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[Barack Lesnar]

With no Seth Rollins or Cena the product has never been worse. We are at an ALL TIME LOW POINT in terms of how fun the product is to watch...it's a complete JOKE

Rollins carried half the show, Cena the other half. Now we got a bunch of scrubs that cant do a promo to save their life

 

[Mahonay]

With no Seth Rollins or Cena the product has never been worse. We are at an ALL TIME LOW POINT in terms of how fun the product is to watch...it's a complete JOKE

Rollins carried half the show, Cena the other half. Now we got a bunch of scrubs that cant do a promo to save their life

Lots of good talent have been sitting out injured, but it's the absolute shit and lazy booking that has been the core problem. The general layout of RAW is just fucking bad as a whole. The issue isn't as much the remaining roster filling in the gaps. Not everyone can be a Cena or Rollins who can overcome the garbage being put before them.

 

[MrChom]

Give me a good 15 minute six man match that builds to a bigger match down the line instead of a pointless 4 minute defense of the IC title (which most of those title defense were during the AE) with a possible title switch as "swerve" any day of the week.

But, your post does show how the AE ruined wrestling. Wrestling fans used to have patience. NWA fans waited 18 months for Ron Garvin to beat Ric Flair. Now, if every week doesn't have a swerve, a title switch, and 3 five star matches, it's "boring."

Go back and actually watch those old NWA shows they have on the Network. A lot of the time, by modern standards, "nothing happened" but the show was still awesome.

The WWE has booking problems, but the solutions put forth by the average smart fan is worse than the current issues.

The problem is that the six man tags now AREN'T building to anything....they just seem to come from a place of "Well, we don't really have anything for Rusev to do, or Seamus...oh, just put them in a 6 man tag match against whoever's in the building".

And I'm not saying there should be pointless 4 minute IC defenses...I'm just saying that in an era where there were a couple more belts, the lower 2 of which were unpredictable in if they changed hands outside a PPV, it gave the writing more of a chance to focus on people and have a reason for them to feud with each other. Was it perhaps slightly lazy? Probably....but I'll take slightly lazy writing with a purpose over slightly lazy writing with no drive or focus.

 

[RBH]

The Raw after WrestleMania, usually the highest rated episode of the year, did 4.08 million viewers, down from 5.35 million viewers for the same show in 2015.

The number was the largest for the show since the day after the Royal Rumble (when Dwayne Johnson made an appearance) and was only the second show to hit four million viewers on average since June.

However, the number is well below what would have been expected for the show. For a comparison, the audience grew 1.2 million viewers from the go-home Mania show to the day after Mania show last year, while this year, the increase was just 318,000 viewers.

Raw was fourth for the night on cable, and all three shows that beat it were focused on the NCAA championship game on TBS. The game did 13.85 million viewers, the pregame show did 9.67 million viewers, and the postgame show did 4.97 million viewers. The basketball barely impacted ABC's Dancing With the Stars which did 11.72 million viewers, down from 11.97 million the week before.

RAW had a familiar pattern with the big drop in the third hour when the game was in its second half. RAW's main event was a #1 contender's match between AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, and Chris Jericho.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 4.29 million viewers
9 p.m. 4.18 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.82 million viewers

http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/post-wrestlemania-raw-draws-408-million-viewers-down-2015-210541

 

[Fox318]

That's bound to happen when there isn't a direction coming out of wrestlemania.

 

[Kusagari]

Nothing happened at Mania except a guy nobody likes winning the title as expected.

Zero reason for casuals to tune in.

 

[VoxPop]

That Villanova UNC game was absolutely amazing and contested from start to finish. RAW had no chance.

 

[kirblar]

DWTS's audience is heavily female, no shock at it not being impacted much.

 

[UberTag]

That's bound to happen when there isn't a direction coming out of wrestlemania.

Offer more of the same and the status quo coming out of your biggest event of the year... guess what the ratings picture will be.
<gasp> It's the same!

