Alright, there is a post on here that I'm afraid people will find similar to this one. Let me try to be as clear as possible - I'm not trying to say that WWE is going "stale", bash the PG rating or give the WWE any hate at all for that matter. I just want to know why they are losing ratings in all honesty because I don't like seeing something that I have such a passion for doing badly.
I was getting caught up on how the ratings have been for WWE recently and was pretty shocked at what I found. We are building up to the largest PPV of the year: the WWE's version of the Superbowl, the Grand-Daddy of them all, and any other cliche' that you can think of. Yet ratings have been declining weekly. I mean a 1.9 for Smackdown this past week?! What gives? With Mania on the horizon, the ratings should be going up every week and we are getting the exact opposite. ECW seems to be fairly stable in it's (moderate at best) ratings. However, the flagship show of Raw has saw it's ratings go down with guys like HHH, Orton, Cena, Jericho, Taker, Edge, & Michaels appearing on it. Not to mention the teased match between Flair & Jericho this past week. Over on Smackdown, The Primo & Carlito vs. Miz & Morrison matches have showcased some of the best technical mat work I've seen in quite some time. The Hardy fued (while neither Hardy is great at promos) should still manage to bring in viewers given how personal it is and the way that most fans like these guys.
I could continue to give examples of what should equal an increase in ratings on all three shows, and yet they have been on the decline. To stop my rambling and not write a short novel with this, what I want to ask you is why aren't they pulling in the ratings we expect leading up to Wrestlemania this time around? Like I said, please don't say the PG rating, because while I personally don't like the rating (as you can find in many of my posts) that's not what this post is about. I would much rather see the rating increased again so that we could see more hardcore action. I would love to see a match similar to the HHH/Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton/Mick Foley, intense match ups. You'd never know from saying that, that I am a true technical wrestling geek. It doesn't get any better than seeing two great mat technicians go at it. That said though, there are only a handful of guys in a company at a given time that can pull those types of matches off and do it well. There needs to be a mixture of match types; some weapons & blood filled and some old catch as catch can type action. But I'm rambling...
I think that with the right storylines, superstars, and match types that the WWE could still pull in great ratings, especially this close to Wrestlemania. In the 80s there was a PG rating in place, and the ratings were still remarkable. Here in lies why the ratings are declining. The storys, even the ones that on paper sound great, haven't been executed as well as they should have. Take the Hardy vs. Hardy feud for instance. Instead of letting them do several promos spread out through a couple of weeks when everyone knows that they just aren't that great at promos, they should've let them have some type of action. In a backstage attack, a tag match on opposing teams - something that doesn't see them quite in a straight up one-on-one match because that's what Mania is for, but something that sees them fighting.
I could go on, but this post is long enough as is - maybe too long. So, I want you to give me your opinions on what it is that has the WWE on the decline in ratings without bashing the PG rating. To me, that shouldn't factor in if other things are done well enough.
I was getting caught up on how the ratings have been for WWE recently and was pretty shocked at what I found. We are building up to the largest PPV of the year: the WWE's version of the Superbowl, the Grand-Daddy of them all, and any other cliche' that you can think of. Yet ratings have been declining weekly. I mean a 1.9 for Smackdown this past week?! What gives? With Mania on the horizon, the ratings should be going up every week and we are getting the exact opposite. ECW seems to be fairly stable in it's (moderate at best) ratings. However, the flagship show of Raw has saw it's ratings go down with guys like HHH, Orton, Cena, Jericho, Taker, Edge, & Michaels appearing on it. Not to mention the teased match between Flair & Jericho this past week. Over on Smackdown, The Primo & Carlito vs. Miz & Morrison matches have showcased some of the best technical mat work I've seen in quite some time. The Hardy fued (while neither Hardy is great at promos) should still manage to bring in viewers given how personal it is and the way that most fans like these guys.
I could continue to give examples of what should equal an increase in ratings on all three shows, and yet they have been on the decline. To stop my rambling and not write a short novel with this, what I want to ask you is why aren't they pulling in the ratings we expect leading up to Wrestlemania this time around? Like I said, please don't say the PG rating, because while I personally don't like the rating (as you can find in many of my posts) that's not what this post is about. I would much rather see the rating increased again so that we could see more hardcore action. I would love to see a match similar to the HHH/Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton/Mick Foley, intense match ups. You'd never know from saying that, that I am a true technical wrestling geek. It doesn't get any better than seeing two great mat technicians go at it. That said though, there are only a handful of guys in a company at a given time that can pull those types of matches off and do it well. There needs to be a mixture of match types; some weapons & blood filled and some old catch as catch can type action. But I'm rambling...
I think that with the right storylines, superstars, and match types that the WWE could still pull in great ratings, especially this close to Wrestlemania. In the 80s there was a PG rating in place, and the ratings were still remarkable. Here in lies why the ratings are declining. The storys, even the ones that on paper sound great, haven't been executed as well as they should have. Take the Hardy vs. Hardy feud for instance. Instead of letting them do several promos spread out through a couple of weeks when everyone knows that they just aren't that great at promos, they should've let them have some type of action. In a backstage attack, a tag match on opposing teams - something that doesn't see them quite in a straight up one-on-one match because that's what Mania is for, but something that sees them fighting.
I could go on, but this post is long enough as is - maybe too long. So, I want you to give me your opinions on what it is that has the WWE on the decline in ratings without bashing the PG rating. To me, that shouldn't factor in if other things are done well enough.