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WWE usually does a phenomenal job at getting their talents on these outlets. How much the appearances really do to sell PPV buys is debatable but every appearance on Extra, Jimmy Kimmel, Showbiz Tonight, etc. helps put eyeballs and awareness on the product. As much as the company is obsessed with it, Twitter isn't going to sell them a million buys.
This year, with Dwayne Johnson involved, wrestling John Cena in the main event, I was especially interested to see what additional doors he might open with his starpower and what additional appearances those may bring. Well, Johnson has certainly done his share to promote the show and John Cena is doing his usual out of his mind schedule of appearances to push the Wrestlemania machine - but it's amazing to see who ISN'T in front of that promotional push as well.
It actually struck me today. I woke up and as I prepared for my day, there was the tail-end of Chris Jericho on Good Day New York, appearing to promote Wrestlemania, where he is challenging CM Punk for the WWE title. Tonight, he'll be on Jimmy Fallon, promoting his match against CM Punk, for the WWE Title.
So, hey, WWE, where the hell is the ACTUAL WWE CHAMPION in the midst of all this promotional push, hype and hoopla for the company's annual time capsule show?
Now, the main event is Rock vs. Cena, and they should get the lion's share of the publicity. I get the reality of that. However, can anyone imagine a time where the defending WWE champion, whether it be Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, The Rock, etc. wouldn't be a focal point of the marketing and promotional push for the show? Hell, even Diesel got to go on the Jon Stewart Show!
Over the last year, CM Punk pulled himself up and made himself one of the top tier stars in the company, getting them publicity from magazines like GQ that would never, ever, ever touch pro wrestling. Radio shows that openly detest pro wrestling wanted him on. Mainstream sports podcasts wanted him on. In all of the appearances I read about, I saw or I listened to, Punk presented himself well as someone different, cut from a different cloth, the Che Guevara to Vince McMahon's Argentina and it worked. It made people excited and for a little while, in love with pro wrestling again.
Punk returned, drew money, sold merchandise and while he's never been as hot as he was the night of Money in the Bank (creative bungling is the culprit there), he's been far more over with the fans (you never heard the level of chanting weekly for him before that era) and just a few short weeks ago, Punk pulled out an amazing speech towards singer Chris Brown and the way the music industry and life have pretty much left Brown walk away from his wrongdoings and back into the open arms of fandom. Whether you agreed with Punk or not in that instance, he presented himself well, educated, smart and with common sense. He came across as a respectable representative for the business and for WWE - and he makes the company money, weekly, just by talking "people into the building."
So, where the hell is he in the middle of all this promotional madness? Nowhere that I can find, and it's not like Undertaker, HHH, etc. are glomming all the interview slots, because they have done NO INTERVIEWS. To not make Punk a major part of the promotional rotation is mind-boggling stupid.
Not since the glory days of Bret Hart has WWE had someone who worked that hard, with those quality of matches, who portrayed himself in such a good light the way that Punk does today. You never hear about Punk blowing off media or missing matches or being lazy on house shows. Unfortunately, like Bret Hart, I am afraid the company isn't going to realize and appreciate what they have in him until it's too late. Obviously his rant last summer hasn't changed that, because while he may now have a cup, he certainly doesn't have an ice cream bar and he certainly isn't being used on the same level as, well, the guy who's wrestling him for the belt, not when it comes to actual marketing and promotion of the biggest show of the year.
Again, can you imagine any other era when I would write the preceding paragraph about the WWE CHAMPION leading into Wrestlemania? No matter how bad belts have been exposed in the current era, it's still the WWE TITLE, the same belt that was so important a decade ago that HHH argued that it HAD to go on last at Wrestlemania, after Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock. It may be ten years later, but under no circumstances should that belt or the person holding it not be an important cog in the Wrestlemania machine.
It's not just CM Punk either. Look at the other forgotten "main event" performers, Sheamus and the current World champion, Daniel Bryan are nowhere to be found. There's an incredible story to tell with them being talents that were yanked off the show of shows a year ago and now they are in one of the main events. You have Sheamus, who is incredibly likeable and well spoken in his mainstream appearances, invisible instead of pushing the Be A Starr Campaign? You have Daniel Bryan nowhere to be found instead of pushing the angle of this unique, clean cut, humble vegan who just happens to be a WWE star for a living? Aren't these talents supposed to be important matches as well?
Hey, where's Randy Orton during all this, too?
WWE is pushing this Wrestlemania as "Once in a Lifetime" for Rock vs. Cena. It may be. They are pushing this Wrestlemania as "The End of an Era" for HHH vs. Undertaker and it probably is.
So, why is the company not using all of the starpower of the main event and the lure of the end of this era to prepare for the next? To not have the names that are working on the road every single week, that will be expected to draw houses over the next year and beyond, out there in front of the media during the timeframe when you are most likely to try and get them over outside the wrestling bubble is mind-boggling.
WWE is doing themselves a terrible disservice by ignoring their best hope for the future (and what a scary future it looks to be, more and more, by the year) by not using all the hype and pizzazz to market and parade the names they NEED to carry the future out in front of the public.
Wrestling came from the carnival circuit, yet WWE seems to have forgotten that one important rule - you have to put something out there to draw people into the tent. By not putting some of the other talents that they NEED to be stars when Dwayne Johnson goes off to sell the next movie and Undertaker retires, they are bleeding out their own potential future earnings....and to not do that with the WWE champion, of ALL people, is downright sad, especially when his CHALLENGER is being used to promote the damn show.
Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com. He suggests The Last Outlaw by Stan Hansen and Scott Teal for your reading pleasure.
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