I always bring this up as an example of how the over producing of matches hurts WWE from an in ring story telling perspective. Which is just as important as technical ability I agree, but WWE gets more wrong than even many indies where the guys put the match together on their own but at PWG Owens (who I feel has some of the stronger matches typically) had a match with Tozawa (a Cruiserweight nobody now) that told a better story than even the best Owens match in WWE. A lot of the WWE's problem is micromanaging every aspect from the words that come out of their performers mouths, announcers, to the matches themselves. The performers feel less "badass" and rebellious because the show itself is based around how the corporate entity is more important, a bigger star, gets the coolest entrances, than the geeks busting their ass every day.
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WWE Raw Ratings: Viewership Hits Record Low
- Thread starter DMczaf
- Start date
The Faceless Master
Member
i was watching basketball
Marvel
could never
I don't like em either and I live here lol
There's still some really really good/entertaining shit going on, with guys like Styles and Nakamura, so it's worth paying attention to sometimes. Like, the in-ring talent level is probably the best it's ever been in WWE history. (with promos being terrible since everyone is heavily scripted and almost no one gets the chance to show off their charisma and get over on their own like people used to be able to do)
The problem is you have to sift through a ridiculous amount of garbage and stupid shit to get to it, so it's usually better to dip out for months at a time then come back every so often and see what good matches/angles you missed, watch those, quit again and repeat.
Host Samurai
Member
Didn't watch and yes Roman being pushed to the moon is the main reason. Wake me up when Fin or Nak are the faces of the company.
Its a shame too, because it can be really good right now. This is the best roster since 2002/04 since all the old guard left.
Its a shame too, because it can be really good right now. This is the best roster since 2002/04 since all the old guard left.
Professor Beef
Banned
enjoy your coma
BewareTheBatsie
Member
The IC title is currently the main title focus where it's been defended like twice since it's been won and it was won in January. Add that to the fact there's repeat feuds everywhere, it was pre taped and this isn't shocking at all.
Flying Toaster
Member
Not happening anytime soon. Roman is going to be around till Vince finds a new toy.
There's zero point in watching the weekly shows, nothing of substance ever seems to happen. They'll show you so many recaps during the PPV events you'll be up to speed in no time
I've stopped watching Raw recently, and I gave up my network sub after Wrestlemania. The in-ring product has never been better, but everything else is so tired. Constantly referring to wrestlers (sorry, WWE Superstars!) by their nicknames sounds horrendous. The Big Dog, The Artist Known As, The Showstopper, The Lunatic Fringe... on and on
I've stopped watching Raw recently, and I gave up my network sub after Wrestlemania. The in-ring product has never been better, but everything else is so tired. Constantly referring to wrestlers (sorry, WWE Superstars!) by their nicknames sounds horrendous. The Big Dog, The Artist Known As, The Showstopper, The Lunatic Fringe... on and on
I tried watching it again on Monday. Super awful. Everyone looks tiny and the matches look like synchronized acrobatics instead of fights. And what's up with the dead crowds? Is the night after 'Mania the only time you see a hot crowd anymore?
Oh well. Alex Bliss is daf so there's that...Miz ain't too bad these days, either.
Oh well. Alex Bliss is daf so there's that...Miz ain't too bad these days, either.
Fast Forward
Member
Yeah, at this rate, third hour will be hitting below a 2.0 come this year's football season.
Yeah man when Miz does those (horrible) kicks and 3'2" Bliss does her literally acrobatic spots totally on point with your points of how the matches come off as now
I was more referring to the longterm ratings development, e.g. since 2006, when I referred to the steadiness of Raw. That show made it through hard times better than a lot of traditional TV until recent years.
It was with Rollins and I thought it was a pretty solid tv match.
BewareTheBatsie
Member
I think you mean Seth. And yeah Joe vs Seth has had barely any heat towards it.
crimzonflame
Member
I've been saying this for ages now but their writing needs to be more anime.
Killing_Joke
Member
So RAW hits a record low but still took the #2 cable show spot? This just tells me TV overall is shit now a days.
Yeah man when Miz does those (horrible) kicks and 3'2" Bliss does her literally acrobatic spots totally on point with your points of how the matches come off as now
I didn't say they were good wrestlers 😂
Alex Bliss is good on the mic and fuckin hot. Same with Miz on the mic and how he sells his gimmick.
njean777
Member
I stopped watching it. I haven't watched anything other than payback and the only reason I watched that was that I paid for it before my wwe network sub ran out. Even during payback I turned it all the way down and played dark souls at the same time. I have lost all interest in the product.
To be fair Miz was a participant in one of WWE's better matches of the year last week on Raw. I implore anyone that hates WWE these days to watch the good stuff like that main event.
Into the Light
Banned
How about
A direct correlation between the 18-35 male demo and a show that is written for 5th graders..........How bout dat.
Oh TJ Perkins, remember when your Nintendo 64 broke, and I bought you a new one.
Jesus Christ..........
Master Thespian
Member
The actual wrestling in WWE is the best it's ever been
Problem is that actual wrestling is by far the least important part of wrestling. Characters, promos, booking, commentary, length of shows...literally everything else sucks by and large.
if you like flippy acrobatics.
Problem is that actual wrestling is by far the least important part of wrestling. Characters, promos, booking, commentary, length of shows...literally everything else sucks by and large.
Mechanized
Member
I dunno how anyone can still regularly watch wwe. Shit is depressing. It's bad and it's gonna stay that way until Vince is gone. Shame since it has some of the best talent in wrestling history right now. Going to waste, but still.
