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WWE Raw drops to lowest TV rating in 18 years

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Ambrose doesn't look that big because he doesn't have a lot of mass. Even when he was pretty muscular (and looked great, btw), he still looked lanky. Whereas Roman has broad, football player shoulders, and a strong jawline, so he "reads" as bigger even though he's about the same height.

Edit: CM Punk was pretty tall, too. I think he was like 6'2 or something like that. His problem was always that he looked unintimidating because he was so skinny.
 
Time for some fun measurables...

The Big Show - 7' 0"
Kane - 7' 0"
The Undertaker - 6' 10"
Baron Corbin - 6' 8"

Batista - 6' 6"
Edge - 6' 5"
Randy Orton - 6' 5"
The Rock - 6' 5"
Dean Ambrose - 6' 4"
Triple H - 6' 4"
Brock Lesnar - 6' 3"
Roman Reigns - 6' 3"
Bray Wyatt - 6' 3"
Steve Austin - 6' 2"
CM Punk - 6' 2"
The Miz - 6' 2"
John Cena - 6' 1"
Christian - 6' 1"
Ric Flair - 6' 1"
Shawn Michaels - 6' 1"
Seth Rollins - 6' 1"
Bret Hart - 6' 0"
Kevin Owens - 6' 0"
Rusev - 6' 0"
Finn Bálor - 5' 11"
Big E Langston - 5' 11"

Daniel Bryan - 5' 8" (actual; 5'10" is his "billed height")
Rey Mysterio - 5' 6"
Hornswoggle - 4' 5"

whoa edge is freaking tall, but he never looked taller than cena though
 

UberTag

Member
whoa edge is freaking tall, but he never looked taller than cena though
Kofi-Kingston-Edge-and-John-Cena.jpg

Edge-Kofi-Kingston-and-John-Cena.jpg


Looks taller to me. Maybe not 4 inches taller, though.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
Those billed heights are bullshit. Can vary from 2-4 inches easily. Sometimes more depending on who. Rey is a legit 5'4. Punk is a legit 6'
 
This talk of heights and other things needs to go into the ot. This is the rating thread. Stay on topic. It's annoying seeing this topic getting bump for regular wrassle talk.

If the height and other talk is related to the rating topic somehow please explain.
 
This talk of heights and other things needs to go into the ot. This is the rating thread. Stay on topic. It's annoying seeing this topic getting bump for regular wrassle talk.

If the height and other talk is related to the rating topic somehow please explain.

Perhaps there's a correlation between ratings and height of superstars?
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
There is no way Shawn Michaels is 6'1". Not a chance.
 

UberTag

Member
There is no way Shawn Michaels is 6'1". Not a chance.
According to celebheights.com (which is probably the resource we should be consulting), Shawn is presently 5' 10 1/2" (down from 5' 11 1/4").
Daniel Bryan is 5' 8". CM Punk is 5' 11 3/4". John Cena is 6' 0 1/2". Dean Ambrose is 6' 0 3/4". Roman Reigns is 6' 2 1/2". Seth Rollins is 6' 1". Edge is 6' 3".

This discussion all started when someone was citing Ambrose's massive 6' 4" height as a reason he should be getting pushed to salvage ratings. Turns out... he's not close to that height.
(They claim Rey Mysterio is 5' 2", btw. Despite Rey once stating that he was 5' 4" and being billed at 5' 6".)
 

LakeEarth

Member
I love it when they say a wrestler's height and weight are "unknown", as if they're so damned mysterious that they never got a chance to measure him. For guys like Kane I can kind of buy it, but they used to do that shit for Goldberg. It's not like he was an enigma, he was a former football player who's wrestling persona was essentially himself.
 
From the WON

WWE loaded up on Raw on 10/19, bringing back Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, and drew the company's lowest non-holiday rating for the show since February 17, 1997, with 2.20 rating and 3.35 million viewers.

The actual audience was up 80,000 viewers from the prior week due to a strong 1.59 viewers per home, the highest total of the year. Total viewers were in the same range as the show has been doing against football all season, and even though the competition was tough with baseball playoffs, the NFL and the debut of the "Star Wars" trailer. But this was a show WWE had been peaking for, including Austin, the biggest arena and merchandise draw in company history, appearing on Raw for the first time in four years.

The Austin return was largely a waste, in the sense WWE didn't advertise him as being on Raw anywhere except in Dallas until a little more than three hours before the show started. It's been constantly proven how breaking news on Twitter is a constant disappointment when it comes to sparking ratings, but that's a lesson that seems to go unlearned, with this being the latest example. Still, the other four were pushed all week on television, and the company had made the announcement of all the names several weeks ago. In addition, the company had heavily promoted Austin doing a podcast with Lesnar after Raw.

