• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

WWE Raw drops to lowest TV rating in 18 years

Status
Not open for further replies.

yuraya

Member
I think about this a lot... whether or not that stuff stands the test of time.

back in 98, sable teasing her tits on TV was a pretty novel concept, especially if you were a kid. not many had the internet, and there was no way to get your hands on a playboy, let alone a porn video.

today, anyone can google tits. most kids have a fucking supercomputer in their pocket and full length hd porn videos are a few taps away. does a female wrestler in lingerie teasing nudity work in 2015? I don't think it does, at least not as much as it did in the late 90s.

profanity can bring intensity to a promo, but again, it's not as shocking as it was back in the day. hearing profanity bleeped out on tv back in the late 90s was exciting! it's why springer was popular, and the attitude era took advantage of that. they were breaking rules! today, thanks to youtube, any kid can watch the angry video game nerd talking about fucking diarrhea shit. isn't pewdiepie the most subscribed youtuber? dude cusses all the time.

in the late 90s, the audience wanted a certain product. WWF supplied that (as did WCW), and it was rewarded with big time ratings. I don't think you can just copy and paste late 90s sensibilities, present them in 2015, and expect things to be good. you have to give the audience what they want. today's audience. personally, I think NXT nails it. new japan does as well, to an extent. straight forward storytelling and hard hitting matches. it's not as hard as wwe is making it seem.

But its not just about giving the fans what they want based on current culture. Its also about building up the wrestlers. Back in the day Austin and Rock became the biggest guys in the business because they were able to say the word "ass" twenty times per night. They gave the middle finger to everyone including the crowd. As a result they became household names. There is nothing of the sort today.

Today Cena is allowed to say the word "bitch" like once every 6 months and all the 7 year olds go crazy. That is about as much as Vince allows.

I also disagree about the sex and internet stuff. Lana is a good example of that. The crowd cheers her name a lot and the only thing she's ever done over the past year is throw her shoes into the ring. If today was the 90s she alone would probably double the ratings hehe ;)
 

Owzers

Member
They kept up the authority dynamic too long without really going anywhere, I started watching the events again because of the wwe network but I lose interest in regular shows.
 
But its not just about giving the fans what they want based on current culture. Its also about building up the wrestlers. Back in the day Austin and Rock became the biggest guys in the business because they were able to say the word "ass" twenty times per night. They gave the middle finger to everyone including the crowd. As a result they became household names. There is nothing of the sort today.

Today Cena is allowed to say the word "bitch" like once every 6 months and all the 7 year olds go crazy. That is about as much as Vince allows.

I also disagree about the sex and internet stuff. Lana is a good example of that. The crowd cheers her name a lot and the only thing she's ever done over the past year is throw her shoes into the ring. If today was the 90s she alone would probably double the ratings hehe ;)

this post is amazing

that being said, anytime Punk went out of his way to say "bitch" (or nowdays it seems the most frequent offender is Roman) I cringe.
 
But its not just about giving the fans what they want based on current culture. Its also about building up the wrestlers. Back in the day Austin and Rock became the biggest guys in the business because they were able to say the word "ass" twenty times per night. They gave the middle finger to everyone including the crowd. As a result they became household names. There is nothing of the sort today.

Today Cena is allowed to say the word "bitch" like once every 6 months and all the 7 year olds go crazy. That is about as much as Vince allows.

I also disagree about the sex and internet stuff. Lana is a good example of that. The crowd cheers her name a lot and the only thing she's ever done over the past year is throw her shoes into the ring. If today was the 90s she alone would probably double the ratings hehe ;)
More cringe than pro wrestling.
 

Forkball

Member
6YVgwhP.gif


The show is just boring. Even reading the synopsis is dull. There are so many talented people on the roster, yet they are not doing anything interesting with them at all. Let's look at some of the current storylines.

Rollins: Currently in a feud with a 50 year old wrestler whose gimmick is a split personality disorder. One of the personalities is a demon.
Lesnar: Seriously just dicking around until Wrestlemania.
Big Show: A man who has probably lost clean to everyone on the roster at some point is allegedly the biggest threat to Lesnar, whom nearly crippled Show in a five minute squash match a year ago.
Cena: Fighting champion, actually one of the most interesting storylines he's done in a while, but now he's taking a break.
Sheamus: Has the MitB, may or may not cash it in at some time
Orton: I seriously have no idea what he's doing. Is he feuding with Sheamus?
Romans/Wyatt: Wyatt hates Reigns because he's the chosen one or something? Wasn't there also a bit with his family? Why are they fighting again? They are also trying to get Braun Stroman over.
KO/Ryback: Fighting for reasons.
Rusev/Ziggler: Their storyline is lifted from a CW show about high school.
New Day: Fighting heroically to prevent the destruction of tables, but somehow they are the bad guys.
Neville vs. Cosmic Wasteland: This is supposed to be a superhero story, but only because people wear costumes and flip around.
Kane: In 2015

The following people are doing fuck all: Cesaro, Prime Time Players, Ambrose, Lucha Dragons, Miz, Jack Swagger, R-Truth, Zack Ryder, Damien Sandow

Still employed: Fandango, Curtis Axel, Los Matadors
 
Nah. It has nothing to do with "TV is dying". WWE was super hot right after WM30, and they fucking threw it all away with shit output since then.

