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[UberTag]

Alot of people would tune in to see that!

Which is why it will never happen. Instead of that, next week how about we get another 3 hours of Roman in strong, Bray is a loser, please buy this crap from our advertisers and pay us $9.99/month to watch WWE programming that is actually good (most of which is from 15 years ago).

 

[Coins]

Which is why it will never happen. Instead of that, next week how about we get another 3 hours of Roman in strong, Bray is a loser, please buy this crap from our advertisers and pay us $9.99/month to watch WWE programming that is actually good (most of which is from 15 years ago).

It will happen if the ratings keep dropping. Vince knows it will work and it's the only thing that he knows will work which is why it hasn't happened yet. When Hogan turned, it elevated wrestling for years. Vince is all about money, when it becomes necessary, Cena will turn and they will usher in another attitude era.

 

[Malajax]

It will happen if the ratings keep dropping. Vince knows it will work and it's the only thing that he knows will work which is why it hasn't happened yet. When Hogan turned, it elevated wrestling for years. Vince is all about money, when it becomes necessary, Cena will turn and they will usher in another attitude era.

Cena turning is just one aspect that'll change everything... for a month or so. It'll be a huge event in itself, but when the booking, writing, talent isn't there it'll fall on its face. It's a short term solution that's not worth the long term return. When Hogan did it, it turned everything upside down because it hadn't been done on that scale before. 20 years later it won't have the same impact.

 

[UberTag]

It will happen if the ratings keep dropping. Vince knows it will work and it's the only thing that he knows will work which is why it hasn't happened yet. When Hogan turned, it elevated wrestling for years. Vince is all about money, when it becomes necessary, Cena will turn and they will usher in another attitude era.

Cena already turned heel once and it did squat for the ratings and ticket revenue...

 

[Paracelsus]

It will happen if the ratings keep dropping. Vince knows it will work and it's the only thing that he knows will work which is why it hasn't happened yet. When Hogan turned, it elevated wrestling for years. Vince is all about money, when it becomes necessary, Cena will turn and they will usher in another attitude era.

When Hogan turned his merch sales were already down the toilet, it was a "nothing to lose" situation. The only way for kids to stop buying Cena's stuff is that you bury him (Owens) which makes no sense.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

2015 and people are still asking for Cena to turn heel.

What's heel Cena going to be like? A jerk that the fans boo? What a difference

 

[Cagey]

2015 and people are still asking for Cena to turn heel.

What's heel Cena going to be like? A jerk that the fans boo? What a difference

"Let's go Cena" will drop several octaves. "Cena sucks!" will rise several octaves.

 

[UberTag]

"Let's go Cena" will drop several octaves. "Cena sucks!" will rise several octaves.

What an amazing difference! The WWE is saved!

 

[Nerdkiller]

'They can be good when they try, i mean they have at least 1 show a year i look forward to out of the 52 weekly 3 hour episodes of raw and another 52 2 hour episodes of Smackdown, plus the monthly ppv's and specials.

So they can be good when they try!'

I can be a condescending smark too.

"Fantastic energy going in, some spectacular spots, but too little workrate. 2.5 stars."

Really, can you not let me be excited for one aspect of WWE for once? The immediate post Mania RAW is still an entertaining blast in my eyes, mainly for the crowd. Even they can elevate a half-decent match into a good one.

 

[Sectorseven]

They don't have to make Cena turn for him to be interesting. They could put him in a position where he's forced to the bottom and everything is working against him, like they did with Austin when he lost the title. Give him a couple opportunities where it looks like he might start moving up the ladder again, and throw some curve balls at him sending him back down.

 

[fader]

Hogan only turning didn't "elevate" wrestling. Hogan joining the NWO did.

 

[Angry Grimace]

They really just need to take a chance on something creatively. Rollins getting hurt doesn't count because their answer to that was the most obvious vanilla paste solution they could come up with.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

WWE are a victim of their own success. They got so large as to basically box themselves in creatively, because a creative risk backfiring harms far more people downstream of the failure than it once did. They'd have to restructure their whole company if they wanted to start making big changes in their creative process. And given that Vince appears to have envisioned this huge media conglomerate as his ultimate goal in being a wrestling promoter, why would he do that?

 

[Sephzilla]

2015 and people are still asking for Cena to turn heel.

What's heel Cena going to be like? A jerk that the fans boo? What a difference

My ideal heel John Cena wouldn't actually change much at all. He would just act a bit more entitled and be self-aware of the fact that he gets preferential treatment by all of the higher ups in the company. He'd be like a midway point between current Cena and Hollywood Rock.

