I'm seriously losing interest in WWE

I’m in the same boat. Between YouTube and other streaming services (albeit not as high quality as the Network) I’ve been watching everything but the main product. It’s formulaic and doesn’t feel like you’re getting anything in return for your time. I’ve been following NXT and NJPW, as well as Stardom. There are also so many great Indies (Beyond Wrestling, Chikara, MLW, GCW).

Week is extra rough recently.

I’d place a lot of the blame on the 8000 hours of tv every week.

Personally, i put the blame on the fans, especially does like us that like to be arm chair quarterback and critics every single move they make. The fact is, We don’t know what we want most of the time, We want Bobby Roode to be a heel, yet when he was doing the exact thing in NXT, everybody was cheering for him which made him a automatic babyface so when it was his time to get called up, they just put him in that babyface role because he was a failure as a heel.

And this happened a lot with The more hardcore wrestling fans, they don’t react the same way normal wrestling fans do, they react bases on who they know and respect instead of what the characters are which would cause anybody in charge of a major wrestling company problem to book bases on what fans want. So they play it safe and book bases on what sales and which who they can make money with which is way easier that trying to understand us fans since we are so unstable that you can make long term plans with us.

The product suffers because of this in my opinion, The fans especially us smart fans think we know better then them and we are more important then the wrestlers in the ring which makes for some horrible show on tv and makes it harder for creative to actually have something good for a show. But i don’t want to put the blame solely on us, Creative need to found a way to make the Shows especially Raw feel less like a chores, i feel if you could have a good mix between comedy segments and serious matches it would help Raw feel less like a chores every week.

For example, the last 2 weeks of Raw, my favorites segments we’re the BBQ segment, The tag team battle royal and the curt hawkins match, Reason being, they we’re the only segments that actually weren’t taking themselves seriously and we’re just plain comedy instead of being long 2 or 3 segments matches that will bored any regular wrestling fans. WWE as never being a wrestling company and never will, it’s a entertainment company and they need to back to what made them what they we’re in the 80’s and 90’s especially if they to continue with this Pg Era stuff. I’m not saying create over the top characters but i’m saying just Stop creating generic wrestlers that all look and sound the same. Stop being what you never we’re. stop trying to be a wrestling company and go back to being a sports entertainment company.

Don’t be scared to use enhancement matches on Raw, they have enough time on that show to do it and you can advance a feud with thoses matches as well by shooting a angle during or after the match. Also it help the lower card wrestler to a) actually look like a superstar, and b) look credible when face with a higher ranked superstar. That how they would do it back in the day and that’s why Koko B. Ware was as popular as he was even if he was a glorified jobber.

In the end, WWE is boring for so many reason right now. We all have a part in what’S happening right because we accepted what they we’re doing. The only way something will change is if the hardcore base decided to stop going to tv tapings and PPV because right now they know that no matter what they do, they we will show up so it doesn’t matter to them and will go and create a family friendly product that regular fans will like and we are still going to bitch and moan about how bad the product is or how boring the product is nothing will change because they will still be making a ton of money of that boring product that we hate and they will take it as a sign that they don’T need to change anything.

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As long as you don’t watch it live and you can skip bad wrestling moments, it’s bearable.

Victim blaming…

In an endeavor like WWE, the fans are never wrong. An isolated group of fans can be wrong (i.e. chanting for Enzo, the jagoffs at Raw after Mania) but the “the WWE Universe” as a whole cannot be wrong, or at least, very rarely can be wrong. For example, if somebody who is supposed to be getting booed or cheered is consistently getting the opposite reaction or no reaction at all, it’s up to the creative and the performer to adapt. Do something to change the reaction or do something to change the character.

All of WWE is essentially a TV show. Like any show, there can be “episodes” or certain creative decisions that the fans don’t love, but in the long-term, if the on-screen product consistently fails to pay off in a way that satisfies the majority of the fan base, that fan base is going to shrink.

One of the favored counter-arguments to fan frustration is the rising stock price, rising profits and, recently, the new, huge TV deals on the horizon for Raw and Smackdown. And I understand these arguments from WWE’s perspective. But as a fan, I also don’t have to give shit about their profits for the same reason that I don’t have to think that Avatar is a good movie just because it made a billion dollars. Ultimately, WWE is going to do whatever it thinks is best, and it’s way more likely that I’ll stop watching (or severely cut back on watching) than that they’ll change to the product that I want. And if my singular fandom is representative of a large portion of fans, maybe that enacts change. And if my fandom is representative of nothing, then it won’t. But that’s what being a fan is. I have a stupid investment in what the people pretending to fight do on my TV screen, and as long as I’m not being overly disruptive, disrespectful or irrational about it, I have a right to voice those opinions in the crowd, on the Internet, with my money and with my TV viewing habits.

