Alfred Konuwa’s Latest What’s Best For Business?
Yesterday Forbes & Bleacher Report wrestling columnist Alfred Konuwa was on WrestleZone Daily. Alfred was back with the latest installment of his weekly segment for the Daily called What’s Best For Business? which airs every Tuesday on WrestleZone Daily. This week Alfred discussed what it will take to turn around WWE RAW ratings and whether or not John Cena is looking to leave the pro wrestling business.
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You can listen to Alfred’s appearance starting at the 1:19:09 mark in the embedded audio player below. Some of his quotes have been transcribed below it:
On what the WWE can do to turn around it’s trend of ratings going down:
AK: It’s kind of a boring answer but WWE needs to stay the course. There are too many institutional problems that have led them to this rating. WWE has been relying on attitude era stars. Brock Lesnar, The Rock… it’s great, it was a fun time for years to have WrestleMania’s headlined by these part-time guys. Beneath the surface there have been problems with WWE’s new roster in that they weren’t getting enough exposure. People weren’t used to seeing them in the main event. Now that we’re moving forward and The Rock is busy and Brock Lesnar’s off on his part-time contract. Now they are stuck with this roster that they have been pushing in to the background for all these years. Now they are confronted with these problems. I’ve been saying for years, “One year they are going to have to bite the bullet at WrestleMania and main event WrestleMania with a couple of guys who are newer.” Guys that fans aren’t used to. That’s going to help them moving forward because people will be used to them. They will be established as stars. Maybe some format changes would be welcome. You don’t have to do the same type of format every week. WWE is just going to have to grin and bear it and push the guys they have right now.
Related: This Week’s Final WWE RAW Rating Considered A “Disaster”; Rating Lowest Since Attitude Era
On whether he thinks John Cena is preparing to leave the sport of professional wrestling and the WWE by taking on projects like his new FOX reality show American Grit:
AK: Absolutely. This is not something like some website he’s starting. This is not something he is just taking time off to do. John Cena is going to FOX. He’s looking to cross over. There’s no reason for him to be with WWE. I said this in the video. As much as he loves being the WWE soldier who is never going to leave. WWE will leave John Cena eventually. They’re already grooming Roman Reigns. It’s time. It’s time for John Cena to test these waters. John Cena has a lot of leverage in a situation like this. These streaming networks… there was a report by Variety back in March that projected that, “Analysts believe streaming network services are to surpass the network television services.” In terms of viewership. Soon we are going to see a world where television is offered a’la carte just like we see with these streaming services. Guys like John Cena have a lot of leverage in this marketplace. The networks are now trying to hold on for dear life and grab all these big stars. These movie stars, these wrestlers with big followings so that they can help improve their ratings. Ratings are not doing well with network television compared to what streaming services like Netflix and WWE Network are doing.
Alfred Konuwa Gives His RAW Reaction
Alfred was also the featured co-host on this week’s edition of RAW Reaction. You can listen to Alfred’s appearance on RAW Reaction as well as some of his thoughts transcribed below:
On what his RAW Reaction was to the show from this past Monday night:
AK: I’d probably give this show a thumbs in the middle. Whenever ratings get this low you kind of, in the back of your mind, are always expecting something huge to happen. Not that it has to happen. I kind of like it and I am encouraged that WWE seems to be staying the course with this young roster. For an episode of RAW… this is one you could throw out. There were a couple of developments that meant something. Other than that, you know, we aren’t really going to remember this in five or ten years.
On the finish to RAW with The League of Nations and The New Day standing victorious over Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and The Usos:
AK: How could it feel dramatic? This is like… for The New Day and The League of Nations… for the most part… this is like the third time you’ve seen a lot of these guys in a segment at the very least. By now it’s like, “Oh, these guys again?” No matter what they could have done. Again, this show is such evidence of the thin roster that they have. You’ve got guys in segment after segment after segment after segment. Which is fine, especially in the case of The New Day, if you’re hot. You could tell they’re just stretching. Just stretching a dollar here.
