returner82 Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 31 minutes ago, bigfoote said: Well, that'll put bums on seats... They're leaving the sides empty so that you have two mirror versions of Alex Shane half turned with his arms folded to fill it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfoote Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 And charging through the nose for the privilege Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 I absolutely think there was an opportunity here to capitalise on the success of Impact and WWE over here and establish a terrestrial UK brand. They just blew it. They took too long to get the project up and running, the WWE poached the best talent for their UK brand, and ITV were left touting the leftovers of the UK scene as a genuine alternative. My two nephews are huge WWE fans, and they spotted this on the schedule and tuned in. They knew who Wade Barrett was but that's about it. The quality of the production and the lack of genuine talent meant they never tuned in again - and looking at the figures they weren't the only ones. The honest truth is that ITV didn't take this seriously, they didn't secure top level talent and they didn't bother to employ people who knew how to produce a quality tv wrestling product. Alex Shane represents everything that is shitearse about British wrestling, and we can add this to the long list of projects he's failed at. Still waiting for my yellow belt in professional wrestling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 2 minutes ago, Loki said: Still waiting for my yellow belt in professional wrestling Don't you need your armband first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tamura Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 2 hours ago, Keith Houchen said: I think wrestling fans are having a hard time accepting that wrestling isn't mainstream. It isn't anywhere close to being. Sure, it's getting good attendances at some live events, but it's also getting shite attendances in the overwhelming majority of shows. Sure, you can say there is a difference between this promotion and World Shithouse Wrestling, but do you think the mainstream give a shit about which alphabet soup "Company" is putting on the show, or if Alex Shane is like some reconstructed porcine silicon hybrid pulling the strings from the shadows? Just because Download or Bloodstock events are selling out, it doesn't make metal attractive to mainstream audiences. As people have said, TV isn't the "Ultimate goal" any more. If you're good enough at your game, you don't need TV. If UK wrestling never appears on TV for another 15 years, I wouldn't give a tuppenny fuck. It won't hurt the UK scene one bit. It's niche as fuck and may it stay that way. It isn't even mainstream in America any more, as the US viewing figures for recents RAWs and whatever Impact Wrestling's TV show is called these days. RAW - July 30th (2.896 million), August 6th (2.8 million), August 13th (2.822 million), August 20th (3.092 million), August 27th (2.843 million) Impact Wrestling - August 2nd (248,000), August 9th (168,000), August 16th (210,000), August 23rd (212,000), August 30th (225,000) Given the current estimated population of the US is 326 million people WWE aren't even getting 1% of the population to watch, and I won't even bother to point and laugh at Impact's share. And WWE are the world leaders in the "sports entertainment" business with big name superstars, years of experience. regular Monday night TV slot, dedicated fanbase and so on. If with all their advantages WWE struggle to get 3 million viewers in a country with a population of 326 million, what chance did a new promotion like WOS have of getting a rating that would satisfy ITV bosses in a country with a population of 65 million? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted September 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted September 16, 2018 Wrestling might not be mainstream, but there's 1.2 million people who tuned in for the pilot and 900,000 who watched the first show of this series. That's proof there was a potential audience. Getting down to 300,000 shows what a good job they made of serving that audience. We can sit here and argue about whether the in-ring style was right or they had the best line-up or if the booking was effective or if the publicity outside the show was suitable. I don't think any of that is really significant when you place it besides the simple fact the editing and direction made the show unwatchable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted September 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted September 16, 2018 "I've got some very important breaking news. I'll tell you what it is in an hour." It can't be that important then. This is straight out of the Dixie Carter school of big announcements. It also doesn't fill me with confidence that when I went to download this week's episode the synopsis for next week's episode said that Stu Bennett has a big announcement. That women's match was dreadful in places. I don't think Aisha was ready for something like this, especially where the camera work is so shoddy. Some better angles and edits could have been used to try and protect her in that match. Viper toddling towards her in slow motion, arms up ready to deliver an axe-handle ready for the reversal was so obvious,but not in a sense of "I've seen enough wrestling to know where this is going",,but in a sense of "Daddy, why is she going slowly while the other lady stands up properly?". Aisha obviously jumped when Viper gave her the bodyslam at the end. Fortunately the match against KLR will probably be decent. So for the mixed tag match we had a pair of babyfaces against a babyface and a heel? Why did they edit the Bicycle/Yakuza kick and what I assume is a couple of knife edge chops out? Match started a bit too rehearsed, but turned into a good match. Val complimenting the ladies' bodies followed by Bennett's burgers remark was terrible. The tag team champs are wrestling in singles matches two weeks after they won the titles? I'd guess this'll lead to a tag title match against Bulldog and somebody at some point. Alex Shane echoing Stu Bennett's calling of them challenging the test of strength like one of Biff Tannen's lackeys in Back To The Future was amateurish. "This match would main event any arena, but not this one because we've got a (what I assumed wouldbe) squash match coming" It was a heck of a match as well. Two decent sized lads wrestling. It should have been the main event. The