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You brought up a good point but at the same time, what do you do if a guy doesn’t get the reaction you want but yet merchandise figures tells another story. Do you risk losing all that merch money to please a part of your audience or do you keep the course? That’s what WWE is face with on a regular bases. WWE is more of a entertainment company then anything else now. that’s what they are selling and it’s seem to work since they are making more money then ever before and that’s not just with some of the business deal they have made and sponsors but also from fans buying tickets and merchandise. So while, we might not like the product right now and it’s true that the product sucks right now but we are still going to show up everytime they come to town for a tv taping or a network special because we like to complain about the WWE and we like to play armchair quarterback. That’s the role of a WWE fans especially the smart section of the universe.

I wrote that earlier in that thread but WWE can’t really go on how fans react to certain characters anymore because every fans reacts differently in every market. Reigns might get overly hated in a smart market like chicago, St Louis or New york but get cheered in Houston. he might get booed on Tv but at live events fans love him. So how can you adapted the product to the fans reaction when the fans reaction change everytime depending on the situation? so you just play it safe and that give you the boring product you have right now because they can’t push the envelops anymore since they are a publicly traded company and while i would love to see them return to what they did in the 80’s and early 90’s, it wouldn’t work either because it would be look at as to cheesy. So in the end, since they really can’t take any risk anymore, they will do what’s best for business and right now, it’s putting on this safe product that’s not going to get them into trouble and will make them a tone of money in the process. We might not care about the business side of WWE but if it wasn’t for that side, we wouldn’t have a WWE to complain about on a regular bases.

How are people who voluntarily watch “victims”?

That kind of hyperbole doesn’t work.

Woosh

Yeah pretend it’s a high concept joke…still doesn’t work.

Your premise was people watching being a victim…which doesn’t work because you choose to watch. Victims don’t choose their fate.

Your joke bombed.

My goodness

Could someone in your family send me a private message and explain what goes on in your head. I’ve come to the conclusion you can’t help it but I don’t know what to do with you.

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That’s a good point. Cena, Reigns and certain eras for Hogan (1992-95 or so) are the only times I can think of where a guy got consistently jeered by crowds but still sold the most merch, and they’ve pretty much stayed the course for as long as possible in all three cases.

To me, this goes back to the “I don’t have to care about their finances” part of being a fan. WWE will choose to alienate a section of their fanbase (even a vocal one) to keep that merch money rolling in, because they know that section is very unlikely to stop watching. It’s a calculated risk that has proven to be worth taking from a financial standpoint.

I have known a lot of women who make bad choices in the men they date and even had one tell me “He only does it cause he loves me” when talking about him hitting her. So I guess none of them are “VICTIMS” cause they voluntarily got into these relationships.

Your logic is not valid

I think the logic that’s not valid is comparing watching WWE programming to domestic abuse! That’s a huge jump. While I disagree Psykohurricane’s initial position that the fans are to blame for WWE’s programming, there’s a way to discuss it without blowing his and your arguments completely out of proportion.

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I have given up on Raw, I just listen to Rewind-a-Raw each week to keep up each week. Smackdown I will watch the first 30 minutes each week to see what is slated for the night and make a decision at the time. NXT I tend to let them collect and watch 2-3 episodes at a time, and I fast-forward through some of the less-exciting matches.

I was very much into Wrestling when I decided to give it another shot, in October 2017. I watched all backlog PPV’s from earlier in 2017, but the honeymoon phase ended and I don’t enjoy WWE’s product as much. I will continue to watch PPV’s and follow feuds of my favourite superstars (i.e., AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura)

I think the Women’s division minus a few standouts are boring, the feuds are filler and for some reason female superstars that felt awesome when I started watching again in October seem lost in the fray. Asuka, Becky, Naomi, they were all solid stars and now feel deflated.

But I dedicate most of my attention now to NJPW, the format is more my style.

Doesn’t save the guys “joke” regardless.

You aren’t the only one. I still plan to “watch” it (as in have it on the TV, while I play games on my phone).

Yeesh

Calm down. You don’t get jokes. It’s cool, but that’s your own fucking issue. Leave me out of it.

Considering the fact that I and nobody else quoted you on your lame joke for how many posts was leaving you out of it.

Let it go pal, you’re going to break your phone.

Doesn’t seem like it.

Is there a new patreon level I can pay for to have this troglodyte stop obsessing over me?