It was a basic title feud. It was one that seemed likely to involve a title change. I wasn't even going to bother talking about it again as the feud progressed. Well, the title change happened just like that. What now? They can do some interesting things with Rusev holding this particular title. You can imagine a lot of great segments. On Raw, however, they already went in the direction of The Authority trying to recruit Rusev for their team at Survivor Series. Nothing wrong with having him in that match, but don't start treating him as a henchman for The Authority now. Rusev's character has potential away from just being another heel henchman for the top heel stable. Back when I was bringing up names to replace Randy Orton in The Authority, I did not bring up Rusev. He doesn't need to be in the group to be relevant.
The other thing worth talking about is that this happened on the WWE Network. They had multiple opportunities this year to have a title change happen on the WWE Network. I think it is a good idea to do it. Make people believe big things happen on the WWE Network. Of course, they are giving a month-long free trial right now. You would think the WWE would do their best this month to bring those subscribers in. Not to make too much of one night, but they did pretty well so far.
How about that WWE Network? I came across a graph last week that illustrates how it has been doing in terms of subscriptions.
It is still not at that 1,000,000-subscriber benchmark. They have spread out to more countries, although not their main international markets, but it is still very weak numbers. It is a smart move to offer a free trial for a month and get rid of the 6-month commitment. In general, however, this has not been a good investment. Keep in mind that they alienated a lot of their PPV partners. $9.99 is just too cheap for a PPV and all that other content subscribers get every month. Don't even bring up giving away November for free. Everyone can say that it will take time for the WWE to make a profit off of this venture, but they have not started off on a good note. First, I believe they were saying they would get 1,000,000 subscribers around Wrestlemania. Didn't happen. Next, they will get it by the end of 2014. Doesn't look like that will happen. And with all these other issues coming up, getting a million subscribers is really just a ceremonial benchmark. When do they start getting a real profit?
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