raw Discussion Thread

[Carbomb]

Nonsense, it was going to be simple for the Best Wrestler In The World to get out of that

 

Yeah, how could Cena, whose workrate is of an all-time low, possibly hope to keep Punk in his Gurn-lock?

[JNLister]

It's kinda tough to complain about fantasy booking when a six year old kid (on Jimmy Kimmel) comes up with a scenario and it turns out to be right.

[stingersplash]

its probably already been said - but the pedigree punk story is legit - meltzer wrote about it and ive heard today that mike johnson on pwi heard from sources that is was a legit story and they wanted del rio vs cena for summerslam.

 

basically if it wasnt for vince being realy strong on punk right now, then thats what we would have gotten, and all the people who returned to raw for punks run would have left and never returned. im sure a few months ago even, that plan would have gone through.

 

also punk is the reason for zack ryder even being on raw/smackdown and vince didnt have a clue about ryders internet show. you really have to wonder why vince is still around when he isnt an internet kinda guy, andnow that internet is much more widely available, the wrestling fans who use the internet is growing weekly. id wager if you went to a raw taping and asked every fan if they used the internet at all in the past month, over half would say yes and probably use it a lot more often, with mobile phones and games consoles now being a way of getting online, and wwe being targeted at kids, id be shocked if almost all kids into wwe didnt look for matches on the net.

[Carbomb]

Just watched the episode properly, and aside from all the stuff that's been said, I have to say it was an excellent episode. That match between Cena and Rey was absolutely cracking, and I'd love to see another couple of matches between the two as faces. Great stuff. Loved Triple Cole, and I have to say they played the introduction of the new Punk entrance masterfully. Still don't think it was all that great bringing him back so early, but I really don't mind it that much; it's still gold, even if it's not 24 carat.

[Egg Shen]

the fact that Punk's now using Living Color as his theme tune gets him even more brownie points from me.

[RepoMan]

you really have to wonder why vince is still around when he isnt an internet kinda guy, andnow that internet is much more widely available, the wrestling fans who use the internet is growing weekly. id wager if you went to a raw taping and asked every fan if they used the internet at all in the past month, over half would say yes and probably use it a lot more often, with mobile phones and games consoles now being a way of getting online, and wwe being targeted at kids, id be shocked if almost all kids into wwe didnt look for matches on the net.

That's a completely stupid and vague comment to make though. You don't get to be in charge of a company based on how much you use the Internet. He has people to keep an eye on that, and WWE have made great strides over the past couple of years in social networking etc.

 

Just because Vince doesn't give in to fanwank ideas, it doesn't mean he's completely out of touch. It just means he realises there's a WIDE audience out there.

 

I guarantee if WWE catered specifically to the Internet 'crowd' then they'd fail.

[Vito]

I think the point was about Vince, the figurehead of a multinational entertainment company, being out of touch with modern trends and the attitudes of said companies target audience. Nobody's expecting Vince to cater for the Internet fans, but he should be aware of how important online entities like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are to people in the twenty-first century and figure out a way of utilizing them more efficiently.

[Mr.Showtime]

I think the point was about Vince, the figurehead of a multinational entertainment company, being out of touch with modern trends and the attitudes of said companies target audience. Nobody's expecting Vince to cater for the Internet fans, but he should be aware of how important online entities like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are to people in the twenty-first century and figure out a way of utilizing them more efficiently.

They mention twitter almost every match/segment these days so they are well on their way I would have thought. There will be a lot of changes over the next few years, there's no doubt about that, so it'll be interesting to see where things go if nothing else. The TV shows have looked more than stale for a long time, PPVs too really, even with all the gimmicky concepts.

[RepoMan]

They mention twitter almost every match/segment these days so they are well on their way I would have thought. There will be a lot of changes over the next few years, there's no doubt about that, so it'll be interesting to see where things go if nothing else. The TV shows have looked more than stale for a long time, PPVs too really, even with all the gimmicky concepts.

Absolutely. I mean look at stuff like Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday, interactive Raw, WWE on Facebook, Twitter etc. As a company, they interact with the fans more than ever. However, just because they do that, it doesn't mean they're going to listen to absolutely every single stupid idea that fans come up with.

