Let’s not pretend that there were plenty of PPVs in the years leading up to the launch of the network which had awful builds, and plenty of matches left unannounced heading into the week of the show.
Agreed! Which we can look back and say this is why they wanted a revenue stream that wasn’t predicated on building/selling PPV events. So basically they left the PPV business to change their revenue model, and failed miserably. Bailed out entirely by the evolution of the TV landscape and rights fees.
I mean look at it this way, their total Network subscriber base is almost equal to who watches Raw. What exactly is the upside here? Where are they increasing subs and what is the value of selling these events to another platform when they steadily show lower engagement or interest.
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Ok who asked for shitty booking ?
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SmackDown’s Ruthless Aggression era was a lot more enjoyable week to week than the Attitude Era even though it didn’t have the same level of stars involved. Attitude Era is largely overrated.
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They gave up too much straight away by offering everything for 9.99 and now can’t go back (or they at least don’t think they can). Having they B-level “special events” as part of the standard subscription and having the big “special events” as PPV only would have made more sense.
Having too many themed special events needs to stop as well. These gimmick matches need to feel like they’re being announced out of nowhere which in turn makes the show that match is on feel more special. The way they have it now is just lazy which is probably why the booking is also lazy.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - WWE is not making new fans. Or at least the growth rate has slowed down to the lowest point ever.
Three hours on Monday. Two hours on Wednesday. Two hours on Friday. Three hour specials every month. Plus whatever other programming they have. They’ve been suffering from over-exposure for two decades, and there is no easy “jumping on” on point for new fans.
I feel like indies (well at least pre-pandemic) were on fire - because somebody could casually check out their local promotion once a month, get their fill, and have an awesome time. It didn’t take a major investment.
I feel like we are close to the network subscriber number outnumbering RAW viewers sooner than later. And that’s because so many old fans hold onto the Network for nostalgia viewing, whereas they don’t give a shit about the current product.
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The real answer to Raw’s viewership problems is getting rid of Vince, everything else is a band aid solution. But I guess one band aid solution could be to expand the roster size.
This comes up a lot on the shows, but there are usually so many fresh match ups on AEW and so many re-matches on WWE programming. The latest has been New Day vs The Hurt Business and the one before that, probably the worst feud of the year, The Street Profits vs Andrade and Angel Garza. I know it would suck, but I would just gut NXT as it’s only purpose is to keep out some viewers from AEW and they’re going to have the consistent over 50 number regardless. Undisputed Era, Pete Dunne/Oney/Danny, Johnny Gargano’s group, Rhea Ripley, Raquel Gonzales, Tomasso Ciampa and many more, the list can go on but I would leave NXT with the smaller roster and maybe try to get some of the warehouse wrestlers on the show. Turn it into ECW on Sci Fi. Again, yeah, this fucks over NXT, but NXT is toast anyway. The main focus should be the shows that the networks are paying big money for.
For as large as the WWE roster is, the brands are really small. The main issue with this idea that I can see is, does this just mean WWE sticks to the main 25 people per show a week like they always do just with more people on the show. The idea of cycling talent in and out and having fresh match ups every week could help, but they could just go back to what they feel comfortable with. It’s Vince, and as long as Vince is there, we haven’t seen rock bottom yet with viewership.
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That’s all it takes. No matter who will follow Vince, it cannot be worse than what they have now.
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They’d see an immediate bump by people willing to tune in to see what changes that’s for sure.
Oh yes definitely.
Nah, the answer is bringing back more Attitude Era guys to bury the main roster! Then put the belt on Goldberg and Lesnar! Boom! Instant ratings. Is Kevin Nash busy? What about Owen Hart…oh…right…sorry
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Nostalgia does definitely work with wrestling fans. For example, bringing in Sting seems to have worked for AEW… but I guess that’s different.
As good as the wwe roster is, and it is stacked with talent, the issue is I just don’t care about most of the roster as that’s exactly how wwe seems to feel.
An example would be, Jurassic express were announced as coming back to dynamite next week on last nights show.
I hadn’t realised they hadn’t been on tv since September/October as I don’t watch dark but I am genuinely looking forward to seeing them next week.
This isn’t a knock on them but more shows how good AEW has been providing consistently entertaining shows with a mix of talent and how when talent returns after a few weeks off Dynamite there’s an excitement about seeing them back.
I know right now I am not going to care a whole when Seth Rollins returns as great a talent as he is as I just don’t have faith he’ll be utilised well and they’ve botched his return before.
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I look forward more to the Becky return than one for Seth. But yeah lack of logical long term booking removes investment in characters.
I don’t miss either of those characters, nor Charlotte, or Andrade or whoever goes missing…the reality is, it’s a breath of fresh air to see other talent get time but they don’t give those talents any room to blossom into bigger stories or stars
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That’s spot on and is something AEW has done better recently. Cycling characters in and out, TH2 for example, don’t need to see them 52 weeks a year but they have brought something to the last couple of weeks of Dynamite. An off season has been discussed to death on forums over the years and why it would or wouldn’t work. Aew have shown you can cycle wrestlers in and out of dark/dynamite like the previously mentioned Jurassic Express and people will care about them, if what they do with the time they are given on tv has some meaning or character developmental at least something memorable about the characters.
Think what I’m trying to say is Perhaps I didn’t realise I missed luchasaurus on my tv as much as I did haha
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Part of that is having a midcard that people want to see. And AEW has the benefit of still having a relatively fresh midcard at the moment. I don’t imagine they will be voluntarily pulling Omega, Jericho, Cody or the Bucks from TV any time soon.
I’d look forward to an Andrade return with the hope they do more with him. But they probably won’t even build up his return to be honest…
Andrade vs. Sami Zayn feud where the build up doesn’t have them get physical with each other every week. I can only dream. Something with Bryan, Cesaro, Nakamura, etc. as well. I’m in. The roster WWE have blows everyone else’s out of the water. It would be great if Vince actually liked wrestling.
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If seems like such an easy fix. Take Raw for example, if they just cut the show to two hours and rotated performers in and out so you didn’t see the same pairings 100 times in 6 months, the show would be so much better and that’s not even touching creative.
You mention Charlotte, I agree. While I think she’s great, I love that she is off TV, then when she comes back I will actually care about her again.
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Why will you care about her? She will come back and she will be in the same spot, feuding with the same people and it will be old in 2 weeks.
I like Charlotte, but she is beyond boring now. I think she needs a character change. Hell, even just give her a stable or something different for her to work off of. They never have women stables of more than a couple people.