TRULY IS SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT

Yes, there is professional wrestling, it is what the 20x20 squared ring is used for. But, what the WWE truly is, is Sports Entertainment. As a company it has become more than just professional wrestling. Movies produced by WWE with WWE Superstars and Divas in leading roles, the WWE Network and the original programing we are starting to see on it. Look at the highest rated (or one of the highest rated) segments from the Monday Night Wars, it wasn't "professional wrestling" per say. Ya, there has always been promos and whatnot, but the "This Is Your Life" segment with The Rock and Mankind was a bit more than that. Low budget, live improve comedy. That is entertainment, not wrestling.

I think a lot of the problem, or perhaps the root of it all, is Vince McMahon's complete and outright refusal to reference WWE as professional wrestling, or any of the WWE Superstars are professional wrestlers. He is both right and wrong in going about things that way in my humble opinion.
In the right was, establishing that his brand was different than others. WCW was dying out before the Monday Night Wars too really (in comparison to the 80's at least). And what did Turner and Bischoff do? Make WCW more like WWE in regards to promotion and production. They became more Sports Entertainment than wrestling, did very well, and if not for poor creative as well as the AOL Time Warner deal may have survived. The original ECW, originally TNA, and ROH are/were professional wrestling organizations. ECW is now part of WWE, and TNA made the mistake of trying to compete directly with WWE in a failing manner that began the slow demise. No not done yet, but when mjority of your top stars who practically made TNA what it is have left and are either signed with WWE or a possibilty of doing so (if not other professional wrestling companies).
Vince was wrong in many ways as well. Not all of his WWE Superstars are anything more than professional wrestlers. And a lot of them will tell you so as well. An example would be Daniel Bryan. He was/is a professional wrestler, and got over with the crowd for not being the typical WWE guy (was he really an underdog?) in a massive way. Sure he could maybe do bit parts, but I cannot see someone like Daniel Bryan becoming an actor like The Rock, John Cena, or some others. Not a dis in any way, I would almost assume DB would say himself that his way of entertaining people was in a squared circle. Perhaps if Vince and WWE allowed more people to simply be wrestlers, the entertainers would stand out even more. Perhaps, perhaps not.

So again, what the WWE has become is truly Sports Entertainment Company that produces a professional wrestling show, among other things. Ring Of Honor? TNA? GFW? Those are purely professional wrestling companies, who should focus on that instead of competing with WWE (looking at you, Dixie).

INJURY BUG LOOKING MORE LIKE A PLAGUE

Neville. Seth Rollins. John Cena. Cesaro. Tyson Kidd. That's just the performers who are out of action at the moment (could be forgetting some) due to injury. There are some others who are apparently working through their injuries, but are injured none the less.

Why is this happening more frequently nowadays? There have always been runs where people would get injured and be on the shelf for awhile. But, not really in the cluster it is right now, right before Wrestlemania to make things worse.Mind you, the wrestlers out right now are out with major injuries. Neville breaking his ankle and shin last night on Raw during a baseball slide. Kidd is still healing from surgery on his broken neck (hopefully he can come back from this, we all know he'll give his all in the attempt). Basically, the type of injuries the "old school" guys wouldn't have been able to work through no matter how much or what type of "gimmick" they use to numb the pain. Although the late Kerry Von Erich did wrestle after losing his foot, unbeknownst to me anyhow. But, everyone else seemed to be "done" after major injuries, partly because of where the medical field was at those times (unlike today), but finished regardless.
So again, why is this? It is getting harder to argue that the style and pace of today's wrestling is playing a factor into things. The schedule is still massive, but not what it once was. The performers are almost in superior condition compared to yesteryear. Only real difference is the style and pace. Sure, a high flyer like Neville got injured with a routine none high risk move. But, who's to say the wear and tear from before didn't play a part in things. A doctor could maybe, but again, just trying to make a
Could we go back to a slower paced, less high risk style of sports entertainment? Would fans "allow" that? Looking back at the greats of all time to the recent ones, they had a slower pace. Stone Cold, The Rock, Undertaker, Randy Orton. They didn't have a high risk style of move sets. Sure, Taker added some, but they were almost reserved for moments that called for it. Meaning he didn't do them all the time, so it made them stand out more when he did.

So, perhaps it is time to tone things down. We already have to now worry about others joining Daniel Bryant in retirement due to concussions. Which are always a risk with even the most basic of bumps. Speaking of D-Bryan, he showed that the audience can dictate things, and with all these stars out it is the era of opportunity right now. Creative or Vince can't hold anyone back right now, even if they wanted to.

RUMORED BRAND SPLIT

Apparently there have been some rumors floating around regarding the WWE "splitting the brands" again. With Shane McMahon returning and there being at least a momentary power struggle story line wise, it isn't hard to see why this rumor exists. Personally, I am on the fence in regards to how I feel about splitting Raw and Smackdown!.

