Mixed week for WWE
The week began with the Royal Rumble winner was heckled and boo'd out of the arena despite being a 'face' (good guy), yet by Wednesday the WWE Network (their on demand service akin to Netflix) hit 1 million subscribers.
By Calum Archibald.
A negative reaction is quite common in wrestling, but usually that is when a heel character (bad guy) wins a match either clean or by unfair means. But when a character who is being built up as the face of the company, Roman Reigns faced a severe backlash from an angry Philadelphia crowd on Sunday night, and #CancelWWENetwork was the number 1 trend worldwide for 4 hours. There was a similar reaction last year as the WWE fans felt they were ignoring their favourites completely, and the current most popular man in WWE today Daniel Bryan was elevated to main event status to appease the fans.
Bryan was then injured and has only just returned after an 8 month lay-off, much to the delight of almost all fans who enjoy his acrobatic, technical style and his down to earth persona. Many thought that the Royal Rumble was a chance to build storylines and that Bryan may have an important one leading into Wrestlemania, the year's biggest Pay-Per-View. When he was eliminated without any real participation, the crowd turned, and it became apparent that Roman Reigns was going to be pushed as the winner.
Sadly, Reigns character is not very popular due to his lack of ability to deliver interviews or build his character, essentially the polar opposite of his famous cousin, The Rock. Fans have become tired of the poor story telling and not delivering the matches, storylines or characters that they want.
But despite all this, the WWE Network reached its first major milestone thanks to its recent introduction to the UK and Ireland, yet it is still sitting well below the break even point of 1.4 million subscribers, and WWE's stock is down 40% from the same time last year.
WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon said, "We’re thrilled that we’ve surpassed the 1 million subscriber milestone less than a year after launching WWE Network and in advance of ‘WrestleMania,’ our biggest event of the year."
