Snitsky's back acne Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 At least this has finally given me a reason to cancel Sky Sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacko Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Raw is just dead in the water at the minute so many echoes of 2000 nitros at the minute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Anyone else kind of hoping it keeps plummeting for a bit? That not out of some vindictive dem wrath, or anything to do with a moralistic stance. It's more down to the fact that Raw is so stagnant that the likelihood of watching it crash even harder is both a more bankable hit of Tuesday morning intrigue - just from a whole being interested in the wrestling business standpoint - and will prompt greater and more drastic future changes. Honestly, I know it might sound childish but "die, Raw, die!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members mim731 Posted May 7, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 7, 2019 Just now, Jacko said: so many echoes of 2000 nitros at the minute That's a bit strong. 2000 Nitro was a mess of overbooking that made little sense. Hot shot booking, major title changes with no build, Vince Russo in the main event. We've not reached that level yet. Raw is dull, sure. Lazily booked? Absolutely. In a rut? Definitely. But it's not anywhere near as bad as the latter days of WCW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted May 7, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 7, 2019 6 hours ago, buba3d said: i honestly think the company is done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bohan Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 1 hour ago, TheBurningRed said: Worst Raw ever. What’s the point of the draft when you’re gonna have this wild card rule. Lazy writing. And Vince says 3 stars can come over anytime and 6 show up so that’s already gone to shit. Baron Corbin in a 20 minute match. Fuck sake. I’ve been ready to give up for ages, but I’m not watching Raw again unless it gets better. Which is looking doubtful. Only watched Raw in highlight form. Roman, Kofi, Bryan, Lars and Elias - who was the sixth that I missed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted May 7, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 7, 2019 1 minute ago, Bohan said: Only watched Raw in highlight form. Roman, Kofi, Bryan, Lars and Elias - who was the sixth that I missed? Presume Shane but he's been able to go wherever anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted May 7, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 7, 2019 (edited) 24 minutes ago, Gay as FOOK said: Anyone else kind of hoping it keeps plummeting for a bit? That not out of some vindictive dem wrath, or anything to do with a moralistic stance. It's more down to the fact that Raw is so stagnant that the likelihood of watching it crash even harder is both a more bankable hit of Tuesday morning intrigue - just from a whole being interested in the wrestling business standpoint - and will prompt greater and more drastic future changes. Honestly, I know it might sound childish but "die, Raw, die!" It is interesting to see what will happen. I commented to SCG Liam a few weeks ago when he mentioned the low ratings about when it will matter. I'm intrigued by that. The ratings have been going down almost on trend for nearly two decades now. Some of that is the product and some is the change in the TV landscape. As bad as ratings are now, they're not much worse than when they signed their latest record breaking TV deals. So what is the point where it matters? On the comparison with 2000 WCW, WWE ratings have long been below where WCW were when they were cancelled. It's a completely different market and WCW obviously had big expectations and the network was sustaining their losses but it's the only real watermark we have and it's clearly not useful. I don't know if there is a point where WWE becomes unappealing to the networks. I don't know if there's a contractual expectation or a breaking point written in. Don't suppose anyone does. But it's interesting to see it all play out. As @Devon Malcolm's glorious gif alludes to though, they're far from finished regardless. Their income is massive and varied. Their audience is also massive and extends far, far beyond people watching on the USA Network on a Monday night. So it's a far more complex issue than your regular TV show. Still, interesting. Edited May 7, 2019 by tiger_rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members TheBurningRed Posted May 7, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 7, 2019 11 minutes ago, Bohan said: Only watched Raw in highlight form. Roman, Kofi, Bryan, Lars and Elias - who was the sixth that I missed? Shane. As Rick said, he’s able to go wherever anyway. But he’s more Smackdown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 So what's everyones opinions on possible quick fixes for Raw? For me, it's difficult because there's so much talent there that I just don't care about because they haven't put the effort into pushing them properly. So it's impossible to fix overnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCW Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 I don't think there's a way of solving the dull repetitiveness of the format and presentation, or the lame panic induced booking until Vince and all his handpicked crew pack it in. And seeing how Vince is superhuman, I doubt he'll be going anywhere soon. I'm just interested in how far things will plummet before a drastic change is forced upon them by the network or advertisers etc. They certainly aren't