WWE is the Walmart of the Wrestling Industry (Is This a Good Thing?)

Author’s note: This is a “sequel” of sorts to the previous article “WWE Hasn’t Really Changed in 15 Years”. This will be my last venture into WWE programming for sometime, but it wraps up my six-week experience watching the WWE product from the perspective of a wrestling history buff who doesn’t regularly watch WWE. To gather the views, talking points, and insults of many others on my personal views of WWE has been interesting. おもしろい だ よ!

But for WWE, it leads me to the end of this temporary journey; though I still plan to follow from a distance, as I have before. It seems as if after a below average WrestleMania, the Raw after has seemingly redeemed the product overnight, and I wish WWE fans well in their journey. However, for folks like myself — students of wrestling history — I will always see WWE in a certain light.

And that being said, I came to one revelation over the weekend.

WWE is not a monopoly. 

That word gets abused too much when referring to WWE. I’ve even abused it myself. But in reality, World Wrestling Entertainment is not a monopoly. One could make an argument that they were close during the 2010s, but with the rise of All Elite Wrestling, this is just not the case now. They do have some competition, albeit light.

So after a quite disappointing WrestleMania weekend, I tried to put my finger on exactly what WWE was. Were they the best wrestling promotion in the world? That’s subjective; and the sample size of the last 6 weeks through WrestleMania wouldn’t exactly back that notion up. Perhaps Mr. Levesque needs to take a break like Tony Khan did, as his creative well has been running dry for about a year now, according to many WWE fans I’ve spoken to (via Reddit).

Are they the #1 wrestling promotion by market dominance and financial success? Of course. However, that doesn’t mean the quality is top-notch, does it? Besides, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, made $107,588,225 at the box office, yet it was widely considered a pretty bad movie. And not in the “so bad it’s good” category like The Room, Troll 2, or Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter — but just bad. Bad-bad.

Many fans like to use that methodology. “If it makes money, it must be good.” 

Well I’m here to challenge that notion, but also ask — do you lack that much personality that you have to wait to be told what to like by pure metrics? 

How boring.

But then it hit me:

WWE is Walmart.
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The Walmart Playbook

Before comparing the two, let’s look at the usual Walmart playbook for when they roll into any town in America.

• Walmart moves into small towns with prices that local mom-and-pop shops can’t match.

• Within a few years, local grocery stores, hardware shops, pharmacies, and general retailers close down.

• Once competition is wiped out, Walmart becomes the only option, often reducing choices for consumers and dictating pricing.

• Walmart demands “rock-bottom prices” from manufacturers, using its size as leverage.

• This has caused entire industries (like apparel, electronics, and agriculture) to cut costs by outsourcing labor overseas, often in sweatshops or unethical factories.

• Small suppliers who can’t meet Walmart’s terms often go bankrupt or are dropped.

• When local businesses die off and Walmart becomes the only game in town, downtowns hollow out.

• The culture, diversity, and community connections provided by small shops disappear.

• If a Walmart closes or relocates, the town is often left with a massive empty building and no retail backbone.

(There’s a reason I avoid shopping at Walmart at all costs…)

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Okay, so what the hell does this have to do with WWE? 

Both companies are masters of consolidation, control, and self-branding—while the human and cultural costs often get swept under the rug. Walmart and WWE are experts at centralizing power, absorbing what works from others, and rebranding it for mass consumption. The trade-off is often a loss of authenticity, quality, and diversity. What you gain in price (or production value), you might lose in soul. Stay with me, as I know the arguments coming, and they will be addressed.

Let’s dive in a little deeper…

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A Homogenized Wrestling Product

For decades, WWE centralized the narrative and disconnected fans from the broader culture of pro wrestling. While NXT:BG (ROH 2.0) served the vices of some fans, we rarely saw this transition to the main roster. Even beyond the indies, many indie styles or gimmicks get “WWE-ified,” losing authenticity. This stems from the fact that WWE often prioritizes spectacle and branding over wrestling quality, therefore, homogenizing the product. There is a very specific “WWE Formula” that is widely known and accepted — from in-ring style, presentation, production, etc.

Walmart is no different.

