Sold out arenas VS mediocre Raws.

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

It is no secret that most arenas on Raws and PPVs are sold out, or close to being sold out. There are lots of fans all over the US and the world that want to attend one show at least once. Lately, the WWE product has been disappointing, yet people still continue filling the arenas. I was reading in the comments on said article about why people keep filling the arenas, when the product isn't on par with what they want. Good question, but I have an answer...

There are new fans being "created" every day. The WWE makes shows all over the US and every town/city gets 1 or 2 shows per year mostly. Most people think "look, it is a once a year thing, let's just go to have some fun". It doesn't matter how bad the product is. First timers want to do simply to feel the experience of the live crowd. Non-first timers go there because it's the once a year thing. It doesn't matter how bad the product is, because people don't care about the product that much when they go there.

It's like a football/basketball game when you support your local team, when it isn't even doing so well. You go there to support your team (see your favorite guy) and get mixed up in the crowd emotions etc. You can't blame the people for that. WWE is being smart with this technique. It capitalizes on this exact people's mindset and that's why we get full arenas all the time.

Sure, the best way to voice your opinion is with your wallet. I like that there are fans willing not to go to a show to voice their displeasure, but it doesn't matter. One guy leaves, 10 others are waiting to go in. If, in a fantasy world, an arena would be half full, WWE would start taking notice. But it won't happen. If they were running shows in the same venues for like 1 month straight, you would see that most shows would be half full at best, but not now.

 

[#tamale]

Your opinion of Raw being disappointing isn't a shared view by thousands of other fans that go to the arena to watch the show. Very few people hate watch and you can't compare a struggling sports franchise to the WWE because there is a thing called season tickets. Raw isn't outstanding but there are some solid stories and this has been a tremendous year in terms of PPV quality.

Overall, your point comes from a negative environment which comes through very hard in your post with your typical "hit them in their wallet that'll show them" statement. Is it that hard to believe some actually enjoy the show?

Change your username.

 

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

Your opinion of Raw being disappointing isn't a shared view by thousands of other fans that go to the arena to watch the show. Very few people hate watch and you can't compare a struggling sports franchise to the WWE because there is a thing called season tickets. Raw isn't outstanding but there are some solid stories and this has been a tremendous year in terms of PPV quality.

Overall, your point comes from a negative environment which comes through very hard in your post with your typical "hit them in their wallet that'll show them" statement. Is it that hard to believe some actually enjoy the show?

Change your username.

I didn't say that everyone hates the programming, or the entire programming is bad. But you can't deny that most of the fans nowadays hate most of the programming. More than half of the Raw 3 hour programming is filler with unimportant segments and I bet that more than 50% of the fans hate those segments. So yea, I believe I have some merit to what I said above. Don't be so hostile.

 

[Mudlup50]

I don't see the problem, we heard rumors about the WWE being low on money and if they were, could you imagine what a few half filled arenas would do. If people don't wanna go, that's fine. Raw was in Baltimore about a month ago(which is one of the closest venues to me) and I just didn't want to go, yet the whole arena seemed packed.

I'm glad it's like that, because it proves that we all want different things. Some of us might be unhappy with the product but others think this is a great time to be a fan. How many people defend Lesnar being champ, saying it adds credibility to the belt, yet others hate the idea because he's not there. Some of us hate the Bunny but yet some kids might only be going to see the bunny. So yea, I know Raw has been on the lower end recently but they have a huge demographic to target, we aren't being as targeted right now and that's fine. We had a year plus of CM Punk, we had a Daniel Bryan run to the main event scene, we had Ziggler win a few world belts, so right now we aren't being targeted.

Pardon my rambling, I got off point I think. I think it's fine, I don't want WWE to go under, I don't want them to have to cut more talent because some of us don't like the product now, the WWE in the last 4ish years has really started appealing to us more(I think at least) so sooner or later, we'll enjoy it again. Thank you casual fans who keep WWE from going bankrupt

 

[MartialHorror]

WcW continued to sell out arenas for quite some time after it started sucking and Raw has been more underwhelming as of late instead of just outright being terrible. I doubt WWE will have anything to worry about in that regard for awhile...

 

[FlairFan2003]

In the modern era, IE monthly PPV and weekly live TV, 1995-today, both WWE & WCW played to capacity or near capacity crowds for TV tapings and most PPVs. These are special events and have an added level of importance that regular house shows do not have.

In Pittsburgh where I live a non televised WWE house show will draw 6,000-8,000 range most of the time in a 20,000 seat arena. That's roughly what they were drawing in the in the "old" era, before monthly PPVs and weekly live TV. Back then sometimes you got a "special" house show with a big time World Title Match that would draw more. I remember an NWA house show that featured Lex Luger, The Road Warriors, and Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson, but no Ric Flair. They drew under 5,000. One month late they drew almost 11,000 for a lesser card (but one featuring a World Title Match). In 1992 I attended a WWE house show main evented by Randy Savage vs Jake Roberts, it drew under 6,000. Two months later a “special event” featuring WWE Champ Flair vs Hogan in a tag match drew 13,500. Three months later a card that featured Brett Hart & Shawn Michaels as the big draws drew under 6,000.