dropkick from Crater was impressive, but between him getting pinned last week and only one guy needed to do the unmasking I can't help but think they've killed the gimmick. Why should anybody be scared of him now when perennial loser Robbie X managed to incapacitate him long enough to be able to remove his match. A wrestler like Rampage or Sysum will have no problems dealing with him. Plus the match meant nothing because in the preview for next week's show he's wearing the mask again. It's just feels like it's getting worse and worse each week. The wrestling is great when it's good, but the camera work makes it hard to properly get into the match, the time constraints mean a lot of it feels rushed, and unless you're invested enough to be poring over its social media presence you'd be hard pressed to properly know and care about the people involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 Most telling thing for me has been seeing their Facebook posts with a handful of comments. Wrestling fans love to have a view on everything, or beg for a shoutout , but no one can be arsed. Gutted for all involved talent wise as could and should have been more than it was. Interviewed Ayesha few weeks back for my podcast and she learned a lot about tv from it, hear the likes of Joe Hendry talk of relatives now accepting he’s really a wrestler after seeing him on it, just feels like it’s a goner sooner than later under its current guise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westlondonmist Posted September 17, 2018 Share Posted September 17, 2018 8 hours ago, JNLister said: Wrestling might not be mainstream, but there's 1.2 million people who tuned in for the pilot and 900,000 who watched the first show of this series. That's proof there was a potential audience. Getting down to 300,000 shows what a good job they made of serving that audience. We can sit here and argue about whether the in-ring style was right or they had the best line-up or if the booking was effective or if the publicity outside the show was suitable. I don't think any of that is really significant when you place it besides the simple fact the editing and direction made the show unwatchable. I'm not sure you would ever have got more than 500,000 regulars. With 900 watching the 1st episode that number was always made up of people who watched wrestling at 1 point but don't anymore and watched out of curiosity. I doubt anything would have pulled them in again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTXRussomark Posted September 17, 2018 Share Posted September 17, 2018 1 hour ago, westlondonmist said: I'm not sure you would ever have got more than 500,000 regulars. With 900 watching the 1st episode that number was always made up of people who watched wrestling at 1 point but don't anymore and watched out of curiosity. I doubt anything would have pulled them in again. This. My dad (who slagged off every second of wrestling I ever watched growing up) watched the pilot thinking it might be some sort of throwback to the original World of Sport. He came out of it complaining that people were playing characters and the wrestling looked fake. Nothing short of a stone-faced recreation of the 70's would have kept him around and I'm sure there were many more like that. Not 600,000 of them, but a material number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted September 17, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted September 17, 2018 My Granddad asked me the other week out of nowhere, "you still watching the wrestling?" I told him not as much. He said he watched it on the Saturday and then sat and ripped it to bits for ages because it's not World of Sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted September 17, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted September 17, 2018 10 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said: Why did they edit the Bicycle/Yakuza kick and what I assume is a couple of knife edge chops out? Aside from the most obvious answer being, "the editing and direction on this show is atrocious", I have heard that there are issues with showing impact of certain moves on women on terrestrial TV in this timeslot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Accident Prone Posted September 17, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted September 17, 2018 I think there's a massive air of nostalgia regarding old folk and their love of 70s/80s WOS. I think if they actually watched a few of those old episodes, they would come out with the same "Well it looks faked and choreographed, innit?" thoughts that I have read in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted September 17, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted September 17, 2018 40 minutes ago, BomberPat said: Aside from the most obvious answer being, "the editing and direction on this show is atrocious", I have heard that there are issues with showing impact of certain moves on women on terrestrial TV in this timeslot. Even if it's being delivered by another woman? That makes no sense. Even worse was the crowd shots accompanied by the sounds of chops being delivered as Alex Shane says "look at that!" they might as well film a room of people looking excited for an hour and get Alex Shane to read a script with sound effects piped in for an hour. Maybe now and again show stock footage of Grado taking a bump. "we want a wrestling show, but none of that violence, it's too much for tea time viewing." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted September 17, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted September 17, 2018 42 minutes ago, FelatioLips said: My Granddad asked me the other week out of nowhere, "you still watching the wrestling?" I told him not as much. He said he watched it on the Saturday and then sat and ripped it to bits for ages because it's not World of Sport. Yeah this is the thing. The old schoolers won't like it unless it's a complete throwback to WOS. The hardcore fans won't like it because it isn't niche enough and doesn't use the Will Ospreays to their fullest potential. WWE fans won't like it as it looks like a cheap imitation. Non-wrestling fans - which is the largest audience of them all by some distance and the market they were surely aiming for - won't have a big enough reason to watch it. Nothing was there to hook in the normal ITV audience. It was just a wrestling show- nothing out of the ordinary. If they wanted that, they would probably watch wrestling already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.