 

[Darrenf]

Not at all surprised that the ratings are down from last year. There was little reason to watch.

In other news WWE added the Katie Vick episode to the Network. I'm sure that'll get some subscribers.

 

[Anth0ny]

lol that rating

way to build momentum coming out of the "biggest show of all time"

 

[Kurt Angle]

Nothing happened at Mania except a guy nobody likes winning the title as expected.

Zero reason for casuals to tune in.

Vince will blame it on zack Ryder

 

[Zee-Row]

Not at all surprised that the ratings are down from last year. There was little reason to watch.

In other news WWE added the Katie Vick episode to the Network. I'm sure that'll get some subscribers.

Speaking of........stiff

 

[jwhit28]

I wonder what WWE would be like if The Rock felt the same tie to wrestling as John Cena. The Rock is 43. I believe Hogan was 42 when he became Hollywood Hogan. Age is so weird in wrestling. You see people talk about Bray Wyatt and how buried he is at 28, Triple H was around that age when he was jobbing to Ultimate Warrior.

 

[RBH]

 

[Menome]

Dare I ask what this 'Katie Vick' episode is? I'm worried about googling it as I'm in public and don't want to get Chyna-ed.

 

[Officerrob]

That Villanova UNC game was absolutely amazing and contested from start to finish. RAW had no chance.

True, but the first hour of Raw (which was before the game) still had a garbage number for a post Mania RAW

 

[luchadork]

jesus christ

 

[FlammableD]

Dare I ask what this 'Katie Vick' episode is? I'm worried about googling it as I'm in public and don't want to get Chyna-ed.

Triple H implies that Kane murdered and raped his high school girlfriend.

Then reenacts this by climbing in a coffin wearing a Kane mask, fucking a mannequin, and then pulling out bloody entrails with the punchline "Oh my god, I screwed your brains out"

EDIT: actually he outright said it, not implied it

 

[Mahonay]

The NCAA final game was on and it was opening day for baseball, but ratings were down from last year in general leading up to this anyway. Curious to see what this coming Monday's ratings will look like.

 

[Son Of D]

Dare I ask what this 'Katie Vick' episode is? I'm worried about googling it as I'm in public and don't want to get Chyna-ed.

Triple H, Kane, a coffin and a mannequin. I'll say no more.

 

[Ronin Ray]

I wonder what WWE would be like if The Rock felt the same tie to wrestling as John Cena. The Rock is 43. I believe Hogan was 42 when he became Hollywood Hogan. Age is so weird in wrestling. You see people talk about Bray Wyatt and how buried he is at 28, Triple H was around that age when he was jobbing to Ultimate Warrior.

That's not a fair comparison to make. If Cena could do what the Rock was doing in Hollywood he would be doing it. Hogan tried to do it and failed. Any wrestler would do what the Rock has done if they could expect maybe Flair. Flair would still have matches in the parking lots of where they were filming his movies.

 

[FyreWulff]

That's not a fair comparison to make. If Cena could do what the Rock was doing in Hollywood he would be doing it. Hogan tried to do it and failed. Any wrestler would do what the Rock has done if they could expect maybe Flair. Flair would still have matches in the parking lots of where they were filming his movies.

Yeah, I honestly think if Cena could get acting jobs he'd be out of the WWE too.

Problem is that for studios to take him seriously he'd need to do what Rock did and leave the WWE entirely. You can't get there only doing movies for your own company studio that lets you keep wrestling as you film.

 

[imBask]

This thread never changes. "This week RAW was against X and that's why the ratings are bad"

just stop. RAW screwed RAW
RAW was terrible again this week except for that main event, 2h48min deep

 

[Glorified G]

That Villanova UNC game was absolutely amazing and contested from start to finish. RAW had no chance.

That game was 30% down from last year so I don't how many viewers it could have possibly drawn away,

And to note, Raw went up against the NCAA title game in 2014 and that show averaged a little over 5 million viewers across 3 hours (Daniel Bryan post mania win). We're are talking about about over a million viewers lost on in two years.

