Only because the product they are presenting is shit. Look at the number of hours that was being pumped out between ECW, WCW and WWE in the mid to late 90’s through to 2001. The audience is ther efor the content if it is good enough.
Yes, I am aware of your thoughts on modern wrestling.
Quality of product is a factor, no doubt. But I think poor product at times is due to the overexposure. It’s no different then a TV show, I have heard numerous writers say that they love writing for cable when all they need to produce is 8-12 episodes per year in comparison to network TV that typically requires 22 episodes per year.
As for your attitude era example, sure when wrestling was at its peak it drew big ratings, but that was a different time where there were a ton of factors. Better product, giant stars, more people watching TV, no YouTube recaps, less content per company. It’s not just one thing. Plus, just like TV, fans will watch multiple hours from multiples companies. It’s like myself watching Mayans MC, better call Saul and walking dead. It’s not the same thing as watching CSI, CSI NY, and CSI Miami, not that I watched those, but you get my point.
If the WWE writing staff had only one 2 hour show a week, I do believe ratings would go up and quality would be better. Even if you just had a 2 hour Raw and NXT I think it would be better.
Also, of course with WWE specifically there is a disconnect at the top between Vince and the average fan in 2020.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you also hate AEW, right?
Those were separate entities and way less TV programming. That is like saying compare that amount to WWE, AEW, and Impact today.
You would be looking at 10 hours a week At the peak of weekly hours of wrestling during the period you quoted to like 14 today. During the height of the Monday night wars it was like 4 hours a week for both WWF and WCW. Today you are looking at 7 for WWE /AEW 9 if you count NXT.
If you compare main WWE shows it was 4 hours vs 5 or 7. And you only got to 4 hours after demand warranted it rather than keeping 5 despite not being able to fill it.
2 Likes
Nitro was 3 hours and Thunder, Raw and Smackdown were 2 hours. I make that 9 hours. And that isn’t counting WCW Saturday Night, etc. So it is no more over exposed now that it was then. If the product is good enough, people will watch.
Hate isn’t the word I would use. I enjoy a few elements of it (the ones that aren’t stupid) but dislike the WWE light remainder.
Nitro was 2 hours during its hey day, then went down hill after the move to 3 hours. Suggesting that 5 hours a week is too much for a single roster. Plus you are adding 2 companies together to get that so again should I add All WWE programming and AEW programming together? Yes the program is worse, but the height of the Monday night wars was two 2 hour shows. Once they started to add shows one company went down hill and died. People only had so much time to devote to the programming. The move to 3 hours happened in 98, same with thunder and lasted 2 years before they dropped the 3rd hour. This correlates to it falling behind WWE in the ratings. If anything this proves more is not better. When the 2 companies each had 2 hours of main shows. Once they started to add the dam broke and one fairly rapidly went under, and that was the show with more hours of TV
2 Likes
Fair enough, poor choice of words on my part.