 

[Rockandrollclown]

Just out of curiosity ( I imagine the answer is "no") are they building towards Sasha Banks running wild on the women's division yet?

 

[sketchsanchez]

Instead of Hustle. Loyalty. Respect. It can be Money. Power. Fame.

I dunno, just make him the entitled jock asshole Who only cares about being paid.

 

[Fourth Storm]

It's a company hitting record lows due to poor booking and a reliance on their overpaid, older stars. The fanbase keeps trying to tell them we want new people in the spotlight through NXT's popularity. WWE is WCW/TNA as fuck.

There's something to be said about the trainwreck that was WCW in the end. It was at least an unpredictable and somewhat entertaining train wreck.

RAW is pure boredom. If it weren't for the roster's in-ring talent, there would be absolutely no reason to tune in.

 

[Lothars]

RAW is pure boredom. If it weren't or the roster's in-ring talent, there would be absolutely no reason to tune in.

I really don't feel there's any reason to tune in. I only watch the first raw after wrestlemania and a majority of the PPV, even than I barely have any interest in wwe anymore.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Instead of Hustle. Loyalty. Respect. It can be Money. Power. Fame.

I dunno, just make him the entitled jock asshole Who only cares about being paid.

And instead of being a heel to everyone, they should do it Rick Rude style where he's still face to one specific crowd. Play up the fact that the kids love him, while making him have an even more obnoxious boy scout personality (though, that's probably something that would be harder to do than Rude wooing over the women in the crowd). At least then, WWE might not have any issue with the whole Make a Wish thing if he's still appealing to the children.

 

[BadAss2961]

WWE are a victim of their own success. They got so large as to basically box themselves in creatively, because a creative risk backfiring harms far more people downstream of the failure than it once did. They'd have to restructure their whole company if they wanted to start making big changes in their creative process. And given that Vince appears to have envisioned this huge media conglomerate as his ultimate goal in being a wrestling promoter, why would he do that?

Their problem is they have no competition.

 

[Cagey]

Their problem is they have no competition.

But there's no competition because the public at-large has no appetite for more professional wrestling. TNA never made an impact.

Spoiler

lol

.

 

[Anth0ny]

2015 and people are still asking for Cena to turn heel.

What's heel Cena going to be like? A jerk that the fans boo? What a difference

I mean, it's something different. It's something interesting. Different and interesting are things WWE could use right now.

Cena does too many make a wishes and makes too much money off merch for them to ever turn him, but it would be interesting

Spoiler

until the creative fucks it up like they always do

But there's no competition because the public at-large has no appetite for more professional wrestling. TNA never made an impact.

Spoiler

lol

.

This may be true, but it doesn't help that TNA was always horrible and basically WCW 2.0. Every other federation is too small/low budget to make any kind of impact.

New Japan is so hot right now. If they made a serious push in North America with the stars they have now, their great production values and the incredible matches they put on, I think they can be a decent alternative. Start hiring people from WWE who are sick of working for a crazy person. Bring in Bryan Danielson if the WWE doctors refuse to let him wrestle in WWE. boom. wwe is kill.

/fantasy

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Cena would be fine if WWE allowed him to do his own thing. Not the same, 5 moves of doom, overcome all odds shit.

 

[Malajax]

Just out of curiosity ( I imagine the answer is "no") are they building towards Sasha Banks running wild on the women's division yet?

They're building to the eventual breakup of BAD before they build Sasha further it seems. I'd put money on her being in the Divas main event on Wrestlemania though.

 

[Kaiterra]

You could probably avoid the problem of heel Cena just swapping who his fanbase is by booking him like they have booked Rollins most of this year.

Don't think it'd really help much though.

 

[UberTag]

They're building to the eventual breakup of BAD before they build Sasha further it seems. I'd put money on her being in the Divas main event on Wrestlemania though.

And how many divas will be in said main event exactly?
Let's put the over-under at 6. I think I'm still taking the over.

 

[Sectorseven]

It's going to be a 3 vs 3 tag match for no title.

 

[jett]

Cena is never turning heel.

Won't NeoGAF think of the kids!?

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

Heel Cena means jack squat. What would matter would be something like Del Rio actually bragging about destroying Cena a few weeks ago. Why isn't he talking about this? This is where WWE bores people. Del Rio could have the most heat in the company right now just taunting the fans about how easily he beat the unbeatable guy, but instead he's talking about a fake country. No one cares.

