LAS VEGAS – AUGUST 24: World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. Chairman Vince McMahon is introduced during the WWE Monday Night Raw show at the Thomas & Mack Center August 24, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

I am currently in my Third Golden Age of Professional Wrestling Fandom.

The first Golden Age took place when I was child growing up in the 80s during the height of the Rock ‘N Wrestling Era. Hulk Hogan was champion and could do no wrong. Macho Man Randy Savage was a lunatic, something lovable, something not so much. The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase was a despicable human being who could shove that million dollar belt as far as I was concerned. When The Ultimate Warrior pinned Hogan clean in the middle of the ring at Wrestlemania VI, it was exhilarating and frightening at the same time because it seemed like the end of one era and the beginning of another.

As I moved into my teenage years I lost touch with professional wrestling, but I knew enough to know an era had indeed ended, just not the way they’d hoped.

I can pinpoint the exact moment my Second Golden Age of Professional Wrestling Fandom began. During Super Bowl XXXIII’s halftime in 1999, I found myself flipping over to USA Network to watch some guy named The Rock fight some guy named Mankind in an empty arena. The Rock lost his WWE Championship that night after getting pinned with a little help from a forklift. It was weird. It was not what I remembered about wrestling as a kid. It was exciting. And I was back in.

I jumped into The Attitude Era with both feet as it hit its stride and threw myself into WWE fandom whole hog. A poster of The Rock hung on my bedroom door. I rarely missed an episode of Raw or Smackdown, to the point where my college friends would scoff when I’d stick around the house on a Thursday to watch The Godfather beat up on Al Snow rather than hit the bars. I rented a decent number of pay-per-views even though I could barely afford to, until the realization set in that they left me with buyer’s remorse more often than not. Sometime around 2002, I gave up on the WWE for the second time.

Now I’m in my late 30s and I’m finally ready to admit that I have begun to appreciate pro wrestling once more. The first time around, I watched it as a child idolizing my heroes. The second time, I was an awkward boy coming of age looking for cues from people like Chris Jericho and Triple H on how to be a man (a terrible idea in retrospect). This time, I was drawn back in as a professional writer attempting to appreciate the way WWE tells stories. I’m interested in plots, character development, story arcs, and the satisfaction that comes with seeing a well-told story come to its logical conclusion. 90 percent of the time I do not get any of that out of WWE programming, but it’s the idea that this next storyline, this next feud… this could be the one that does it.

There’s one major difference about this third era of fandom, however. One thing that makes it a unique experience. While I have been repatriated into the world of professional wrestling fandom for about a year, I haven’t actually watched a live WWE event in years.

The last time I watched a full episode of Raw or Smackdown was over a decade ago. The last time I paid for or watched a PPV must have been 2001. I couldn’t tell you the last time I bought WWE merchandise or attended a live event or interacted with the WWE’s product in a live way. I certainly don’t shell out $9.99/month for WWE Network. About the only money that WWE makes off me is however many pennies it makes on the pre-roll before its YouTube videos that I watch the day after a show. So by all accounts, I am a dedicated fan of WWE programming and they can count on making roughly $0.07 each month off of me for the foreseeable future.

I am Vince McMahon’s worst nightmare and I wonder how many of us are out there.

Donald Trump & Vince McMahon Make WWE History

To be able to appreciate an entertainment product like this, it helps to be a longtime cord-cutter. First done out of necessity, I got used to the idea of living without cable a few years back and haven’t felt much of an itch to go back since. So long as you can accept the idea that you will not be the first to know about something, which admittedly takes some getting used to, it’s the kind of mentality makes it pretty easy to be a WWE fan without actually interacting with WWE.

The day after a TV show or PPV, I wait for post-show recaps. Then I watch the videos that WWE posts to their YouTube channel. I don’t have to sift through commercials and if I see a red flag like the 947th Dolph Ziggler – Baron Corbin match of the last two months, I can choose not to bother watching.

There are plenty of insightful people writing about wrestling on a daily basis on their sites and Twitter. Once you figure out who to follow, you not only get the info, but also the instant reaction and connection that you’re looking for. In between events, I devour videos online, listen to podcasts, and do what other wrestling fans generally do online: try to figure out which bits of news are actually news and not rumor or just wishful thinking.

From my standpoint, I don’t feel like I’m out of the loop. I’m confident I can hold a conversation about the state of the company and its storylines. I trust in my abilities to know what’s going on if you were to ask me what I thought of Dean Ambrose as WWE champion (it was good for a day, but…) or who I think needs to be pushed to the moon (Owens, Kevin) or who I think needs to just go away already (Kane, Corporate Kane, Th’Demon Kane, Any Other Kane). I can even put together a convincing argument as to why I think Roman Reigns is primed for what could be an amazing heel run if the WWE only let themselves go there. And I don’t need to spend five hours each week stuck in front of a television in order to know all of this.