Every Walmart looks and feels the same. Local culture and personality are absent. Independent bookstores, grocery stores, toy shops—places that once gave communities character—are replaced by a big-box monolith. We’ve seen this play out over wrestling history, with the absorption of the territories, elimination of promotions, thereby giving a wide-ranging wrestling world less options and less personality. 

If you’re a vendor, Walmart often dictates how your product looks, how it’s packaged, and even your price point. In comparison, WWE will usually do the same with a talent’s character, in-ring limitations, and presentation, with a few modern exceptions. The goal is uniformity and efficiency, not uniqueness. Many niche or artisanal products vanish because they don’t scale. In the same light, many types of wrestling styles and gimmick archetypes suffer, and unique personalities vanish to fit the corporate mold. 

(You’d never see an Orange Cassidy in WWE…)

Walmart’s book/music/movie selections are curated for mass appeal, often cutting out underground, indie, or controversial content. As mentioned above you’ll rarely see anything that truly pushes the creative boundaries in WWE due to its sanitized and corporate family-friendly structure. It’s the “monoculture” effect.

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The “Monoculture” Effect

Both WWE and Walmart flatten their respective industries into one-size-fits-all experiences, removing risk, spontaneity, and originality in favor of brand consistency and market control.

• WWE = “Monopolized” wrestling culture

• Walmart = “Monopolized” consumer culture

 

But wait, even if this is all true — doesn’t that just mean they’re good at what they do? Why do people watch, love, and celebrate the product so much? Millions of fans across the globe can’t be wrong, right?

Have you ever heard of the allegory of the cave? 

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The One-Stop Shop

So why is this a bad thing? If a wrestling fan can get a little bit of everything, from lucha libre, strong style, high-flying, and traditional/old school, then what’s the big deal? Who cares if it isn’t 100% authentic? Who cares if it’s a little watered down? Isn’t that easier? Why not have everything a wrestling fan could want in one place? Who has time to watch 12 hours of wrestling every week? WWE is just more convenient that way.

And this is actually quite reasonable. I’m serious.

I won’t hold it against a fan who simply wants ease of access and convenience in their entertainment. Society is crazy enough and it can be hard to make a simple living in the current oligarchy we live in. Why overthink what wrestling we all watch?

So let’s apply this to Walmart for comparison.

Unfortunately, Walmart isn’t just “convenient”—it erases the need for other stores. When you look at WWE from that viewpoint; it’s not just convenient, but it erases the need to watch other promotions.

During the territories era, so many different brands of pro wrestling existed, and they were all great in their own respect. However, regional syndication, lack of access to cable TV, and a less connected society made it nearly impossible for one fan to take in all of it. However, if the territories existed in the modern era — would it be a benefit to pro wrestling — or would it be too much choice?

In essence, why bother with a territory system, or investment in various presentations, when one giant company can do it all in one?

Why shop anywhere else?

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The Walmart/WWE Experience is Easy and Cheap to Consume

If you think of a great gourmet burger, do you think of McDonald’s? Perhaps, but not likely. Yet, McDonald’s is the #1 burger chain the world. Is it the quality of ingredients, or the great taste?

No.

It’s cheap. Especially in a dwindling economy, McDonald’s is a cheap, easy, no frills option for what barely passes as food. Besides, not everyone has an In-and-Out, Fatburger, or even a Mr. Brews by them — all places with exceptional burgers. But they aren’t #1, are they?

The same goes for media, as well, and yes, Walmart can be grouped in here.

WWE, reality TV, big box office movies, and Walmart all thrive on being easily digestible, emotionally manipulative, and endlessly repeatable. They’re designed for mass consumption, and that makes them powerful—but also creatively hollow a lot of the time. Have you ever noticed that the quality of writing during the 80s/90s for TV and movies are still miles ahead of most modern media? They weren’t made for easy consumption, but for art and the sake of high quality entertainment. It’s something worth exploring in future articles.

