 2017-2019 WWE. I have learned to savor the great times because they may not last as long as I’d like. I’ve learned not to dwell too much on the bad times because eventually it will turn around. We have seen them pack stadiums full of 50-60,000 people. They also have tarped off half the arena. WWE in 2025 is the definition of “mixed bag”. You either really love it or can’t stand it. There’s not a whole lot of in between.

Let’s Talk About the Product

Bookers in wrestling are known to have a shelf life. Pretty much every major booker who has ever had a decent run in this business has had what is called a “honeymoon” period wherever everything just seems to click. Bill Watts had it, Eric Bischoff had it, Kevin Sullivan, Vince McMahon, Jeff Jarrett, Vince Russo, Tony Khan, Paul Levesque. They all had periods of sustainability where it seemed like nothing could go wrong. From the beginning of Hulkamania until 1993 was a very profitable period for the WWF. Hulk Hogan was riding high as the face of the company and guys like Randy Savage, Mr.Perfect, Rick Rude, etc were giving fans something to cheer for.

From the formation of the New World Order until about the end of 1998 was the high tide of WCW. It was a period where they pretty much whooped the WWF for 83 consecutive weeks and saw the emergence of stars like Bill Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page among others. The WWF from 1998 until March of 2001 was considered peak Attitude Era with guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley, The Undertaker, and Kurt Angle all being staples of Monday Night Raw and Smackdown.

TNA from 2007 until about 2010 was what some would consider peak TNA. They signed a bunch of disgruntled former WWE stars and built stars like AJ Styles, Bobby Roode, James Storm, Jay Lethal etc to a pretty stacked roster. AEW from the formation of the company in 2019 until about mid 2022 was about a hot as any company could be. They were even at a point where they beat WWE Raw in the demo a few times while beating WWE NXT pretty much every week. WWE from 2022 unitl the end of 2024 was the hottest that company had been since the Attitude Era. Midcard titles felt important again, Tag team Wrestling was being utilized and angles were getting paid off the right way with a vision toward the future.

Now I say that while also acknowledging that each one of the bookers also had a period of complacency where it seemed like nothing was going to work. WWF from 1993 until 1996 was the truck that killed the boom period of Hulkamania. Part of the problem was Hogan leaving for WCW and them not having enough adequate star power to replace the attraction. Savage was gone Steamboat was gone, Rude was gone, Warrior was gone. They were left with eventual hall of famers but at the time, unproven commodities in Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon, a young Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Rocky Maivea, and the Ringmaster Steve Austin.

It was one of the roughest periods in company history that thankfully ended with the emergence of more “attitude”. WCW rode high off the success of 96-98 but then hit a brick wall in 1999 until the company died in 2001. Part of that was letting egos run rampant, the hiring of Vince Russo, the emergence of the “worked shoot” angles and a lack of creative direction by Vince Russo and his crack team of creative geniuses.

TNA from the moment Hogan and Bischoff arrived until they left was some of the most creatively frustrating periods of wrestling television I’ve ever witnessed. Turning Jeff Hardy heel, the Nasty Boys in 2010, The Band, Hogan vs Sting, Immortal. Some of the worst stuff you will ever see on American television. WWE under Vince McMahon suffered a creative drought from about 2005 until Vince left the company in 2022. Sure, there were bright spots but the dull spots far outweighed it. The Guest Host era almost killed my love for professional wrestling. 2017-2019 WWE was some of the most mind numbing wrestling you’ll see.

The Pandemic era, outside of the birth of the Tribal Chief and the Bloodline, Drew Mcintyre, Bayley and Sasha Banks, the Pandemic era was an era I try to block out of my mind completely. From 2022 until the beginning of 2025 was a rough period for AEW. The creative drive that sparked their first 3 years wasn’t there anymore. Cody Rhodes left, CM Punk left, Jade Cargill left, Penta and Fenix left. Their creative felt lazy and uninspired.

Has WWE under Triple H hit their creative wall? One could argue that. WWE Smackdown was atrocious during their 3 hour run earlier this year. WWE Raw has mostly stayed consistent but their PLE’s have been hit or miss. They botched John Cena’s heel turn but I won’t put all the blame on them for that one. The real good bookers find ways to overcome those creative walls. Tony Khan turned his around this year once he started giving the shows a more creative focus and direction and stopped letting outside forces dictate his booking.