It used to be when things were bad, that WWE had the ability to make a phone call to Flair or Undertaker, and it was almost a lock that they would bring the ratings up. Now, with both on the show, and Austin, while the show obviously would have done worse without them, it made far less of a difference than any of them, let alone all of them, would have made in the past. And it probably won't get better because none were used in any kind of a memorable way. Flair and Austin were clearly throw aways where there was no creative ideas for them. Michaels at least had a purpose, and Undertaker did a promo for his main event, but it was a disappointing go-home segment for the final Lesnar vs. Undertaker match. They also wasted the value of a heavily promoted Austin return's potential on the largely unadvertised segment.
 

Papytendo

Member
Time for some fun measurables...

The Big Show - 7' 0"
Kane - 7' 0"
The Undertaker - 6' 10"
Baron Corbin - 6' 8"

Batista - 6' 6"
Edge - 6' 5"
Randy Orton - 6' 5"
The Rock - 6' 5"
Dean Ambrose - 6' 4"
Triple H - 6' 4"
Brock Lesnar - 6' 3"
Roman Reigns - 6' 3"
Bray Wyatt - 6' 3"
Steve Austin - 6' 2"
CM Punk - 6' 2"
The Miz - 6' 2"
John Cena - 6' 1"
Christian - 6' 1"
Ric Flair - 6' 1"
Shawn Michaels - 6' 1"
Seth Rollins - 6' 1"
Bret Hart - 6' 0"
Kevin Owens - 6' 0"
Rusev - 6' 0"
Finn Bálor - 5' 11"
Big E Langston - 5' 11"

Daniel Bryan - 5' 8" (actual; 5'10" is his "billed height")
Rey Mysterio - 5' 6"
Hornswoggle - 4' 5"
Very clever use of blank space
 

UberTag

Member
Sami Zayn's legit 6'1 or 6'2- he's taller than Cena, which is not what you expect at all.
You sure about that? A quick google search has 5'11" popping up quite a bit for him.

cena_zayn_raising_arm.jpg


I can buy that Cena's an inch taller. Zayn would still have 3 full inches on D.Brine, though.
 

UberTag

Member
They will probably make excuses to themselves on why the old timers didn't pop the ratings and try the same thing again somewhere down the line.
Pretty much this. There's no shortage of rationalizing around false preconceptions in Stamford. Next time they'll double-down on hyping their nostalgia acts in advance. That's all.
 
They will probably make excuses to themselves on why the old timers didn't pop the ratings and try the same thing again somewhere down the line.

When you really think about it, why would appearances by Flair and HBK and even Taker and Austin really cause a huge increase in ratings? I mean, what part of the audience (that isn't already watching) is checking for those old fuckers? Does your average 18-25 year old casual/lapsed fan even remember them? The one guy who I still think registers with that audience is Rock because he's kept his profile high due to his movie roles.
 

UberTag

Member
When you really think about it, why would appearances by Flair and HBK and even Taker and Austin really cause a huge increase in ratings? I mean, what part of the audience (that isn't already watching) is checking for those old fuckers? Does your average 18-25 year old casual/lapsed fan even remember them? The one guy who I still think registers with that audience is Rock because he's kept his profile high due to his movie roles.
It really shouldn't but the WWE applies this weird logic where they do everything in their power to alienate their long-time fans by putting out the dryest, go nowhere, intelligence-insulting, tedious 3-hour product that never ends... and then try to pop a rating by trucking out the old nostalgia acts to stand in a ring and talk by getting all of the casuals from the Monday Night Wars to tune back in. Not that they see anything worth sticking around for when they do.

I mean, they go back to this because this is the card they've pulled countless times in the past when it actually sort of meant something. Trotting out the Attitude Era guys has popped ratings in the past so it's a trick that'll keep on working 5, 10, 15 years later, right?

And yet Monday's ratings clearly show that it didn't. And that their old tricks won't work any more. But they'll just dismiss it. They'll say... "Well, it's OK that we got a 2.2. The old-time fans are still with us. They just didn't want to tune in on Monday. They DVRed it. They watched us on YouTube. They watched us on Hulu. They tweeted about the show. Did you not see the Twitter trends? They were talking about WWE. Not the ALCS. Not the NFL. Not the Canadian election. They were talking about US. Our fans are still here. They'll sign up for the Network in March when we bring all of these guys back again to do their little choreographed finisher fest in the ring at Mania while we bury everyone else that tours with us 364 days out of the year not named Cena or Reigns."

Anything bad will get rationalized away to service the status quo. I don't care how much doom and gloom Meltzer spouts. He largely does that to sell F4W subscriptions.