Hidden One
Member
Smackdown will definitely have higher ratings than RAW tonight right guys!?
Uno Venova
Banned
That's what you get for fucking up Samoa Joe.
When you remove the commercial breaks alone you are left with only 2:10 minutes of Raw including the overrun. So they really only cut 40 minutes from the actual show.
Best part of it all is how WWE loves to bury it's head in the sand whenever problems are brought up.
Bring up the constantly dropping ratings? "Ratings don't matter! It's all about Network sale/online traffic/whatever else we pretend is important!"
Bring up the criticism over the terrible booking? "Wins and losses don't matter! Even though we never let Roman lose clean and we never let Bray win a feud!"
Bring up literally any issue with the company right now? "Well fans don't mind that stuff! They actually care about something else that is also just as bad but we pretend isn't either!"
Bring up the constantly dropping ratings? "Ratings don't matter! It's all about Network sale/online traffic/whatever else we pretend is important!"
Bring up the criticism over the terrible booking? "Wins and losses don't matter! Even though we never let Roman lose clean and we never let Bray win a feud!"
Bring up literally any issue with the company right now? "Well fans don't mind that stuff! They actually care about something else that is also just as bad but we pretend isn't either!"
KenzinFive
Member
My thought process last night was literally "I wonder if I should watch Raw" to "Oh there's spoilers because they're in the UK" to "This looks boring as shit" to "So much for watching".
I would have actually tuned in if the spoilers mentioned something interesting. Instead, all it spoiled was that it would be an even-more pointless Raw than usual.
I have to imagine the spoilers being so readily available plus the utter boredom they spoiled causes at least some of the drop.
I would have actually tuned in if the spoilers mentioned something interesting. Instead, all it spoiled was that it would be an even-more pointless Raw than usual.
I have to imagine the spoilers being so readily available plus the utter boredom they spoiled causes at least some of the drop.
so did upn get rid of smackdown or did the wwe sign with somebody else because they offered more money? seems like a bad move to get off regular tv when people are cord cutting and you now depend exclusively on cable ratings to survive. the upn show probably brought in many new wrestling fans.
PHOENIXZERO
Member
Titles don't mean anything and haven't for nearly 20 years, they're treated like the props they are. Rules don't mean anything, they pick and choose when to enforce them and have all but killed heel psychology along with it. Almost no one can be a true, drawing heel anymore in WWE because heels and everything that goes into it has been completely neutered and WWE still wants to trot them out for their PR campaigns. The guy who gets the biggest heel reactions in the company is the guy they're position to be the new face of the company despite the outright rejection of him. Vince doesn't care because they can go on and spin everything the way they want to.
They all but tell you every week that "shit's fake" and it doesn't probably help that there's a great level of contempt they hold for their audience.
Nobody is really positioned to be a draw out side a small handpicked few, for years WWE has been working towards making their brand(s) the draw instead of the talent themselves and pretty much punishing anyone else who gets over on their own without the influence of someone in the back and where WWE is now is the end result of that. Ambrose could've been something greater than what he is but the dude just stopped caring and has became complacent.
Top it off, no one in charge of that company seems to care because they're making record profits even though if they did care profitability would be greater.
UPN merged with the WB to form The CW and they took on the TV deal which wasn't renewed by the Dawn Ostroff lead CW regime despite Smackdown being far and away the highest rated show on the network (and for years now the current CW management has struggled to shake the network image Ostroff created) so Smackdown got put on USA's sister network SyFy for a few years before it also got moved to USA to pad their viewership average.
The current boss of USA and former boss of Sci-Fi (and maybe she's the boss of both now don't remember) is Bonnie Hammer and she's WWE's current money mark. If she's ever out of power at the USA Network WWE could be fucked.
They all but tell you every week that "shit's fake" and it doesn't probably help that there's a great level of contempt they hold for their audience.
Nobody is really positioned to be a draw out side a small handpicked few, for years WWE has been working towards making their brand(s) the draw instead of the talent themselves and pretty much punishing anyone else who gets over on their own without the influence of someone in the back and where WWE is now is the end result of that. Ambrose could've been something greater than what he is but the dude just stopped caring and has became complacent.
Top it off, no one in charge of that company seems to care because they're making record profits even though if they did care profitability would be greater.
UPN merged with the WB to form The CW and they took on the TV deal which wasn't renewed by the Dawn Ostroff lead CW regime despite Smackdown being far and away the highest rated show on the network (and for years now the current CW management has struggled to shake the network image Ostroff created) so Smackdown got put on USA's sister network SyFy for a few years before it also got moved to USA to pad their viewership average.
The current boss of USA and former boss of Sci-Fi (and maybe she's the boss of both now don't remember) is Bonnie Hammer and she's WWE's current money mark. If she's ever out of power at the USA Network WWE could be fucked.
mightynine
Member
At the end, The CW was aimed at females and they weren't interested in a predominately male show.
BlazinSkatinAxel
Member
I'm not watching pretaped WWE.
PHOENIXZERO
Member
Oh yeah, despite all those free months of the WWE Network they've given away they're still not even close to their original subscription goals.
This is a couple years old but lol
WWE Network can get 3-4 million subscribers: Exec
Probably won't ever happen because they're making too much money off that third hour.
This is a couple years old but lol
WWE Network can get 3-4 million subscribers: Exec
Probably won't ever happen because they're making too much money off that third hour.