Money.
WWE is a publicly traded company. Long story short, like any company, it all comes down to the bottom line. It all comes down to profit and growth. 'Cause if you're not growing you're dying - not exactly something people would be interested in investing in. While they're not going anywhere anytime soon, WWE is the latter. They've been putting up some poor numbers compared to years past. "The industry is on a downswing", "the economy's bad", "we've lost a lot of high profile talent", blah blah blah - it doesn't matter, excuses are like buttholes. What are you doing about it?
WWE has provided many solutions to the stock holder. Sure, Pay Per View buys are down, but they still MAKE money so we're putting on more of them. Ratings are down, but we're restructuring - we've gone PG, so think of the big picture. In 10 years we'll be booming again, it's in your best interest to ride this out but it's gonna take time. These are the warm and fuzzy public answers. We're also seeing things behind the scenes that aren't so great, but in the best interest of the company. High turnover in the locker room, for example. Instead of resigning guys that aren't "Sure Things", it's more cost effective to let them go and replace them with guys from developmental working for less money. Then there's tag teams.
In terms of being cost effective, why would you pay two guys to do the work of one? I'm talking about drawing and merchandise sales. Perfect case scenario, would be The Rockers. Obviously, Shawn Micheals made WWE a ton more money than The Rockers ever could have if they remained intact. The Hart Foundation would fit this "in a perfect world" scenario as well. On a smaller scale, let's look at The Headbangers. Together they were successful to a degree. After the split, Thrasher was thrown to the wolves as a jobber and later released while Mosh was repackaged as Chaz/Beaver Cleavage. While Chaz's singles career didn't take off, in terms of profitability WWE(F) won. Chaz was just as profitable as The Headbangers, but they were only paying one guy to attain these results. More recently there's the Dudebusters. It's much more cost effective to just write a paycheck out to Trent Barretta and get the same results on paper.
Breaking up a team is typically a low risk move with a few exceptions. WWE(F) wound up reforming The Dudley Boyz, as the split was a disaster. The Legion of Doom was another team that obviously stood to make more money as a unit. I'd say the New Age Outlaws would be another.
This "Profit Mentality" explains why WWE's Tag Team Division has been comprised of singles stars in need of an angle for the last few years. There's absolutely NO risk involved. Sure there was ShowMiz and Jerishow, but they were never marketed as teams. The teams only served as exposure for these guys as singles talent. It was an excuse to get Miz exposure on Smackdown, and an excuse to get Jericho to pull double duty on both shows.
They've been phasing the division out for years now. Ultimately, I don't see them ever retiring the Tag Team Belts, as that would be counter productive with the fans - as well as publicly downsizing the company, which would make the stockholders nervous. However, with absolutely no tag team division to start with, I don't foresee WWE featuring a proper tag team scene ever again. They'd need at least four teams, and it goes back to my point. It will never be profitable to pay 8 guys to bring results that could be achieved by paying 4.
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Bob-O
Bob-O
