WWE Just Made The Same Mistake As 2011

[Chadillac]

Note: Thanks to The Love IV for the coolest signature ever.

Well, I guess the WWE is truely living up to the word "World", in World Wrestling Entertainment.

We got an Irish winner this year, and a hispanic winner last.

I guess this could be expected since overseas PPV buys have been bailing out the terrible domestic buys.

But I would have preferred Barret over the Irish Hacksaw Jim Duggen.

He is not going to advance the cause for the WWE. But if they didnt learn from last year, I'm afraid all of our favorite up and comers are about to be scaled back for Sheamus. Maybe not. But certainly at the RR they were.

They pissed the hometown crowd off enough with a teriible enough show, then gave them very little of the hometown boy Randy Orton, and rubbed salt in the wound with not having Jericho win it.

One saving grace for my $50 bucks was seeing the WWE's great use of Cody.

But they could be walking into the same damn bad direction on Raw, as they did last year. Fans really don't care about Sheamus.

 

[Heisenberg]

I agree with most of the things you said, sure Sheamus gets a good pop but I'm not that big of a fan and he isn't exactly a top drawer. Barrett, Jericho or Orton should of won it.

Watered down Royal Rumble and the guy they gave 6 weeks of build ends up being the last eliminated, Sheamus is a guy that hasn't had a decent storyline since the summer and has been feuding with a guy like Jinder Mahal as of late and ends up eliminating Jericho who as I said, has had 6 weeks of build. Also, who the fuck came up with the idea of Big Show coming out at no. 30?

I stated most of this in the live chat.

 

[Chadillac]

I agree with most of the things you said, sure Sheamus gets a good pop but I'm not that big of a fan and he isn't exactly a top drawer. Barrett, Jericho or Orton should of won it.

Watered down Royal Rumble and the guy they gave 6 weeks of build ends up being the last eliminated, Sheamus is a guy that hasn't had a decent storyline since the summer and has been feuding with a guy like Jinder Mahal as of late and ends up eliminating Jericho who as I said, has had 6 weeks of build. Also, who the fuck came up with the idea of Big Show coming out at no. 30?

I stated most of this in the live chat.

I agree100% with what you said.

6 weeks of build and he gets eliminated by Sheamus. Orton, Jeicho, Cody, and Dolph should have been the final four with Orton eliminating Cody and Dolph. And Jericho should have eliminated Orton giving him great heat for eliminating the hometown boy.

Garuntee you they lose a half million viewers for Raw.

 

[Heisenberg]

A half million is a bit extreme, plus, Sheamus is on SmackDown.

 

[We Are Legion]

First thing I thought when I heard Sheamus won was that he must be a placeholder for someone else who will take his title shot. I'm just not buying Sheamus. As good of a specimen as he may be, I can't imagine him turning many heads at Mania.

If he challenges Taker, it would make more sense booking wise, but why would they throw away the Rumble on someone who doesn't even get a title match? To defy tradition for the hell of it? It definitely puts an interesting twist on that match if they go that route, it would just be weird.

 

[ants]

I for one was happy to see Sheamus win it. Someone different. I can't believe that people honestly wanted to see Jericho win it after not even being in the ring for however long..a couple of years? And Orton? Really? Another bloke comes back from injury to win at the Rumble is not something I want to see.

I was pulling for Rhodes, Barrett or Sheamus, three Smackdown blokes who are the future of the business. Barrett getting eliminated by Orton means they'll probably continue their feud onto the Elimination Chamber match and potentially fight at Wrestlemania. A match I would like to see Barrett win. Rhodes had a great showing, lasting around 40 minutes. He's still the Intercontinental Champion, hopefully they have something good for him coming up. Sheamus puts on good matches and gets a good pop from the crowd and I expect him to really build up his character well into Wrestlemania.

 

[Chadillac]

A half million is a bit extreme, plus, Sheamus is on SmackDown.

If I'm not mistaken, He is listed as a Raw Superstar, but as far as the viewership loss, I'm talking about a half million in total potential loss. Once peole tune in and figure out who won, You will see 4 or 500,000 people switch to something else. Had the person who was given 6 weeks of build won, they would tune in and stay through the second hour. Which I'm almost sure they won't now.

