Ladies and gentleman….the wheels have come off! WWE
has been under intense media scrutiny over the past
month since the double murder/suicide of Chris Benoit
and his family on June 25th. They tried to weather
the storm with confident press releases, and arrogant
appearances by WWE employees on various national news
shows. They tried to tell anyone who would listen
that their shows are about entertaining people and
putting smiles on people’s faces. They tried to push
back to "business as usual" on their weekly TV shows.
The key word in that last sentence is "try."
This week, the smiles turned to frowns, as wrestling
fans in huge numbers told WWE that they weren’t being
entertained by the shows that are about entertaining
people, and that they weren’t digging "business as
usual." The ratings for this past Monday night’s Raw
came in at a 2.5, the lowest rating for any Raw show
since October 27, 1997 a show headlined by a Bret Hart
vs. Ken Shamrock match. That’s almost ten years ago,
folks. That’s almost ten years of bad matches,
offensive storylines, and lame gimmicks, and boy does
that cover a lot of ground. With some of the garbage
WWE has put on the screen over the past ten years, the
ratings for Raw have never plummeted to this level.
So the answer everyone now wants to know is why. Why
now?
I wish I had the definitive answer for you. I’ve been
e-mailed by a lot of people over the last 48 hours
wanting to know why I think the ratings for Raw
dropped so sharply. There are possible reasons I can
speculate on. The first and most easy answer is
fallout from the Benoit tragedy, and the ensuing
negative publicity that WWE had to endure. I have
talked to more than a few people that have not watched
a WWE wrestling show since that day. There are people
that were do disgusted, and disillusioned by what
happened, that they have been turned off to wrestling
completely.
That might explain the drop in ratings over the past
few weeks from the 3.7-3.8 level the show was doing,
to the 3.3-3.4 level it had fallen to in recent weeks.
People not watching because of the Benoit stuff, and
the bad publicity, and their disillusionment with
wrestling in general could explain that kind of drop.
But can it explain a 26% loss of audience in one week?
I don’t know that it can.
The reason I say that is why now? Why after most of
the publicity has died down, why more than a month
later would 26% of the audience decide to not watch
Raw on the same week? The numbers don’t seem to add
up. I would certainly agree that the Benoit story,
coupled with the bad publicity could definitely
account for some of the decline. But not all of it.
Not this much of a drop, and not all at once like
this. This wasn’t a gradual decline over a few
months, this was a steep drop, as in Raw falling off a
cliff into abyss. It’s something that doesn’t have an
easy explanation.
Another reason could be that people have been turned
off to the Raw brand in general. Maybe they are tired
of the same, boring, predictable routine with John
Cena. The same routine Cena himself, oddly enough,
mocked this past Monday on Raw. Maybe they aren’t
into the new characters being pushed on Raw, like Mr.
Kennedy, King Booker, Bobby Lashley, Snitsky, Santino
Marella, and others.
Personally, I’ve enjoyed the way same some of them
have been integrated into the Raw brand. I always
enjoy Mr. Kennedy, and definitely feel he should be
used at a higher level that he’s been used. I’ve
enjoyed the mini feud between King Booker and Jerry
Lawler. I think Bobby Lashley has been showing
continual improvement in the ring, even if his
selling, mic skills, facial expressions, and
psychology leave a lot to be desired. Snitsky is a
waste of time and space, and everyone knows it. But
at least he’s sort of been placed in the background on
Raw, unlike how he was portrayed on roster deprived
ECW.
I say all these things as my opinion, but my opinion
doesn’t count in terms of the ratings. I’m going to
watch Raw regardless of who’s on it, and who’s not.
But apparently all of the names I just mentioned are
failing to connect with an obviously large part of the
Raw viewership. I know a lot of people want to throw
Bobby Lashley under the bus, and blame him for this,
as the new star that isn’t connecting. I’ve heard a
lot of people say that over the past two days.
Certainly, I will agree that Lashley has been
overpushed for the skills he currently possesses, and
he doesn’t really bring a whole lot to the table at
this point. But I do know that the ratings didn’t
drop like this when he was being featured on Raw
almost every week, and in the main event for several
weeks straight. I do know that John Cena was in the
main event of this week’s Raw, the one that drew the
2.5 rating. I’m not blaming him either. This is way
bigger than just one person. My point is whatever the
reason, the combination of talent and stories (or lack
thereof) are not enough to keep people tuned into Raw
every week.
