The WWE Thread

[supersonic]

Worst ratings in several months for Raw this week. Proof that the Authority are #BestForBusiness, but that's not all.

This is what happens people when the top title is placed on a mediocre promo guy, a balding fry cook gets a push, and the face of the company is wasting his time with a generic ginger just to appease a bunch of Frenchies still butthurt about Bret screwing Bret.

[Robareid]

Ratings, and specifically the RAW rating, is WAAAAAAY over analysed in wrestling.

[lariat_tubman]

Ratings, and specifically the RAW rating, is WAAAAAAY over analysed in wrestling.

Couldn't agree more! Some websites report them like they are indicators of life and death.

[supersonic]

When considering that the business has become more focused on TV rights and online content subscriptions, ratings are critical to driving those numbers.

Observer:

Raw on 5/4 did a 2.55 rating and 3.57 million viewers (1.45 viewers per home), setting a new record for both the lowest rating and lowest viewing audience for the show outside of football season or a holiday night since 1997.

It, just barely, broke the record low of 3.59 million viewers, set on May 26, 2014, and tied on 2/9. The former show did a 2.62 rating, which was the previous non-football or holiday record low. It was the lowest rated Raw episode of any kind (even holiday nights and football season shows) since a 2.32 on December 31, 2012, and for a non-holiday show since a 2.55 rating on December 3, 2012 against a monster Giants-Redskins NFL game. That kind of number is low enough that I expect some hot-shotting next week. It was still the highest rated show on cable except for the NBA playoff games.

The good news is that having a great show kept the audience more engaged than usual, as they avoided the usual level of third hour drop, or else the number would have been even lower. It also shows that the low rating on 4/13 was not because the show was taped, because three of the last four weeks, which would be two live shows and one taped show, all did roughly the same numbers, with this week being the worst of the three. The difference seems to be that when Stephanie McMahon and HHH aren’t on the show, the ratings are down. But this week given the low first hour, when nobody would have known who was and wasn’t on the show yet, crediting the record low to not having Stephanie & HHH, really doesn’t appear to be a major part of the answer. The low first hour speaks of a low level of interest starting out.

The other culprits were NBA playoff games on TNT which did 4.59 million viewers for the early game (LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Chicago Bulls was the early game) and 4.66 million viewers for the late game. There were also NHL playoffs (1.32 million viewers) and Major League baseball on ESPN (867,000 viewers) head-to-head.

The three hours were 3.42 million viewers in the first hour, which was the lowest first hour ever with the exception of a Christmas Eve Raw, even lower than any time against the NFL, which speaks for how much interest there was when the show started, and coming off a low Smackdown. However, the show quality helped as the second hour was up to 3.71 million viewers, and the third hour didn’t drop badly, finishing with 3.59 million viewers.

[Robareid]

They're locked into fixed multi-year TV contracts. Weekly peaks and troughs should really matter little.

[Sandy Fork]

The host for Tough Enough is..... Y2J.
The coaches are........ Daniel Bryan, Paige and Hulk Hogan!

[Sandy Fork]

Sorry for the double post. But this was the best thread available to post this in.

So former WWE champ Bob Backlund showed up at Verne Gagne's funeral and proceeded to cut a heel promo on the entire affair......Classy, Bob.

[PeoplesChampion]

Backlund is a whackjob

[Sardonic Artery]

Ambrose being added to the WWE World Title Match at Payback immediately raised my interest level for the PPV.

You've seen his PPV win/loss record, right?

[Robareid]

Super late again I know, but hey:

WWE Worth Watching: Wrestlemania -> Extreme Rules
RAW 30th - Dolph Ziggler vs. Daniel Bryan ***1/2
RAW 30th - John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose ***1/4
SD 2nd - Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus ***
RAW 6th - Neville vs. Seth Rollins ***
RAW 6th - John Cena vs. Stardust ***
SD 9th - Reigns, Bryan & Ziggler vs. Show, Barrett & Sheamus ***
RAW 13th - John Cena vs. Bad News Barrett ***
RAW 13th - Neville vs. Dolph Ziggler ***1/4
SD 16th - Sheamus vs. Neville ***
ME 18th - Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler ***
RAW 20th - Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins ***
SD 23rd - Neville & Ziggler vs. Barrett & Sheamus ***
SD 23rd - Rusev vs. Ryback ***
SD 23rd - Reigns & Ambrose vs. Rollins & Harper ***1/4
Extreme Rules - Wade Barrett vs. Neville ***1/4
Extreme Rules - Kidd & Cesaro vs. New Day ***1/2
Extreme Rules - Roman Reigns vs. Big Show ***1/4

