Royal Rumble 2014 Discussion

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Obviously it'll be taken into account but I wonder with the network coming the might have to give people what they want to an extent if they want to continue there subscription.

 

As I said earlier one weeks live audience is the next weeks tv so neither can be ignored

What do they want? If you take that crowd into consideration, they dont want John Cena on top. But he's the one that's selling out the house shows this week. Bryan was just as over in the August and didn't have a million PPV defeats behind him and they didn't buy that. It bombed huge compared to the previous year.

 

The bigger problem isn't that they didn't give Bryan his win last night. The big problem is WWE's whole philosophy these days. They beat Bryan so much over the last year, that the damage has been done, and it takes far more than a Royal Rumble win to dig him out of that funk. Look at what they did to Ryback for example. You cant beat someone for several PPVs on the trot, then dress him as a bin man and tell people "if he wins the belt, meh, Jericho did as well and he wasn't out special" and expect people to pay money to watch you. You must protect your stars, and they haven't done that with Bryan and that is where the backlash has come from. The same thing happened when he was beat after 18 seconds and fans hijacked the show. The reaction is based on the fact he's been run into the ground so often. Not because he's suddenly caught on as a massive star. Because he's been super popular for well over a year now. Anyone who thinks there wasn't damage done when they kept beating him last year are fooling themselves.

 

Lance Storm also posted a good suggestion of turning away from Raw whenever Bryan doesn't show up. It's not just as as fans, but also people from the industry.

Lance Storm said:

Daniel Bryan is making more money than he ever has In His life, how is this being shit on. He's not the champ get over it. He is super over with loyal wrestling fans. If he was half as over with casual fans he'd probably get a bigger push

 

You should read all of what he was saying. He's being the same old miserable cunt he's always being and disagreeing with the outcry of support.

[Astro Hollywood]

can anyone else recall another situation when the live crowd was that dissatisfied with what happened? The last 10-15 minutes of that Rumble was painful to watch...save for Reigns.

 

Cena/Orton was up there with the Lesnar/Goldberg match I mentioned above. "We want divas" and "This is awful," and it was. Shockingly bad. A match everyone's seen a million times already, with two guys who have no chemistry together. It was so flat. No storytelling, just... stuff going on. The rote appearance of finishers and kick outs once we got past the 10 minute mark. The worst bit was Orton immediately tapping to the STF before it was even applied, not even knowing the ref was down, like pinfalls in iron man matches after bodyslams and backrakes. Ten minutes later, STF'd while he's more worn down and injured; hanging on just fine. Garbage.

 

 

Bryan/Wyatt was fucking fantastic though.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

can anyone else recall another situation when the live crowd was that dissatisfied with what happened? The last 10-15 minutes of that Rumble was painful to watch...save for Reigns.

 

There was a short moment which summed it up where Sheamus/Batista had a bit of a face off and nobody gave a fuck.

 

Putting aside all the "boo Batista, yay Bryan" stuff, I would have been all over a Batista vs. Sheamus feud. Earlier I mentioned Batista's Rumble win potentially being a good thing if he faces Lesnar at Mania. But the more I think about it, Big Dave has really looked shit since returning, and I don't mean his wardrobe (but yeah). Sloppy spinebuster on Del Rio, dodgy Spear on Reigns, and most of all, sweating profusely and breathing heavy after a short time. Even as a guy who has been a fan of Batista in the past and can picture him in "dream match" scenarios, I can't help but think none of it will be as good as the Batista of 4 years ago would have made it.

[Egg Shen]

so do the WWE acknowledge last night's crowd reaction on Raw tonight?

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

There'll be a Triple H smirk and a quick, "No, no, no" in the opening Authority promo. Then Bryan will job to Fandango.

 

Not really, but I really fear for the future of Bryan, I think he's about to sink very low in the pecking order. It's mental after the arena shaking reaction of a couple of weeks ago.

[The Cutting Edge]

I wasnt really fussed if Bryan won or not, its more the constant 'live crowds dont matter, Merch and Ratings are all that matter' type stuff, one cant be ignored nor the other.

 

As I said what happens if the live crowd dont watch Raw tonight and a heap of people that watched at home think 'I'll skip wwe til after the chamber and see if things are better then' if could easily happen

[AshC]

Bryan should have won. Give the people what they want. First rule of business.

[Astro Hollywood]

It'll be interesting to see how the whole 'well, the real fans aren't buying him, just the 10% smark crowd" stuff pans out when the Network launches. Business talk always works on the notion that it doesn't matter if (for example) Cena is unpopular, because the bulk of the people buying PPVs and watching the show are families and toothless hicks who go with the flow. I'd think the Network will skew way more towards the sort of fans who were kicking up a stink last night. Look at Netflix. Hugely successful, but grew through House of Cards and Arrested Development, hardly dumb-dumb shows. All the retro stuff on the Network, even 90s era, is only going to further draw in that smarter, partially-ironic fanbase, in their BarbershopWindow t-shirts and hipster beards. Fuck them off, and you might really see a drop in revenue.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

As I said what happens if the live crowd dont watch Raw tonight and a heap of people that watched at home think 'I'll skip wwe til after the chamber and see if things are better then' if could easily happen

They just paid for a ticket. This isn't the audience they have lost. Those fans who turn up when The Rock comes back is the audience they've lost. They are the vocal minority. The sad fact is, the people who are disgruntled with WWE left a long time ago. Its why they find themselves in a position where the headliners at the SummerSlam and WrestleMania are part timers. They are thinking of bringing Sting in for fucks sake. My whole point of this is that, yes Bryan has been fucked royally. But the core of the problem goes beyond live crowds turning. There are less wrestling fans in 2014 than at any time in history. The people who are really down on the business didn't stick around to voice their disapproval. They've already fucked off. For me, if I was going to leave and never come back based on Bryan being shafted, it would have been at Hell in a Cell. Not last night.