And it's not really extreme, considering they have been losing hundreds of thousands in the second hour each week.

Same Mistake at 2011. And I hope to god it doesn't continue on this path. Or they can kiss my $50 good buy. I'm sure the flags wont be lowered at half staff for me personally but GOD!

 

[AF.]

Not sure if trolling or not @ the OP.

Jericho has options for Mania. Sheamus was always going to get a 2012 push, Jericho doesn't need the Rumble he can jump straight into any match on the card he wants. This is good for Sheamus' career.

 

[SAIYANS]

First thing I thought when I heard Sheamus won was that he must be a placeholder for someone else who will take his title shot. I'm just not buying Sheamus. As good of a specimen as he may be, I can't imagine him turning many heads at Mania.

If he challenges Taker, it would make more sense booking wise, but why would they throw away the Rumble on someone who doesn't even get a title match? To defy tradition for the hell of it? It definitely puts an interesting twist on that match if they go that route, it would just be weird.

When he won, the graphic basically said he gets to choose his main event match for WM. Yeah the titles are big, but THE STREAK had fucking evolved and been placed over them the past couple years anyhow because of the fans being more emotionally invested in it.

I mean is being the champ of SD more important, historic, or appealing as main eventing versus Taker for his streak in perhaps the most watched Mania ever? I'm talking just from a kayfabe standpoint as Mania was and has always been about story telling to the casual or casuals and mixing celebrity with wrestling. What do you think is bigger, challenging and beating Taker at one of his last manias or challenging Punk/Bryan and becoming the World champ which he has done before?

 

[SAIYANS]

And let me say this clearly.

Sheamus winning is nothing like Del Rio winning. Sheamus actually has people who care about him. The crowd doesn't go crickets when he comes out and then pop for his lackey. They care about Sheamus. They turned Sheamus. Sheamus is a draw. Sheamus is a hell of a worker. Sheamus is unique in his look and everything he does looks real and like it hurts, he is not a Mexican JBL wannabe. Giving him the ball is in no way close to giving it to a guy who wasn't over and wasn't even able to get a reaction versus the likes of Edge.

 

[Zen]

SAIYANS is spot-on, with regards to Sheamus.

A few more points to address some other concerns:
Cerbs

As good of a specimen as he may be, I can't imagine him turning many heads at Mania.

This is irrelevant, this year Mania is being sold entirely on the back of Rocky/Cena, and HHH/Taker as a secondary concern. If there was ever a year where the WWE could completely phone in the entire Mania card, this would be it. This is the year, where you can actually have young stars in high positions and give them a chance because that risk is affordable this year.

@ The idea that Sheamus will be challenging for the Streak.

Interesting idea, but unlikely to happen. Unless there is a major change of plans, Taker is planned to face HHH. It makes sense, you don't just knock Taker out for one whole year at the premier wrestling event, only for there to be no follow up match. It(Sheamus/Taker) just ain't happening. There is unfinished business here.

Watered down Royal Rumble

No, it did not. Simply because someone you don't like won, does not mean the Rumble got shat on. Sheamus has the presence(he has the physical presence for a convincing win) and the right history(he is a 2 time WWE Champion FFS) and development for something like this to be possible. In any case, the Rumble is no more watered down than how the World titles have been handed to rookies over the last couple of years(in large part due to MITB).

 

[Defiant]

The only way WWE will make the same mistake as last year is if they have Sheamus job to Daniel Bryan in the opening bout of Wrestlemania. What similarities do Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio share? They're both relatively new? They're both foreign?

Its just that I'm not really sure exactly what your argument is.

 

[SAIYANS]

If I'm not mistaken, He is listed as a Raw Superstar, but as far as the viewership loss, I'm talking about a half million in total potential loss. Once peole tune in and figure out who won, You will see 4 or 500,000 people switch to something else. Had the person who was given 6 weeks of build won, they would tune in and stay through the second hour. Which I'm almost sure they won't now.

And it's not really extreme, considering they have been losing hundreds of thousands in the second hour each week.

Same Mistake at 2011. And I hope to god it doesn't continue on this path. Or they can kiss my $50 good buy. I'm sure the flags wont be lowered at half staff for me personally but GOD!

