My esteemed colleague Matt Roberts (don’t worry – it confuses us as well) wrote a column last week here on The Wrestling Mania stating the case that the WWE would be a much better place if they had a regular “off-season” written into the calendar.
Matt made some very good and valid points, but I can almost certainly state right now that regardless of the value in it for the wrestlers and their health it simply will not happen.
The WWE have television deals all around the world that represent a substantial percentage of the group’s overall profits. These deals are based around the WWE providing a number of new shows each and every week. As TNA found out when they rescheduled their pay-per-view events, these companies around the world that have paid for a product expect what they have been promised. As the deals that are in place are for varying lengths of time and never expire in tune with the others, the WWE simply cannot afford to schedule a month off and expect to easily resolve the issues with the television companies around the world that pay for their product.
It also wouldn’t be that ideal for the wrestlers themselves. If we were to say that for the month of May each year the WWE shut down, you would be in effect dictating to wrestlers that that is the only time they can have off each year. Someone “fortunate” enough to sustain injuries in late-April of the nature that wrestlers routinely work though would be able to take the prescribed time off in May and come back refreshed. Pity the poor wrestler who injures himself in June, though, and has to work through the pain simply because his time off has already come and gone for the year.
You could also say that there would be a lot of wrestlers getting married in May, given it was the only time they could hope to get off.
Now these might seem spurious points in respect of serious issues regarding wrestler’s welfare. But far from belittling the idea of wrestlers getting a month off, I am actually firmly behind it. I just don’t think that the WWE needs to shut down to do so.
The WWE has a deep roster and now that PPV’s are on the WWE Network in America, the need for every main event superstar to be on every monthly show is lower than ever. By staggering “holiday” times over the year, the WWE could give ever man and woman on the roster a month’s paid holiday a year and still produce action packed shows with big names every week.
A strange workplace it may be, but that’s what the WWE is. So if Daniel Bryan wants two weeks off in July, let him have them. If Randy Orton wants to take his daughter on holiday in September, let him do it. If a wrestler simply feels the need for some down time rather than working through injuries to keep on getting paid his full salary, let him take the time off when he chooses and before things get worse. Not take the time off when his body finally gives in completely.
If a month is deemed too long in one go, at the very least a wrestler could be excused live duty for one week’s worth of tapings. After a Tuesday Smackdown taping, the wrestler can go home, miss the next week’s TV, and return 12 days later for the subsequent Raw. And if they are “desperately needed” for the show, tape a promo with them before they take leave. If every wrestler was allowed this paid absence twice a year, how difficult would that be? Not very.
The WWE does need to tackle the problems that face its wrestlers. We often hear that today’s schedules aren’t as tough as those in the 1970’s and 80’s but that is no excuse to ignore the real concerns. Most fans wouldn’t notice if a certain wrestler was missing for one week of TV. In time, if it was accepted that wrestlers were allowed one month a year paid holiday, no fan would begrudge them that time off. And it’s no more difficult to stagger those holiday periods across the year and across the roster than it is in any office you or I might work in.
Would it solve every problem? Of course not. But it would be an easily implemented start that would almost immediately improve the morale of the roster. More importantly, it might also prove to be an easy way to improve the health of the roster.
– By Matthew Roberts