Vince McMahon not happy about WWE’s declining ratings and ‘stale’ Superstars

[Village Idiot]

Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Ricochet and Aleister Black were brought up this week and they were booked to look strong. The decision to bring them up from NXT was made because of the declining ratings. This was discussed on Wednesday’s Wrestling Observer Radio.
Dave Meltzer said, “Vince felt that the reason the ratings are down is because the product is stale, the stars are stale and ‘we don’t have any superstars and these guys that we have aren’t gonna be superstars so we need to make new superstars so we gotta get guys that we haven’t ruined.
So, they brought up the top guys from NXT and had them win on Raw and SmackDown Live.
The idea they say is for now, for all four of the recent NXT call-ups to work on all three brands – Raw, SmackDown Live and NXT at least for the short term they say..

 

[Crash]

Dave Meltzer said, “Vince felt that the reason the ratings are down is because the product is stale, the stars are stale and ‘we don’t have any superstars and these guys that we have aren’t gonna be superstars so we need to make new superstars so we gotta get guys that we haven’t ruined.

Well, Dave Meltzer is not very credible imo, but if that's the case then Vince is a complete idiot. He and his production team are the ones that "ruined" almost everyone on the main roster...

 

[Jay-Ashley]

Didn't we just have a thread about this?

 

[Mr. Roman Empire]

Bringing all these guys at once was a dumb move imo. I dont watch NXT anymore and never seen these guys before. They should of split them up and have 2 on Raw and 2 on Smackdown. The only one from what I can tell is gonna be any successful is Ricochet.

 

[The Sheik]

Really? I assumed he didn't give a shit, because it looks like they don't even try to put out compelling television.

Aleister Black is the only guy who has potential to be a main event star from the recent call ups.

Use these people properly.. Just putting them on TV in meaningless segments won't get them over.

 

[Snowman1]

Let's play the "How will each of these NXT callups fail!?" game!

Ricochet: Overexposure, pure and simple. Being a part of the grueling WWE road schedule, much like many he'll rely more on signature spot heavy offense, and while that's one thing we love about wrestling, it's also how Ricochet goes from this must-see performer doing crazy athletic things to just a guy.

Aleister Black: Many of the things that got him over were angles that spotlighted his power specifically. Whether he's dropkicking Itami or security guards in the backstage area or bumrushing dudes and kicking their face off in the ring, Aleister seemed no-bullshit. Raw specializes in random matches, so while he's great at keeping your attention to get to the next chicken commercial that's all he's good for.

Johnny Gargano: He got over as a lovable babyface fighting for his job against his former best friend who lost his mind and cost him his career out of spite. Not great for a show that likes the same dude fighting Dolph Ziggler on hour 3 of Raw every week.

Tommaso Ciampa: Everything this guy does is absolutely dickish and punchable. His best friend saw him tear his ACL and went on to lose the tag titles, and he beat him with a crutch and cost the foolhardy Gargano his career. Now he's champion and doing everything in a way that suits him perfectly, a narcissist that makes you feel the venom in his words and actions... not from Michael Cole calling him that every week and doing nothing to show it.

EC3: Contrary to popular belief he's the opposite of the talent WWE is wanting. He's great for a show like Impact that writes a lot of segments and doesn't solely rely on in-ring action.

Lacey Evans: Just isn't that good or special. I think there's something there with her gimmick, but I'd love to see her hone it because I could see a Velveteen Dream level of potential in a gimmick alone.

Lars Sullivan: We've already seen him bury himself, and know (again, contrary to popular belief) bigs in WWE have a ceiling. Vince knows how to build up King Kong Bundy as Hulk Hogan food.

Heavy Machinery: Otis is funny as hell in a subtle way, lets hand him to WWE's comedy writers.

Nikki Cross: We're already seeing this

 

[Village Idiot]

Didn't we just have a thread about this?

Dont think so the radio show only happened on wensday

 

[Jay-Ashley]

Dont think so the radio show only happened on wensday

It was a joke as I was referring to a previous thread is all.

 

[Zardnaar]

Gee I wonder who is to blame for that.

Push people who are organically popular, at least in the short term don't bury them. Zack, Rusev, Sasha, Braun, Bailey and now Kofi might like to have a chat.

