WWE overhyping things too much?

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Four weeks ago John Cena came out and said that he has a major announcement. Today, I just read another article on the News section about yet another major announcement by John Cena regarding the MITB briefcase that he won last night. That got me thinking.

This isn't the first time Cena or the WWE does this. If we go back and rewatch the build-up of some matches that include Cena we will point out one thing: Each and everyone of these matches are billed by Cena as the greatest ever. What are the matches I'm talking about?
vs The Rock at Wrestlemania 28 (which was also billed as "Once In a Lifetime. I highly doubt about that because I believe that a rematch WILL take place in the future)
vs Randy Orton at Bragging Rights in 2009
vs Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 23
vs Batista at Wrestlemania 26
vs Triple and Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 24

Cena called each of these matches "the greatest ever".

Let's move away from John Cena. The Undertaker vs Triple H match was billed as "The end of an Era". Jericho's return promos and that history was going to be made at The Royal Rumble. The "Revolution Is Coming" promos.
Cena's speech after Extreme Rules which many people seem to have forgotten about. Twitter (no need to say much here).

Yes, the WWE has done that in the past, too. But they seem to overdoing it right now.

My questions are simple:
Do you think that the 'E is overdoing it by having so many "historic" things at the same time?

Is the WWE so desperate that they need to overhype everything that much when in the end nothing comes out?

Shouldn't they keep the element of "suprise" instead of announcing certain things that are going to happen and overhyping them?
For example, If Cena hadn't said on Twitter 4 weeks ago that he has a major announcement, I would never have predicted that he is going to enter the MITB Ladder match and I would definetely be much more thrilled and shocked at the same time the moment he was announcing it.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this subject.

 

[Skinsley]

To you and me these announcements are relatively plain and in most cases predictable. And although we know its WWE creative telling Cena to make these statements....it looks down right audacious.

However, if you put yourself in the shoes of WWE's current target audience....children (who shouldn't be on social networking sites anyway). John Cena announcing his participation in the WWE MITB match may very well have been huge news for them.

I don't disagree with you....it pisses me off that they overhype things all the time and always dissapoint. But I think they succeed in their aim of promoting the show to a certain audience by doing what they do.

 

[TUFFY54]

You make some good points.

On one hand, pro wrestling promoters have always hyped everything up to sell more tickets or get more viewers. That's a simple fact of any entertainment business. However, the promises of major anouncments on Twitter has gotten old. They don't serve anything for two reasons:

1. People who follow wrestlers on twitter are most likely wrestling fans. Meaning, they would most likely be watching RAW in the first place regardless of whether or not something was teased on twitter.

2. A lot of people just look at spoilers. The days of must see TV are long dead. If anything major happens on RAW people could find out about it from either a news site, Twitter, or the WWE's own page. This isn't 1997 when if you missed RAW, you missed RAW.

So there you have it. Half the people who get tweeted about a spoiler were going to watch RAW anyway. The other half were going to look at spoilers and online results anyway. Teasing something on twitter doesn't to anything to help bump ratings. NO ONE IN THE RIGHT MIND WOULD CANCEL PLANS TO SIT HOME AND WATCH RAW IN THE ERA OF DVR AND YOUTUBE.


I also wanted to hit on the Chris Jericho return. In my opinion, that was probably the worst build for a return in history. It made it seem like whoever we were going to see was going to be some demonic, post apocalyptic monster. In the end we got the beloved babyface with frosted highlights in his hair in a light bright coat.

It also didn't help that Jericho has lost every important match he's had since coming back. The rumor for weeks was that Jericho was going to win the Rumble and challenge Punk. Well Vince thought that was too predictable so he put Sheamus over. Therefor we got a Wrestlemania match between the world champ and a guy who had come back and lost every match. Way to swerve the IWC Vince.

 

[FlairFan2003]

They do seem to be using a lot of hype, best this, biggest that, 1st time ever this, final ever that. Here's the thing, have you looked at the ratings ? Raw ratings havent been this low since early in the Monday Night Wars era. In 1999 Raw at one point reached a 7 rating, and was able to top a 5 rating airing against Nitro, which also was topping the 5 mark. Numbers slowly declined but the real decline started in 2009. These days if Raw tops 2.8 its a big deal. We are subject to such hype as a way of drawing more fans to TV, which in turn means more people at live shows and buying PPVs.

Another problem (for you anyway) is that you notice all the excessive hype because you are one of the few people who watch every week. The hype is not designed for you, and in fact bores you or desensitizes you because you are exposed to it so much. You however are not the viewer WWE is trying to reach, they have you, they are trying to attract casual fans and fans who have tuned out. Since they dont watch all the time they miss a lot of "biggest this", "greatest that" hype and are not bored by it. They only catch little bits, WWE hopes when they are reached and they tune in for something special they will get hooked.

 

[seahawksnation12]

Bottom line here is WWE is trying to be like UFC and failing miserably. You can't just make a ppv match, have a very small storyline with it and expect it to draw. UFC gets away with it because there stuff is real and well...its awesome!

Thats not to say WWE can't do it, but they need to stop making things so friendly and lame. WWE needs more excitement and predictability and wrestlers to stand out and be different. I can go on and on, but until that happens WWE will still be the same song and dance.

