10 Biggest Changes To WWE In 2021

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What do you think the biggest change to WWE in 2021 was? Let us know in the comments! 10 Biggest Changes To WWE In 2021 #Wrestling #Top10 #WWE  SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/

Transcript

00:00 If you thought 2020 was crazy for both the world and wrestling, then 2021 was like 'hold

00:06 my beer because…

00:07 HAHA THE MRS WWE CHAMPION!

00:10 Go home WWE, you're drunk.

00:13 Drunk on profit.

00:14 Somehow this company has made more money than anything in the Universe ever this year, despite

00:19 making some of the most baffling changes in its history.

00:22 Some onscreen, others more in the behind the scenes business operations.

00:27 Others more silent and deadly than your uncle's post-turkey feast Windy Pops.

00:30 That's right, 2021 is nearly over.

00:33 Which means it's time to look back at the year that was.

00:36 So get ready to say 'no, no way that only happened 8 months ago'.

00:40 Because I'm Oli Davis, hailing from partsFUNknown, and these are the 10 biggest changes to WWE

00:47 in 2021.

00:48 We've got loads of end of year lists coming up, along with me vs Adam Blampied in our

00:53 twice in a lifetime fantasy booking warfare match.

00:56 So make sure to subscribe and enable notifications to always on to know first when that goes

01:01 live.

01:02 And superkick that thumbs up button and let me know what you think is the biggest change

01:06 WWE have made this year in the comments down below.

01:10 Because I'll be replying to people FROM OUTTA NOWHERE.

01:13 10.

01:14 Pay-per-views on Saturdays

01:16 For years, WWE's pay-per-view schedule has been locked into Sunday nights, making for

01:21 many sleepy Mondays at work.

01:23 Haha, I'll just sit in the toilet and play Merge the Numbers for an hour.

01:27 Take that, boss!

01:28 Oh goddammit, I'm the boss!

01:30 But in 2021, WWE announced it will be consistently experimenting with Saturday night pay-per-views.

01:37 August SummerSlam took place on a Saturday, making it the first non-WrestleMania pay-per-view

01:42 on that day in decades.

01:44 And it was a gamble that worked big, with ticket sales four times the gate of SummerSlam

01:49 2019 - we're not going to count SummerSlam 2020, because the gate for that was logging

01:54 in on Zoom.

01:55 But not only will WWE's first big event of the year, Day 1, also happen on Saturday

02:00 1st January, the 2022 Royal Rumble - at least one night of WrestleMania - and SummerSlam

02:06 2022 are also all scheduled for Saturdays.

02:10 WWE President Nick Khan has explained this is actually their new strategic approach to

02:15 pay-per-views, making it easier for travelling audiences to fly in and out of the host city,

02:21 with these big shows being held in stadiums over arenas.

02:24 And at least initially, it appears to be working big.

02:27 9.

02:28 The NXT Women's Tag Team Championships

02:31 You know what WWE's biggest problem is?

02:33 They need more belts.

02:35 They don't.

02:36 Have.

02:37 Enough.

02:38 Championship.

02:39 Belts.

02:40 And 2021 saw its newest title added, unveiling the NXT Women's Tag Team Championships in

02:46 February.

02:47 The titles were awarded to Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai, before immediately being lost

02:51 to Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart, which rather predictably set them up as one of the

02:56 lowest valued championships in the entire company.

02:59 It's also seemingly stopped the main roster's Women's Tag Team Championships from appearing

03:03 on NXT, despite that being part of their concept when they were first introduced in 2019.

03:09 8.

03:10 WWE lets talent out of non-compete clauses

03:13 Be careful what you wish for, WWE superstars.

03:16 For almost five years, wrestlers have often requested they be let go from the company,

03:21 either privately or publicly, so they can spread their grappling wings elsewhere.

03:26 In 2021, that wish - along with loads of other wrestlers who hadn't asked for their release

03:31 - was granted.

03:32 Amidst the mass roster cuts this year, some released talent were let out of their contractual

03:37 30-90 day non-compete clauses early.

03:40 What a kind company WWE is, doing a favour for the talent they just fired.

03:46 You see, WWE's non-compete clauses mean released talent can't appear for other promotions

03:51 for 90 days if you're a main roster performer, or 30 days if you were coming from NXT.

03:56 This has been their standard practice for years.