I still remember when the first split occurred. I was a young man, new father, and wrestling was still running strong. The initial brand split was needed in a sense. WWE had won the "Monday Night Wars" and there wasn't any competition to fill the voids left by WCW and even ECW. TNA was in it's infant stages, having PPV shows, instead of a television product including a monthly PPV. Different story for a different time. The split was needed to maintain interest as well as fit all the top quality performers into the mix. Sure, WWE hadn't picked up every WCW and ECW star, but there were enough to make the WWE roster crowded. WWE had even done everything the "right way" during the early days of "brand splitting". There was a draft, and the roster was split in two. And it was an even split in regards to star power and quality shows. They were able to create competition within themselves, and some to most fans had a preference as to which show they preferred. And it wasn't always Raw. Smackdown! was a legit competitor to Raw. To keep it "fresh" the WWE would "shake things up" via the draft now being annual. And it worked too, for a time. After a bit, it became quite apparent that Smackdown! was becoming a feeder show to Raw. A talent develops and gets over with the Smackdown! audience? They ended up on Raw. It is what happened with John Cena. What made that situation worse, is that with the show change came the end of Thuganomics, and the beginning of the Cena we see now.
The past is why I am hesitant to fully embrace this, however there are obviously reasons I would love to see this happen. Preferably, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship would be split into two titles, or a new title would be presented for the other brand. One title would almost make for an easy to predict outcome of the title matches and/or repeated matches for the title. Think of guys like Dolph Ziggler, and others who are over with the audiences, but may never be in the top tier with guys like Brock Lesner. Sure, Seth Rollins is a "smaller" guy, but not everyone can play the sneeky heel, or everyone be the triumphant underdog. Gets repetitive and takes away from guys like Brock Lesner. Look at Big Show, he shouldn't have really put anyone over until this phase of his career. He put too many guys over, and not all of them deserved it or made any sense. Rey Mysterio? Yes. One time ever though. Everyone else should've "earned it" like JBL at No Way Out 2005.

Guess I will have to wait and see, much like with everything in life. Can't wait for Wrestlemania 32 though. Card is shaping up pretty good, and with Vince looking to set another attendance record, I can't wait to see what he has up his sleeve for us. He may not be able to wrestle, but Daniel Bryan has to be involved so we can hear and feel the massive crowd chant YES!

WWE. WHAT HAS IMPROVED OVER THE YEARS

Majority of the IWC tend to have more negative things to say than positive. Which is okay. Negativity tends to attract more attention. However, this time around we'll try to focus on the good. Why not? WWE does do a pretty good job of things if you think about it. Once again there is an "injury bug" floating around, taking out all levels of performers. And although we may not always agree or "approve", they keep things going despite the depleted roster.

The Bellas

Yes, one could say they are where they are because of who they are with. Hard not to given each Bella has adopted some of their significant others style into their own. But, regardless of where it has come from, Nikki and Brie have become legendary compared to The Bella Twins of yesteryear. May be late giving the props, with Nikki rehabbing after neck surgery and Brie likely to follow Daniel into retirement and start their family, but still giving props. Some may scoff at this, but easy to compare them to WWE HOF Trish Stratus. Who also began as purely eye candy, and developed quite the formidable in-ring game.

The Women's/Divas Division

Regardless of what you prefer to call it, WWE has begun to truly bring female performers to the forefront. Not just that, it has zero to do with appearance. Beauty is always a matter of opinion, but viewers are left with no option but to judge these women based on in-ring ability. Sure, one can argue that we can thank people like Ronda Rousey for all of this, but honestly all the thanks falls on the females in WWE and NXT for showing they are just as good as, and in some cases better, than the men.

Concussions

Daniel Bryan retiring sucked. But, as most would agree it was for the best. And we may see this happen more and more often in the future. Hopefully independent companies will deny performers who are "outted" as being "unfit" for in-ring performances. We now have a higher chance of meeting and seeing our favorites after they are retired. Comic-Cons, Signings....Hall Of Fame Inductions. We may never know what truly happened with Chris Benoit, but a lot of things suggest it was from concussions and the damage they do to the brain. We will likely never (and real fans know just how rare it is to use that word in this business) see Benoit inducted. We've lost too many to the addictions, time to praise WWE for trying to eliminate losing any to concussions.

Bleeding

This one may get some flack. Understandably. Blood added some realism to the product. However, during and for awhile after the Attitude Era, there was blood everywhere. The independents were just ridiculous in some cases. Promotions that truly didn't understand ECW's product, instead only imitating and escalating the violence. No story, just blood. With WWE "eliminating" blood actually helps the product.  Have we seen "color"? Yes. And after they stopped pausing the matches, it made bleeding more meaningful. Like in the golden years of the 1980's and early 90's, where "color" was usually reserved for the main event (with exceptions). Flair and Hogan almost always had those rights reserved.

NXT And WWE Performance Center

Triple H gets the credit for this, but it is amazing in many ways and good for the business as well as WWE. The territory days are dead, and other promotions are...good and bad for ones career. Sorry TNA fans, but Jarrett has a new promotion, and AJ n Joe are in WWE. Now, independent stars and undiscovered talent have a place to learn, improve, and prove they are WWE worthy. Even the developed talent have a place to shake off the ring rust after injury or make improvement on their characters before returning to the main roster. Sure, there will still be "cuts", but now there is at least a chance the hopefuls have opportunity to improve before being future endeavored.

You may have noticed that the "product" itself wasn't really mentioned. That is because it is also something that is a matter of opinion. Again with the injury bug, WWE is doing pretty good quality wise. FAstlane jjust happened last night, and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship wasn't up for grabs and things were pretty good. Even the obvious "let's try The New Day out as baby faces for a second".