going out of business or are done etc anyway, that's for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Accident Prone Posted May 7, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 7, 2019 4 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said: So what's everyones opinions on possible quick fixes for Raw? For me, it's difficult because there's so much talent there that I just don't care about because they haven't put the effort into pushing them properly. So it's impossible to fix overnight. I think quick fixes are the reason why RAW is in the state that it's in. Something more long-term is needed to shift the show back into a watchable format, but they're all ideas that have been spouted about before (shorter show, more emphasis on building characters, far less 50/50 booking, creating a solid mid-card, no authority figures, stricter approach to the brand split etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted May 7, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 7, 2019 10 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said: So what's everyones opinions on possible quick fixes for Raw? For me, it's difficult because there's so much talent there that I just don't care about because they haven't put the effort into pushing them properly. So it's impossible to fix overnight. I'm not sure there are quick fixes gien they've tried all sorts already and it's still been shite. Getting the most starpower they can on the show, be that Goldberg, Rock, Austin, Cena, Reigns, Undertaker, Lesnare, etc at the same time might give them a boost. It's not a fix though. They need a long term plan for how they get the most out of this roster and how they get away from the same formula they've had for TV for 20 years. Those things are crippling them. I'd be tempted to abandon the brand split this year and work towards unifying the world and tag titles. It's clearly not working for them and they don't have the stars to spread themselves that thin. They should have but it just doesnt work. That would go hand in hand with getting old star names back in the fold. Get them everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 For me I really just need a reason to care. So many of the 'wrestlers' just don't have any background given to who they are, why they are what they are etc. Not on the main roster anyway. Take that Ricochet and Roode match for example. The crowd were absolutely dead for it. Granted, they weren't the best crowd in general, but these are two solid talents from NXT that should be able to get a crowd on side easily enough. But who is Ricochet beyond some flippy dude that came up from NXT one day? They have this horrible mentality of assuming everyone knows who the call ups are without giving them any context whatsoever. Not everyone is going to be like me where I'm familiar with their pre-WWE work, their NXT work and their Youtube stuff etc. That gives me a great overall knowledge of some of the talent, but it doesn't work for everyone. With 3 hours a week, they really can't spare a little time to deliver some decent vignettes to hype these people and give them some interview time etc? It's so annoying. If I can lose interest in talent because they're not given any story or anything then I dread to think how little others care when they're not familiar with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Whilst revitalising the excitement in WWE's week to week product isn't a simple task, you can simply it if you're willing to get a bit general and eschew your expectations of what may or may not be possible today, in favour of balls out optimism. They need what they can't possible create or control all by themselves, and that's the kicker if your company mentality is that of the dominant narcissist. They need a breakout star. A cool dude whose both relevant to popular culture and seemingly unlike anything else in it. Someone who looks unusual enough, and sounds unusual enough and still speaks to everyone enough to just be begging to be tuned into, retweeted and turned into a meme. By people other than us lot. The format of your weekly episodic content then needs to be built around them in such a concise, compact and genuinely unpredictable fashion so as to convince people that in their household of multiple screens it might just be a good idea to stop what you're doing and inhale this thing in its intended format for two (!) hours. They don't have anyone like that now. Punk just about got there with the pipebomb but then went just behind the level needed immediately afterwards. Opinions will differ but Bryan I think just hit the ceiling of how over you can get with the pre-existing audience who'll always stick around. The ambivalence a huge portion of the crowd have towards Roman is far more of a poor, muted sort of indifference than the carny, fed-into-it outright hate they had towards Cena for years in my opinion. They were able to comfortably codify that into many of the angles. Roman's a horse for house and merchandise figures but guys of a certain ilk and age will never like him. As deserved and stiff the UKFF boner for him is. Can a star like that exist again, in a post-everything world where wrestling's still gay as fook? 'Course. We're not going to see it coming, that's what always keeps it a polite possibility. Nobody's saying we have to hit an 80s/Attitude Era peak either. Batista got their ratings trending upward when he split from Evolution. A good, polite bit of upward business. 2005-2008 was rocking, we were just stuck comparing it to 1998-2000 at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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