If Paul Levesque is as good as hr was from 2022-2024, he will turn his around as well. WWE Smackdown, while generally being the weaker show this year, has seen a vast improvement over the last two months. It still needs more consistency but the shows have generally been easier to watch as of late. NXT is always an easy watch. I get why it’s not everybody’s cup of tea because a lot of the stuff they try just doesn’t hit but that’s what developmental is for, to try new things. WWE Raw has been the most consistent of shows for WWE this year, primarily due to the move to Netflix. So if this is the creative wall, we will see how good of a booker Triple H is to get himself out of it.

Politics In Wrestling

Look, I made the decision a long time ago not to mix politics in wrestling. Those that know me know my stances. I lean to the left, can’t stand the current political climate while also acknowledging the issues within my own party. When I look at professional wrestling I look at it like a television show. When I watch Law and Order, I don’t think to myself “I wonder if Elliot Stabler is MAGA?” because I just do not care nor will I let it hinder my enjoyment. If you’re not a right leaning republican and you let politics dictate who you support in wrestling, you are going to be disappointed more often than not.

All I ask is that wrestlers don’t try to force their political views on me. Undertaker is one of the most MAGA coded wrestlers that walks the earth and everybody loves him. Hulk Hogan was equally as MAGA and got booed out of the building during Raw on Netflix. What’s the difference? Well, Undertaker just says “Yeah I support Donald Trump and I’m voting for him”. Meanwhile, Hogan was at the Trump rally ripping his MAGA shirt like he was getting ready to face Roddy Piper, and instead of owning up to why he was booed, he chalked it up to California being a democratic state, even though he also got booed 4 years ago at WrestleMania 37 in his hometown of Tampa, Florida, a traditionally pro-republican state.

WWE, nor AEW, is doing that. Sure, I can go without the videos on TV of Triple H at the White House but those are 30 second to 2 minute clips. They aren’t giving campaign speeches. I hate the avoidance of mentioning Black History Month, LGBTQ month, Women’s appreciation, etc. That’s my only real gripe but I don’t think that is due to Triple H or WWE’s political views as they acknowledged those months last year with the same people in charge.

Do I think Donald Trump placed a call and told them not to do it? No. Would I put it past him? No. Things like El Grande Americano exist and when it was Chad Gable, it’s clear it was very poor in taste. Now that it’s Ludwig Kaiser, it seems the whole creative direction on it has changed and it’s actually one of the most popular characters on every AAA show.

Politics in wrestling is usually something I never talks about because it never ends in common ground being reached. I’m going to let you in on a secret. Most of your favorite wrestlers in the business both past and present likely voted for Donald Trump or didn’t vote at all. Most of them are just quiet about it because the potential backlash they’d receive just isn’t worth it. Getting caught up on who supports who isn’t worth it either. You will enjoy wrestling a lot more if you just watch the shows and don’t go on the internet to see what others thought of the shows.

Ticket Prices: Will they ever go down?

The ticket price fiasco is one of the biggest gripes against WWE I’ve seen this year. Ticket prices have nearly doubled under TKO and for solid reason: Because people are buying them. I’ve said all along that as long as people are buying these tickets, TKO is justified in keeping the prices as is. I’ve heard for the last year plus that a crash is coming and the attendance is going to nosedive. All the while, they’re still selling out stadiums despite growing prices. Are they too high? For me, yes, because I’m in a tax bracket that cannot afford most of these tickets so unless it is a main roster PLE near me, I’m probably not going.

So when will the prices come back to earth? Well if they keep selling them like they are now, never. People like to point to certain shows in rural areas in the middle of no where that only do 4,000 tickets and say “Well the attendance is dying down” while ignoring the previous 6 shows that all did over 8,000 tickets. If they did 13,000 tickets the last time they were there and this time around, they do 10,000? I’m sorry, that does not mean attendance is dying.

If they do 13,000 and the next time through, they do 5,000, then you have room to voice that narrative. I can’t agree that a crash is coming during a year where they’ve done 6 nights of stadium shows this year and sold at least 40,000 tickets to all of them and they have one left, Survivor Series, that at press time is sitting at 30,000 without a single match announced.

