Blandness sells, just ask McDonalds.
Actually, I´m not happy with the sarcastic comment I´ve made earlier, so here´s a real response.
1. Don´t you think you´re oversimplifying the issue here? The real reason why McDonald´s is succesful has more to do with a shrewd, highly aggressive business model that is centered around world-wide expansion. They were the first fast-food chain in almost every country in the world, they had a simple franchise model. In a world that gets faster by the day, people´s eating habits adapted. There are a lot of reasons why McDonald´s is succesful, and blandness isn´t one of them.
2. Moving away from this ridiculous comparison, a quick look at the current numbers (stocks, PPV sells, TV ratings) shows that the WWE is in decline. Considering their latest efforts to spark interest in their product with appearances of Rock, Stone Cold or HBK, I think it´s safe to say that they are aware of the issue and not happy about it. Blandness doesn´t spark interest, it´s simply the safest way to avoid adversity.
3. The most beloved figures in the WWE, historically and currently, are those who were able to stand out. From the Macho Man to the Rock to the Undertaker, these guys are anything but bland. Triple H, who you mentioned, became succesful on the back of one of the most controversial narratives in the history of wrestling, the Montreal Screwjob, and consequently, the Klique.
4. If your target group is the so-called "mainstream", of course you´ll have to be more or less bland, in some way. Ýou´re not succesful if you stand out, you´re succesful if you manage to be the least annoying. The thing is, the mainstream is not interested in wrestling. Those who are will watch, but you´re not generating interest in people who don´t. You´re not generating new markets. The numbers will be more or less stagnant. Everyone with even a small ounce of business sense knows that stagnation is actually a step backwards, especially if you´re at the stock market.
5. What propelled the WWE ahead of their competition back during the territory wars wasn´t their blandness, it was their focus on innovation. From things like TV exposure, PPV´s, cross-marketing and celebrities like Cindy Lauper or Mister T to Pyros and special effects, the WWE was different than their competition. Through all these years of their rise, the WWE stood for innovation, not for blandness. The one time the WWE felt too secure and wasn´t interested in innovating and improving their product and approach to the public (during the mid 90ies), they were losing their audience to the point that a rival promotion was able to overtake them in TV ratings and PPV sells.
6. Every sport in the world lives from controversies, tension and emotions. Wrestling may be scripted, and the WWE may call their business sports entertainment, but it can´t ignore the nature and roots of their business, which is competitve sports. There´s a reason why FIFA, the head organisation of the most popular sport in the world, doesn´t want too much technology in the sport and is even reluctant to assign a few more referees to their games, and it has nothing to with keeping the game accessible for the poor. It´s because humans make mistakes, and they know that a bad decision by a referee can spark more interest than the actual game.
It´s no surprise that basketball is the second most popular sport in the world, another sport which creates a lot of controversy through mistakes by their officials. It´s also no surprise that the NBA, the flagship of basketball, lost many viewers after implementing a long list of rules, specifically to eliminate controversy from the game after the infamous Palace Brawl. Make no mistake, the Brawl itself created a lot of buzz for the NBA, it was the consequences of how the NBA handled the aftermath that drove viewers away.
I can see no reason whatsoever that would suggest blandness indeed sells, quite the opposite. As I said above, it´s a way to avoid annoyance for the mainstream audience, and in that regard, it works. But what good is it to please a small fraction of the mainstream audience, if you lose the ability to generate new markets? If it wasn´t for the fact that the world is coming closer together, through globalization and the internet, the WWE would be in even bigger trouble than they are now, because they are not winning a new audience, they´re adding the same audience, just in a different part of the world, and thus, a different market. That model is not sustainable, in the long-term, and the WWE will realize this soon enough, in my opinion.
