Could WW Have An Off Season...And How?

[BadNewsFan]

OK, before everyone jumps in with Share Holder numbers, and stock figures and all the other corporate jargon as for reasons that a WWE off season is a bad idea, just hear me out.

Every other professional sport has an off season, and the reason is because if they didn't most of their players would end up too hurt to have any long careers, because of the sheer strain that competing all year long would do to their bodies.

Eventually all the players would end up too banged up to play at any kind of quality level, and would be forced into early retirement.

Maybe they'd become addicted to pain killers, and maybe they'd die very early at an alarming rate, sounds like Pro Wrestlers huh.

Human beings are not built to take the type of punishment on their bodies that Pro Wrestlers take all year long with virtually no time off.

Well I think they should have it, and unlike alot of you I'm sure, I think that it's completely possible.

What I'd do is have the Off Season between Wrestlemania, and early June.

So that's just two maybe two and a half months depending on if Mania happens in March or April.

It would start the night after Mania, with Raw, I would call the off season something like Super Season or something like that.

Every wrestler would get those months off, with a few appearances in places here and there, but no major touring during that time.

For TV programing I would have Raw and Smackdown air taped never before seen on TV matches, matches taped at house shows throughout the year.

The shows could be filmed at WWE headquarters every week, and hosted by any or all of the commentators, JR, Cole, JBL, Lawler, and the others, the shows could also feature special guest superstars each week, to talk about the matches and the up coming season.

The Shows could also show taped promos and interviews setting up potential story lines for the future.

Then in June the WWE returns to live programing and brand new Smackdowns.

The excitement for the new season would be for WWE fans like what the excitement for a new NFL, NBA, or MLB season for their fans.

The wrestlers would be well rested and fresh, and the story lines would be new and fresh, and Wrestlemania's importance would increase because it would really have a feeling of finality to it the way the Superbowl has to the NFL season.

Now I know the WWE is far too greedy to ever seriously consider this, and like I said I'm sure alot of you will tell me how impossible this idea is, and how they would lose too much revenue for this, but I don't care about their revenue, I care about the wrestlers who entertain me, and this would benefit them IMO.

If WWE taking a two month break would make the wrestlers healthier and happier, make the quality of matches potentially better and increase the length of their careers, than why wouldn't we all want this.

WWE is always talking about wellness policy, well if they want the wrestlers to be well than give them a fuckin break!

[The Industry]

This isn't a sport. It is more a Circus or a Play if anything.

Yes, they can have an off-season.

Would it be smart? I doubt it

[Wrestling MVP]

I do agree that they should get more breaks. The schedule they work is absolutely ridiculous.

That said, it won't happen because it makes WWE too much money, they have international tours to do all the time, usually twice a year (South America, Australia, Europe) that make them a tonne of money and any show they run makes them money and as long as that happens, they won't have an off-season when they're making very little when they could be making thousands or millions.

Also, there's a whole lot of other things that would complicate it. Champions would have two months added to their reign doing nothing, feuds would need to be restarted again. Not big complications.

As I said, I agree that they shouldn't have that sort of schedule but I don't think an off-season is going to happen. It works elsewhere as it's not the same type of scenario as WWE.

EDIT: Basically, what Industry said.

[Mr. Perfect]

I hear your argument, and I do agree it would really help the overall health of the wrestlers. It may even lead to less wresters leaving WWE too early, i.e. John Morrison. However, we all know it will never happen for a multitude of reason that I'm sure will be listed extensively by other posters.

I will say this about WWE the last few years. IMO, they have gotten a lot better about giving wrestlers time off, such as what they just did for Big Show. I've also heard many stories of wrestlers being given a house of week shows off and having them just work the Raw or Smackdown.

[The Industry]

Cena is the only one that really works 7 days a week. Let's be honest

[The Main Event]

To me I think an ideal solution would be to have 2 or 3 months during the year where they reduce the amount of shows to 4 a week (Raw, Smackdown, one house show each).

This would give a good amount of rest period without losing momentum.

They'll take a hit in terms of financial benefit from house shows, but it won't be extreme by any means.

[Kane]

hmmm part of me says yes to an off season although would people forget about it if they had an off season?

[Wrestling MVP]

To me I think an ideal solution would be to have 2 or 3 months during the year where they reduce the amount of shows to 4 a week (Raw, Smackdown, one house show each).

This would give a good amount of rest period without losing momentum.

They'll take a hit in terms of financial benefit from house shows, but it won't be extreme by any means.

That's the thing though, if WWE can help it, which in this case it can, they won't do something that'll make them lose money, that's just the way the company is. It's not neccesarily wrong as no company wants to lose money big or small.

[BadNewsFan]

hmmm part of me says yes to an off season although would people forget about it if they had an off season?

I don't think so, if they do the thing I said where they still air Raw and Smackdown with taped matches from house shows throughout the year.

Maybe even have PPV spotlight matches every week, where they show some of the better matches from the previous year's PPVs.

All of that plus brand new taped promos and interviews, and having wrestlers in the studio to live talk with the host.

I think something like that could work.

Back in the old days of Superstars of Wrestling and Wrestling Challenge, we went months without anything really significant happening on TV, usually the months between Mania and Summerslam, so I think a couple of months like this could work.

And earlier in the thread Industry said this isn't a real sport, and that's true, however the physicality is right up there with the NFL, and it's even worse than the NBA or MLB, so I think these guys definitely deserve an off season too.

[Todd]

And earlier in the thread Industry said this isn't a real sport, and that's true, however the physicality is right up there with the NFL, and it's even worse than the NBA or MLB, so I think these guys definitely deserve an off season too.

Because those are sports though, the teams that have those players need them at 100% physical freshness. Wrestling just isn't along the same lines.

