It's no secret how much the WWE product is struggling right now. The promotion is setting record low ratings and the general consensus about the product is that fans are fed up with the bad writing on the main roster.
Former WWE World Heavyweight champion Jake Hager, who’s coming off a momentum building win at Bellator 221, understands the problems going on with the company and speaking to Pro Wrestling 24/7, believes that the WWE needs to change their overall business model (transcript courtesy of
wrestlinginc.com):
"Well to me it's like how many weeks in a row can you provide five hours, six hours of wrestling contests truly entertaining? You can only sustain that for so long so I think they need to change their model," revealed Swagger.
"I think they need to move into a season - start at SummerSlam, end at WrestleMania and then have that time off where you can refresh everything or restart everything.
"I know Vince doesn't like that because he wants to be working and making money, but it's incredibly tough to put out compelling and entertaining content that you haven't seen and honestly you've seen everything that they're doing right now. So, it is what it is so maybe it will change or maybe they don't care and they go their network and will just keep doing what they do."
Despite hearing rumors about USA and Fox wanting Vince McMahon to make changes in response to the declining ratings, The WWE Chairman always has the final say in the programming, according to the former WWE superstar:
"I know they're writing the checks," Swagger said of the TV networks,
"but at the same time Vince is Vince and he really is the head honcho. We've always said yeah we have millions of fans watching us, but as a performer you're performing for the audience of one and that's him."
Check out the full interview where Hager talks about more changes he would make to the WWE product, his MMA career, and much more.