The biggest feud in the last 6 months being between the #1 babyface nobody wants and a boring heel nobody cares about had something to do with it.

 

[Menome]

Triple H implies that Kane murdered and raped his high school girlfriend.

Then reenacts this by climbing in a coffin wearing a Kane mask, fucking a mannequin, and then pulling out bloody entrails with the punchline "Oh my god, I screwed your brains out"

EDIT: actually he outright said it, not implied it

Triple H, Kane, a coffin and a mannequin. I'll say no more.

Oh...

Oh.

 

[Hex]

That game was 30% down from last year so I don't how many viewers it could have possibly drawn away,

And to note, Raw went up against the NCAA title game in 2014 and that show averaged a little over 5 million viewers across 3 hours (Daniel Bryan post mania win). We're are talking about about over a million viewers lost on in two years.

The biggest feud in the last 6 months being between the #1 babyface nobody wants and a boring heel nobody cares about had something to do with it.

If that game was down 30%, Raw is down is not not possible to take from that people are not watching as much live tv these days?
It is fantastic that there are so many wrestling fans on gaf that a weekly ratings tally seems to be needed.
Ratings have stabalized, they may not be up where they were a year or two ago but it is no longer on a sinking decline.

 

[Sephzilla]

If that game was down 30%, Raw is down is not not possible to take from that people are not watching as much live tv these days?
It is fantastic that there are so many wrestling fans on gaf that a weekly ratings tally seems to be needed.
Ratings have stabalized, they may not be up where they were a year or two ago but it is no longer on a sinking decline.

I wouldn't be surprised if they started declining again within a few months, though. The ratings started stabilizing right around Road to Wrestlemania season, which is usually their most watched time of the year. Once we get past SummerSlam and WWE goes into full on don't-give-a-fuck mode again we'll probably see a free-fall in ratings.

 

[Violence Jack]

I dropped it halfway through in favor of the game. But I doubt I would've stuck with Raw anyway. I found it extremely boring.

That 3rd hour is killing them. Really wish USA wasn't so adamant on keeping it at that length.

 

[Glorified G]

If that game was down 30%, Raw is down is not not possible to take from that people are not watching as much live tv these days?
It is fantastic that there are so many wrestling fans on gaf that a weekly ratings tally seems to be needed.
Ratings have stabalized, they may not be up where they were a year or two ago but it is no longer on a sinking decline.

It was down because the NCAA game was moved to cable this year and WWE still lost viewers. The fact that the NCAA game in 2014 was on national TV and Raw posted much higher ratings that year says the NCAA overall is irrelevant to the viewership of Raw. Fans didn't want to tune in period.

 

[Super_Cobra]

I used to be a huge wwe fan. Watched raw and wrestlemania for the first time in years and it was god aweful.

 

[Hex]

I wouldn't be surprised if they started declining again within a few months, though. The ratings started stabilizing right around Road to Wrestlemania season, which is usually their most watched time of the year. Once we get past SummerSlam and WWE goes into full on don't-give-a-fuck mode again we'll probably see a free-fall in ratings.

I think it will be ok for a while, enough new to keep people interested until it rolls back into the same.
I hope that they will at least realize that people loved not having Show, Kane or Ryback bogging things down and no authority garbage.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

That Villanova UNC game was absolutely amazing and contested from start to finish. RAW had no chance.

It's worth noting that the biggest ratings night in pro wrestling history (Jan 4, 1999) was also the BCS Championship game. WCW and WWF were not only going head to head with each other but a major football game and they both still did over 5.0. 11 million people watched wrestling that night.

The moral of the story is that when people are invested it doesn't matter what it's running up against.

 

[bjork]

I wonder what WWE would be like if The Rock felt the same tie to wrestling as John Cena. The Rock is 43. I believe Hogan was 42 when he became Hollywood Hogan. Age is so weird in wrestling. You see people talk about Bray Wyatt and how buried he is at 28, Triple H was around that age when he was jobbing to Ultimate Warrior.