I see where you're coming from, but they should try managing wrestlers better and managing shows better before just taking a bite out of the calendar. It would be drastic business-wise.

[BadNewsFan]

Because those are sports though, the teams that have those players need them at 100% physical freshness. Wrestling just isn't along the same lines.

I see where you're coming from, but they should try managing wrestlers better and managing shows better before just taking a bite out of the calendar. It would be drastic business-wise.

Like I said earlier, the whole it would be drastic business wise, is the whole reason we all know this will never happen.

So you'll get no argument from me there, I know WWE cares about it's money first and it's talent waaaaay later.

But when you hear things like the fact that every time a man is slammed its the same as a small car accident, that's just not healthy and it's every bit as dangerous as the other professional sports and more so in some ways.

If it meant our favorite guys living longer and better and even being able to wrestle longer than they should do it or something like it at least.

[Todd]

Who came out with the car accident thing? Taking a technically sound flat-back bump is not the same as a car accident unless you don't do it properly.

Nevertheless, I've always seen the point to this argument, I totally see where you're coming from.

Wrestlers do retire later than athletes. Wrestling is a show of emotion, so often guys get better as their career tails off because they're able to convey it better. The same goes for actors. You never stop learning. So wrestlers do last a long time. The things that killed Benoit and Guerrero, are things that WWE have put a stop to. They have turned to these options first, before considering an off-season. And that's sensible IMO.

[Greywolf]

No, absolutely not. Less of a schedule? Yes. But off season? No, hell no.

Would you actually care for the Zack Ryders and Tyson Kidd's if they had an off season? Do you think that some people might break out because of an off season? No. Mark Henry needed a build, Sheamus needed a rebuild. They had a year to capture our attention and become champs. Then what, take a break? No. Doesn't work for a promotion built like WWE.

Now, if you had a separate brand for specific talent to have a certain amount of months to capture a trophy or some sort of belt, then yes, why not. They can't handle the full competition of WWE's RAW and Smackdown, so they do a stylistic show to get that chance to be something more. Even make a PPV that has the separate brand challenge full time rosters.

But as far as the actual question goes: NO.

[BadNewsFan]

No, absolutely not. Less of a schedule? Yes. But off season? No, hell no.

Would you actually care for the Zack Ryders and Tyson Kidd's if they had an off season? Do you think that some people might break out because of an off season? No. Mark Henry needed a build, Sheamus needed a rebuild. They had a year to capture our attention and become champs. Then what, take a break? No. Doesn't work for a promotion built like WWE.

Now, if you had a separate brand for specific talent to have a certain amount of months to capture a trophy or some sort of belt, then yes, why not. They can't handle the full competition of WWE's RAW and Smackdown, so they do a stylistic show to get that chance to be something more. Even make a PPV that has the separate brand challenge full time rosters.

But as far as the actual question goes: NO.

So are you telling me that two months off out of the year would completely derail the pushes of guys who usually only need a few months of build to be launched into big story lines?

Also the Ryder's and Kidd's don't matter with year round booking, so I don't see how an off season would hurt them more.

But I do think that some sort of separate roster thing to keep running during an off season for the big names isn't a bad idea.

[The Industry]

This is a great idea for fantasy booking

A Horrible Idea if you're running the real WWE.

[Todd]

It wouldn't hurt any wrestlers. Ryder has done fuck all for months anyway, and he's still popular now that they've semi-pushed. It just hurts business.

[The Industry]

Plus, they are off like 3 days a week this is the lightest schedule ever.

[LS]

Champions would have two months added to their reign doing nothing

Yeah, I'm interested in hearing how this would be handled.

[Doc Wallaby]

They shouldn't have an off-season.

But I've felt for years that they should have each superstar assigned an "off season." In other words, have the roster broken up into five groups (or something like that), and each of those five groups is assigned a two-month vacation each year (with nobody having time off during the two months leading into WrestleMania). That way, everyone is given a period of time to rest up, it's scheduled enough that they can work storylines around it, and it allows for more opportunities for people lower on the card because main-event-level talents will have to take time off and open spots on the card. And it means that no more than one-fifth of the roster is inactive at any one time, which is manageable given how many guys are left off TV anyway.

Never gonna happen, but I think it would be a great system for them to implement.

[Djm]

WWE could seamlessly transfer talents in and out of storylines every few months with the public at large being none the wiser. But it would go against the "ONLY ONE GUY REALLY MATTERS" philosophy. It would also require things like consolidating titles, which they don't want to do.

It would require them to write better shows, mainly.

[Doc Wallaby]

It would require them to write better shows, mainly.

Guys disappear and reappear all the time anyway, so while I would certainly hope that they would provide better storylines, I don't believe it's absolutely necessary. I think they could get away with keeping things the way they are, even though I'd prefer them to change things up and put more effort into it.

[The Champ]

It would cost them a shitload of money.

For that reason, it will never happen.

[Silent Killer]

It won't happen but they could use the off season as an opportunity to build development talent and give them touring experience. The most over ones could get drafted to the main shows.

[ShinobiMusashi]

I think Badnewsfan makes some interesting points, and has some good ideas with this. I like how the season ends at Wrestlemania, and it would build up the anticipation like other sports off seasons do. Run a smaller show during the two months off with the younger up and comers. WWE was terrible this year(well, a majority of it) after Wrestlemania up to June/July in my opinion(really all the way up to Summerslam was pretty bad IMO, it's picked up a lot though in the past month or two). If you look back at history that is usually always their weakest period of the year as far as quality. Giving the main roster May/Jun off would be a good idea I think. It would also make Wrestlemania a bigger event, being the last show of the season and all.

[The Industry]

May/June off? mMan that is hot business right there.

I think everybody is looking for an excuse, when their main problem is the booking.