Not a big TNA fan, but I'll give credit where credit is due, at least they try to be somewhat different...

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

It's pro wrestling. "This is the greatest night in the history of our sport" "this is the greatest spectacle ever"

Seriously, we're just NOW thinking they overhype stuff. Pro wrestling through most of it's history was ran by blue collar minds for blue collar minds. This isn't semi-subtle pop music advertising, is isn't restaurant marketing, this is pro wrestling.

 

[Firewall_Philip_Hanan]

The problem is that WWE hypes itself so much that when something happens, it's always lackluster. I just wish there were more surprises, but everything gets leaked onto the internet somehow. Of course, I could just avoid the internet. Naaaaahhhh...

 

[Wald]

To answer, no they aren't, because if a company isn't prepared to overhype their product than no-one will.

What would people have them say about Cena vs Rock, for example?

"Watch John Cena vs the Rock in a match you might get again at some stage this year or next!!"

The only beef I have with the WWE is their use of stipulations, Punk even touched on this last year but it hasn't stopped them for re-using it. How many times has the You're Fired stipulation been used and not enforced in the past two years? Cena alone should be gone what? 2 or 3 times? I don't even think he missed a Raw because of any of those matches

 

[80centricher]

I think the reason for the hype is because WWE wants viewers to tune in more and actually see the surprise unfold. I think WWE thinks that without announcing them before it happens, no one will tune in to find out what really happened. Also, WWE hyped Wrestlemania 28 to be the best Wrestlemania ever to perhaps get out of the shadow of the attitude era and prove that this era can be just as entertaining and can put great matches. I believe all the hype is to get viewers to tune in and to make the viewers forget about the old days that many argue were better than this era.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Have you ever watched pro wrestling at any point in the past 30 years? Hyping the ever loving shit out of anything and everything is one of the foundations of professional wrestling, and has been throughout my lifetime. How many wrestlers have you heard say that they're the greatest of all time? How many commentators from how many promotions have all hyped a match as the greatest thing they've ever seen in their careers? How many ppvs have been referred to as history making? How many angles have been described as changing the face of the entire industry? How many wrestlers have said that their company is the greatest wrestling company in the world? The answer to all of those questions is: countless. Why? Because that's exactly what you're supposed to do. Pro wrestling is a "fake" sport with "fake" rivalries and "fake" storylines. The over the top hype goes along with the over the top personalities and characters hand in hand. At the end of the day, it's all designed to keep people watching and to get people to tune in throughout the show.

At the end of the day, in all honesty, it just seems like this is another thread created primarily for the purpose of complaining. It is what internet fans do better than just about anybody else, after all. When it comes to WWE in particular, everything is a double edge sword. They get criticism when they don't do something and get just as much when they do. WWE can't please the IWC as a whole, nobody can, so that's a huge reason of why they don't really even try to. It's just a waste of energy.

 

[IT Factor]

My questions are simple:
Do you think that the 'E is overdoing it by having so many "historic" things at the same time?

This is nothing new to the WWE. They have been hyping and overhyping since they stopped doing anything relevant or creative. Their product does not get nearly the amount of viewers that it once did. Which is why you have blatant attempts at hyping things just to get viewers back. Problem is, all of that hyping is all for nothing. The quality of both RAW & Smackdown have went down greatly in the past decade or so and the fact that WWE oversells everything tells the story. They even started advertising when injured and returning superstars will return. The only exception is when Rey Mysterio returned last night on RAW[which they could care less about, since they are probably still upset with Mysterio's suspension].

Is the WWE so desperate that they need to overhype everything that much when in the end nothing comes out?

The main word in that sentence is desperate. WWE has fallen so far from what they used to be that they have become desperate enough to try just about anything to get people to tune in. Which is why we see alot of social media involvement claiming "big announcements" or surprizes. It's a smart move that both WWE & TNA use at various times, but, usually failes because their "announcements/surprizes" rarely live up to its hype. This making the concept irrelevant to begin with and pointless in its claim.

Shouldn't they keep the element of "suprise" instead of announcing certain things that are going to happen and overhyping them?
For example, If Cena hadn't said on Twitter 4 weeks ago that he has a major announcement, I would never have predicted that he is going to enter the MITB Ladder match and I would definetely be much more thrilled and shocked at the same time the moment he was announcing it.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this subject.

I think wrestling/entertainment has fallen victim to one of it's worst slumps and downtimes in quite awhile. Their shows have been relegated to routine mediocrity and overhyping. They do this to compensate for lack of a better product. The element of shock is rare these days and you might be able to count the number of shocking events/storylines on one hand that WWE has done in the last decade alone. It's not about quality, but, quantity[amount of viewers vs. quality of product].

WWE need to find unique ways to add the element of surprize and suspense back into their product. It is truly sad because WWE is the biggest wrestling/entertainment company in the world, yet their product seems busch league compared to what it once was. They have all the resources and talent to make their shows great and full of quality material. Why they don't give a more determined effort to execute their capability is what I don't get. Who knows? Maybe it'll take RAW getting very bad ratings for WWE to wake up and actually give more concentrated efforts at ensuring better shows with more quality work.