HHH has been haunted by that loss ever since, and that's why once he went back up the card in late 96, he's always done his best to try and be a key guy that's a big part of the show. He has his momentum killed between WM12 and the MSG incident, for months.

Wyatt gets beat over and over, but they keep slotting him into feuds with big names. He doesn't need to improve or evolve his shtick, because there's no incentive to do so.

Also, if Rock were around full-time, the crowd would've turned on him by now. His content was old in his original run, and even in short doses now, it adds nothing to the current product. It just makes whoever the current guy is that he's ripping on, look silly or weak, with no way of getting any sort of upside from it.

 

[Chamber]

They're going to be below a 2.0 rating when that Sept/Oct/Nov period hits. RTWM is generally as good as it gets during the calendar year and it was bad this year.

 

[Owzers]

But...they are giving the fans what they want, several chances to boo reigns.

 

[Hex]

They're going to be below a 2.0 rating when that Sept/Oct/Nov period hits. RTWM is generally as good as it gets during the calendar year and it was bad this year.

They really need to turn Survivor Series into something special again.

 

[Glorified G]

I wonder what WWE would be like if The Rock felt the same tie to wrestling as John Cena. The Rock is 43. I believe Hogan was 42 when he became Hollywood Hogan. Age is so weird in wrestling. You see people talk about Bray Wyatt and how buried he is at 28, Triple H was around that age when he was jobbing to Ultimate Warrior.

John Cena wasn't the leading man in major motion picture film(s) before the age of 30 like the Rock. Cena loves the business because he doesn't have better options. It's like that indy band that doesn't have any major record labels interested saying they'll never sell out.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

John Cena wasn't the leading man in major motion picture film(s) before the age of 30 like the Rock. Cena loves the business because he doesn't have better options. It's like that indy band that doesn't have any major record labels interested saying they'll never sell out.

I think the Rock loves the business too. He keeps coming back even though he doesn't need to.

If Brock Lesnar became a huge movie star I don't think you would ever see him in the WWE again.

 

[GeordieMark]

I stopped following wrestling towards the end of the attitude era and what I felt damaged Raw back then was Smackdown. It was the WWE competing against itself, and splitting the roster and having two shows really hurt the overall quality. It was downhill form there.

Nowadays, as a casual observer of WWE, there just aren't the personalities that were around back then. The vast majority of the wrestlers are dull as fuck and the promos are horrible. They really need to get some decent writers, and get some of the wrestlers into some acting classes.

 

[abundant]

Nowadays, as a casual observer of WWE, there just aren't the personalities that were around back then. The vast majority of the wrestlers are dull as fuck and the promos are horrible. They really need to get some decent writers, and get some of the wrestlers into some acting classes.

That's because everything today is too scripted. From the matches to the promos, nothing feels organic anymore and it is because of this.

 

[Plinko]

I stopped following wrestling towards the end of the attitude era and what I felt damaged Raw back then was Smackdown. It was the WWE competing against itself, and splitting the roster and having two shows really hurt the overall quality. It was downhill form there.

Nowadays, as a casual observer of WWE, there just aren't the personalities that were around back then. The vast majority of the wrestlers are dull as fuck and the promos are horrible. They really need to get some decent writers, and get some of the wrestlers into some acting classes.

Not to mention their music all sounds nearly identical.

HHH being pushed as the main heel is so incredibly laughable and they deserve what they get in ratings. That guy wasn't even a draw in the Attitude Era. He was always feuding with somebody more popular.

 

[Spider from Mars]

Thanks, Shane. Some show you put together! Vince isn't to blame because he wasn't running it!

 

[Chamber]

Can you imagine how hard it is to write 5 hours of tv every week with no offseason breaks and crazy ass Vince overseeing things and changing shit on the fly? It's actually really absurd when you think about it.