 

[Death Walker]

So wait...if this is even true...

Then what the fuck are you doing, Vince McMahon?!? Like, why aren't you able to put your fuckin' selfish ego aside and have someone do a better job with the product? Don't whine about there's no superstars. You had your chance with A LOT of potential superstars, and between your decisions and the rest of your team, you all have fucked up a lot of the interesting appeal/entertaining nature of most of these wrestlers. Face it, Vince! You've choked the life out of a once majorly successful company and reduced it to nothing more than a overpriced, low grade wrestling promotion.

Furthermore you prick, you think just adding more up and coming wrestlers will gain you a steady increase in your ratings. THE SAME SHIT YOU HAVE PULLED BEFORE WHICH IS WHY YOU ARE ALREADY IN THE PREDICAMENT YOU ARE IN!!! We all know where this is going to go, they keep the interest for a few weeks before becoming "stale" as he is to have said. I mean really? You think putting those four or any wrestlers on all 3 shows is going to help? It's a temporary fix to his major problems and it will blow up in his face like everything else has these last 4-5 years. UNLESS he allows these men and women to be creative on their own, better storylines, book better matches/endings and eliminate bad habits like 50/50 booking.

Talk about delusional...

 

[alexb]

First off, allow me to clarify that I don’t give a shit about Dave Meltzer, his newsletter or whatever radio show he does. Quite frankly, this applies to all these dirt sheets and other wrestling related websites that report news and rumors and as I’ve mentioned in various occasions in the past, I barely follow them, let alone subscribe and/or pay to either read or listen to. For one, half the shit they report is exactly that, shit (for the purpose of some extra clicks or traffic) and secondly, I choose to remain one of them old school fans that prefers to avoid spoilers in order to be actually surprised while watching a show, an element that I personally feel is lacking so bad nowadays and one so pivotal back then.

Anyway, for the sake of this conversation, I shall comply...

“Vince felt that the reason the ratings are down is because the product is stale, the stars are stale and ‘we don’t have any superstars and these guys that we have aren’t gonna be superstars so we need to make new superstars so we gotta get guys that we haven’t ruined.

And who's fault may that be Mr. Vince? Could it be that of a stubborn old man with a huge ass ego that basically refuses to adapt? A certain someone that continues to live in his own little bubble thinking this is still the 1990's?

The way I see things, this bullshit “PG ERA” basically killed everything alongside the facts that a) WWE haven’t had any serious competition in years and b) they still refuse to listen to the fans. As far as “a” is concerned, perhaps AEW will prove to be a blessing in disguise by forcing WWE to get their shit straight, not to mention FOX of course, given the boat load of money they’ve dropped, which certainly gives them all the right in the world to demand a better product.

In this day and age, how would it be possible to create all these larger than life characters that once blew us away during, say, the Attitude ERA? The “I don’t give a shit” attitude of a Stone Cold, the mystique behind an Undertaker or, the charisma of a Rock or a Kurt Angle, the “balls” of a Mick Foley just to name a few. Granted, the shit they did back then they could not possibly get away with today (try pushing the Goldust character, for example) but the thing is, these aforementioned guys got organically over, people loved them, pushed for them and we all are aware of the result. Add the fact that creative was indeed just that, creative, with great story lines both short term and long term and there it was: must see TV and all us fans anxiously waiting for the following Monday to come around so we see what happens next. Nowadays, you watch these three hours of RAW and it feels more like a chore, with most of us practically bored to death by hour two…

Back to Vince, how ironic is it to be claiming a lack of superstars these days, yet on the other hand pull the plug on anything or anyone that organically got over and appeared to be headed that way?

For instance, why pull the plug on Rusev Day when it was clearly the hottest act on Smackdown? Why not give them the ball and let them run with it? The fans were in to them, they sold those Rusev Day calendars like crazy so…why not? I mean, granted, I ain’t going to sit here and claim that Rusev should be the “face of the company”, then again I don’t see any reason he couldn’t be amongst those in the upper level. Oh…wait…I forgot…he ain’t American, right?