As I say all of this, the WWE finds itself at a bit of a critical juncture. WWE Network is doing well, but not quite as well as they’d hoped. They got a Wrestlemania bump, but need to find a way to fill the gap in between now and the next one. TV ratings have been on a downward trajectory for a while, which leads to WWE’s biggest programming shift in years. For decades, Raw has been a live program on Mondays while Smackdown was pre-taped on Tuesdays and aired on Thursdays or Fridays. Starting July 19, Smackdown will be televised live on Tuesdays, making it that much more integral and increasing the appeal to people like me who don’t feel a pull to tune in for the current version.

I’m still not going to watch live Smackdown.

wwe smackdown roman reigns john cena sasha banks

So I’m left wondering… what would it take? What would it take to get someone like me to actually break down and figure out how to watch WWE programming and turn my fandom into a financial commitment? Honestly, I’m not sure there’s anything they can do short of airlifting John Cena to my house and letting him suplex A.J. Styles off my back deck. (Stephanie, please e-mail me if interested.)

There is, however, one idea that comes to mind. It’s the kind of thing that could never happen because we’re too far gone down the road we’re on, but it offers the kind of possibility that could eventually turn someone like me into someone who plunks down $120/year for your network.

Create a “season.”

I’m not discovering gold with this concept. Hell, there are actually other pro wrestling companies out there already doing this. And I believe it’s a key element in how they’re able to maintain a level of success.

What if the WWE “season” started in July with SummerSlam, setting up storylines for the coming year, peaking with major events such as Survivor Series and Royal Rumble, before blowing off this season’s arc at Wrestlemania, after which the world of professional wrestling takes a four-month offseason to cool off and recharge?

wwe tlc

People smarter than me have already laid out all of the benefits to a schedule like this, if for no other reason than to protect wrestler health. Who needs a mandatory few months to chill out more than a WWE wrestler who works 200 nights/year?

But all of that aside, think about what that could do to us as consumers of the product. Right now, WWE programming feels ubiquitous. It’s Raw and Smackdown every week. If I miss Raw this week, oh well, there’s another one next week. So on and so on. Throw in 12 PPVs each year, plus WWE Network programming and online programming, and it’s a nonstop deluge of content that feels less relevant and less essential with every passing month.

I don’t watch any old episode of Smackdown, but I do make an effort to watch week 7 of regular season NFL games. I do that because I know there’s only 17 weeks of regular season games a year and then the playoffs and then that’s it. NFL programming is vital and finite. I have months and months of off-season ahead of me, so I need to devour every bit of football footage I can get my hands on right now.

Would I tune in to this week’s Raw if I knew there were only 10 more before it went away for four months? Maybe. Would I have more incentive to purchase a PPV, especially Wrestlemania, if it meant the culmination of an entire season’s storylines? It certainly might.

DUBLIN, IRELAND - JUNE 01: WWE wrestling star Sheamus (R) who plays the character 'Rocksteady' at the Dublin Premiere of the Paramount Pictures title "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows" at Savoy Cinema on June 1, 2016 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
DUBLIN, IRELAND – JUNE 01: WWE wrestling star Sheamus (R) who plays the character ‘Rocksteady’ at the Dublin Premiere of the Paramount Pictures title “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows” at Savoy Cinema on June 1, 2016 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

I know, it’s not apples and oranges, but the point is still valid. Part of what makes almost all sports feel like must-watch events is because we know there will come a time very soon when we can’t watch it. And if we don’t watch it right now, we will miss something. WWE doesn’t feel that way, for a myriad of reasons, but among them is the sense that this is a perpetual entertainment resource that will never end and therefore has no critical components.

I say all of this knowing full well that the WWE would never, ever sacrifice the millions of dollars it makes year-round in order to do this. To suddenly limit its programming to eight or nine months out of the year would be to cut into its profits so deeply that a publicly-traded company such as itself wouldn’t even consider the notion.  There’s simply too much on the line.

So I guess we find ourselves at an impasse. I will, for the time being, be a supporter of WWE programming and entertainment, even when I cannot for the life of me understand some of the storyline choices they make. But I do not feel an incentive to give more of my time than I already do. Am I the future of WWE fandom? If I am, that future is still a long way off. Plenty of people are still more than happy to plunk down their hard-earned money for t-shirts and video games and faux championship belts.

But I do wonder how many WWE fans like me are out there. And what, if anything, the WWE would ever do to try to change our minds.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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