|
They are in better shape now then they were back in 96 for a variety of reasons. Number 1 they have two better TV deals then they had back then and they also have about $300 million in cash reserves just sitting there. So if they were to start losing money at a fast rate, they have enough cash to survive years and years before they are out of business.
However, the difference in 96 was that wrestling was popular in other places, it just wans't hot in the WWE. Now, all we have is the WWE, and they are far from hot. The big problem I see now that didn't exist in the past was that there are fewer and fewer wrestlers and wrestling organizations to draw ideas from.
So its not like Vince can point to "x" place and say lets try to do what they're doing, because nobody is doing better than him.
The other problem is that as WCW has shown when these business drivers start going south they go south fast and its virtually impossible to turn them around. House Shows were the first victim, which isn't a huge deal in this day and age, but now PPVs are going, and that is bad. And if ratings dont get any better, then they could very well one of if not both TV deals, and then they're really in trouble. Spike's contract is up next year, and UPN could cut Smackdown at any time basically.
|