A few weeks ago, I penned an article about Brock Lesnar’s status with the WWE, and more specifically, if management would bring him back into the fold to generate some hype for the upcoming Summer Slam card, which will take place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 65,000-seat venue is set to be the new location for The Raiders to host NFL games and it’s undoubtedly a big opportunity for WWE. For years, the rumor mill suggested that WWE brass wanted to make Summer Slam a “Wrestlemania level” event, which by definition, isn’t technically possible, but you get the point that management wants another mega card on the calendar. The selection of such a massive building does more or less make Summer Slam a Wrestlemania type venture, but attempting to sell over 60,000 tickets, especially at a time when the product has been so flat because of the pandemic, is a major challenge.
With the company’s return to a tour schedule this month, the hope is that live crowds will rejuvenate WWE programming, something that they can expect in the short term, but does nothing to address the bigger problems within the organization that hindered progress long before the pandemic shut the world down. The 50/50 booking, nonsensical angles, and content that would make viewers embarrassed to watcg if non-wrestling fans saw it eroded the core audience long before a producer pushed buttons for a manufactured reaction on Raw or Smackdown.
It’s a harsh reality, but who on the current roster is a big enough star to draw 60,000 fans to a stadium?
Drew McIntyre was put in no-win situations throughout his title run and dropped it twice before he lost a title match at Wrestlemania. Drew works extremely hard every week on television so you can see the effort is there, but he wasn’t scripted as the top guy. Bobby Lashley’s reign is fine so far, but does he really have enough momentum built up to draw at that level? Even if the potential Lashley vs. Lesnar bout is booked, Brock is clearly the A-side of the equation, which is yet another indication about the lack of star power on the current roster.
If I had a vote, I’d say you have to throw as much star power as you realistically can on the card because a 65,000-seat building isn’t going to sell out or even close based on the WWE name alone. I’d guess that The Rock will be back to challenge Roman Reigns in the Samoan dream match at Wrestlemania next year, but outside of that, I don’t think WWE has the chance to sign him for more than a one-off bout on the biggest stage possible. That said, Lesnar is a phone call away and is willing to show up whenever Vince McMahon wants to meet his price. Still, Brock has been away for more than a year, and as I’ve written about before, I don’t know if he will have the same impact to generate hype for Summer Slam because management has played the Lesnar card in a recycled scenario too often over the years.
Brock Lesnar on the show is definitely a boost, but even that might not be enough for such a major show.
Recently, Triple H did an interview with the New York Times and commented that it’s possible that John Cena would be back in the company at some point. Granted, he didn’t specifically say Summer Slam, but the timing would be beneficial to everyone involved. Cena has a part in the new Fast and Furious film, which is currently at the top of the box office so he has the press of the movie success behind him. Similar to Lesnar, Cena’s last appearance for WWE was Wrestlemania last year, but the difference is the Cena spent more time away from the organization as he landed more film roles so the argument could be made that a Cena return would be more anticipated since Lesnar taking time away became part of his routine since he re-signed with WWE in 2012.
With the publicity of Fast and Furious, Cena’s potential return to television to set up a Summer Slam bout would also be around the same time that the company goes back on the road and thus have a draw to sell tickets. The product has been so flat recently, something that is reflected in very sluggish ratings, that’s not as though fans are necessarily clamoring to buy tickets to see WWE programming live at the arena. If Cena is added to the mix, it’s a game changer in many ways because it gives the company something to promote that is different from the rather static pandemic era of television. As polarizing as Cena was in him prime, he always garnered a crowd reaction and that is one of the ways to sell tickets.
Keep in mind, John Cena is still the last legitimate money-drawing star the company made and his return to challenge Roman Reigns could theoretically be the selling point of a stadium show. The reason I think you have to jump to Cena vs. Reigns is to maximize the drawing power, you have to go with the biggest match-up possible, and since Roman is the top guy in the company, it makes the most sense to book him against Cena to garner as much hype as possible.
So, assuming management can get Cena to return to Summer Slam, it definitely gives them a major drawing card for Allegiant Stadium in August, but it does nothing to address the much bigger problem of the lack of star power or the stars on the roster to draw fans beyond the core audience. In many ways, depending on part-timers for marquee events the past several years was lazy booking because it relied on the past to draw an audience. There’s no doubt that nostalgia inherently has a limited run, but it became much of the WWE philosophy in recent years. Bill Goldberg’s comeback run in 2016 was tremendous, but they overplayed that hand when they tried to duplicate it four years later in an empty building at Wrestlemania 36. Sure, booking Cena for Summer Slam solves the problem for one show, but what happens when these part-timers actually retire and management is forced to take a realistic look at the drawing power of it’s current roster? That’s not a jab against the current stars either, the argument could be made that the WWE has the best roster as far as in-ring talent in the history of the company, but the counter to that is you could always say that the star power is at the lowest it has been in at least two decades. The bottom line is, it makes a very intriguing statement about the philosophy of the company that they have a stadium event booked, but realistically don’t have the star power currently on the roster to sell the majority of the tickets to the event.
What do you think? Comment below with your thoughts, opinions, feedback and anything else that was raised.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Twitter @jimlamotta
