The WWE has now enjoyed a few years of dominance over the professional wrestling industry and has also had to cope with the unforeseen problems it brought. When WCW was finally quashed, the wrestling world became awash with talent that could be separated into two distinct categories.

1. Many wrestlers on the WCW and ECW rosters always aimed for a WWE contract once they knew the Monday night wars were lost. These particular people simply wanted to continue their career in the spotlight and had no preference as to whether they worked for Bischoff, Heyman or McMahon. Wrestlers that fit this mold are big names such as Booker T and Rob Van Dam

2. The other wrestlers were those that held particular grudges against the WWE/Vince McMahon for whatever reason and never wanted to work there. Having said that, many wrestlers in this category did end up with the WWE, if only for a very limited time. The most notable anti-WWE names are Bill Goldberg and Sting.

So when the WWE brought all these free agents onto their payroll, they thought their problems were over. We could finally see real mega showdowns along the lines of The Rock v Hulk Hogan which could satisfy even the sternest of armchair experts.

That was not to be, and the talent pool simply became very diluted. Former World Champions and brilliant young talent were completely wasted or at the very worst relegated to Sunday Night Heat.

In a panic, the WWE decided to split the brands into RAW and Smackdown. Later on, after a series of very successful pay-per-views the ECW brand was reinvented and became a third brand whereupon the WWE could recreate the feel of competition between brands that wrestling so sorely needed.

The future of the WWE now lies with the writers. Fans can be gained in the short term by bringing in celebrities (Kevin Federline) or returning big names (DX, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin) but the ultimate fate of the WWE will depend on their ability to retain their loyal fans and more importantly, gain new fans. Quality of programming has improved dramatically since the birth and continued success of TNA. The WWE needs genuine competition to stay on its toes and keep the fans coming back for more. Those new to wrestling will no doubt enjoy the current spectacle, but those of us who enjoyed the fantastic storylines of the Attitude era or the superb match quality of the Hogan v Andre days can only wait and hope the WWE finds it's muse once again.

Learn more about this author, James Potter.
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