Let’s break it down:

Like Walmart, and like McDonald’s, WWE has become a fast-food of sorts of the wrestling industry:

• Instant gratification

• Minimal effort required to engage

• Addictive formats that keep you coming back

• Low nutritional value (creatively or culturally speaking)

And I’m speaking to the casual fan here with this next question, but: 

Why go anywhere else? Why venture to a new brand like AEW, New Japan, or even GCW, MLW, and beyond? They won’t hand you new stars on a plate. They won’t offer well-written and polished scripted in-ring promos. They’ll offer longer in-ring matches that you might have to stay off your phone for more than 15 minutes to watch. The storytelling is nuanced, done primarily through the match itself, and not through said 20-minute in-ring promo. It might be too stiff, too violent, and definitely not as polished as WWE production. And beyond that, why should you care?

These aren’t the #1 companies — WWE is. If WWE is #1, then they must be the best quality, right?

So really, why go anywhere else? And I mean this in the most honest way. It’s what you know, what you’re comfortable with, and you get the buffet of wrestling wonders in one package.

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“This is What I Know”

The genericization of Walmart and WWE has shaped how people perceive both retail shopping and professional wrestling—often reducing entire industries to a single, dominant brand. For many, Walmart is shopping: it’s where you go for groceries, clothes, electronics—everything—because it’s everywhere and easy. Likewise, WWE is wrestling in the eyes of the mainstream, simply because it’s the loudest, most visible version. As a result, people unfamiliar with the broader worlds of indie wrestling or local retail often assume there’s nothing beyond what these brands offer.

It’s similar to the Kleenex/Facial Tissue comparison. People will often call facial tissues “Kleenex” even though Kleenex is a brand of facial tissue, not the product itself. That familiarity breeds a kind of brand-based tunnel vision, where rich alternatives—like a farmers market or a Japanese strong style match—get overlooked or dismissed as “not the real thing,” when in fact they often carry more heart, craft, and cultural meaning.

Familiarity goes a long way with Walmart consumers. If you need something; chances are you’ll go to your nearest Walmart to grab it unless you’re aware of other options. The same goes for WWE — people are so familiar with it that they rarely bother with anything else. And if anything else threatens that familiarity (like AEW), a sect of hardcore WWE fans will often go after any and all competition; often through means of deprecation, trolling, and engaging in schadenfreude for a brand like AEW as much as possible.

It’s not healthy, but again, I get it.

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“Everything I have I’ve Stolen”

It’s not just a great line from a Remembering Never song — it’s kind of true, here. 

The reason folks like myself are so averse to WWE goes beyond the mixed feelings of having a corporate juggernaut in control of the industry. It’s also because we know that for many things — many things — WWE has historically lifted a lot from others. In other words:

WWE doesn’t innovate; they assimilate. 

However, they have created their own fair share of innovative ideas. These include:

-Titantron videos/personalized entrance music
-The WWE Network
-The Royal Rumble match
-Branding their product on a global scale
-Aggressive marketing for cable TV expansion
-Networking with well-known celebrities for national exposure

This also includes created stars such as The Rock, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Roman Reigns.

But look at what they have taken…

• The PPV model (WCW Starrcade did it first in 1983)
• A plethora of stars from other wrestling territories. McMahon did not create his own during the 80s. Hogan, Savage, Hart, Piper, HBK (and many more) — were already household names in their respective territories.
• Taped vignettes for wrestler promos and intros (WCCW and Memphis utilized this well before WWF did)
• “Faction Warfare” — WCW’s Dungeon of Doom, Four Horsemen, etc., likely led to WWE creating D-Generation X, Nation of Domination, The Corporation, etc.
• The “valet” — common in the territories (Miss Elizabeth, Baby Doll, Sunshine) before WWF introduced their own (Sherri, Sunny, Sable, etc.)
• The Episodic TV model (WCW Nitro went live and did this first)
• The ‘Evil Boss/Authority Figure’ (Eric Bischoff innovated that idea)
• The “Attitude Era” was heavily lifted from ECW, even down to their innovative three-way matches.
• D-X was more or less a juvenile version of the nWo
• The “Women’s Revolution” — a whitewashing of extraordinary women’s wrestling that existed long before Charlotte and Becky became superstars. This includes All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling (whose popularity made it to the U.S., even on a segment of NBC News). Many women were lifted from SHIMMER, who revolutionized women’s wrestling in the U.S., as well as the TNA Knockouts Division. Neither were mentioned by WWE.
• NXT: Black and Gold – This was Ring of Honor, but repackaged.
• WWE has become AEW-Lite

Whoa, wait, what was that last one?