[boourns]

I hope the rumors about Hogan wrestling at WM 32 are not true. Along with trying to get people to believe he is the biggest draw ever and the best heel ever, I'm sure he just wants to add drawing the biggest house in company history to that list of B.S.

[supersonic]

Martha Hart, the widow of Owen Hart, said that she was not happy when hearing the news yesterday that WWE was doing an Owen Hart DVD.

After reading that she was supportive of the project on Wrestling DVD News, she said:

"My children and I were unaware of this project until May 7, when it was brought to our attention by a friend who had read about it online. Contrary to your report, we do not back or support it in anyway, nor has WWE requested our backing or support. From what little we know of the project, it seems to be another attempt to exploit Owen's memory, and his tragic death, for commercial gain. We have resisted that kind of initiative for almost 16 years. If WWE really wanted to honor Owen's legacy it would just let him rest in peace."

[tigermask7.0]

R.I.P. blue blazer

[lariat_tubman]

This is random but interesting I thought: an article on Bleacher Report argued that WWE should hire less seasoned independent wrestlers because their bodies have more wear and tear and are thus more injury prone than WWE farm system guys, what do you guys think of this? Is the author right or off base?

And here is a link to the article if people want to read it: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2460 ... o-hurt-nxt

[MFKR78]

Zero interest for me in WWE again right now.

The same old issues are the main problems. Too much TV, same rinse and repeat booking (That Teddy Long tag match meme is perfect) and even the Network isn't interesting enough to make me want to use the same loophole I've accidentally found to watch for free. Have had a break from wrestling for a bit really but am going back into indy companies for my fix.

[LJimmy]

This is random but interesting I thought: an article on Bleacher Report argued that WWE should hire less seasoned independent wrestlers because their bodies have more wear and tear and are thus more injury prone than WWE farm system guys, what do you guys think of this? Is the author right or off base?

And here is a link to the article if people want to read it: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2460 ... o-hurt-nxt

The doesn't sound fair to me since people without Indy experience have also suffered injuries. Mojo Rawley was out for several months with a shoulder injury. Hugo Knox is currently out of action. There have also been injuries to Braun Stowman to fix a herniated disk and Cal Bishop, who got injured quickly after coming back from a previous injury.

These are just a few examples.

[boourns]

I think they are referring to the "bump card" more than anything. Yes, any wrestler can get injured, but guys who have wrestled for much longer like Zayn and Owens, are more likely to get injured. Especially with the style they wrestled.

[D2Kvirus]

This is random but interesting I thought: an article on Bleacher Report argued that WWE should hire less seasoned independent wrestlers because their bodies have more wear and tear and are thus more injury prone than WWE farm system guys, what do you guys think of this? Is the author right or off base?

And here is a link to the article if people want to read it: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2460 ... o-hurt-nxt

The doesn't sound fair to me since people without Indy experience have also suffered injuries. Mojo Rawley was out for several months with a shoulder injury. Hugo Knox is currently out of action. There have also been injuries to Braun Stowman to fix a herniated disk and Cal Bishop, who got injured quickly after coming back from a previous injury.

These are just a few examples.

Add to that the trio of elephants in the room named Orton, Batista and Edge.

[DXvsNWO1994]

So here are some details on the Elimination Chamber PPV on May 31st, per wwe.com:

- There will be two Elimination Chamber matches. One of them will be for the Vacant Intercontinental Title, and the other one will be for the WWE Tag Team Titles. This will be the first time that there has been a Six-Man Tag Elimination Chamber Match (after being a featured match for years in the WWE Video Games).

- The WWE World Title & United States Title will both be defended.

[Sandy Fork]

The Mandow/Axelmania segment might be the greatest segment in the history of the industry.