The Reason Why "We" Don't Get What We Want

[ChaseDavis]

Have you ever sat there in your big comphy lay-z-boy recliner, watching your big screen LCD television on Monday night around 9 in the evening eastern time, 8 in the evening central while tuned into the USA network watching WWE Monday Night Raw? I know I have. Have you ever gone two entire hours and when it was all over wanted that two hours of your life back? I know I have.

I have been a wrestling fan since I was a young lad. I remember learning about Pay Per View. You see, I was a Big Boss Man fan back in the day, not the bossman that some of you remember, but the Big Boss Man that fought for good and was dressed in his bright blue button down shirt and black slacks and night stick. That was the Big Boss Man I knew and loved. He was the hero a four year old boy needed.

I remember moving into my new home and changing channels franticly on our giant console television that weighed a couple hundred pounds yet only cased a 20 inch screen. Those my friends were the days. I changed channels without any real thought in my little head about what time it was or what channel I was looking for, only that I wanted to see the Big Boss Man and Macho Man Savage duke it out the way I was told they would. I look at my mother with my four year old eyes and said "Mom, I want to watch the Big Boss Man"...I tear up just thinking about it....my mother replied with much sorrow in her voice "I'm sorry honey, but you have to pay to watch that. Do you have the 39.95 and cable top box in order to watch such an event?" I wasn't quite sure what she had just asked me, but I could tell in her voice that I wasn't going to see the Big Boss Man fight tonight.


Have you ever sat there in front of your computer screen and wondered where is this thing going? I know I have.


I like many of you have been a wrestling fan for as long as I can remember, some fans are new to the buisness and only now discovering all the jewels that WWE can offer. I though have seen the Midnight Express, The Smoking Gunns along with Cade and Murdoch. I have seen Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and even Billy Gunn rise to the top and Marty Jannetty, Jim Neidhart and Bart Gunn fall into obscurity. I've been a fan and no matter how many time I might leave, I know I'll always come back and the sad thing is that Vince McMahon knows this too.


Ratings recently came back on the October 8th edition of Monday Night raw and the 2.8 rating left much to be desired. The 2.8 rating consists mainly of fans like you and I. Fans that will tune in no matter how many times we are fed JR giving birth to a head, HHH having sex with a manican dressed up as a dead girl while himself dressed up as Kane or John Cena given year long title runs. We have an addiction and the only cure is more cow bell...I mean, wrestling.

TNA exists but it doesn't cure our addiction the way that good ole fashion bad writing, bad acting and girls wearing the least amount of clothing that the FCC will allow does.

The reason why "we" don't get what we want is simple. We aren't profitable. While it is true that we are the ones who order the pay per views no matter how atrocious they may be, we are the ones who generate the ratings on a television show that gets less and less entertaining as the weeks go by and yes even some of us are the ones who buy the crappy merchandise that they shill out with our favorite wrestlers face on it. The money maker is the mainstream public who don't tune in week to week. The people who tune into Monday Night Football instead, the ones who tune into Heroes instead. The ones who sit down and eat dinner with their family and than enjoy a game of Parcheesi instead. These are the people Vince McMahon want to tune into his programming. The reason why a champion is crowned that most of the fan base despise is because he is marketable in a way that the other wrestlers are not. The reason why we get the same rehashed storylines over and over again is because if its too complicated the mainstream audience will not tune in.

As a fan for many many years, I do not see wrestling returning back to its glory days in the near future. Those who say the buisness is cyclical are correct but in order to turn the corner, something needs to force it. Ratings are dropping and that might be what is needed to bring a change, but as long as the Marks/Fan Boys/Loyalists/Real Fans tune in day in and day out regardless of the product that is pumped out, nothing will change.

We Don't Get What "We" What because according to VKM, we already have what we want. He has what he wants. The only way to make that change is to take away the one thing he thinks he has in the bag...

[terminusWSX]

nice post I agree Vince simply has no interest in the long time fans,he wants the mainstream audiance that was there during the boom of the 90's sadly they are not coming back no matter what VKM's creative teams tell him.

In a strange way, couldnt agree more. Wrestling fans always seem to tune in no matter what is happening. We love awaiting who the great new rising star (the new austin or rock) of our era will be but we also love to hate all the terrible gimicks/storylines hashed out just as much.

-I would say 75% of WWE is aimed at potentially 'new' viewers and get the un-eductated mind to tune in each week.
-The other 25% is what we love to watch, all be it a well worked match, new talent emerging, the unpredictable live tv situation.

At the end of the day, we love what we watch (either good or bad) and VKM is a genius for the way he has set his business up over the years. However, as the ratings decline, we will have to wait to see how long this plan lasts...

[LMaruko]

Even though I am a younger viewer, I was brought up on stories of Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, and all of the old wrestlers back in the day being the best of their kind. And of course, I do my research of the WWE back when the NWA was taken over and began anew as the WWF, and I know a bit of background. But Vince McMahon is a genius, because a lot of the older generation viewers have ultimately "grown up" and wouldn't pay for the merchandise made nowadays. Who would see a 40yr old man pick up and purchase a WWE Legends Hulk Hogan doll and say "OMG! I have to have this!!" Hardly anybody. I'm not saying it's not out there, but the mainstream audience pays the most money, and makes Vince McMahon the billionaire he is today.

But, ultimately, Vince Kennedy Sr.'s words are going to come back and bite Vince in the ass one day. WWE will get too big for one man to handle, and I don't believe Stephanie or Shane will be able to handle the responsibility when Vince passes the business on.

Now, Triple H, on the other hand...

[a7xoff]

I agree also that the majority of the WWE programs seem to be targeted more towards their newer fans. Take a look at the crowds. The days of people such as Kane are over. The newer fans really don't seem to take to him as well as the fans that knew Kane when he still was masked. From targeting people like Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Hell even Austin for that matter and the Rock to now people like Cena, Lashley, the new DX... As time goes by and people retire, WWE seems to just let the fans of Hogan, Hart and others just kind of fade out. VKM does give the fans what they want... However it sadly is at the expense of the older fans who wish for a return to a time where technical wrestling was what we watched. Not some giant like Khali just crushing people's heads in. However... The new breed of fans who don't even know what real wrestling is do enjoy big guys crusing people's skulls in over the really good technical stuff =/

[Agrex]

WWE is the number one wrestling promotion in the world and that's pretty sad as out of the two hours that RAW gets we get more or less 30 minutes of wrestling. Sure this crap is appealing to the 8 year olds with all the promos and flashy colours, but to us older fans we want quality wrestling. The problem is we might never get it because you're not gonna buy all the retarded little merchandise, but the little kids will and that's why Vinnie Mac will want to appeal to the younger addiuences. The younger aduiences would be bored through a 30 minute match, that's why there are squash matches.

I also beleived like hillersto said that TNA would be a good wrestling show. I was right until like 2005 that's when it started getting a bit like WWE, now 2 years later it's almsot like WWE. TNA was good with their own ideas and own superstars, now most of their storylines are copying WWE's and the are taking alot of WWE's crappy stars (not all of the ex-WWE guys suck).

[ZCDarrah]

dont mean to spam with a quick reply but I have to go to work. But, what would happen if "we" boycotted the WWE for a while, think about it, 25-40% drop in the ratings, someone (Vince) would take notice. Just an idea to take back our wrestling

[ChaseDavis]

Originally Posted by ZCDarrah

dont mean to spam with a quick reply but I have to go to work. But, what would happen if "we" boycotted the WWE for a while, think about it, 25-40% drop in the ratings, someone (Vince) would take notice. Just an idea to take back our wrestling

That was actually the general idea of my post. Boycotts is a term that is thrown around fairly loosely, and my feeling is that it wouldn't work because too many of fans like us are still addicted and would be unable to boycott. The idea of dropping ratings are in our favor and I myself haven't tuned into a Raw/Smackdown/ECW broadcast for a few months. I read the results and I can't emphasize to you how glad I've saved those hours upon hours upon hours of my time watching a mediocre show.

I never feel like I have missed anything, when you can read a recap and feel like you know everything you need to know, that is a sign that your product is lacking something and considering the product is showcased visually you would want your fans to tune in to actually be satisfied.

I wish I had an answer to what would fix the problem we have seen over the past few years...new writers, new stars, new management...all of the above....change is needed, a shakeup is needed. Casual fans come and go and eventually raw will be bringing in a consistent <3.0 rating. I'm not sure even that low of rating over the long haul is enough to deter him from his ego

If the desire to boycott the product was strong enough, that may be enough to cause a ripple effect all the way up to Vince himself and that might be enough of a message to realize he is catering to the wrong audience.

[bigshot316]

Good post man, too true.
I have been watching since Wrestlemania 8, and have been lucky enough to witness so many amazing wrestling moments. I remember when it was all real to me, and like you had the Boss Man, I had Bret Hart, and the Ultimate Warrior!
Bret Hart Vs the Beserker was the first match I ever saw, I had borrowed a tape of The Simpsons off my friend and his big brother had taped this one match over the top of it.
Well The Beserker won (!) but I remember being completely and utterly enthralled from the first bodyslam!
Right then and there I became a fan for life.
I got goosebumps when The Warrior returned. I was outraged when Sid turned on Hulk Hogan. I was seriously shocked when HBK threw Marty Jannetty through the Barbershop window!
Before the internet, I never knew what to expect, didn't know what Kayfabe was much less that the outcomes were predetermined.
Even when I found out, this just interested me even more; I was fascinated at how they put matches together, who wrote the feuds, and always, always what would happen next.
Every week i would tune into WWF Superstars, Mania, Action Zone, then Raw came along to the UK and it was like my birthdays all at once!!
When Raw entered the Attitude era it was not to everybodies tastes but to me it was T.V gold.
the birth of dX, the Hart foundation, Mankind arriving, Hell in a Cell being unveiled, slating the opposition, Stone Cold, The Rock, 'Mr. Mcmahon' being created, juice jobs and sexual innuendo, Pimps and Hos, the brief ECW crossover...
Wrestling had grown up with me, and I loved it.
Now somewhere along the line all this slowly died out...
Was it the day WCW went under?? Quite possibly, but even after this the WWE had so many golden oportunities that were blown, with all that talent and the back catalogue of tapes and events, WWE was sitting on a goldmine which it literally pissed all over, just to have some form of victory over the already defunct WCW!!
Just imagine instead of Raw and Smackdown, WCW vs WWE.
Bischoffs WCW vs Vinces WWE. They could of run with this for years, people betraying each other, jumping ship, factions such as the 4 Horsemen being reborn, Sting Vs The Undertaker, Goldberg Vs Stone Cold, there is no need for me to carry on as we all know what happened.
Every real fan knew how this storyline should of played out, but look what really happened all because of Vinces ego.
Or what about the HH/Angle/Stephanie love triangle story line??
That was awesome, the way it was playing out and every fan knew the direction they wanted it to go and I for one was salivating at the possibilities...
Except that never came to be because of Mr. Levesque and his paranoia!!!
When I look at my beloved WWE now, it upsets me so much. The product is, well its dull and unoriginal.
There are no Ultimate Warriors, Boss Men, Rocks or Austins.
Cena has improved no end recently but I just cannot feel any real emotions for him.
The only thing I can hope and pray for is that TNA keeps expanding and gathering fans and expanding its fan base until Vince stars to feel threatened.
Because everybody know that competition creates exciting viewing for ALL forms of wrestling fans, casual through to the biggest marks around.
So to sum it up, I do not understand why we cannot have what we want these days. I do not know why Vince/Stephanie etc. don't take a look around, at the internet, in the magazies..
Surely it doesn't take a genius to figure out that we are not happy.
Granted, dead wrestlers and drug allegations abound have not helped matters recently, but this problem has been going on since before Eddie passed away.
I just hope something changes soon.
Not that I will ever stop watching!! :-)

[Low_Ki]

Originally Posted by hillersto

"We true wrestling" fans are a minority in this world. Yes, we are the loyal ones. But like ChaseDavis said, we are not profitable. That's the bottom line. Why does WWE keep pushing the talentless monsters and people who don't do technical wrestling is because the "majority" viewers wants to see them. As much as we all hate it, wrestling will always be a business to satisfy the desires of the majority. What can we do?

When TNA first started, I thought that it could finally be a real wrestling show. But heck, TNA is becoming like the WWE, literally and metaphorically.

I could not have said that better. In a weird way though, I kind of blame the creation of the internet for the lack of interest I have in wrestling now days. Sure I still watch RAW just on the off chance that I may in fact get something good out of watching it. I watched Cyber Sunday simply to see Stone Cold Steve Austin again, but that was the sole reason. Not because I was enthralled in Batista and Undertaker re-lighting their feud. The reason I blame the internet is purely because the suprises that we all loved back in the attitude era are no longer secret.

Some Tom, Dick or Harry will always 'leak' potential storylines or returns and they are always posted on the net long before they are scheduled to happen. Lets take the return of Chris Jericho for example. The SAVE_US222 promos were all that was needed to start the internet 'rumour mill' and its only a matter of time before he makes his return. The point I'm trying to make is that although it is my choice to read 'Spoilers' I just wish that some things could be kept completely secret. Does anyone understand what Im trying to get at?