First, whenever I am following the score of a basketball game, one stat I like to pay attention to is free throws. I can't tell you how many times my favorite team, the Brooklyn Nets, have had a lead early in a game and blown it in the end. A lot of times, they lose by a handful of points. And when I check how many free throws they missed, the game is usually decided by those shots. It does not help when you know you have that one guy on the team that is horrible at making free throws. Free throws are some of the easiest shots you will get. They are only worth one point each. No big deal, right? It's just a single point. Thing is, those little things add up. It happens to every team all the time.
Small things add up. How does that relate to the current WWE? In the last decade, you have seen the WWE make a lot of mistakes here and there. I am not even talking about "botching" a storyline. I am talking about how they push their workers. The quality of the product has declined. There is a lack of momentum. Ratings are not booming. Ratings are not even staying steady. You have a slow decline and the WWE has to rely on tricks and part-timers to generate hype. This all did not start last year. This all has been building up for many years. Count all the times the WWE has crushed someone that got over that they obviously did not want over, or even attempted to. Count all the times the WWE has tried to force someone that is not connecting naturally with the fans. You have Zack Ryder getting over out of nowhere and remaining a lower-midcarder. You have Mickie James getting over while being pushed to put over whom they wanted over and being used as filler when needed and the WWE continuing to push her like that. You have John Cena getting a mixed reaction and still being pushed hard. You have Michelle McCool connecting with fans even worse than that and being overpushed. You have the Daniel Bryan fiasco from last year. How did that make the WWE look? These are all self-inflicted wounds. The WWE did this to themselves. These are their own workers they are not managing correctly. You might say that these cases are no big deal. So what if Zack Ryder got screwed? So what if Michelle McCool was booked to make history a few times during her run as centerpiece? Individually, you may not see a problem with these things. Problem is, it adds up. The diva division has collapsed. The tag division is starting to have issues again. The midcard is bad. A lot of your main-event stars don't seem to be able to actually draw. And John Cena continues to be John Cena. If the WWE had taken control earlier on to correct some issues, things would never have gotten this bad. Instead, the WWE has seemed to develop this attitude where they will block out the issues and just do what they want. With that kind of mentality, there is nothing that will stop them from going in the direction of what they want to work out. When that does not work out, they end up with a bruised ego that will make it harder to be efficient. And more problems will be added on to those small problems over the past decade. With that, major problems will get worse.
Sticking with basketball, there was an issue that came up last year involving Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers at that time. He made racist comments that eventually spiraled out to his downfall. Thing is, the real issue was really only over his words. When it came to how his team was being run, he did not let a racist mentality dictate that. How could he? If he makes it blatantly obvious, he would have gotten in trouble sooner. He had black players and even had a black coach. It didn't matter. He still got in trouble.
People say Vince McMahon is out of touch. Being out of touch is obviously not as bad as being racist. Thing is, does Vince McMahon really need to be making the decisions he is making? If he cannot put aside issues that can hinder how he utilizes his workers and how he runs his company, he can just have someone else make these decisions. A lot of people have certain biases or other issues. People in power tend to have ego issues. They might be pushy. They might try to force their way, even if their way is not ethical or not working. Even if Donald Sterling is a racist, there were people to hold him accountable even for just making racist remarks. No one really holds Vince McMahon accountable.
Let me talk about another owner of a sports team. Jerry Jones owns the Dallas Cowboys. He also happens to be the GM. Prior to this recent season, the Cowboys had done mediocrely for years. They made a lot of poor moves that angered a lot fans. Fans wanted changes that were not happening. Jerry Jones took a lot of blame for things. Some people accused him of caring more about making money than winning games. Does the owner really need to be GM? A lot of people were calling for Jerry Jones the owner to fire Jerry Jones the GM. Even Jerry Jones once said he would have fired himself as GM. It never happened.