I would love for tickets to be $200 for front row seats again but as long as people keep buying tickets as they are now, I don’t see that price coming down. As a fan, it bums me out but as a business man and someone who understands that this is the nature of it, I understand it.

WWE and The War on Media(and contracts)

People can make excuses and call me whatever they want but I have the ability to look at things from a fan’s point of view while also acknowledging that it’s how business works. I guess when you’ve worked in the corporate world as I have, you learn to differentiate what’s personal and what’s business. Over the last 5 years, I think the only release WWE has made that I just did not understand from a fan or business perspective was Bray Wyatt. The Fiend was no doubt making money hand over fist and outweighing whatever the value was on his contract at the time.

His release felt personal and a way for Vince McMahon to make an example out of anyone who wanted to have their own voice. Most releases nowadays are done with business sense in mind. It’s not the days of the pandemic where Vince released like 50-100 wrestlers who didn’t really have anywhere to go at the time besides AEW which caused the oversaturation of their roster as Tony tried to sign just about everybody.

The Samantha Irvin situation is one nobody knew about for a year. She says she has a 2 year non-compete which, for an employee, is completely reasonable under U.S. Law. She obviously isn’t too concerned about it seeing as she waited until the one year anniversary of her leaving to tell us she had another year left. She’s doing great by the way, check out her music.

Andrade, however, is one of the more confusing ones. Based on what has been reported, he was fired with cause and given a one year non-compete that is unpaid. If that is accurate, it is almost impossible to hold up in court. Will Andrade fight it? Who knows. He could show up Monday on Raw for all we know. The non-competes have always been subject to discussion. Most fans want them eliminated from WWE. Most wrestlers do not mind them as it allows them to be paid for a certain period while they figure out their next move.

The Unpaid aspect is where it gets tricky. You cannot tell a guy he can’t make a living somewhere else while also not paying him to sit at home. It doesn’t work like that. Hopefully it gets resolved soon and we can move on. Do I wish WWE had a more positive relationship with media? Of course. Maybe they do behind the scenes but when it comes to publicly, it is anything but. Maybe that’s due to certain PR missteps, I don’t know. I’m not in those rooms.

The Media landscape has changed dramatically. A lot more people with blue checkmarks claim to be scoopsters when they’re just trying to gain a following. Media literacy is at an all time low. I hope for better relationships between media and WWE in 2026 but as of right now, I’m not hopeful. 2025 has not been kind to WWE PR wise.

Working with other promotions

One thing WWE has done successfully in 2025 is prop TNA Wrestling up as a legitimate third major wrestling promotion. TNA Bound for Glory outsold AEW Wrestledream held in the same month. Even if it is TNA’s flagship PPV, the thought of a TNA PPV outselling an AEW one would’ve gotten you laughed out of the building even a year ago. Now I won’t give WWE all the credit. TNA has done a pretty good job of highlighting their talent but you would be naïve not to give much of the credit to the partnership with NXT. WWE also bought part of the AAA promotion. AAA has been a staple in Mexico forever but they’ve never had the machine behind them like WWE. Dominik Mysterio is a rockstar over there and guys like El Grande Americano and Mr. Iguana have seen their profiles increase dramatically over the last several months.

Is WWE doing this to harm AEW? Absolutely. You can feel how you want about counter programming and whether it has worked or not but from a business perspective, this was inevitable. WCW went head to head with WWF on Monday Nights. TNA tried going head to head with WWE on Monday Nights. WWE tried to put NXT head to head with AEW on Wednesday Nights.

Counter programming has been around forever. Why it’s suddenly an issue now is beyond me. Every PPV from both WWE and AEW is now on a streaming service. It’s not like the Monday Night wars where you had to switch back and forth. You can watch one PPV and then watch the other right after it if you choose. The only people who have a gripe is those that cover those shows as I’m sure covering them live is better and you can’t do that obviously if they overlap.

Is WWE trying to kill AEW? I doubt it. They likely know AEW will be around as long as Tony wants to finance it. Is WWE trying to handicap AEW to keep them from getting too big? Absolutely and to be honest, that’s what they should do from a business perspective. You never want your competitor to be as big as you are.

Are WWE wrestlers paid enough?