 

[Mahonay]

Can you imagine how hard it is to write 5 hours of tv every week with no offseason breaks and crazy ass Vince overseeing things and changing shit on the fly? It's actually really absurd when you think about it.

It sounds like a waking nightmare which it most absolutely is.

 

[Anth0ny]

Can you imagine how hard it is to write 5 hours of tv every week with no offseason breaks and crazy ass Vince overseeing things and changing shit on the fly? It's actually really absurd when you think about it.

that's the real killer. with enough talented writers it honestly shouldn't be that much of a problem. but they have a crazy old man changing shit hours before they go live.

 

[hamchan]

Can you imagine how hard it is to write 5 hours of tv every week with no offseason breaks and crazy ass Vince overseeing things and changing shit on the fly? It's actually really absurd when you think about it.

I would give up and write any bullshit since it doesn't matter because Vince will come in and change it all.

Which is exactly what I think happens now.

 

[obijkenobi]

Can you imagine how hard it is to write 5 hours of tv every week with no offseason breaks and crazy ass Vince overseeing things and changing shit on the fly? It's actually really absurd when you think about it.

Not every match has to have a major story tho. At the very least, they can go back to having character motivations. E.g. zack ryder wants to win this match bc he wants to move up the rankings for an IC title match bc it was a promise to his dad whom the audience always pops over.

Then whenever ryder has a match, there is some sort of motivation the audience can understand and root for or against. This would carry over into Smackdown as well.

 

[shaowebb]

At least it looks like they are moving Reigns towards heel. The boos are genuine. If people want to hate him encourage it. Booking Zayn, Owens, Cersaro and AJ as the main event was also a good move. Build those as the faces of the future and keep them at the top of the card IMO. People are demanding more and if they book them more towards the top people will see a better product at the top of the card.

Also...I think its time to let go and then some on these elderly names. I'm sorry guys, but Undertaker and Kane are fat out of shape drooly old men that are sad to watch. You got real scary monsters like Brock on the card and guys that could easily rebrand into a role like Kane under a mask so they are unnecessary. Harvest their spots, turn the monster gimmick over to those fit to look the part and retire them. Its sad watching them out there with their pot bellies and constant drooling as they get gassed (looking at you Undertaker).
And even though HHH is in shape in no way should he be involved anymore. Fans are sick of it. Every yearly story is about him more than anything and no one cares. You can have a story without an oppressive company figure behind it. Not everything has to be Vince McMahon style stories.

Finally I got to say that the Attitude era is over. If you're NOT going to book a product thats like it then stop burying your talent for cameos to show up and remind you of how much better the 90's were than this pg product. If you aint pushing the Attitude era then don't remind folks that they were better. Focus on improving your current product. Dudley boys, Hardys, Austin, HBK, The Rock...just stop. Hell they buried 10 of their roster at Wrestlemania with League of Nations, New Day, and The Wyatt Family all being fed to cameos that wouldn't be there the next night! PUSH THE GUYS THAT FOLKS WILL SEE BY TUNING IN. Jesus is that so hard to understand. They're burying their own product for a one off pop at a single event.

Fucking stupid booking out there. Time to trim the elderly wrestlers off the bookings, bury the corporate story angles for a few years, and build up the younger talent.

 

[abundant]

Not every match has to have a major story tho. At the very least, they can go back to having character motivations. E.g. zack ryder wants to win this match bc he wants to move up the rankings for an IC title match bc it was a promise to his dad whom the audience always pops over.

Then whenever ryder has a match, there is some sort of motivation the audience can understand and root for or against. This would carry over into Smackdown as well.

The problem, as stated above, is that no matter what you're booking, Vince McMahon can and probably will change everything, sometimes hours before the show airs.

Take your Zack Ryder example. Vince could come in, see that Ryder isn't moving enough merchandise or is having a bad match and poof. All that hard work you've done to give Ryder a defined character goes up in smoke.