[AshC]

Well, if there's any show those people will dip their toe into, it's the Royal Rumble. Saw that first-hand last night, watching with a bunch of lapsed fans. They were all hugely into Bryan. Once the 30th entrant was in, they were all edging towards the door.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

My whole point of this is that, yes Bryan has been fucked royally. But the core of the problem goes beyond live crowds turning. There are less wrestling fans in 2014 than at any time in history. The people who are really down on the business didn't stick around to voice their disapproval. They've already fucked off. For me, if I was going to leave and never come back based on Bryan being shafted, it would have been at Hell in a Cell.

Even the Great Depression of the mid nineties? I was under the impression that business was okay, not stellar, but I didn't think WWE were that far down.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Even the Great Depression of the mid nineties? I was under the impression that business was okay, not stellar, but I didn't think WWE were that far down.

Business is better, but they are the establishment now. Back then they weren't giving the fans what they wanted. In the 90s, there was enough wrestling fans around to where you gave them what they wanted they'd come back. So many fans have found something else to watch these days. Theres a generation lost.

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

I wasn't so much disappointed that Bryan didn't show up in the Rumble as I saw the logic in it after what happened in the Bray match with the Sister Abigail against the barricade, followed by the one in the ring. There was no conceivable way he was going to recover in less than 2 hours to show up.

 

I was more pissed with the predictability of Batista winning it, especially as I had pulled for Reigns in a prediction competition on Fremantle's Facebook page. Felt sorry for Mysterio getting shit on for being number 30, just no need for it as it wasn't his fault

 

Opener and Punk, Rollins and Reigns runs in the Rumble aside It wasn't a good show. The title match was boring, Orton's regressed back into resthold heel mode and it sucks the life out the match. However having the Wyatts distract Cena was good as hopefully it will take Cena out of the title picture for a couple of months

[King Pitcos]

My whole point of this is that, yes Bryan has been fucked royally. But the core of the problem goes beyond live crowds turning. There are less wrestling fans in 2014 than at any time in history. The people who are really down on the business didn't stick around to voice their disapproval. They've already fucked off. For me, if I was going to leave and never come back based on Bryan being shafted, it would have been at Hell in a Cell.

Even the Great Depression of the mid nineties? I was under the impression that business was okay, not stellar, but I didn't think WWE were that far down.

WWE is more popular than it was in the worst times, but you had WCW then as well, so the total fanbase was higher.

 

Lance Storm also posted a good suggestion of turning away from Raw whenever Bryan doesn't show up. It's not just as as fans, but also people from the industry.

Well, he made a good point if all his Twitter followers have Nielsen and BARB boxes, yeah. Some of Storm's Tweets were hilarious, dealing with his outraged followers. One bloke goes "you say people complain but still watch, well I haven't watched in five years so there." And Storm just said "so why are you in this conversation then?"

[PunkStep]

Well, I only stayed up to watch the Kick-Off show last night as I didn't order the PPV, so my overall viewing experience was incredible! Really enjoyed the tag match and I think I surprised myself when I audibly marked out when the Outlaws won. I've been dying to see them back since the DX reunion (Raw 1000, was it?), which is strange because when they were knocking around in the late 90s I wasn't really a fan.

 

Not surprised by the Batista win as such, purely based on the fact that Bryan wasn't announced as being part of it. I had hoped he would be a surprise entrant then go on to win it, but can't be too shocked over it- otherwise they would've made him part of the match in the first place. I can understand why they've put Big Dave over- he's a bona fide star and if last weeks ratings are anything to go by (plus I think he did good figures in his previous run, did he not?) then they will need him to move the needle. I do think from a personal viewpoint they've missed a trick in not having Bryan win it- he's ridiculously over and having him win the title at Mania as well might have got the best out of the stadium crowd that is normally quite muted in comparison to the arena shows.

 

The overreaction to this is hilarious though, and the notion that Bryan 'is fucked' and will find himself lower down the pecking order is silly. He's more over than ever and the more over you can maintain being, the greater the chance that will translate into $ down the road. I remember when Brock left WWE all them years ago, Triple H apparently said 'It was a shame, as he was just on the verge of making some money', implying that his popularity was now starting to transcend with the casual audience and start being a bankable star. Bryan will be fine. The fans will continue to chant for him, if not even more now, and I think this can help him becoming even bigger. However, it would've been a great moment to see him win and take the title at Mania. C'est la vie.