5 WWE changes we need to see as part of Vince McMahon's 'new beginning'

Vince McMahon took part in a WWE earnings call this week to discuss the company’s 2019 finances and SmackDown Live’s move to FOX later in the year.

The big story to emerge from the call came via WWE co-president George Barrios, who said that the spot for the sixth hour of live weekly programming, which is currently taken up by 205 Live, is being re-evaluated. That has led many people to speculate that the sixth hour could be taken up by SmackDown Live, making it a three-hour show.

McMahon added that the company will have “a whole new beginning” in late September 2019 – the week before SmackDown Live moves to FOX on October 4 – and he even suggested that storylines will improve.

He said (via The Motley Fool):

"The promotional value alone notwithstanding rights fees and what have you, promotional value alone in terms of FOX, in terms of commitments from NBCU is something we've never seen before, not even close, it's extraordinary.

"It's going to kick us into again an element we've never seen before in terms of promotion with everything, WWE talent, storylines, you name it! So it's a rising tide situation that we're really looking forward to and having that carry on throughout the year."

With those comments in mind, let’s take a look at five changes we need to see as part of this “new beginning”.

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#5 No more roster changes

If WWE does decide to add a third hour to SmackDown Live, potentially ending 205 Live in the process, then roster changes will be needed for the current Superstars in the cruiserweight division.

Besides that, there is no reason to swap any more Superstars between Raw and SmackDown Live before the 2020 Superstar Shake-Up.

Since last week’s Shake-Up took place, we have already seen Aleister Black, Zelina Vega, Andrade, Samoa Joe, Cesaro, Jinder Mahal, The Singh Brothers and The B-Team move brands, which completely defeats the purpose of having a two-night Shake-Up.

We also saw over a dozen Superstars appear on opposing brands before WrestleMania 35, which never used to happen when the roster changes really felt like they meant something in 2016-17.

Moving forward, it would make much more sense from a storyline perspective if Raw Superstars stayed on Raw and SmackDown Live Superstars stayed on SmackDown Live. Alternatively, if WWE wants to mix the rosters up as frequently as they did in 2018-19, then perhaps they should ditch the idea of a Shake-Up altogether.

#4 Fewer PPV matches and minutes

One of the biggest problems in modern-day WWE is the number of hours of weekly programming. Viewers of Raw and SmackDown Live currently watch a total of five hours of WWE per week, plus an extra three hours if you include 205 Live, NXT and NXT UK, and that number will increase to over nine hours when the Mae Young Classic and Mixed Match Challenge return.

Add pay-per-views to the mix and there is at least one week per month where there is a total of 13-14 hours of new programming that WWE fans can watch to keep up to date with storylines, and that number increases to 17+ hours when there is an NXT TakeOver event.

Needless to say, even for the most die-hard WWE fan, these numbers are far too high. When there is already that much programming, it is difficult to get excited for pay-per-view events, especially now that almost every PPV lasts around five hours, including kickoff shows.

PPVs would make for a much better viewing experience if they lasted a reasonable amount of time (1hr kickoff show, 3hr PPV), with no more than eight matches on each card.

#3 Wins and losses need to mean more

Since AEW launched on New Year’s Day, the most intriguing thing to come out of their business plan is the additional focus that they will place on wins and losses. It appears as though their storylines will have more of a sports approach, with the wrestlers who rack up the most victories having a better chance of competing for titles.

In WWE, should wins and losses mean everything? No – they are all about sports entertainment, after all – but it is alarming when Superstars like The IIconics lose almost every match for a year and then they suddenly become Women’s Tag Team champions, or when Jinder Mahal loses year after year and then he becomes WWE champion, or when Rusev loses 18 pay-per-view matches in a row, setting a new record, and it is not even used as part of a storyline.

Looking at the WWE roster, there are so many people who are being prevented from becoming elite Superstars because they are part of a system where everybody defeats everybody and only a select few make it to that next level.

If there is more of a focus on who actually wins matches, perhaps fans will be more invested in the outcomes of individual matches and storylines.

#2 Storylines for main-roster newcomers

One of the biggest criticisms of the modern-day WWE product is that some of the most popular Superstars from NXT are often used completely differently when they make it to the main roster.

Shinsuke Nakamura, for example, was one of the few NXT talents who received a send-off on the Full Sail stage from the rest of the roster after cementing his status as one of the top performers in the brand’s history.

On the main roster, his 2018 Royal Rumble win was a standout highlight but the rest of his time on SmackDown Live has been largely forgettable, especially at the start when he was involved in underwhelming rivalries with Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin and Jinder Mahal.

More recently, Superstars including Nikki Cross, EC3 and Heavy Machinery began appearing on the main roster in December 2018 but none of them have been involved in a meaningful rivalry.

Is it too much to ask for these newcomers to at least be given a storyline upon their arrival?

#1 Fewer title changes

Another major issue with WWE’s programming right now is the lack of meaningful title reigns on both Raw and SmackDown Live.

While there is always a lot of focus on the world titles (Universal Championship and WWE Championship), the United States Championship, Intercontinental Championship, Raw Tag Team Championship and SmackDown Tag Team Championship have been treated like pass-the-parcel titles for the last year.

Samoa Joe, for example, is the current United States champion. Before him, we saw Jinder Mahal, Jeff Hardy, Shinsuke Nakamura, Rusev and R-Truth hold the title since WrestleMania 34, but did any of those reigns mean anything? No, and the same goes for almost every Tag Team title reign over the last 12 months.

When WWE had five main-roster titles, every title change felt like a big deal. Now that there are 10 main-roster titles and the majority of them are changing hands frequently, title reigns feel more irrelevant now than at any time in the last decade.