Does the "suspense" of a who's what's and when's really help ratings?

[dwith]

My question is... Does all the speculations of storylines like the "THEY" in TNA or the secret GM in WWE really keep people glued each and every week to find out who or what they are?

Or the debut of a new talent on a certain date, but you don't know who it is?

Do these thing's keep people intrigued enough to actually watch every week or just to jump on the IWC, and speculate...

To me it seem's like if something big is going to happen then They should announce what's going to happen.

For instance here is a hypothetical instance. If TNA had signed someone huge like Shawn MIchael's or Batista, and they kept bragging that a huge TNA debut was coming on BFG.... The internet would specualte like we alway's do at who it was going to be yada yada yada.. then when it BFG comes and goes, and some people go out of their way to rent it and find out while the other majority think's it's another lost cause and say's it's not worth it. Would it have made more sense to announce that TNA has signed Shawn Michaels, and he will debut at BFG 2010. I think think the whole world would tune it to see that debut regardless if you liked TNA or not. But if they kept it a secret ,and just hyped a huge talent and the same people that rent the ppv would be the only ones that see his debut, cause no one thought it could ever be Shawn Michael's.

It just seem's to me that with TNA right now if they just came out and said what was coming on 10/10/10 and if it was that big that more people would tune in to see it unfold rather think their spending their hard earned money on something that might happen or might be..

What do you guy's think? Does the suspense in wrestling program's really make people watch more or would you just rather know and not have to speculate?

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I definitely think the suspense makes the viewer return the next week, to see if the question has been answered, similar to any TV show. On a regular series, programmes often end of a cliffhanger to leave the viewer wanting more and to find out what happens next. Wrestling is scripted, so it is no different in that way in my opinion.

For example, the "Save Us" promos that eventually led to the return of Chris Jericho excited everybody, and even though people worked out who was coming back, people still wanted to tune in to see it happen.

However, with the example you have made with "TNA signing Shawn Michaels!!!", there are instances where it IS better to announce the big news beforehand, in order to boost viewing figures as a guarantee.

 

[Richard]

Well I think it really depends on the superstar aswell.

When Jeff Hardy had that open challenge on TNA a month or so ago, I tuned in because I thought it was going to be someone new and when Shannon Moore came out I was like... oh.... good for him, stepping up and from now on, whenever TNA announce a secret coming to TNA or another open challenge, I won't hold my breath.

But when TNA announced and hyped up Hulk Hogan to no end, I made sure I tuned in to see his TNA debut. If I hadn't and they kept it a secret, I would have been like, fuck, I missed that, would have been nice to see that.

So yeah, back to the original post, if it's someone huge like Shawn Michaels or anyone then I think it's a good idea to announce it to attract some attention.

 

[Rayne]

It's lazy writing is all it is, and the sad thing is, in the lowest common denominator theatre that is professional wrestling, it works, again and again.

The Anonymous Influence Storyline
(A guide for beginning writers)

1) Notice that your ratings are sagging, and that you have no individual performers currently capable of taking a show-steering role.
2) Introduce your anonymous influence. Keep details as vague as possible; the less you tell fans, the more room they have to guess.
3) Repeat references to the anonymous influence frequently, to give your audience the impression that this is a major storyline, and not some flash-in-the-pan quickshot story.
4) Exclude a couple of the most obvious possibilities. They aren't going to be your big reveal anyways; because of how obvious they are, the reveal for them would be a let down.

Note that we haven't established who our anonymous influence is. It's an unnecessary step at this point. As the writer you don't have to know; that can come along later. Episodic television is great for giving you time to think and watch your audience develop.

5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 a few times.
6) Announce a place and time for your big reveal. PPV is a good place, but usually companies tend to deliver on the "anonymous influence" on their main cable show (who's the real leader of the nWo, the "Higher Power" storyline), since a much larger share of your audience watches the free shows rather than PPV.
7) Pick the option that makes little sense to the viewer, but can be explained simply. This provides a sense of believable shock. The audience asks themselves "oh, wow, why didn't I see that?", and it's because up until recently, the writers didn't know they were going to write that.

It's really simple, formulaic writing. The fact that both companies are working that as their major storyline right now is a testament to its proven success in driving ratings.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It can depend a lot on the person or persons really. For instance, Abyss' "They" storyline is ice cold for me right now due in part to Abyss being horrendously bad and the fact that so many of the supposedly big events or surprises or changes or whatever that TNA hypes the shit out of have fallen flatter than my first girlfriend's chest. In order for me to care about "They", then it'd have to be something along the likes of The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin walking into the area at BFG. It was the same thing for the Jeff Hardy open challenge on The Whole F'N Show a while back. I almost knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that TNA would flub it up and put someone in the match against Hardy that would be a huge letdown and it was. TNA has, metaphorically speaking, cried wolf so many times that I just don't really care about the "suspense" they try to put into things because it's almost always turned out to be nothing to speak of.

As for the WWE, there were some times earlier on when they were doing the Guest Host deal on a weekly basis. For instance, when it was announced that Shaq would be the Guest Host, then of course people were going to tune in just to see what they would do with him. Even if they just had him standing in the ring picking his nose, people would still tune in just because it was Shaq and it was similar when Stone Cold Steve Austin hosted Raw. Even if it didn't draw record ratings, lots of people tuned in and it was great to see Austin again on Raw.

It can also generally work when a big superstar makes his return after being out for a while. When Triple H came back from his first quad tear, it was a great moment and people were going apeshit. The guy had been out for almost a year, he came back at Madison Square Garden and the crowd went wild. When Taker made his return to SmackDown roughly a month back, people tuned in and SmackDown drew the biggest audience it's had in months.