I agree, but the WWE screwed it up at WM 30. Instead of putting the title on one of the stars of the #1 movie of the summer, the WWE instead put it around the waist of a brittle little man who never moved ratings, never drew PPV buys, never drew house shows, but got the fans to chant a simple phrase, ala Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
 

Pavaloo

Member
What do people honestly expect WWE to do with Sandow? Seriously. Apart from a successful cashin, he pretty much ran his course.

I think things have been going in a better direction but slowly I guess.
 
I still don't understand how back when they had 1 or two writers/bookers everyone had a storyline going on, now when they have a warehouse full of writers it seems they can't do anything. They write for the main event and then just put together a bunch of bullshit for everything else.
 
I agree, but the WWE screwed it up at WM 30. Instead of putting the title on one of the stars of the #1 movie of the summer, the WWE instead put it around the waist of a brittle little man who never moved ratings, never drew PPV buys, never drew house shows, but got the fans to chant a simple phrase, ala Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Screwed it up by having Undertaker lose to fucking Lesnar instead of Bryan or some one else he could pass the torch too.

Bryan winning was fine. This whole bringing wrestlers back and putting them in Championship matches is awful. They did it with Rock and it sucked. There is zero reason for Batista to be in the title match.
 
What do people honestly expect WWE to do with Sandow? Seriously.

I think things have been going in a better direction but slowly I guess.

Maybe address the fact that people were cheering for him constantly? Put him in a PPV angle with The Miz after he betrays him, and then put him in a more serious rising star role to see if the fans still enjoy him?

Instead they had The Big Show throw him out of the ring at WM31 and I don't think I've even seen him on TV since.

I personally don't see anything in Sandow, but the way they handled his storyline was BS. They didn't even try.

It's the same thing that happened with Bad News Barret. For some reason WWE's response to a wrestler getting super popular is to take them off TV for months and months and months and then repackage them into a boring gimmick and have them lose all the time.
 
I agree, but the WWE screwed it up at WM 30. Instead of putting the title on one of the stars of the #1 movie of the summer, the WWE instead put it around the waist of a brittle little man who never moved ratings, never drew PPV buys, never drew house shows, but got the fans to chant a simple phrase, ala Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_77624.shtml#.VQn2gI7F9jI

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_78083.shtml#.VQn1g47F9jI

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_78252.shtml#.VQn4gY7F9jI
 

Forkball

Member
What do people honestly expect WWE to do with Sandow? Seriously. Apart from a successful cashin, he pretty much ran his course.
Anything? I'm not saying he should get a world title push, but he has skills on the mic and could be doing SOMETHING. They've got three hours to fill, and it's not exactly jam packed with content.
 

Pavaloo

Member
You don't remember when he came back to raw with an impassioned speech thanking an apathetic audience? Or the subsequent raws where he was continuing to mimic others until settling on Randy Savage? Lol

His appearances stopped when the mega powers were disbanded due to hogans scandal. Him not being on TV since probably has to do with him not knowing what to do next
 

DJKhaled

Member
I agree, but the WWE screwed it up at WM 30. Instead of putting the title on one of the stars of the #1 movie of the summer, the WWE instead put it around the waist of a brittle little man who never moved ratings, never drew PPV buys, never drew house shows, but got the fans to chant a simple phrase, ala Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

I really can not stand trolls like you, what pleasure do you get from trolling?
 
Heenan called it, the business is dead. This is the last ghasp as it fades away. Something like wwe cannot function the same way it always has and expect to stay relevant. Hopefully Trips will get a shot at running everything before they go under.
 
You don't remember when he came back to raw with an impassioned speech thanking an apathetic audience? Or the subsequent raws where he was continuing to mimic others until settling on Randy Savage? Lol

His appearances stopped when the mega powers were disbanded due to hogans scandal. Him not being on TV since probably has to do with him not knowing what to do next


I don't remember that stuff happening. The only stuff I remember is him and the Miz being huge together and them constantly teasing a big betrayal moment where they'd make a big match out of it. Then WM31 happened and the rest is a blur because they clearly didn't give a shit or even try.

Also he doesn't know what to do next? Do you think wrestlers are in charge of their own storylines?
 

