WWE Morale Is Plummeting Once Again, And There Is No End In Sight

Stop if you've heard this one before: WWE reportedly has a problem with low backstage morale.

According to the Wrestling Observer's Bryan Alvarez (h/t WrestlingNews.co), morale has been low "for a long time" but has only worsened due to WWE's recent struggles:

"I was told today, there may be more [releases] coming, who knows? Morale has not been good for a long time but apparently the morale has taken an even bigger hit since October 1st. If you recall, the belief within WWE...their idea was 'oh my god, we're going to FOX and a new boom period is going to kick off."

So much for that boom period, huh?

When WWE kicked off its pair of blockbuster TV deals for Raw and SmackDown earlier this month, it was supposed to result in renewed fan interest in WWE programming, but that just hasn't happened yet. Raw viewership has decreased for three straight weeks even though last week's episode featured the second night of the WWE Draft, which has traditionally been a significant ratings draw for the company. SmackDown viewership has somehow fared even worse. The blue brand's inaugural episode on FOX averaged an impressive 3.869 million viewers, but it dropped by a staggering one million viewers for week two and then nearly another 500,000 viewers for week three on its new home.

That supposed boom simply isn't happening, and although WWE may not be a sinking ship yet, many WWE stars have already been looking for a life jacket.

Back in May, Alvarez also reported that morale within WWE was "the worst it's ever been," which is more so a reflection on the poor quality of the product than anything else. WWE's steady decrease in viewership has nothing to do with the amount of talent the company has-it has more top tier talent than ever before-and everything to do with lackluster storytelling, which is perhaps the biggest reason why WWE's superstars and backstage officials are so down on the product and have been for quite some time. Indeed, WWE has all the puzzle pieces it needs-a boatload of talented stars, TV deals that give it a ton of exposure, a built-in audience, etc.-but it can't put those pieces together correctly.

It's no secret that WWE's inability to do that has transformed the company from one that used to be the be-all end-all of pro wrestling to one that stars are breaking down the door to get out of nowadays. One report has stated that the amount of stars looking to leave WWE for All Elite Wrestling would "blow your mind," which is a surefire sign of how bad it's gotten in WWE at a time when it should be better than ever. Former WWE stars Dean Ambrose and Batista have shed some light on the issues that have been plaguing WWE over the past few years. Ambrose, now known as Jon Moxley, has flat-out said that "Vince [McMahon] is the problem"-he has made a habit out of "tearing up" TV scripts the day of the show, after all-while Batista said this summer following his retirement from pro wrestling that WWE's creative process is a "nightmare."

That's the best explanation as to why WWE, which has more than enough tools at its disposal to be blowing AEW, NJPW and all other competition out of the water, is struggling to do so and why so many stars are looking to get out while they can. In addition to a recent dramatic overhaul of WWE's creative team, WWE seemed to make a sacrificial lamb out of Eric Bischoff, who was fired after a blink-and-you-missed-it tenure as SmackDown's Executive Director, as a number of WWE stars have reportedly been linked to possible exits from the company as well. That list includes a slew of incredibly talented stars, including Randy Orton, Rusev, The Revival, Harper and Mike Kanellis, just to name a few. The large amount of creatively dissatisfied superstars stems from a few factors, including the lure of potentially better booking elsewhere (with AEW being the target destination of many stars), frustration over WWE's continued use of part-time/crossover stars and the amount of TV time that has been used for non-wrestlers like Shane McMahon.

Even though the start of WWE's new TV deals and the recent WWE Draft were supposed to set the stage for a worldwide wrestling boom, the underwhelming TV product WWE has put on-just see the disastrous feud between Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt as a prime example of that-has been a major turnoff for viewers and a huge disappointment among WWE's own wrestlers, despite how much talent the company has. Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Becky Lynch, Daniel Bryan-the list of incredibly talented performers WWE has goes on and on. But WWE's halfhearted booking has created a stigma that WWE isn't cool, and even NXT-which consistently puts on stellar programming-has been unable to avoid that stigma and, as a result, has seen its viewership on USA Network decrease every single week since it began airing on that channel last month.

Competition between AEW and WWE isn't going to automatically result in a pro wrestling boom. The only thing that's going to do that is storytelling that is both of high quality and consistent. It needs to hook the viewer in and keep him there. If it doesn't, the product will suffer, ratings will struggle too, morale will only continue to get worse, and even more stars will be looking to find a way out.

Because even though the ship isn't sinking, there's an iceberg right ahead.