 

Vince is a sensible man. He knows how to look at everything in context. After all, just because it's on the Internet, it doesn't mean it's true or that it hasn't been manipulated or whatever else.

 

I don't think WWE do a bad job whatsoever of utilising the net.

[Vito]

The WWE promoting its presence on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are very new concepts but they are a step in the right direction, personally I'd like to see a return of Byte This which was so far ahead of its time that they cancelled it back in 2006, what better time to make a YouTube exclusive mini-show showcasing some of the younger or low-tier talent (such as Ryder) who perhaps don't have the opportunity to express themselves on television, let's not forget that Cena only became a rapper after Vince walked in on him battle rapping Rey Mysterio backstage. A web show could potentially be a way of trying out new gimmicks to see how the online audience respond to them.

[Carbomb]

Absolutely. I mean look at stuff like Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday, interactive Raw, WWE on Facebook, Twitter etc. As a company, they interact with the fans more than ever. However, just because they do that, it doesn't mean they're going to listen to absolutely every single stupid idea that fans come up with.

 

Can't believe I'm going to defend stingersplash, but IIRC, his point was about how Vince didn't even know about Zack Ryder's Youtube programme, not fan ideas. It's actually rather damning when you're advocating that your own wrestlers need to "step up" and "show something", and then don't even know they're doing it.

 

I wouldn't say WWE do a bad job of utilising Teh Intarwebz, but compared to what other companies are doing right now, I'd say they're definitely a bit behind.

[RepoMan]

Can't believe I'm going to defend stingersplash, but IIRC, his point was about how Vince didn't even know about Zack Ryder's Youtube programme, not fan ideas. It's actually rather damning when you're advocating that your own wrestlers need to "step up" and "show something", and then don't even know they're doing it.

 

I wouldn't say WWE do a bad job of utilising Teh Intarwebz, but compared to what other companies are doing right now, I'd say they're definitely a bit behind.

And yet they're still far ahead of other companies, so perhaps they're not doing bad after all. Maybe other companies are focusing TOO much on the Internet.

 

As for Vince not knowing about Ryder, is it really true? Who knows. But I'm sure he has far better things to be doing than searching the net for what his employees are up to.

[Baz Windham]

Even if Vince didn't know about Ryder, I doubt Punk is the one that got him on TV. If any wrestler was involved in that i'd say a higher up like John Cena would have been more influential considering his vocal support for Ryder.

[xear]

It's a strange angle this because in the eyes of WWE Rey is now listed as a former WWE Champ and John Cena is now listed as a 9 time WWE champ however in the eyes of fans CM Punk is still the WWE Champ cause he never got beat for it.

 

Quoting myself because a thought has come to mind.

 

The Miz - Wore a t-shirt saying that he was the 40th person to become WWE Champion.

 

CM Punk - 41st person to become the WWE Champ.

 

Rey - WWE will now say he's the 42nd person to become WWE Champ but outside the angle is he really?

[Carbomb]

And yet they're still far ahead of other companies, so perhaps they're not doing bad after all. Maybe other companies are focusing TOO much on the Internet.

 

By "other companies", I meant non-wrestling ones. Marketing, media, etc. Also, I don't see the old "WWE are still making money, so they must be doing something right" as an argument for much - they're making money, sure, but seeing as their ratings are down and they don't appear to be in a boom period, perhaps they're not making as much money as they should be, for a company of their size and presence?

 

As for Vince not knowing about Ryder, is it really true? Who knows. But I'm sure he has far better things to be doing than searching the net for what his employees are up to.

 

It's not implausible - there's precedent for WWE higher-ups not really knowing what was going on. Stevie Night HeAT (i.e. Stevie Richards' gimmick as "GM" of HeAT) got quite over considering the little exposure the programme got, but the reason it got to run for a few months was because, according to numerous reports, Stephanie (who was head of one of the brands' programming at the time) didn't even know it existed, as she didn't watch the programme - moment she found out, she canned it.

 

As for whether or not "he's got better things to be doing", perhaps so - it's not really so much a failing on his part as a failure of whoever's job it is to keep an eye on this sort of thing to report back to him. Talent relations must be a bit sloppy if they're not checking up on their talent and finding out what's getting over, however little.