Today you dont have “special events” house shows, but the TV shows like RAW and PPV are in fact the “special events” in your city or town. As such they automatically have added appeal, and draw much better. There is just an attitude that a non televised show isn’t as special and wont be as good. Plain & simple.

Pgh has posted sell outs for multiple RAW’s and at least two Summer Slam PPV events, back in the old arena the NWA set the all time attendance record (over 17,200) for the finals of their annual “Bunk House Stampede”. They drew over 16,000 for a loaded “special event” main evented by Flair-Rhodes and topped 13,000 for one of their Great Amercian Bash cards. Special events, in either promotion, always drew much better than normal house shows, a trend only exemplified today by the prevalence of PPV events and high quality match ups on TV.
As long as there are fans, WWE will always get max attendance for these type of shows.

 

[Radical]

I kind of agree.

WWE is lucky because they have managed to be around for so many decades that it's pretty impossible for them to fail.

Because you're right, WWE is making new fans every day and yes, the lost a lot of fans after the Attitude Era but I think those fans were fans of blood, guts, sex and swearing which they are getting through HBO better than WWE now. So those fans will never come back.

But, relatively speaking to other TV programs WWE is doing just fine. I'm sure they'd love to be up to 7 or 8 million viewers or even 10-15 million like big sitcoms and Monday Night Football get but they just won't with the way they run business now. They try to get 'everybody' so they turn away people who want serious all the time. That's why Football gets big ratings. It's always hard-hitting Football. Even if the game is not that spectacular it is a true sport with consequences.

WWE is not willing to stay hardcore and stay serious like they used to so they can only hope to maintain their fans.

And yes, since they travel around they keep getting pretty good attendance. I know if they came by central Canada where I live I'd probably go to a show because up here it's more like a "once in 3 years" thing so if you don't go, you gotta wait a while.

I 'protest' my dislike of Raw or SmackDown and WWE in general by not buying PPVs, the Network, any merchandise (except the video game) or watching the show live unless there's nothing else to do. I still enjoy parts of WWE but I'm not going to give them significant money consistently until I'm fully enjoying the vast majority of their programming.

If they cut Raw down to 2 hours, get rid of fluff, make mid-card titles more important and don't forget completely about putting their good talent on TV with meaningful characters/feuds (i.e. Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel, Kingston, Wyatts, Ryback) then I'd consider giving them more money.

But until then, the only way I'll give them money is the slight chance they visit my town with a Live show and buying WWE 2K15 so I can fix the show to MY liking.

 

[Mudlup50]

WWE is lucky because they have managed to be around for so many decades that it's pretty impossible for them to fail.

WWE is not willing to stay hardcore and stay serious like they used to so they can only hope to maintain their fans.

And yes, since they travel around they keep getting pretty good attendance. I know if they came by central Canada where I live I'd probably go to a show because up here it's more like a "once in 3 years" thing so if you don't go, you gotta wait a while.

I 'protest' my dislike of Raw or SmackDown and WWE in general by not buying PPVs, the Network, any merchandise (except the video game) or watching the show live unless there's nothing else to do. I still enjoy parts of WWE but I'm not going to give them significant money consistently until I'm fully enjoying the vast majority of their programming.

If they cut Raw down to 2 hours, get rid of fluff, make mid-card titles more important and don't forget completely about putting their good talent on TV with meaningful characters/feuds (i.e. Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel, Kingston, Wyatts, Ryback) then I'd consider giving them more money.

But until then, the only way I'll give them money is the slight chance they visit my town with a Live show and buying WWE 2K15 so I can fix the show to MY liking.

Well I definitely agree, they have absolutely no competition and it kinda sucks the life out of them. They have pretty much no way of failing as stated in the original post. And I'm sorry they don't go their very often, they come here about once a year and I've only been once.

I know Ryback is injured, the rumor is the bunny is Gabriel or Darren Young so that's where they are, Kingston will never achieve much more(sorry but I think he's been too far down for too long to get higher, hope I'm wrong though) and I personally think the Wyatt's are off screen to set up a proper feud for them.

Wyatt v Cena wrote itself and I think Jericho was pretty similar(although the story seemed forced at time). Now they have to give him a serious opponent for him to feud with for a couple of months. Next week let's assume we get a Bray promo. Then the following week we get all 3 of them. Which puts us around November to start a feud. I remember rumors of a feud with Ziggler but he seems to be in a feud with Cesaro. So I think when that feud wraps up at HiaC, the feud with Bray will start. Again, could be completely wrong but that's my hope at least

 

[Navi]

As long as they have wrestlers like Cena and Daniel Bryan on the roster the arenas will be full. I was at a house show last week and 75% of the crowd was under the age of 14.

You have a 14 year old there, you also have his friends and of course the parents who take them. And I'll tell you something they don't hesitate to shell out the cash either at the merchandise booths. My 23 year old son and I were waiting in line to get a Reigns and Ambrose shirt, at 30 bucks a pop. In front of us was a mother, father and 3 kids. By the time the kids has got their shirts, spinner necklaces, fake DB beards and God only knows what hell, the bill was over $350.00. And they weren't the only one handing out that kind of money.