That’s why they need to do something different, they
need to start taking some chances again, and shake
things up. Whether that’s pushing new people, coming
up with better storylines, or bringing back some old
favorites, something needs to be done. And that’s
true even if the ratings go back up next week, and
this turns out to be a one week anomaly. Even if the
ratings go back to the 3.4 level, or even the 3.8
level, that’s still nowhere near where Raw used to be,
and where it potentially could be again. The time to
do "business as usual" is over. The alarm has gone
off.
It’s time to make a bold move. Maybe they turn John
Cena heel, maybe they end the brand split, and reunite
all the brands together again. If they don’t want to
go all the way with that, maybe it’s time to merge all
of the World Championship belts together, and have one
singular WWE World Champion. It’s absolutely
ridiculous for one wrestling promotion to have three
World Champions. It’s overkill, and there’s no need
for it.
How about bringing back some old concepts like War
Games (for a PPV), or Raw Roulette, or a show where
the fans choose the matches. And yes, I know they
have a PPV like that already. I’m talking about doing
it for real, not like they do it now where the
wrestlers are already chosen, and you vote on
something like what color tights they should wear to
the ring. I’m talking an entire show controlled by
the fans. It would be hard for a control freak like
Vince McMahon to give total control to the fans, I
know, but we’re looking for bold ideas here. Bold
ideas for a bold future.
Here’s how I would do it: Set up a page on WWE.com
where the fans can vote on their pick of five matches
they want to see. Any five matches involving anyone
on the Raw roster. You have a page with everyone on
the roster listed, and you click next to the name you
want to select. If it’s a singles match, you
obviously pick two names, if you want a tag match, you
pick four names. And there would be a box, or pull
down menu or something for you to differentiate
between the kind of match you want. You do that a
maximum of five times, for the five matches you want
to see. And you can only vote once, none of this
Florida "vote early and often" stuff. One and you’re
done. That keeps the voting legit.
I would leave the voting open from the end of Raw one
week, until 5PM the following Monday. That way the
involved wrestlers have enough time to figure out who
they’re working with, and have the opportunity to plan
out a match, and all that goes into that. The top
five matches as voted on by the fans then take place
live on Raw that night. If you left the booking of
Raw up to the fans, I think you would see some pretty
interesting, and unique combinations come about. Plus
now when the writers get mad at criticizing fans and
say, "You think you can book this show better?" The
fans can say yes, and actually be given the chance.
You could see a match like John Cena vs. Paul London,
or Shawn Michaels (when he returns from his injury, of
course) vs. Jeff Hardy, or Mr. Kennedy vs. King
Booker, or whatever the case might be. This would be
the fans chance to see the matches that they want to
see, and might not otherwise get to see if left up to
the WWE writers. If they still don’t tune in, then
they really have no room to complain anymore. Sounds
like a crazy idea? Remember, bold ideas for a bold
future. The status quo isn’t getting it done anymore.
The fans have categorically rejected "business as
usual."
Vince McMahon has always said that he’s in tune with
his fans, and that he listens to them. Let’s see if
he listens to them now, and has the vision to make the
bold changes that need to be made. At this point he
really can no longer afford to ignore the fans, and I
literally do mean afford, with the WWE stock price
dropping yesterday to a two year low. And if you
think the stock price is dropping now, just wait until
the Congressional hearings on steroid use in wrestling
begin.
For those of you that missed it last week, the United
States House Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform sent WWE a letter requesting records of drug
tests that have been done, as well as any information
on studies they’ve done on the pattern of deaths
related to drug use and steroids in the wrestling
industry. This is the first step in a long process of
the Congressional body taking a look at this issue,
and perhaps, and hopefully convening hearings on the
subject some time later this fall.
The fact that this issue is even being looked at by
Congress is a huge, huge step in the right direction.
It’s finally going to put a spotlight on all the dark,
dirty little secrets of the wrestling industry. I
can’t wait to see Henry Waxman or Tom Davis (the
chairman and ranking member of that committee
respectively) put Jerry McDevitt in his place when he
tries that arrogant, flippant routine in front of
them. They aren’t Nancy Grace, Dan Abrams, or Greta
Van Susteren, that’s for sure.