 

[Cagey]

This may be true, but it doesn't help that TNA was always horrible and basically WCW 2.0. Every other federation is too small/low budget to make any kind of impact.

New Japan is so hot right now. If they made a serious push in North America with the stars they have now, their great production values and the incredible matches they put on, I think they can be a decent alternative. Start hiring people from WWE who are sick of working for a crazy person. Bring in Bryan Danielson if the WWE doctors refuse to let him wrestle in WWE. boom. wwe is kill.

/fantasy

Wrestling fans watch wrestling for storylines and characters backed up by wrestling matches under the WWE brand. Putting on incredible matches with purportedly great production values is only half the battle, at best, and also misunderstand what draws people in (storyline and character, not technically proficient wrestling matches). The match quality on WWE television is the highest its been in many years, certainly much higher than the Attitude Era. No one cares; not even the fans who claim to care actually care, given how down everyone is on Raw.

There's no market beyond the super-niche level for professional wrestling in America.

There's a market for WWE-branded entertainment.

 

[Sephzilla]

Heel Cena means jack squat. What would matter would be something like Del Rio actually bragging about destroying Cena a few weeks ago. Why isn't he talking about this? This is where WWE bores people. Del Rio could have the most heat in the company right now just taunting the fans about how easily he beat the unbeatable guy, but instead he's talking about a fake country. No one cares.

Nobody would care about Del Rio bragging about destroying Cena because

A) Nobody ever cares about Del Rio nomatter what he says or does. Del Rio is where heat goes to vanish.

B) Everybody knows that Del Rio is going to get annihilated the moment Cena returns

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

Nobody would care about Del Rio bragging about destroying Cena because

A) Nobody ever cares about Del Rio nomatter what he says or does. Del Rio is where heat goes to vanish.

B) Everybody knows that Del Rio is going to get annihilated the moment Cena returns

Agreed. I'm just imagining a world where WWE was good. Lucha Underground had no problem keeping him a big star. WWE's already blown it within two days.

 

[TI82]

Watching NXT, man Nia Jax costume just looks so awful. Like I understand she is a "big woman" but I'm sure there's a way to make her look good. That's not it.

 

[Sephzilla]

Watching NXT, man Nia Jax costume just looks so awful. Like I understand she is a "big woman" but I'm sure there's a way to make her look good. That's not it.

Are you talking about her blue one she wore for her debut or her black slightly more Mad Max-like one she's been wearing since? The blue one she wore honestly didn't look good on her but the new one she has looks a lot better

 

[UberTag]

Agreed. I'm just imagining a world where WWE was good. Lucha Underground had no problem keeping him a big star. WWE's already blown it within two days.

See... the WWE isn't interested in keeping anyone a big star. They're simply interested in taking everyone else's stars away and using them to prop up "the brand".

Del Rio is just another schlub now. A guy who wrestles R-Truth and other Mexican wrestlers all the time and will get buried multiple times by Cena upon his return.
He just happens to be a well-paid schlub. Making far more money than he would have actually being a big star anywhere else.

 

[TI82]

Are you talking about her blue one she wore for her debut or her black slightly more Mad Max-like one she's been wearing since? The blue one she wore honestly didn't look good on her but the new one she has looks a lot better

Blue looked horrible, this mad max one looks better but still horrible. She was a model and you can look up pics she looked decent but I dunno how they are going to fix her looks here.

 

[Kaiterra]

Heel Cena means jack squat. What would matter would be something like Del Rio actually bragging about destroying Cena a few weeks ago. Why isn't he talking about this? This is where WWE bores people. Del Rio could have the most heat in the company right now just taunting the fans about how easily he beat the unbeatable guy, but instead he's talking about a fake country. No one cares.

Yeah it's much more important to build up the credibility of the entire roster (both in-ring and in character) than to worry about dragging this one guy down. It's just like that time Cena exploded his Rich Asshole gimmick as a fake for... No reason. Hell, remember that time Kofi Kingston beat Randy Orton clean and then didn't move up the card AT ALL and it was never really mentioned again? What the fuck was that? They gotta be better at seizing opportunities like that and protecting the characters of people on screen as well. I can't take Bray Wyatt seriously anymore for example because nothing he says ever amounts to anything. Ever. It's just gibberish to fill time. The hell was with Natalya going from one of the more serious and respectable competitors in the Divas division at the time to having a farting gimmick and becoming Khali's arm candy? Why have Damien Sandow come out and cut a promo about being serious and being his own man and then go right from that into doing a Macho Man impression? Too many examples of dropping the ball just like that.