Can I have a key to the world Jericho draws viewers in to the point half a mil will tune out when they see he didn't win?

Please I'm begging you because they sure as hell didn't stay tuned in when he was undisputed champ, when he had his second coming which is why he went heel, when he had the title after his feud with Michaels, or even in the viewership since this third return which is why Kane is the center of Raw to open and close the shows as he too has always out drawn him historically and he has had only two reigns, one of which lasted a day.

We are talking about a guy who worked for WWE for years, during the attitude boom with a millennium campaign, and had them promote his band, but never moved as many CDs as Cena's rap album. We are talking about a guy who by his own admission in a book only drew 15 people to an autograph session which wasn't wwe promoted. We are talking aout a guy who got a gameshow role green lighted for him and got the plug pulled faster than the Charlie's Angel remake.

Jericho is many things. He is a hell of a worker. He is one of the best talkers there was. He is the standard bearer for the IC title. He was the guy who beat Rock and Austin. He was WCW champ. He has had tag title reigns with Big Show, Rock, Christian, and countless others. He was the face of SD at one point.

BUT .... DON'T EVER AND I MEAN EVER ..... GET HIM CONFUSED WITH A DRAW, THE GUY WHO CASUALS FLOCK IN DROVES TO WATCH OR BUY MERCH FOR, THE GUY WHO CAN HEADLINE A WRESTLEMANIA AS A FACE OR DRAW RATINGS ... THAT IS FOR HHH, THAT IS FOR TAKER, THAT IS FOR HBK, THAT IS FOR BATISTA, HE IS SHITTY AT IT BUT THAT IS SOMETHING EVEN ORTON HAS DONE BETTER, IT IS FOR CENA, IT IS FOR EDGE, IT IS FOR REY, IT IS FOR PUNK, IT IS FOR KANE, IT IS FOR SHOW, IT IS FOR BROCK ..... DON'T EVER LET KAYFABE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OR MARKISMS FOOL YOU INTO DOING OT FORGETTING THAT EVER ..... AND I MEAN EVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!

And yeah I spoke flaming and ranting fanboy-ism

 

[Troy]

I must have been watching a different PPV because when Sheamus came out he got one of the biggest pops of the night. It was so big I remember commenting on it in the Royal Rumble live discussion thread. I would have it as one of the three biggest pops of the night which is impressive for someone that the fans apparently don't care about.

WWE made a great decision in giving the win to Sheamus just like they made a great decision last year giving Del Rio the win (but more on that later). Sheamus has been primed for this win for many months on Smackdown. He has been fantastic since turning face and it was his trade to Smackdown that really pushed him up the card. He had an excellent feud with Christian where the fans were completely behind him and he had a really good match with Mark Henry during Henry's run to the title. Importantly with that match he only lost by countout and he was crawling back to the ring at the ten count so WWE in the future will be able to claim that whilst he lost he wasn't completely destroyed by Henry like all others were. Sheamus has been getting bigger and bigger reactions each week and it is clear he is one of the fan favourites in WWE now. He isn't just liked by the Irish, he is liked by fans all over the world including the US.

With the Rumble this year WWE needed to make another mainevent star. As this year's Rumble match showed WWE don't even have 30 credible names to put in the Rumble and they needed almost ten surprise entrants to fill the gap. WWE needed to give the win to someone like Sheamus, Barrrett, Rhodes or Kofi. Sheamus is clearly a step above all the others at the moment and is definitely the one who is most ready for a WM mainevent match. He has the talent and most importantly in WWE fans consider him a top star and he is a believable challenger to any champion. WWE also have the safeguard this year of The Rock vs. Cena so if for some reason this doesn't work as planned they will still get 1 million PPV buys.

What WWE need to do is continue to push Sheamus as a star. The problem with WWE and their treatment of Del Rio last year was they put him on a huge losing streak and then when he was given the title he was treated like a jobber. At the time Del Rio was the perfect choice but not giving him the title at Extreme Rules hurt his momentum and it was all downhill from there.

WWE made a great choice with Sheamus BUT they need to continue his push and if they do then they will have succeeded in making another bonafide maineventer.

 

[SAIYANS]

Well they had no choice but to not give Del Rio the title at ER because of the Edge situation.