Hopefully they can even compel Vince McMahon himself
to testify, and explain himself in front of the world.
They need to get current and former wrestlers
involved, they need to get well informed, and well
respected wrestling journalists like Dave Meltzer,
Wade Keller, and Bryan Alvarez involved. They need to
get expert medical doctors, and experts on steroids
involved. If they’re going to do this, then they need
to go all the way with it.
I don’t know what the end result will be, whether it’s
imposing a standard drug policy on the entire
wrestling industry, or at the very least forcing WWE
to bring their testing and policies up to the standard
set by the Olympics and The World Doping Agency. But
regardless, changes need to be made, and I’m glad
there are people out there that recognized that. It
makes all the ranting and raving I’ve done in this
column the past month worth it to me.
Nothing is done yet, the first steps have been taken,
but the pressure still needs to be put on. Which is
why, as I said last week, the issue of drugs and
steroids in wrestling is one I will continue talking
about. And I hope all of my colleagues on this and
other wrestling sites and publications will do the
same.
Meanwhile, for the people at World Wrestling
Entertainment, between the bad publicity from the
Benoit tragedy, the stock plummeting, all the main
event wrestlers continuing to suffer major injuries,
the Raw ratings falling off a cliff, and Congress
knocking on the door, the proverbial shit has hit the
fan. And not a moment too soon, in my book.
I want to send my thoughts and prayers to everyone in
the Minneapolis area affected by the devastating
collapse of the 35W bridge on Wednesday night. What
an unbelievable catastrophe. One of my greatest fears
in life has always been that a bridge would collapse
as I was driving over it, and I would plunge into the
water below stuck in my car. I can’t even begin to
imagine what those people went through, and my
thoughts are with them the most.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, take care and be
well.
-------------
that was from Wrestlingobserver.com
Interesting article, I agree that WWE needs to do something drastic and make their product more exciting again, I really miss it when WWE used to be unpredictable and actually fun to watch, now its just so stale and boring. Anyway, im sure you guys will enjoy this article, its really pretty interesting
has been under intense media scrutiny over the past
month since the double murder/suicide of Chris Benoit
and his family on June 25th. They tried to weather
the storm with confident press releases, and arrogant
appearances by WWE employees on various national news
shows. They tried to tell anyone who would listen
that their shows are about entertaining people and
putting smiles on people’s faces. They tried to push
back to "business as usual" on their weekly TV shows.
The key word in that last sentence is "try."
This week, the smiles turned to frowns, as wrestling
fans in huge numbers told WWE that they weren’t being
entertained by the shows that are about entertaining
people, and that they weren’t digging "business as
usual." The ratings for this past Monday night’s Raw
came in at a 2.5, the lowest rating for any Raw show
since October 27, 1997 a show headlined by a Bret Hart
vs. Ken Shamrock match. That’s almost ten years ago,
folks. That’s almost ten years of bad matches,
offensive storylines, and lame gimmicks, and boy does
that cover a lot of ground. With some of the garbage
WWE has put on the screen over the past ten years, the
ratings for Raw have never plummeted to this level.
So the answer everyone now wants to know is why. Why
now?
I wish I had the definitive answer for you. I’ve been
e-mailed by a lot of people over the last 48 hours
wanting to know why I think the ratings for Raw
dropped so sharply. There are possible reasons I can
speculate on. The first and most easy answer is
fallout from the Benoit tragedy, and the ensuing
negative publicity that WWE had to endure. I have
talked to more than a few people that have not watched
a WWE wrestling show since that day. There are people
that were do disgusted, and disillusioned by what
happened, that they have been turned off to wrestling
completely.
That might explain the drop in ratings over the past
few weeks from the 3.7-3.8 level the show was doing,
to the 3.3-3.4 level it had fallen to in recent weeks.
People not watching because of the Benoit stuff, and
the bad publicity, and their disillusionment with
wrestling in general could explain that kind of drop.
But can it explain a 26% loss of audience in one week?
I don’t know that it can.