Why fuck up Braun Strowman when he got white hot? Oh, that’s right, Roman was THE guy, God forbid he got overshadowed. And look at poor Braun today…

Bottom line, they don’t listen. Even Daniel Bryan was a case in which WWE were practically forced to alter their original plans back at Wrestlemania 30, such as is the case with Becky Lynch these days. They never intended for Becky to be the top face of the company in the woman’s division; their hand was forced…

And why is there this belief that by bringing up all these NXT talents NOW, things will miraculously get better? Is it because they did such a good job with Bailey, Sasha Banks, Nakamura and Fin Balor (to name a few) or has EC3 been on a roll ever since he came up? Quality over quantity people…

 

[Mr. Roman Empire]

First off, allow me to clarify that I don’t give a shit about Dave Meltzer, his newsletter or whatever radio show he does. Quite frankly, this applies to all these dirt sheets and other wrestling related websites that report news and rumors and as I’ve mentioned in various occasions in the past, I barely follow them, let alone subscribe and/or pay to either read or listen to. For one, half the shit they report is exactly that, shit (for the purpose of some extra clicks or traffic) and secondly, I choose to remain one of them old school fans that prefers to avoid spoilers in order to be actually surprised while watching a show, an element that I personally feel is lacking so bad nowadays and one so pivotal back then.

Anyway, for the sake of this conversation, I shall comply...



And who's fault may that be Mr. Vince? Could it be that of a stubborn old man with a huge ass ego that basically refuses to adapt? A certain someone that continues to live in his own little bubble thinking this is still the 1990's?

The way I see things, this bullshit “PG ERA” basically killed everything alongside the facts that a) WWE haven’t had any serious competition in years and b) they still refuse to listen to the fans. As far as “a” is concerned, perhaps AEW will prove to be a blessing in disguise by forcing WWE to get their shit straight, not to mention FOX of course, given the boat load of money they’ve dropped, which certainly gives them all the right in the world to demand a better product.

In this day and age, how would it be possible to create all these larger than life characters that once blew us away during, say, the Attitude ERA? The “I don’t give a shit” attitude of a Stone Cold, the mystique behind an Undertaker or, the charisma of a Rock or a Kurt Angle, the “balls” of a Mick Foley just to name a few. Granted, the shit they did back then they could not possibly get away with today (try pushing the Goldust character, for example) but the thing is, these aforementioned guys got organically over, people loved them, pushed for them and we all are aware of the result. Add the fact that creative was indeed just that, creative, with great story lines both short term and long term and there it was: must see TV and all us fans anxiously waiting for the following Monday to come around so we see what happens next. Nowadays, you watch these three hours of RAW and it feels more like a chore, with most of us practically bored to death by hour two…

Back to Vince, how ironic is it to be claiming a lack of superstars these days, yet on the other hand pull the plug on anything or anyone that organically got over and appeared to be headed that way?

For instance, why pull the plug on Rusev Day when it was clearly the hottest act on Smackdown? Why not give them the ball and let them run with it? The fans were in to them, they sold those Rusev Day calendars like crazy so…why not? I mean, granted, I ain’t going to sit here and claim that Rusev should be the “face of the company”, then again I don’t see any reason he couldn’t be amongst those in the upper level. Oh…wait…I forgot…he ain’t American, right?

Why fuck up Braun Strowman when he got white hot? Oh, that’s right, Roman was THE guy, God forbid he got overshadowed. And look at poor Braun today…

Bottom line, they don’t listen. Even Daniel Bryan was a case in which WWE were practically forced to alter their original plans back at Wrestlemania 30, such as is the case with Becky Lynch these days. They never intended for Becky to be the top face of the company in the woman’s division; their hand was forced…

And why is there this belief that by bringing up all these NXT talents NOW, things will miraculously get better? Is it because they did such a good job with Bailey, Sasha Banks, Nakamura and Fin Balor (to name a few) or has EC3 been on a roll ever since he came up? Quality over quantity people…

90% of the dirt sheets are usually bullshit. I used to not be a Meltzer fan, but he does have credibility. Hes been the #1 wrestling journalist since pretty much the beginning of wrestling journalism. He has a relationship with WWE officials and they even send him information but not too much to spoil potential storylines and finishes.