Like, even if you don't have plans for these characters at the top of the card, you still want it to mean something when your real stars beat them.

 

[Anth0ny]

Wrestling fans watch wrestling for storylines and characters backed up by wrestling matches under the WWE brand. Putting on incredible matches with purportedly great production values is only half the battle, at best, and also misunderstand what draws people in (storyline and character, not technically proficient wrestling matches). The match quality on WWE television is the highest its been in many years, certainly much higher than the Attitude Era. No one cares; not even the fans who claim to care actually care, given how down everyone is on Raw.

There's no market beyond the super-niche level for professional wrestling in America.

There's a market for WWE-branded entertainment.

serious push for the north american market = stealing talent from wwe who are sick of their position in the company (and don't mind taking a pay cut!) AND stealing writers from wwe who are sick of their ideas being changed 20 minutes before the show starts by a crazy 70 year old man.

ROH can try but they're always going to present a product that looks like shit. TNA can try but they're incompetent. Like you said, New Japan wins half the battle which is more than any other "large" wrestling promotion can say outside of WWE. they just need to figure out that other half of the battle. Storylines that the North American fanbase cares about. How do you do that? Pull a Turner. Steal all the damn WWE talent from Vince. Write stories that actually make sense, and have a payoff. Boom, superior product to WWE. I think if you present a legitimate alternative to WWE, talent will flock over. New Japan has the history and the modern day pedigree to make that happen.

It would be cool if New Japan actually made a push, because like I said, TNA is incompetent and on the verge of death. They were never a serious threat to WWE. ROH has been treading water for years and has always been seen as a feeder league for WWE. New Japan would potentially be legit competition: just look at the shows they throw in Japan, it's like night and day compared to the alternative North American federations, and comes pretty damn close to WWE at capturing that "BIG FIGHT FEEL" at their bigger shows.

I think even WWE senses this, which is why they're trying to work with New Japan at the moment.

 

[Chamber]

And how many divas will be in said main event exactly?
Let's put the over-under at 6. I think I'm still taking the over.

They're going to realize Paige and Sasha are the only divas who are actually over and build towards a 1 v 1 match. It has been written.

 

[Bronx-Man]

serious push for the north american market = stealing talent from wwe who are sick of their position in the company (and don't mind taking a pay cut!) AND stealing writers from wwe who are sick of their ideas being changed 20 minutes before the show starts by a crazy 70 year old man.

ROH can try but they're always going to present a product that looks like shit. TNA can try but they're incompetent. Like you said, New Japan wins half the battle which is more than any other "large" wrestling promotion can say outside of WWE. they just need to figure out that other half of the battle. Storylines that the North American fanbase cares about. How do you do that? Pull a Turner. Steal all the damn WWE talent from Vince. Write stories that actually make sense, and have a payoff. Boom, superior product to WWE. I think if you present a legitimate alternative to WWE, talent will flock over. New Japan has the history and the modern day pedigree to make that happen.

It would be cool if New Japan actually made a push, because like I said, TNA is incompetent and on the verge of death. They were never a serious threat to WWE. ROH has been treading water for years and has always been seen as a feeder league for WWE. New Japan would potentially be legit competition: just look at the shows they throw in Japan, it's like night and day compared to the alternative North American federations, and comes pretty damn close to WWE at capturing that "BIG FIGHT FEEL" at their bigger shows.



I think even WWE senses this, which is why they're trying to work with New Japan at the moment.

Bingo. New Japan is the big hot thing at the moment, and they're only gonna get bigger when Wrestle Kingdom X happens.

 

[Plinko]

I still say the reason WWE is dying is because UFC filled that void. For years, WWE broke kayfabe and did all the behind-the-scenes stuff, giving the illusion of reality.

Now, UFC catches fire and does the same things while actually being real. WWE has no point in its current state.

Either go back to kayfabe/gimmicks/etc or find another way to attract consumers. At this point, the product is so pointless and terrible that they're losing viewers weekly.

 

[Kaiterra]

serious push for the north american market = stealing talent from wwe who are sick of their position in the company (and don't mind taking a pay cut!) AND stealing writers from wwe who are sick of their ideas being changed 20 minutes before the show starts by a crazy 70 year old man.