Every kid there was head to foot Cena or Bryan or someone else. So as long as the WWE is kid friendly they will never be short of fans coming to see the shows, buying the t-shirts and any other paraphernalia that has a wrestlers name on it.

I know for example that every RAW that comes to Toronto sells out the Air Canada Centre immediately, over 16,000 seats and they aren't cheap. The house shows do about 8,000 a pop at the Ricoh Coliseum. It shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

 

[Radical]

Well I definitely agree, they have absolutely no competition and it kinda sucks the life out of them. They have pretty much no way of failing as stated in the original post. And I'm sorry they don't go their very often, they come here about once a year and I've only been once.

I know Ryback is injured, the rumor is the bunny is Gabriel or Darren Young so that's where they are, Kingston will never achieve much more(sorry but I think he's been too far down for too long to get higher, hope I'm wrong though) and I personally think the Wyatt's are off screen to set up a proper feud for them.

Wyatt v Cena wrote itself and I think Jericho was pretty similar(although the story seemed forced at time). Now they have to give him a serious opponent for him to feud with for a couple of months. Next week let's assume we get a Bray promo. Then the following week we get all 3 of them. Which puts us around November to start a feud. I remember rumors of a feud with Ziggler but he seems to be in a feud with Cesaro. So I think when that feud wraps up at HiaC, the feud with Bray will start. Again, could be completely wrong but that's my hope at least

Yeah, and they actually may come to cities near mine maybe every 3 years but I think they haven't had a live show in my town since 2002 or something like that. But that is the crazy thing. WWE has such a 'name' out there being around for so long, they always have a community they can visit for the first time or the first time in like 5 or 10 years and get 3,000 fans and be happy with it. Most of their live event average about 3,000 - 5,000 fans so they can pretty much always get that wherever they go AND no matter how bad their product is. I mean, there is a limit for everyone but that's the thing, WWE has some utter crap but they still maintain a few key pieces that are great so they never lose all their fans.

In regards to the talent I mentioned, I hope it is Justin Gabriel in the Bunny costume because he needs a new push. I know it won't be easy to gain credibility after being the guy in the Bunny outfit but at least it will be a noticeable re-introduction to the main roster. He could form a tag team (not in the costume) because the tag division desperately needs new teams and Gabriel is a GOOD talent. He can put on GREAT matches but hasn't been allowed to since his Nexus days or on NXT.

For Kofi Kingston, I'm not saying he should be on TV more because I think he should be pushed to the moon. No. He is a mid-carder for life but a damn good mid-carder! I would like to see him in a feud with a main eventer and maybe get a WWE title shot in a multi-man match for something different out of him and obviously he would lose but he would put on a great match and it's crazy when he doesn't get to be on Raw but there are 2 Divas matches that weren't "Raw necessary".

 

[Mudlup50]

Yeah, and they actually may come to cities near mine maybe every 3 years but I think they haven't had a live show in my town since 2002 or something like that. But that is the crazy thing. WWE has such a 'name' out there being around for so long, they always have a community they can visit for the first time or the first time in like 5 or 10 years and get 3,000 fans and be happy with it. Most of their live event average about 3,000 - 5,000 fans so they can pretty much always get that wherever they go AND no matter how bad their product is. I mean, there is a limit for everyone but that's the thing, WWE has some utter crap but they still maintain a few key pieces that are great so they never lose all their fans.

In regards to the talent I mentioned, I hope it is Justin Gabriel in the Bunny costume because he needs a new push. I know it won't be easy to gain credibility after being the guy in the Bunny outfit but at least it will be a noticeable re-introduction to the main roster. He could form a tag team (not in the costume) because the tag division desperately needs new teams and Gabriel is a GOOD talent. He can put on GREAT matches but hasn't been allowed to since his Nexus days or on NXT.

For Kofi Kingston, I'm not saying he should be on TV more because I think he should be pushed to the moon. No. He is a mid-carder for life but a damn good mid-carder! I would like to see him in a feud with a main eventer and maybe get a WWE title shot in a multi-man match for something different out of him and obviously he would lose but he would put on a great match and it's crazy when he doesn't get to be on Raw but there are 2 Divas matches that weren't "Raw necessary".

And that first point is exactly my point they don't have to try, their fanbase is so large that if they literally gave up(which I don't think they have but) they'd be fine for at least a year or two just coasting off of what they have now.

I don't see the problem with Gabriel being the bunny. Here's how I view it: wait a month or so, an unmasking probably by Slator Gator being as they are "feuding" with Adam and the Bunny. Gabriel and Rose form a team to take on Slator Gator. Justin Rose win the feud and stay together, hopefully their gimmicks don't meld into one, I'd prefer to have them separate so at some point Gabriel can strike it off alone.

As for Kingston, I completely agree! A lot of people around here think everyone has to main event if they're important. I'm a Mizfit and I'm fine with him being a midcard heel for the rest of his career. Kingston would make a great midcard face for the rest of his career, but right now he's just a jobber