Well, we've come to the end of 2014. It was quite a roller coaster year for wrestling fans, as WWE presented the good, the bad, the awful, and seemingly everything in between.
The biggest story of 2014 is probably the advent of the WWE Network, which while drawing very disappointing numbers thus far, is nonetheless a game-changer. Offering every PPV of the year for only $9.99 a month seems like a no-win prospect given how expensive traditional PPV is, but WWE took the gamble that the low price tag and the vast content library would draw enough subscribers to make up the difference in volume. As of now they're about 300,000 subscribers shy of breaking even. Hopefully in 2015 they'll grow the library and be able to attract more fans. Of course presenting consistently entertaining programming week-to-week would help. They sadly don't seem to grasp that concept.
WWE was on both sides of the fence as far as being in touch with its audience. At times they clearly listened to the fans, albeit begrudgingly (case in point the Daniel Bryan saga), and at times they were totally oblivious (Batista anyone?). NXT has emerged as a viable third brand that presents simple, cutting-edge wrestling featuring exciting young stars eager to make a splash. The third brand has consistently outshone its main roster counterparts, as it's booked by former wrestlers such as Dusty Rhodes and Ricky Steamboat, and overseen by Triple H who truly seems to "get it" as long as he's not an on-air character. What's sad is I almost fear the top NXT stars being called up because the main roster creative is in such a shambles. I trust the NXT team much more than their RAW/SD counterparts to utilize talents properly. That's not a good thing.