As pointed out by a well-educated Disqus poster — Devil’s Advocate — Many “new” concepts molded back into WWE programming over the last two years were a likely result of AEW’s existence. Suddenly, we see blood on WWE programming. All of a sudden, the words “wrestling” and “belts” are able to be used in promos. We now have the occasional ‘S-bomb’ dropped to the shock of many at home!

While AEW opened the “Forbidden Door” right away, WWE soon followed by cross-promoting; something they hadn’t done since ECW for an episode or two. Oh, now we can talk about other promotions like TNA, NOAH and Marigold? It’s cool to do so, because AEW did it…

And these “scripted” promos — while still scripted, come off as a lot more natural, don’t they? Almost as if they’re letting the talent give input on what they’re saying. Something AEW openly advocated for. And what about the talent? It’s nice to see stars like GUNTHER, Penta, Carmelo Hayes, MCMG, and others who could fit the Indies/PWG/NJPW hybrid get more air time — but who did it first recently?

AEW tends to open their shows with matches — WWE has been doing it more and more lately. I wonder why. WWE brought back fan favorites like Io Sky (who did just have an amazing showing at WrestleMania), DIY, Dakota Kai, Dragon Lee, and others favorites once seemingly held back.

AEW announced All In at Wembley — WWE immediately followed with an announcement of a London show. AEW announced Grand Slam in Mexico, in partnership with CMLL — WWE buys their rival in AAA (though apparently, this was in talks for sometime). And most of all — Cody Rhodes, C.M. Punk, Jade Cargill, and even Ricky Saints, simply does not happen without AEW’s existence.

“But this is all Paul Levesque. He was being held back by Vince McMahon. He booked NXT: BG after all!”

You mean Ring of Honor 2.0? Where did he get that inspiration from?

If you believe that, you can tell yourself that until you’re blue in the face. But what McMahon and Levesque failed to bring to fans who actually wanted something different; AEW actually went out and did it — and are still doing it. As I always say: Fans didn’t want an alternative, they wanted WWE to get better. Fans didn’t want to venture to unfamiliar territory like AEW, but they’ll sure as hell enjoy AEW-Lite.

This is why fans like me fight so hard for AEW, and others. Because we’ve known the game WWE is playing now for quite some time.

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“Fans Like Me”

It was an interesting six weeks. I took time to check out WWE, and as mentioned before, I didn’t think they really changed. Why? Because they’re still the same company that homogenizes pro wrestling and assimilates anything they can for their own gain.

Kind of like Walmart.

It’s a Catch 22 of sorts. I don’t expect casual fans to understand the nuances within a wrestling match when it comes to storytelling. I don’t expect them name Manami Toyota and Megumi Kudo as Top 10 women’s wrestlers when they say something like ‘Becky Lynch is the greatest’. To be honest, I’ve actually have spoken to people who thought ECW was always a WWE brand — and not the mid-90s Paul Heyman original born out of Eastern Championship Wrestling.

Fans like me invest in all types of wrestling culture — and we want it raw. Unfiltered. AEW is the closest thing to a easily accessible version of that, where you’re going to see that unfiltered wrestling styles from all over the world. And often, when we come across other fans who are less cultured/educated, and rip on AEW in ignorance — well, it’s annoying.

And there are plenty of intelligent WWE fans out there. But many fans like myself, simply decided at one point or another to take the following mentality when it comes to WWE:

“Nope. Fuck you. I’m fine.”

And that’s okay. You need fans like us. We’re on the pulse of the industry — we know what big thing is coming next — we invest time in money in what you won’t. Many of us, like myself, choose to live outside of the mainstream, and if you’re a WWE fan, isn’t that what you want? The big corporation is going to take the next big thing and make it their own anyway. You might as well want to be able to see it first if you have the chance, as two major wrestling companies is healthier than one.

It was an interesting six weeks. But in the end, I came to one conclusion: WWE is the Walmart of the industry. Many good people shop at Walmart, and many good people watch WWE.

As for me; I don’t shop at Walmart. Maybe that’s why I find myself at Target so much.

-TKW
mocwrestling@yahoo.com