The reason I say that is why now? Why after most of
the publicity has died down, why more than a month
later would 26% of the audience decide to not watch
Raw on the same week? The numbers don’t seem to add
up. I would certainly agree that the Benoit story,
coupled with the bad publicity could definitely
account for some of the decline. But not all of it.
Not this much of a drop, and not all at once like
this. This wasn’t a gradual decline over a few
months, this was a steep drop, as in Raw falling off a
cliff into abyss. It’s something that doesn’t have an
easy explanation.
Another reason could be that people have been turned
off to the Raw brand in general. Maybe they are tired
of the same, boring, predictable routine with John
Cena. The same routine Cena himself, oddly enough,
mocked this past Monday on Raw. Maybe they aren’t
into the new characters being pushed on Raw, like Mr.
Kennedy, King Booker, Bobby Lashley, Snitsky, Santino
Marella, and others.
Personally, I’ve enjoyed the way same some of them
have been integrated into the Raw brand. I always
enjoy Mr. Kennedy, and definitely feel he should be
used at a higher level that he’s been used. I’ve
enjoyed the mini feud between King Booker and Jerry
Lawler. I think Bobby Lashley has been showing
continual improvement in the ring, even if his
selling, mic skills, facial expressions, and
psychology leave a lot to be desired. Snitsky is a
waste of time and space, and everyone knows it. But
at least he’s sort of been placed in the background on
Raw, unlike how he was portrayed on roster deprived
ECW.
I say all these things as my opinion, but my opinion
doesn’t count in terms of the ratings. I’m going to
watch Raw regardless of who’s on it, and who’s not.
But apparently all of the names I just mentioned are
failing to connect with an obviously large part of the
Raw viewership. I know a lot of people want to throw
Bobby Lashley under the bus, and blame him for this,
as the new star that isn’t connecting. I’ve heard a
lot of people say that over the past two days.
Certainly, I will agree that Lashley has been
overpushed for the skills he currently possesses, and
he doesn’t really bring a whole lot to the table at
this point. But I do know that the ratings didn’t
drop like this when he was being featured on Raw
almost every week, and in the main event for several
weeks straight. I do know that John Cena was in the
main event of this week’s Raw, the one that drew the
2.5 rating. I’m not blaming him either. This is way
bigger than just one person. My point is whatever the
reason, the combination of talent and stories (or lack
thereof) are not enough to keep people tuned into Raw
every week.
That’s why they need to do something different, they
need to start taking some chances again, and shake
things up. Whether that’s pushing new people, coming
up with better storylines, or bringing back some old
favorites, something needs to be done. And that’s
true even if the ratings go back up next week, and
this turns out to be a one week anomaly. Even if the
ratings go back to the 3.4 level, or even the 3.8
level, that’s still nowhere near where Raw used to be,
and where it potentially could be again. The time to
do "business as usual" is over. The alarm has gone
off.
It’s time to make a bold move. Maybe they turn John
Cena heel, maybe they end the brand split, and reunite
all the brands together again. If they don’t want to
go all the way with that, maybe it’s time to merge all
of the World Championship belts together, and have one
singular WWE World Champion. It’s absolutely
ridiculous for one wrestling promotion to have three
World Champions. It’s overkill, and there’s no need
for it.
How about bringing back some old concepts like War
Games (for a PPV), or Raw Roulette, or a show where
the fans choose the matches. And yes, I know they
have a PPV like that already. I’m talking about doing
it for real, not like they do it now where the
wrestlers are already chosen, and you vote on
something like what color tights they should wear to
the ring. I’m talking an entire show controlled by
the fans. It would be hard for a control freak like
Vince McMahon to give total control to the fans, I
know, but we’re looking for bold ideas here. Bold
ideas for a bold future.
Here’s how I would do it: Set up a page on WWE.com
where the fans can vote on their pick of five matches
they want to see. Any five matches involving anyone
on the Raw roster. You have a page with everyone on
the roster listed, and you click next to the name you
want to select. If it’s a singles match, you
obviously pick two names, if you want a tag match, you
pick four names. And there would be a box, or pull
down menu or something for you to differentiate
between the kind of match you want. You do that a
maximum of five times, for the five matches you want
to see. And you can only vote once, none of this
Florida "vote early and often" stuff. One and you’re
done. That keeps the voting legit.