ROH can try but they're always going to present a product that looks like shit. TNA can try but they're incompetent. Like you said, New Japan wins half the battle which is more than any other "large" wrestling promotion can say outside of WWE. they just need to figure out that other half of the battle. Storylines that the North American fanbase cares about. How do you do that? Pull a Turner. Steal all the damn WWE talent from Vince. Write stories that actually make sense, and have a payoff. Boom, superior product to WWE. I think if you present a legitimate alternative to WWE, talent will flock over. New Japan has the history and the modern day pedigree to make that happen.

It would be cool if New Japan actually made a push, because like I said, TNA is incompetent and on the verge of death. They were never a serious threat to WWE. ROH has been treading water for years and has always been seen as a feeder league for WWE. New Japan would potentially be legit competition: just look at the shows they throw in Japan, it's like night and day compared to the alternative North American federations, and comes pretty damn close to WWE at capturing that "BIG FIGHT FEEL" at their bigger shows.



I think even WWE senses this, which is why they're trying to work with New Japan at the moment.

But you need a sweetheart TV deal, too. That's an insurmountable obstacle right from the very start for everybody. Even back in the day WCW would have never made it anywhere except for the good graces of Ted Turner.

I still say the reason WWE is dying is because UFC filled that void. For years, WWE broke kayfabe and did all the behind-the-scenes stuff, giving the illusion of reality.

Now, UFC catches fire and does the same things while actually being real. WWE has no point in its current state.

Either go back to kayfabe/gimmicks/etc or find another way to attract consumers. At this point, the product is so pointless and terrible that they're losing viewers weekly.

Yeah, like, since everyone's in on the joke now, just run with it and TAKE ADVANTAGE of this fictional universe you've created. Ugh. What a waste.

 

[kirblar]

I still say the reason WWE is dying is because UFC filled that void. For years, WWE broke kayfabe and did all the behind-the-scenes stuff, giving the illusion of reality.

Now, UFC catches fire and does the same things while actually being real. WWE has no point in its current state.

Either go back to kayfabe/gimmicks/etc or find another way to attract consumers. At this point, the product is so pointless and terrible that they're losing viewers weekly.

That was part of it, but the creative aspects have been nosediving for the past decade because they don't actually understand how to produce a show.

Well, people do- but Vince doesn't.

 

[Ithil]

They've already done the ideal Cena heel run, it was with Bo Dallas as NXT champion.
Cena growing a beard and acting mean isn't how you do it at all.

 

[Anth0ny]

But you need a sweetheart TV deal, too. That's an insurmountable obstacle right from the very start for everybody. Even back in the day WCW would have never made it anywhere except for the good graces of Ted Turner.

I mean... they're on AXS TV. that's something! All they do right now is air old matches with new, English commentary and subtitles for Japanese dialogue. Apparently the ratings are pretty good and AXS is very happy.

Once you run out of material to dub, maybe they can just start producing new stuff for AXS, keep Mauro Ranallo on commentary (he does a fantastic job selling everything to a new, North American audience), and when they're ready, move the time slot to 9PM on Monday nights. Monday Night War II. Perfect!

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

There is not a significant market for non-WWE wrestling in North America right now. There's a hipster-level niche for stuff like Lucha Underground and PWG, but even something as big as New Japan can't be anything but a distant #2 without sacrificing the very things that make it enjoyable to its fans (especially its Japanese base). The best they can really hope for is being the WWE of Japan and being as big in America as RoH was in the mid-00's.

 

[Gurrry]

I would settle for just a story line that doesnt seem like its put together in the final 30 minutes before they go live.

Every decision they make in regards to writing rarely leads to anything substantial. There is never a beginning, middle, and end to an arch. Each angle seems pointless and it makes it hard to want to come watch 3 hours every week.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/20...5-viewers-up-for-survivor-series-go-home-show

After hitting a record low 3.17 million viewers last week (for a tape delayed show from England), WWE hoped the Survivor Series go home edition of Monday Night Raw last night from Greenville, South Carolina would bounce back in a big way. There was some bounce back, but it wasn't all that big.

The show drew 3.29 million viewers for all three hours.

The hourly breakdown showed another gradual decline in viewers throughout the evening:

Hour one: 3.54 million
Hour two: 3.29 million
Hour three: 3.04 million

 

[Savitar]

http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/20...5-viewers-up-for-survivor-series-go-home-show

Ratings are up, Vince still has it!

*Clap clap clap*

 

[Hycran]

Cesaro should feud with ADR. Two of the best workers in the world by far.