03:58 But in 2021, there were a few times where talent was granted an early out.

04:03 Like Fightful Select reporting, Chelsea Green was allowed to do her first appearance with

04:07 Ring of Honor early after being released from the company on April 15th.

04:12 7.

04:13 The future endeavourers get future endeavoured

04:15 WWE releasing loads of wrestlers was a running theme throughout 2021, but it wasn't just

04:21 on-screen talent who were let go.

04:23 The corporate staff were also heavily impacted, along with entire divisions being scrapped

04:28 or merged - like the combining of two different design departments - and several high-level

04:33 executives getting dismissed.

04:34 Two of the longest running key figures in WWE's talent relations sector were also

04:40 let go - Mark Carrano and Canyon Seaman.

04:46 Carrano was reportedly blamed for Mickie James being sent her belongings in a trash bag after

04:51 she was released and was shortly after fired himself, with the backstage reaction being

04:55 described as "unanimously positive".

04:58 Sounds like a popular guy.

05:00 Seaman, meanwhile, was rumoured to have been released when Adam Cole's contract ran out

05:06 and nobody noticed, prompting Seaman to get released.

05:13 But don't worry, John Laurinaitis is now the head of talent relations, after sporadically

05:17 holding that title between 2001 and 2012.

05:20 And with all that fresh-faced experience, he's taking the company back to the dark

05:24 ages because…

05:26 6.

05:27 WWE Changes Its Hiring Process

05:30 As Vince McMahon is determined to confirm that you cannot, in fact, teach an old dog

05:35 new tricks, WWE has drastically changed what it looks for in signing new talent.

05:41 Gone are the days of seeing Indy Darling suddenly appear in the crowd at TakeOver shows, because

05:45 the current hiring mission statement is to sign big, young guys who can one day main

05:51 event WrestleMania.

05:53 While this is a mindset more fitting of the 80s, early 90s and mid-to-late 00s, one that

05:58 was thought changed by the success of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan in WWE, this does kind of

06:03 make pragmatic sense.

06:06 WWE's NXT ultimately lost to AEW in the IndyStyle Wars, and Vince consistently botched

06:12 NXT call-ups to the main roster.

06:14 At least this way, we can see Brom Breaker get pushed right to the top.

06:18 Because they can't screw Brom Breaker up, right?

06:21 Right?!

06:22 End of AEW beating NXT.

06:24 5.

06:25 See you next Tuesday NXT.

06:28 War.

06:29 Huh.

06:30 What is it good for?

06:32 Forcing WWE's third brand to be moved to a different day.

06:35 Say it again!

06:37 After counter-scheduling AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights for a year and a half, WWE and the

06:42 USA Network finally threw in the towel in April 2021.

06:46 After NXT TakeOver Stand and Deliver, NXT moved to Tuesday nights, where viewership

06:52 has remained pretty much consistent from before, but AEW's has soared thanks to fans returning,

06:57 big signees and, arguably, now running unopposed on Wednesdays.

07:02 It was around this time that Vince McMahon, Nick Khan and Bruce Prichard made a rare visit

07:07 to the Performance Center, where everyone was reportedly reassured about the future

07:11 of the brand and thought nothing would happen to it.

07:16 4.

07:17 NXT 2.0, psych!

07:19 While the move to Tuesday signalled the end of the Wednesday Night Wars, Triple H still

07:23 had plans for his NXT-verse, or whatever it was he called it, reportedly keen to enhance

07:28 the Cruiserweights role in the show.

07:30 But NXT TakeOver 36 signalled the end of NXT as we knew it.

07:35 Vince McMahon does not like losing, and NXT lost, and lost hard to AEW.

07:41 So Vince took Hunter's prize toy from him and gave it a midlife crisis, fancy new colourful

07:47 logo, a focus on young sexualised women, and even a new name.

07:51 My Uncle Steve pulling up to Sunday dinner on a motorcycle with jet black hair and a

07:56 new 21-year-old girlfriend was more subtle than this.

07:59 NXT 2.0 debuted on September 14th, and featured a new venue, all the colour, and tons of new

08:06 stars.

08:07 The show is NXT in name only at this point, with NXT 2.0 very much maintaining a more

08:13 main roster feel, replacing long modern style matches with comedy skits and characters who

08:19 feel more at home in 1995 WWF.