I would leave the voting open from the end of Raw one
week, until 5PM the following Monday. That way the
involved wrestlers have enough time to figure out who
they’re working with, and have the opportunity to plan
out a match, and all that goes into that. The top
five matches as voted on by the fans then take place
live on Raw that night. If you left the booking of
Raw up to the fans, I think you would see some pretty
interesting, and unique combinations come about. Plus
now when the writers get mad at criticizing fans and
say, "You think you can book this show better?" The
fans can say yes, and actually be given the chance.
You could see a match like John Cena vs. Paul London,
or Shawn Michaels (when he returns from his injury, of
course) vs. Jeff Hardy, or Mr. Kennedy vs. King
Booker, or whatever the case might be. This would be
the fans chance to see the matches that they want to
see, and might not otherwise get to see if left up to
the WWE writers. If they still don’t tune in, then
they really have no room to complain anymore. Sounds
like a crazy idea? Remember, bold ideas for a bold
future. The status quo isn’t getting it done anymore.
The fans have categorically rejected "business as
usual."
Vince McMahon has always said that he’s in tune with
his fans, and that he listens to them. Let’s see if
he listens to them now, and has the vision to make the
bold changes that need to be made. At this point he
really can no longer afford to ignore the fans, and I
literally do mean afford, with the WWE stock price
dropping yesterday to a two year low. And if you
think the stock price is dropping now, just wait until
the Congressional hearings on steroid use in wrestling
begin.
For those of you that missed it last week, the United
States House Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform sent WWE a letter requesting records of drug
tests that have been done, as well as any information
on studies they’ve done on the pattern of deaths
related to drug use and steroids in the wrestling
industry. This is the first step in a long process of
the Congressional body taking a look at this issue,
and perhaps, and hopefully convening hearings on the
subject some time later this fall.
The fact that this issue is even being looked at by
Congress is a huge, huge step in the right direction.
It’s finally going to put a spotlight on all the dark,
dirty little secrets of the wrestling industry. I
can’t wait to see Henry Waxman or Tom Davis (the
chairman and ranking member of that committee
respectively) put Jerry McDevitt in his place when he
tries that arrogant, flippant routine in front of
them. They aren’t Nancy Grace, Dan Abrams, or Greta
Van Susteren, that’s for sure.
Hopefully they can even compel Vince McMahon himself
to testify, and explain himself in front of the world.
They need to get current and former wrestlers
involved, they need to get well informed, and well
respected wrestling journalists like Dave Meltzer,
Wade Keller, and Bryan Alvarez involved. They need to
get expert medical doctors, and experts on steroids
involved. If they’re going to do this, then they need
to go all the way with it.
I don’t know what the end result will be, whether it’s
imposing a standard drug policy on the entire
wrestling industry, or at the very least forcing WWE
to bring their testing and policies up to the standard
set by the Olympics and The World Doping Agency. But
regardless, changes need to be made, and I’m glad
there are people out there that recognized that. It
makes all the ranting and raving I’ve done in this
column the past month worth it to me.
Nothing is done yet, the first steps have been taken,
but the pressure still needs to be put on. Which is
why, as I said last week, the issue of drugs and
steroids in wrestling is one I will continue talking
about. And I hope all of my colleagues on this and
other wrestling sites and publications will do the
same.
Meanwhile, for the people at World Wrestling
Entertainment, between the bad publicity from the
Benoit tragedy, the stock plummeting, all the main
event wrestlers continuing to suffer major injuries,
the Raw ratings falling off a cliff, and Congress
knocking on the door, the proverbial shit has hit the
fan. And not a moment too soon, in my book.
I want to send my thoughts and prayers to everyone in
the Minneapolis area affected by the devastating
collapse of the 35W bridge on Wednesday night. What
an unbelievable catastrophe. One of my greatest fears
in life has always been that a bridge would collapse
as I was driving over it, and I would plunge into the
water below stuck in my car. I can’t even begin to
imagine what those people went through, and my
thoughts are with them the most.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, take care and be
well.
-------------
that was from Wrestlingobserver.com
Interesting article, I agree that WWE needs to do something drastic and make their product more exciting again, I really miss it when WWE used to be unpredictable and actually fun to watch, now its just so stale and boring. Anyway, im sure you guys will enjoy this article, its really pretty interesting
