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The Official UKFF RAW Thread...


d-d-d-dAz

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Being cheered live in the arena doesn't equal being over. Yeah, people cheered Cesaro a bit, but how many tickets was he selling? How much of his merch was flying off the shelves? Aside from that portion of the crowd, what other demographic did he connect with?

 

You don't start selling tickets or merch until you are positioned to do so, so that's silly argument quite frankly. Everything starts with the crowd reactions - if crowds are clearly into an act, common sense says you give them more of that act. Raise it's profile and build it up. To say "it was only the same type of fans that liked Punk and Bryan cheering him" as a reason to not push him is mental. Surely you can see that both of those guys made the company a shit-load of money eventually. Whether certain people like it or not, having the hardcore fan-base get behind an act is a tremendous help, because it means they are less likely to get the "stop pushing him down our throats" backlash and are more likely to be accepted in a higher profile role. You said yourself that the fans were popping for his stuff, so why not keep rolling with that instead of cutting his legs off!

 

He was becoming a cool guy to watch, wondering which massive lump he'll pick up and swing around next or having great smash-mouth matches with Sheamus and Bryan. He also had a cracking singles match with Cena on TV that really helped him shine, but again it wasn't followed up with anything.

 

Even good old Stone Cold brought Cesaro up to the mighty Vince McMahon as a guy who was heading on the right path, only to be derailed by booking issues outside of his control.

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People in the arena are going to cheer, but the product is going out to more homes than there are people in attendance and TV ratings (which I have no idea about) will say it all, are people tuning out for 15 minutes whilst Cesaro is on, or are they tuning in?

 

Ticket and merch sales might have been a poor example, but there's still more to being over than the people in attendance cheering.

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Ticket and merch sales might have been a poor example, but there's still more to being over than the people in attendance cheering.

 

Sure there is, but there's also no reason to blatantly ignore it when a talent starts getting good reactions organically. Where else do you start? Surely the crowd getting into an act is a perfectly good reason to start featuring them more prominently. Momentum is very important and WWE is great at halting it for no good reason, especially in the desperate for attention mid-card. I'm not making out Cesaro to be some kind of wonder-wrestler who could be the next big thing or anything, he's just the latest example of someone who was looking really good for a while, before being downgraded for no real reason.

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Ticket and merch sales might have been a poor example, but there's still more to being over than the people in attendance cheering.

 

Sure there is, but there's also no reason to blatantly ignore it when a talent starts getting good reactions organically. Where else do you start? Surely the crowd getting into an act is a perfectly good reason to start featuring them more prominently. Momentum is very important and WWE is great at halting it for no good reason, especially in the desperate for attention mid-card. I'm not making out Cesaro to be some kind of wonder-wrestler who could be the next big thing or anything, he's just the latest example of someone who was looking really good for a while, before being downgraded for no real reason.

 

 

Can't honestly say I've ever seen Cesaro do anything that's made me want to watch a show to see him, buy any of his merch or even read an article on wwe.com about him.  But I have thought what he's done in the ring has been impressive.  He's what Austin would call a "mechanic".  

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Can't honestly say I've ever seen Cesaro do anything that's made me want to watch a show to see him, buy any of his merch or even read an article on wwe.com about him.

 

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But I have thought what he's done in the ring has been impressive.  He's what Austin would call a "mechanic".

 

 

That's exactly what he is. He's perfect for cranking out a decent match for the hardcores on WCW Saturday Night type shows. But we live in the entitlement era, where every internet darling has to win the world title every night or WWE is doing it wrong.

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I'm of the very simple opinion that if something starts to get a response and get over - you run with it, you don't run it down dead.

 

Not everyone has promo skills like the Rock, but there are others ways to be valuable. It was only a year or two ago that we were hearing that Vince "doesn't get" Bryan, so that's why he wasn't getting the top spot. He was also laughed at as a potential new top guy for his lack of charisma and mic skills. Worked out OK, right?

 

You simply don't know if you don't try. I'll agree with Stone cold on this one (along with most of this forum, if you look at the Biggest Anti-Climax award), he was on fire around last year's Mania and they dropped the ball, not him.

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Did you not say the same thing about Paul Burchill? I can never remember whether that was you or not. Are there any wrestlers you feel dropped the ball themselves (and by the same token, any wrestlers who made themselves a success), or is WWE creative solely responsible for everyone's failure/success?

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There's talk that Raw and Smackdown could both be cancelled this week due to blizzards on the East Coast. Would be a shame if true.

 

No. This is their opportunity! They can do a Russo/Bischoff era WCW reboot. Strip all the titles, all the number 1 contenderships. It'll be like last night didn't happen. 

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