08:21 They've even dropped the TakeOver name for pay-per-views, and the existing old guard

08:27 of Johnny Gargano and Kyle O'Reilly could join Adam Cole on the way out by the end of

08:32 the year.

08:33 3.

08:34 The Return of Fans

08:36 But WWE wasn't all bad, because after well over a year in lockdown, with the majority

08:42 of that in the Thunderdome, arguably the most positive change to the company and wrestling

08:47 as a whole for 2021 was you.

08:51 Yes, you.

08:52 And me too, I guess.

08:53 The fans.

08:55 After WrestleMania 37 served as a brief reprieve from no-fans WWE shows, July's Money in

09:00 the Bank served as the proper relaunch of WWE's touring schedule, injecting the shows

09:06 with real, non-recorded life once again.

09:08 Not a lot of life once you reach the third hour of Raw each week, I grant you, but it's

09:13 still better than a thousand zoom windows staring at a ring.

09:16 2.

09:17 WWE Network is Peacock

09:20 In one of the biggest deals in the company's history, masterminded by negotiator extraordinaire

09:25 Nick Khan, WWE announced early in 2021 that they would be moving the WWE Network to Peacock,

09:32 NBC's streaming service, as of the 18th March.

09:36 While this move didn't go well from a user perspective at first, with many early complaints

09:40 about the features of Peacock Premium being nowhere near as good as the Network, lacking

09:45 several of the standard functions you would expect to see on a streaming service like,

09:49 you know, a pause button, this change was worth a huge $1 billion, and marks the biggest

09:57 strategic change for WWE and the Network since its launch in 2014.

10:02 Expect to see the rights to the Network come up every five years from now on, just like

10:06 how the first broadcast rights to Raw and SmackDown are contested over.

10:10 You can say many things about WWE, but in regards to streaming, Vince McMahon has been

10:15 a visionary - first foreseeing the market shift way before other companies, and then

10:19 also realising when it's time to make deals with the bigger networks.

10:24 Expect many other smaller streaming platforms to follow this same route in the next five

10:28 years, and just like pay-per-view, Vince did it first.

10:32 1.

10:33 All of the releases

10:35 Bobby Fish Mercedes Martinez

10:38 Leon Ruff Bronson Reed

10:40 Jake Atlas Bray Wyatt

10:42 Killian Dain Lars Sullivan

10:44 Andrade Billy Kay Peyton Royce

10:46 Braun Strowman Lana

10:48 Buddy Murphy Aleister Black

10:50 Ruby Riott Nia Jax

10:53 Mia Yim Keith Lee

10:55 Karrion Kross B-Fab Ember Moon

10:58 Frankie Monet Scarlett Bordeaux

11:00 Top Dolla Isiah Swerve Scott

11:03 Tegan Nox Those are just some of the names released

11:07 this year.

11:08 And WWE really don't think there's a young star in there that could main event a WrestleMania?

11:13 Braun and Bray already kinda did.

11:16 While the biggest corporate shift is licensing the Network to another platform, the decision

11:20 to ruthlessly fire over 80 wrestlers this year marks the most harshly felt change.

11:26 Not just for the fans who got behind every one of those names and more, but for the people

11:31 who suddenly lost their jobs before their contract was up.

11:34 For the people who moved across country, uprooted families so they could work for the biggest

11:40 wrestling player in town.

11:42 Who were then fired at a time when said biggest wrestling player in town was making more money

11:47 than it had ever done before, while the outside wrestling world still hadn't recovered from

11:53 the pandemic's lockdown.

11:55 WWE firing so many wrestlers this year marks a significant change in strategy from 2018,

12:00 where they signed and hoarded talent to keep them away from competitors like New Japan

12:05 and then AEW - flooding the market with free agents, severely reducing the amount they

12:11 can charge for dates.

12:12 It's a decision not just felt onscreen with the thinning star power, backstage for wrestlers

12:17 worried they could lose their jobs at any moment, but also for the fans - many of whom

12:23 have decided they no longer want to support a company that behaves like this.

12:28 Well that was a cheery end to the list.

12:30 It's been a rough year, people, so please subscribe to partsFUNknown and share this

12:35 video around.

12:36 And let me know what you think is the biggest change to WWE in 2021 in the comments.

12:40 Check out our other videos on PFK, I've been Oli Davis, Jam That Jam.

12:45 (gentle music)

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