They'll just blow a bunch of smoke up their shareholders' butts. They'll trot out ESPN so they can both pretend they're still a big deal. They'll double down on sponsorship and commercials to compensate for drops in merch and ticket sales. They'll continue to forego developing meaningful feuds and stories in lieu of their hackneyed 'go nowhere' programs that ultimately build up no one. They'll book all of their heels as weak. They'll book all of their faces as jerks. They'll make all of their titles feel like meaningless props. Commentary will continue to be ass... devoted ultimately to shill the brand and crack jokes instead of covering a match or building feuds or talent.

Do you know why this thread is ultimately a waste of time? It's because the WWE isn't going to change no matter how many record low rating press releases come out. Or whether the show does a sub-2.0 rating. Or whether the Network fails to get a million subs for Mania. Or anything else. It will not change. Ever.

Although it is a possibility that Smackdown might get expanded to 3 hours. And more WWE Network specials might get expanded to 4 hours. And they'll probably start doing double tapings again. And more international tours and TV tapings. And they might just make Corpus Christi their home base and tape all of their TV at the American Bank Center like they did with the Manhattan Center back in the day. And they might sell commercial spots on the Network. And...
 

UberTag

Member
People say that, but I think when Vince passes, things will change. Maybe for the better, maybe for the worst, but they won't stay 100% the same.
Well, okay sure... when Vince dies everything will change. No question about that.
I just happen to think he's immortal. And will continue to man gorilla from a special headset he wears from his coffin or cryogenic freezer or wherever they wind up sticking him.
Shane's going to die of old age before Vince goes.
 
People say that, but I think when Vince passes, things will change. Maybe for the better, maybe for the worst, but they won't stay 100% the same.

I don't think it will change enough. Wrestling needs a reboot. HHH and Steph will make marginal changes but probably not have the balls to completely shake things up.
 
It's sort of a shame because I felt at the beginning of the year (and not last year mind you) as though WWE was improving on the road to Wrestlemania. A friend of mine disagreed with this premise and said they always amp things up around Mania time but not really. It definitely seemed like they were pushing things even more this time around.

Right after Mania it just seemed things fell apart. I guess it was Money in the Bank that was pretty good right in the middle of a string of mediocre PPVs.

I'm glad NXT has been what it has or maybe I've just been late to the party and NXT has always been halfway decent. It's a shame Vince doesn't use the tier system like WCW did with the cruiserweights be the opening matches to warm up the crowd and then you have your stuff with Cena, Orton, Kane, and whomever else you want. By then the people will have seen some good wrestling.

I'm not saying you need a Sasha/Bayley match 30 minute classic on Raw each week but a few 10-12 minute matches to keep the crowd interested would be nice. What's the definition of insanity? I think the only way Vince and Kevin Dunn are going to learn is if Raw reaches dangerously low levels that USA actually mentions the possibility of canceling them. That's going to take a while though of the same product and for people to get tired of it and not watch and not buy tickets.

Forgive the long-winded response as it's 2:11 AM and I can't sleep.
 

UberTag

Member
I think the only way Vince and Kevin Dunn are going to learn is if Raw reaches dangerously low levels that USA actually mentions the possibility of canceling them. That's going to take a while though of the same product and for people to get tired of it and not watch and not buy tickets.
They'll continue to shmooze Bonnie Hammer full-time to ensure that relationship remains strong no matter how low the ratings sink.
Of course, she's getting up there in age too. She's less than 5 years younger than Vince.
 
They'll continue to shmooze Bonnie Hammer full-time to ensure that relationship remains strong no matter how low the ratings sink.
Of course, she's getting up there in age too. She's less than 5 years younger than Vince.

That's a name I haven't heard in a while. Bonnie Hammer. I used to hear it all the time when I was a member of PWInsiderElite and Dave Scherer would do his hotlines, he constantly mentioned her name with regards to the ratings. Ah the good ol' days of 2004 until about 2007 with Dave, Buck, Mike, and sometimes Jess. There were other contributors too.
 

Into

Member
Smackdown did a crowd of 3000 people.

This last RAW drew a rating of 2.2

The three hours saw the first hour do 3.60 million viewers, with the second hour doing 3.35 million and the third hour falling to 3.12 million. As far as the loss of viewers from the first hour to the third hour, the 18-34 drop was 19 percent, the 35-49 age group actually was up 2 percent, but over 50, it was a drop of 14 percent, with women dropping off at a higher clip than men.

Raw is doing similar ratings to Nitro when it was at its worst, and Smackdown is actually doing worse than Thunder in similar comparison. Ofcourse with the TV deal WWE is in no immediate danger, as financially they are not bleeding money like WCW was.
 

kunonabi

Member
Smackdown did a crowd of 3000 people.

