Browsing: loyalty

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…

Alright, my dudes. Iâ€m broke. Itâ€s 2025 and we have growing internet costs, and on top of that we have to subscribe to antivirus software and monthly subscription fees to be able to use the internet. Outside of that, I also have to pay for food and shelter. I have to pay for transportation, healthcare costs, and interest on credit cards because of all of the costs. Then everything asks for a tip at the end of the bill. Then if you have a family, multiply those costs, and Iâ€m barely scratching the surface of what it is to live in The States and afford to live right now.

The one escape we have in common for those reading an article like this one is professional wrestling. For most of my life, it was a pretty inexpensive way to be entertained. If you had cable, you tuned in on Monday nights. Once every few months, youâ€d purchase a Ppay=per-view card, and when the WWE would come to town, youâ€d shell out for tickets to the arena, and tickets started as low as $35 just a few years ago.

Now as we live in a world where costs of necessities are more, the wages for many of us are not keeping up, and weâ€d still like a little enjoyment in our humble life as a peasant. So I tune into cable in Monday, and itâ€s now on Netflix. You want that in the quality that matches your TV and can be used in multiple rooms in the house without ad interruption? Thatâ€ll be $25 each month, please.

At the same time, I get that contracts end, streaming is the current, not even the future, and I already had Netflix, so Iâ€m fine with it. But it hasnâ€t stopped. Now I have to add Netflix but still need Peacock for the archives and PLEs? Thereâ€s another $17. And now ESPN is involved? I feel like my loyalty is now the point of being taken advantage of.

Merch Prices

Itâ€s not a must, but I like to leave with a souvenir of some sort from an event. My t-shirt count is closer to 500 than 100, so Iâ€ve slowed down on shirts. Comes at a good time, I suppose when event shirts can be $45, and ordering online is close to the same after shipping the shirt to me. Iâ€d love to have an Iguana puppet, but thatâ€s $100 for a cool shelf piece, or worse, thatâ€s way too much for a childâ€s toy!

Ticket Prices

Most wrestling fans get into this fandom as children, and many stories begin with someoneâ€s dad/uncle/friend group went to see a wrestling show live. But at $35, I could afford to bring a niece or nephew when I took my own children. I canâ€t even afford to take myself and the one kid who wants to go in current circumstances, let alone offer to bring a friend.

This makes me fear where the next generation of wrestling fan may come from. Most who watch are not children, but it has been something that has been marketed around family entertainment outside of the Attitude Era and your niche hardcore promotion. Will there be enough people to fill arenas at pre-TKO pricing?

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

Check out the latest episode of “Wrestling Night in America,” part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch†on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)

More Shows to Watch

At least with money, as Arn Anderson once told Cody Rhodes, in some pretty terrible advice from that podcast story, that you can always make more later. There are time we have more and times we have less when it comes to bank funds. What none of us can afford to lose with no chance of regaining is time.

I work two jobs, have even more hobbies, and I like to have time to spend with spouse, children, and friends. I donâ€t have much time. Even taking time to write these articles are time I will not get back where I could have been something more personally productive, but I enjoy it.

Anything I give my time to at this stage of life is because I really enjoy it, sacrificing my time to lend a hand to someone else, or my wife made me do it. So for me to give time to sit and watch wrestling without it being background noise to keep up on things is slim. Keeping up with every show they planned for the year and the shows they created as counter-programming is a real chore.

The WWE has five weekly shows including Evolve and LFG. Then if you want to watch their online content, a documentary, or another promotion, you just canâ€t keep up.

Another App Subscription

Iâ€m not doing it. I canâ€t justify $30 a month for a sports channel. I donâ€t care about traditional team sports. I like MMA and love mat wrestling (big shout out to whatâ€s happening with Real American Freestyle). Thatâ€s three hours of entertainment once a month, with extra for two day shows, that I get from ESPN with zero time to have interest in anything else theyâ€re going to offer me. I canâ€t. I just canâ€t WWE. Refer back to my opening sentence if you need more.

Not Providing What Weâ€ve Paid For

Now weâ€ve paid you all of our hard earned money to watch the show. We now get five matches per card. In a one-app world, I was thrilled with making those five matches mean more, and also making the television show matches mean more, since theyâ€re true PLE level match-ups, but used as a main event on a Raw or Smackdown. Now I have to get an app that costs me another $30 for those five matches?

Not only are the matches fewer, the advertising spots are more. Bringing in talent and getting them in gear to show off a pizza anyone with their physiques, obviously arenâ€t eating themselves. Then – and I have mixed feelings about writing this – we donâ€t get what we want.

Now, I am not the writer for a 52-week episodic story, and I get having a plan that youâ€re going with and sticking with it. On the other hand, as celebrated as he is now, many people stopped watching wrestling because of John Cena and the style of wrestling we got. And more left when Roman Reigns was being force-fed to the audience as a babyface.

In this era, we have not seen that, but we have seen two crowd favorites dropped. With all of the money the company is making, you had to release, then realize your mistake in not renewing R-Truth. Then Karion Kross, despite the responses and merchandise sales, was also dropped from future promotion plans. Add in enough advertised matches without finishes, and you may eventually have fewer people willing to pay for your product.

(Griffin is a lifelong fan of wrestling, superheroes, and rebellious music of all forms. He is the owner of Nerdstalgia, and you can shop online, learn about visiting the store in Colorado Springs, or catch him at a comic con in the Rocky Mountain area by going to

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