That seems to be the question after recent departures of multiple WWE ID talent as well as Jazmyn Nix. People complaining that 75,000 isn’t enough based on what WWE makes and you’re right. Except the fact that NXT is a developmental talent. If they paid NXT talent main roster level money, there’s no way they’re getting the return on that investment and we would see a lot more releases than we are now. NXT is like a Minor league baseball team. Minor league players aren’t making the same amount of money as players on the New York Yankees. Why? Because they’re in developmental. When they get to the big show then their pay changes.

WWE wrestlers are being paid more than ever, primarily because of the existence of AEW. That doesn’t mean guys from EVOLVE and WWE ID should be getting main roster money when WWE doesn’t even know who they’re going to keep. I get wanting talent to make more money but most talents aren’t hurting for it either. Releasing guys like Ridge Holland, who was injured and took a pay cut last year to stay with WWE, is a bad look. Do I think he’s good enough for what I want to see? No. At the end of the day, you should at least pay his downside guarantee until he’s healthy.

TNA, of course, is another option for wrestlers but some, like Cora Jade, are not choosing that option due to the WWE partnership. My thing is people complaining that TNA is just a feeder system for released WWE talent to go and still appear on WWE television. Like, have you watched TNA at all the last 23 years? They’ve always been a place released WWE talent can go and be recognized. Most of the talent in TNA that came over from WWE did so before this partnership started.

Acting like this is an issue now because of the partnership is extremely naïve and short sighted. TNA has always been a destination for former WWE talent. Matt Cardona has been in and out of there for 5 years now. Mustafa Ali was there before the partnership. Steve Maclin, Eric Young, Brian Myers, a host of others. Does the WWE partnership possibly give them a foot in the door to possibly go back if they want? Sure it does but acting like WWE released these talents so they could go to TNA and WWE could use them for less money is extremely ridiculous revisionist history.

WWE’s New Regime

Is WWE perfect? No. Creatively speaking and completely devoid of the allegations against him, I see no desire for Brock Lesnar in WWE in 2025. There’s no need for him, he does not add anything to the show and I don’t know where he fits in current WWE. He seems to be on his usual part time schedule so in that respect, I guess I can handle it because I don’t have to see him as much. Technically, he didn’t do anything illegal but waiting for the lawsuit to be over would’ve still been the better alternative.

I’ve seen troll accounts call for the return of Vince McMahon. Need I remind you, despite the allegations against him, he was creatively bankrupt for nearly 20 years before he left. This is the same guy that almost made Roman Reigns quit the business because he drenched him in dog food. Vince made Jinder Mahal the WWE Champion. He made LA Knight a manager for male models. He was past his due date for leaving that company.  No matter how much you dislike WWE currently, under no circumstances can anyone with a straight face give me one good reason why WWE would be better under Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

Who do you believe?

My thing has always been, are the wrestlers that come to work happy? When WWE released all those wrestlers under Vince McMahon, pretty much every one of them had a negative perception of working under Vince. Talent was walking on eggshells, not wanting to do anything to piss off a senile old man. Now, that doesn’t seem to be the case. When released talent get interviews, most of them speak positively about their experience. They do speak about issues creatively that they had. With the exception of a couple, most wrestlers interviewed don’t really bash Triple H. At least not like they used to tear into Vince. Sure, Vince had his favorites, and he did right by some, but the majority of current and former talent seem to have issues with TKO more than Triple H(the guy who actually fired them).

Every report I have read on talent morale or every Q&A I’ve seen has described it as good, great, fine, or decent. Could it be better? Yes. As long as Wrestlers enjoy coming to work every day, that’s what matters. I can’t complain about their treatment. Especially if they feel they’re treated well.  I promise you a lot of the stuff people complain about online is cared about a lot more by them than it is the wrestlers.

Conclusion

This is the longest article I have ever written. I felt compelled to get my thoughts off my chest. WWE has an opportunity to turn things around creatively. PR wise, that might take a little longer. At the end of the day, it is all about the talent and what they want. People are still going there when their contracts come up.

Talent is still re-signing instead of testing the market. Something about it is still appealing to them. Yes, the brand is part of it. Most of these wrestlers now just want to make a good living and enjoy what they do. If they’re content doing that, who am I to say they’re wrong? Talent happiness has always been my number one priority. If you are a fan of professional wrestling, it should be yours too.

Until Next time.