This season, the Dallas Cowboys did great. They got a 12-4 record, tied for the season best in the NFL, and won a playoff game. Jerry Jones won an "Executive of the Year" award. You know why some people say he won it? Because he put his ego in check and made decisions to help strengthen the foundation of the team, namely the offensive line. There was a strong possibility that they would have drafted Johnny Manziel last year, instead of an addition to the offensive line. That is the kind of thing Jerry Jones would do. And he supposedly did come close to doing it, but his son, who is also an executive on the team, stopped him. When you are in power, when you have some freedom in having your way, it often helps to have someone to put you in check.
Is Vince McMahon deserving of any "Executive of the Year" awards? Some people have compared Vince McMahon to Jerry Jones, and not in a good way. You have a goofy rich guy making bad decisions. You can say Jerry has redeemed himself to some degree. Some credit should go to the people he has around him to advise him. What about Vince? Is there anyone to really hold his ego in check? What if the people that are surrounding him are the ones having a negative influence on him? Regardless, you sometimes have to put aside what you personally want and do what is right for the team. Whomever you want to blame in the WWE, the people running the show deserve blame for the state of the product.
One last football comparison. The Patriots have become a dominant franchise. They are going to another Super Bowl. You owe it all to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. You owe it all to the "Patriots Way". What is that exactly? No easy way to put it. Belichick is a strict, efficient coach, who also happens to be GM. Winning is the goal. They keep on coming up with different strategies to win games, even if some of them might be seen as cheating. They have been known to let star players slip from them. They watch their pocketbook. Tom Brady, one of the best ever, just restructured his own contract to help the team. Despite his success, he is not the highest-paid quarterback. And part of it does have to do with the possibility of whether or not they get rid of him in the future should he suffer a decline. Can you imagine releasing a quarterback that has done the things Tom Brady has done? The point has been brought up by many, if Tom Brady is no longer able to help the team win, he is gone. No favoritism. Just results. That is the Patriots Way.
Is John Cena comparable to Tom Brady? Well, John Cena is as much the centerpiece of the WWE as Tom Brady is the centerpiece of the Patriots. Aside from that, should Cena be looked at in the same way as Brady? John Cena is not bringing elite results and he is being pushed like he is elite. What you always hear is that John Cena should be the top guy because of his work ethic and the charity work. All professional sports teams seem to get involved in charity. You can have a quarterback that has a great work ethic, does a lot of charity work, and is just the nicest guy ever, but if he cannot bring results on the field, should he remain as the starting quarterback. Regardless, he certainly does not deserve big bucks, especially more than those quarterbacks that do bring elite results. If John Cena cannot go out there and get a proper reaction from the fans and the quality of the company is bad with him as the top guy, why shouldn't the WWE move on?
What is the "WWE Way"? Is Vince McMahon comparable to Belichick? Is Vince McMahon really concerned about success? That is what it comes down to. It's one thing to cheat and do shady things to hurt your competition and help yourself win, but Vince McMahon is doing things that result in him shooting himself in the foot. He screws his own workers that he does not want to succeed and does not give some of them fair opportunities. He overpushes people that don't connect well with the fans. In recent years, he just rarely gets it right when it comes to people being pushed as top stars. You sometimes hear that no one person is above the WWE. Yeah, nice philosophy. It is the same idea as releasing a quarterback like Tom Brady if it is best for the team. Problem is, is the WWE really practicing that idea? If they did, that fear to move away from Cena would not be there. You don't have to release him, but a legitimate depush would be nice. But that is not the WWE Way. They stick with what they want to work out. Even if the fans hate it. Even if it leads to a collapse in quality. Even if numbers start getting bad. They go their way. You can say Vince McMahon runs a strict system, as does Belichick. Difference is, Belichick's system actually leads to success. I have seen some coaches run strict systems and see their teams do poorly. They usually end up getting fired. And why shouldn't they? It's one thing to be a jerk and run a system that leads to success. It's another thing to be a jerk and suck at what you do. Not only do such individuals not help the team to succeed through their leadership, but they might have a negative attitude that makes it worse. You want someone that can take charge, but to help the team succeed. You don't want someone that is just looking for power and to push people around. What kind of boss in Vince McMahon? Out of touch? Egotistical? Victim of bad people around him? A guy that needs to hand off some power to someone else? Whatever the case, his way is not working right now.
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