This last RAW drew a rating of 2.2

The three hours saw the first hour do 3.60 million viewers, with the second hour doing 3.35 million and the third hour falling to 3.12 million. As far as the loss of viewers from the first hour to the third hour, the 18-34 drop was 19 percent, the 35-49 age group actually was up 2 percent, but over 50, it was a drop of 14 percent, with women dropping off at a higher clip than men.

Raw is doing similar ratings to Nitro when it was at its worst, and Smackdown is actually doing worse than Thunder in similar comparison. Ofcourse with the TV deal WWE is in no immediate danger, as financially they are not bleeding money like WCW was.

Thunder was such an awesome show when they realized nobody was watching. The commentary was hilarious and you had stuff like the Thrillers singing Christmas carols and all kinds of other fun shenanigans.
 

kirblar

Member
You sure about that? A quick google search has 5'11" popping up quite a bit for him.

cena_zayn_raising_arm.jpg


I can buy that Cena's an inch taller. Zayn would still have 3 full inches on D.Brine, though.
Might be lifts then, but it was noticeable that he was taller than Cena in that match, which came as a surprise. (Or, Cena's height is being rounded up as well.)
 

Ithil

Member
Time for some fun measurables...

The Big Show - 7' 0"
Kane - 7' 0"
The Undertaker - 6' 10"
Baron Corbin - 6' 8"

Batista - 6' 6"
Edge - 6' 5"
Randy Orton - 6' 5"
The Rock - 6' 5"
Dean Ambrose - 6' 4"
Triple H - 6' 4"
Brock Lesnar - 6' 3"
Roman Reigns - 6' 3"
Bray Wyatt - 6' 3"
Steve Austin - 6' 2"
CM Punk - 6' 2"
The Miz - 6' 2"
John Cena - 6' 1"
Christian - 6' 1"
Ric Flair - 6' 1"
Shawn Michaels - 6' 1"
Seth Rollins - 6' 1"
Bret Hart - 6' 0"
Kevin Owens - 6' 0"
Rusev - 6' 0"
Finn Bálor - 5' 11"
Big E Langston - 5' 11"

Daniel Bryan - 5' 8" (actual; 5'10" is his "billed height")
Rey Mysterio - 5' 6"
Hornswoggle - 4' 5"

I like that you list Bryan's "actual" height even though all of those heights are billed.
Rey is actually 5'3, for instance, and Kane is shorter than Undertaker.

According to celebheights.com (which is probably the resource we should be consulting), Shawn is presently 5' 10 1/2" (down from 5' 11 1/4").
Daniel Bryan is 5' 8". CM Punk is 5' 11 3/4". John Cena is 6' 0 1/2". Dean Ambrose is 6' 0 3/4". Roman Reigns is 6' 2 1/2". Seth Rollins is 6' 1". Edge is 6' 3".

This discussion all started when someone was citing Ambrose's massive 6' 4" height as a reason he should be getting pushed to salvage ratings. Turns out... he's not close to that height.
(They claim Rey Mysterio is 5' 2", btw. Despite Rey once stating that he was 5' 4" and being billed at 5' 6".)
2a46f8a43ecdf172da46f16722a63323_crop_north.jpg


That does not look like a quarter of an inch difference to me. Ambrose slouches like a madman, that's one of the few pics I can find of him actually standing up straight, but he's talller than he appears at a glance.
 

UberTag

Member
That does not look like a quarter of an inch difference to me. Ambrose slouches like a madman, that's one of the few pics I can find of him actually standing up straight, but he's talller than he appears at a glance.
Yeah, Ambrose does seem to slouch like a madman. Or, at least, that's the common perception.

john-cena-makes-it-clear-he-wants-a-piece-of-seth-rollins-despite-dean-ambroses-interference.jpg


Just look at that masterful slouching.

dean-ambrose-john-cena-team-up-to-face-the-authority-in-a-street-fight-on-monday-night-raw.jpg


a6547fe4c65cdcab054c7d3059638992.jpg


I'll agree that it does look like more than a quarter of an inch so holding the shorter heights at celebheights.com as gospel isn't necessarily a good idea even if I do believe that they "try" do be accurate (as opposed to billed heights which we know our intended to distort and fabricate).
 

Mobile Suit Gooch

Grundle: The Awakening
Yes I do, I don't even watch wrestling but still listen to it every week. Ran across it via tvtrax having his JR segment(I think it was that one) on youtube. Been hooked ever since.

Same.

Even though I heard Don Tony and Kevin Castle first, I ended up with The Solomonster because he sounded nicer.
 
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