Pavaloo

Member
Okay well they gave Big Show the win at WM because it was the andre "the giant" battle royale, but whatever I can see why that would potentially bother someone. They did have their Miz versus Sandow match, but they had it on Raw after mania I think? If not the week after. They followed up by giving him a live mic on Raw for an unscripted promo. Mizdow wasn't going to be a thing for him in the beginning, but after it got a big reaction he stuck to it (after months of him dressing as a different character every week) he stuck with it. So anyway, live mic on Raw, gives a promo about how he got a lot of heat in the back from some of the boys for being a stunt double, but thanks the fans for rooting for him. The crowd wasn't too into it, but it got lame as he began to mimic the ring announcer/interviewer beside him at the time. Afterwards he got into a comedy segment with Curtis Axel and that eventually developed into Axel being Hogan and Sandow being Savage. Sandow afterwards went to twitter to task the fans if the new gimmick was a good idea.

I think they have given him plenty of good opportunities and I think they have a lot to do with their own gimmicks yes.
 
Not surprised, I tried getting into earlier this year beacuse of Wrasslegaf, watched it on and off for six months and that's all I could handle.
 
I really can not stand trolls like you, what pleasure do you get from trolling?

To be in wrasslegaf you have to immediately shit on people you were wild about five minutes ago once they get popular. Nothing genuine comes from that place.

I think they have a lot to do with their own gimmicks yes.

Not many wrestlers do. If you have the WWE Network watch the Table for 3 series with The New Day. They talk about how they wanted to do their own stuff for a long time but weren't allowed to and instead had to do a gimmick Vince McMahon came up with. It was only until that was proven to be such a huge failure that they were allowed to come up with their own stuff.
 
i watch it on hulu every week but I'm browsing the internet for most of the 90 minutes tbh. aside from new day everybody else has 0 humor, 0 charisma, 0 everything.

seth rollins is a great wrestler though but that's about it.
 
The need to let Sasha destroy all the Divas and give her the belt.

Let New Day do their thing and give Rusev a belt. Bring back Swagger. Bury Roman and Seth.
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Stephanie literally has no mind for the business. But she's daddy's little princess.
 

Pavaloo

Member
To be in wrasslegaf you have to immediately shit on people you were wild about five minutes ago once they get popular. Nothing genuine comes from that place.



Not many wrestlers do. If you have the WWE Network watch the Table for 3 series with The New Day. They talk about how they wanted to do their own stuff for a long time but weren't allowed to and instead had to do a gimmick Vince McMahon came up with. It was only until that was proven to be such a huge failure that they were allowed to come up with their own stuff.

Yeah I've seen it and I know their situation. Of course they were twisted by creative in the beginning and there's no doubt about that, but having the 3 of them form a stable in the first place was all their own doing (as they say on To3 and Jericho's podcast). Company would even let them test their group on house tours before they really had any restrictions, to build character and chemistry.

I don't think it's so cut and dry in every case, but with Sandow they clearly let him decide what he was doing after Mizdow (probably because none of them had come up with Mizdow in the first place. Like how New Day says now that they got themselves over they're allowed to write for themselves) and he didn't really know. There was only so far he could take his Blue Blood HHH character that has been done a million times. He's not interesting enough in the ring to look beyond his character. The stunt double thing was fun, but that can only go so far until it inevitably becomes him impersonating "_____" classic wrestler. If anything, he strikes me as someone who could use a run over at NXT.
 

Lothar

Banned
I keep seeing people say that and it is really confusing me.
Do some research.
Stephanie has no blame here.

She became the head writer the exact time the storylines became bad and nonexistent and ratings started falling. Coincidence?
 
The show doesn't need more edgy stuff. It just needs to be compelling and get people invested again. Its something that cant happen overnight. It will take months of good TV to get people to give it a second look again.

They have had sparks of that but WWE being WWE they screw it up after a single PPV. Every time they had something they screw it up within a matter of weeks. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, The NXT womens call up, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesner for the first 2 years after he returned.

Its been happening for years. Its a endless cycle.


Just look at Roman Reigns Lex Express style wrestlemania push as what WWE thinks people actually want as their main event guy. Or the wrestlemania before where the plan was for Randy Orton versus Batista and Daniel Bryan versus Shemaus before CM Punk quit and poured gasaline over the embers Daniel Bryan already had under him.
 
Stephanie is the one that decided to start hiring soap opera writers instead of people with a mind for the business for Raw when she became head writer. She deserves 100% blame.
 

Kacho

Member
I only tune in for the PPV's now. Fuck devoting three hours every Monday to watch truly terrible programing. What a waste of time.
 

hamchan

Member
How is anyone supposed to be a star these days when John Cena wins everything? John Cena just beat the current WWE Heavyweight champion. Why should we give a fuck about Seth as the champ when Cena can apparently get the title at anytime he wants, but apparently he just doesn't care enough to right now, so why should we?

It all comes back to Cena in the end and when he eventually retires or has to cut back because he works so hard right now, then the WWE will be even more screwed.
 

Suite Pee

Willing to learn
I've started to watch a bit again, but I cut the cord half a decade ago and pretty much only watch stuff on my dad's Network account.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom