What would you do to boost the ratings?

[incrediblesim]

I read a thread a little earlier which was asking "Can the ratings ever be as high as they were in the Attitude Era?"

So my next question would have to be "How would you boost the ratings?" The Scenario is: Episodes of RAW does less than a 3 for a few weeks now Vince decides to hire you as a creative writer. He gives you full control over the WWE product- What would you do? Roster shake ups? One brand?? How would you like your WWE to be? So the question is how do you like your wrestling and how would you do it if you were a WWE writer?


I know there have been similar threads- so feel free to merge!

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

1. Balance out the rosters.

2. Less promos. I personally can't stand watching a 2 hour program when half of it is a plug for a dvd, new shirt, the website, rewinds of past weeks, etc.

3. Less DQ endings. Everyone around here agrees that its annoying to see. When you piss off your audience, they tune out.

4. If someone is popular, I'd push them...not necessarily "automatic main event", but I'd give them a nice program. If someone isn't getting a response (ala Snitsky), I wouldn't cram them down the audience's throats. If someone is (ala Jeff), I'd put him in a good feud.

5. No more childish, stupid, slapstick humor. Its insulting to the intelligence of the audience. Yes, there are probably a lot of people watching wrestling that are complete morons, but its a lot easier to entertain an idiot than someone with some wit in their minds. When we saw those Road Runner-esque skits with Hornswoggle a while back, I changed the channel and watched something else.

While I agree with you for the most part, NoFate007, I do not agree with this part of your post.

Originally Posted by NoFate007

2. Less promos. I personally can't stand watching a 2 hour program when half of it is a plug for a dvd, new shirt, the website, rewinds of past weeks, etc.

How are you going to push feuds farther if you can't have promos? Sure, they might not need the DVD, Shirt, or Website plugs, but how else are people going to know they're out there? DVD's they might show a preview of on TV, but not a shirt or website.

Other things I'd do: Turn Cena heel (I'd be the perfect time right now since people hate him anyways), have more McMahon (while some people hate having him on the show, he can have good ratings), and try to bring back Legends every 6 months or so for an appearance (Stone Cold or Hogan). Other then that, the WWE doesn't need the ratings up right at this moment, as there's no competition.

[Audioslave]

Raw:
- I'd keep Cena where he is. He's a good, old school type of champion in that he can pretty much face off against anyone. Faces or heels. I don't know if I'd put the belt on him yet, but I would definitely do it once I have a clear idea of who I want to be his new rival.
- Force Triple H to go into semi-retirement. I think some of the best programming WWE had was when Triple H was away and on the shelf for a while. The Hardy/Orton program was over like gangbusters and there was some other quality programming during that period. Cutting Trips' involvement in the show would open up the door for other fresh faces to be pushed.
- Bring CM Punk over to Raw. Program him with Jericho and Kennedy. Let them all cut loose on the mic. All three guys could be HUGE assets if they were used right. Throw in Cade and Murdoch, who will probably be splitting soon, and you've got yourself a good IC title division. Don't be afraid to let the title change hands.
- Start utilizing the tag team division. You have Cryme Tyme, London/Kendrick, Holly/Rhodes, the Highlanders and I'm sure you could pair Harry Smith up with someone. Tag teams can be a draw or, at the very least, a showcase division.
- Women's division is fine, so keep on doing what they're doing.

Smackdown / ECW:
- Utilize the brand cooperation stuff more.
- Utilize Armando Alejandro Estrada better. That guy could be awesome.
- PUSH ELIJAH BURKE ALREADY. This guy is a total package. He can get it done in the ring, on the mic, he's got character and charisma. God damn. Form a stable with him, Miz & Morrison, and maybe throw in Ken Doane when he gets back. And don't make them look second rate and get squashed by everyone that faces them.
- Put Kofi, Matt Hardy, Shelton Benjamin, Steven Richards and Kane on the opposing good guy side. A good heel stable versus a loose alliance of babyfaces would be awesome.
- Start pushing MVP to the world title. Him ending Taker's streak and winning the belt is the ideal goal.
- Fill out the Smackdown roster more.

WWE, as a whole - Start making your midcard titles mean more.

[Derf]

It's simple. Put on a better show. Don't have 3-4 pointless promos all involving the same guy/s. Keep it to 2 appearences a night at the most (one in a match, and maybe one to set it up)

Also, don't only push one guy in the main event. Before Angle in TNA, they were ALWAYS puting different people in the ME, and alot of people loved the changing. No one person should ME 6 PPVs in a row, champion or not.

Another thing, and this might not gain new viewers, but it will keep the ones you have. Title belts! Their there for a reason! Use them! have at least one title match every show, or at least some mention of a title excluding the Heavyweight titles.

Finally, get the shows on better hours/channels. Here in Canada, RAW is constantly being postponed due to other sports, and it's also played on a 15 minute delay, and that 15mins is a LONG time to some. Plus, on a non ratings note, it makes the LDs quite hard to follow, expesially as everything is spoiler mere minutes before you see it.

[Cage917r]

If I had total control and money was not the issue, I would have to unify the brands, that is the quickest fix in my opinion. During WWE's hayday, when they were achieving there highest ratings, they had one solid roster. Instead of having all of this pointless lower card matches on the show, you could have a show full of stars and young up and coming stars.

Unifying the rosters would fix a number of things:

1. The quality of matches up and down each show: Currently on a normal Raw or Smackdown, you usually get at least one pointless match, imagine with one unified show that the worst match on the card would feature guys like Kennedy, MVP, Hardy's, CM Punk, Kane, guys like that. While you would have stars like HHH, HBK, Cena, Taker, Orton, Edge, ect. all participating on the show in one way or another, this would make the shows much more interesting.

2. The Tag Team Division-Many people ask what is wrong with the tag team division, well with the talent split, many good tag teams, or possible good tag teams are split into singles stars because they need enough singles stars for each show. The unification of the shows would open up the tag division to having better stars in it, not too mention put all the good teams on one show.

3. Better ratings-Its pretty simple, pretty much everybodies favorite wrestler would be found on each show. If you are a Taker mark, you would watch Raw, ECW and Smackdown because of the possibility of him being on all three, or if you are a HHH mark, you would watch to see HHH, he would be on every show, so you would watch every show instead of just Raw, or for Taker just Smackdown.


The unification of the brands/shows would create for a much more entertaining product, it would create a much better card and more than likely lead to the most direct increase in ratings, that would be the best fix. Will this ever happen, unlikely because Vince makes more money with the brands seperated, but if I had control that is what I would do.

[mcflyboy]

I have a few miscellaneous suggestions, in no particular order.

1. More storylines. Nowadays, we have feuds but not really stories to go along with them. Many moons ago, wrestlers from both the top and midcard levels almost always had a story to go along with their feuds. Some were lame, sure. But these days we have feuds that just seem like they were slapped together and there's no real reason to care. Stories make us like the faces more, and hate the heels more. I'm not saying bombard us with storylines for every match, but don't forget that wrestling is at its core, a soap opera that ends in fights.

Having more storylines would also help in getting people more behind midcarders. In general, unless they are extraordinarily talented, is there really any reason to care about the midcard matches?

2. Stop redoing the same matches over and over. This seems to happen a lot. In most recent memory, did we really need to see 5 or so punk vs. morrison matches? Same for punk vs. chavo. It seems like we keep seeing the same matches, both on regular shows and pay per views, with minor twists (e.g., the triple threat raw championship from wrestlemania now is the same but bradshaw is in the mix too).

People get tired of the same matches, they take on this "been there, done that" mentality, especially since they tend to end the same way. so what's the point in watching or caring after already seeing this match before?

3. no more supermen. Nothing is more annoying than someone who just cannot lose. Obviously cena comes to mind there...for the longest time, no matter what type of match was thrown at him and no matter who it was against, the matches went the same. he'd spend the majority of the time getting wailed on, then he'd bust out a few power moves, get wailed on some more, then somehow miraculously win. i got bored of cena matches and didn't care because i knew he'd always win.

cena is not the only example, but probably the most blatant. HHH also falls into that category. in a 1 on 1, straight match, he cannot ever lose. i think it would make matches more interesting in general if there was at least a reasonable chance that someone could always lose in a match.

also somewhat related to this, it is also kind of ridiculous what people can get up from these days. a while back, someone taking a DDT to the floor on the outside of the ring would create a story that would lay someone out for weeks only to come back with a vengeance later. these days, someone can take a ddt through an announce table, play possum for a little while, then somehow miraculously jump up at the right moment to land a finishing move on the opponent and score a win.

i think that making some of these guys "more mortal" would make matches more interesting to watch, and more unpredictable. unpredictability in wrestling is a good thing!

[JPK]

Firstly , I’d axe Khali and Mark Henry. The don’t make good telly whoever they wrestle.

Next I’d reshuffle the brands. They need to distribute the talent much better. I won’t do a complete list. But here’s are some of the major changes I’d make to for the big guys.

Raw

Undertaker – Like to see him on Raw , I think he’d light that place up.
Batista – Been on Smackdown for too long.
Elijah Burke - Not given the push he’s need on ECW. Raw would suit him better.

Smackdown

Triple H – I know he wouldn’t like it. But the only way to give Smackdown! Some credibility is to put the flagship guy on there.
CM Punk – This guy is on a crest of wave at the moment , push him while the momentum is with him.
Jeff Hardy – I think he’d work better on Smackdown , its more congested on Raw , so have him on Smackdown as one of the big guys.

ECW

Chris Jericho – Have him as your head man on ECW. I wouldn’t keep him there for longer than a year , but it gives him something to go with , and it help push some of the younger guys. Give it some credibility.
Matt Hardy – Seems to be lost in the past couple of years. Needs a move from Smackdown , and I think he could do well on ECW.

Anyway enough of the brand extention.

Other things –

Cut the diva crap – Wasting time that could be filled properly. Particularly on ECW where its featured more.

Cruserweight Title – Defend it on each show. Have 3 and 4 way matches each show. Change the title regularly. Get the high flyers out , and entertain people. Don’t take it too seriously , just get the crowd going. Just like this sort of thing at No Way Out last year. - http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance...ght-open_sport Or the 2006 one - http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance...-way-o_extreme

Women’s wrestling – Like the Cruiserweight , get it on all 3 shows. Defend it regularly , and mix it up a little. And stop developing the storylines so much. Give things a month or so and change it around. We don’t need these things taken so seriously.

Tag team belt(s) – Get it to one. Defend them on all three shows. They’ve got a few decent tag teams know. Although they’ve manufactured most of them , there still pretty effective. The likes of Cody and Bob Holly , Cantino and Miz and Morrison.


Why can’t they have some matches that aren’t related to any storyline. Rather than trying to develop cruddy feuds , just give the guys airtime to show off their skills. I wanna see Kofi Kingston take on Shelton Benjamin in a 20 minute match. No storyline attached. I reckon done correctly it’d be a match of the year contender.

[morrisonc66]

For one, I would totally get rid of that broken record style of Mike Adamle. Combine all rosters again and make RAW, Smackdown, and ECW be the top shows. But, the biggest ratings booster could possibly come to pass if they brought back the old style of ECW, instead of the current "watered-down" version currently. They need to bring back the hardcore division and get Tommy Dreamer and Raven to revamp their infamous feud.

That's what I think would boost the ratings. What also could work, would be to stop focusing so much on the world title and focus more on the tag team and women's titles.

[mynettv]

Wwe Does Not Want To Focus On Hardcore Wrestling Because Too Many Wrestlers Could Get Hurt.

Wwe Has A New Concussion Program In Place So Wwe Does Not Want The Doctors Putting Guys On The Injured/inactive List Due To Injuries From Hardcore Wrestling.

I Still Don't Believe Benoit's Alleged Concussions Caused His Actions, But Wwe Should Not Put Guys In A Position To Purposefully Suffer Concussions Like The Old Ecw Promotion In The 1990's.