Whats best for WWE product

[The_Don_of_WWE]

I don't think it's much the wresting on Raw that is making raw the second rated show. It's the booking and horrible story lines. I think what will help WWE product all in all if the just combine the Raw and Smackdown writers and agents/bookers for all brands. Two weeks ago Smackdown book a hell of a good match I seen on t.v. in a long time with Rey vs Morison for the IC title. There's wrestlers that have chemistry and can have great fueds with less promo and let their actions speak value. Attacks, interence etc.. I'm not saying they should do this for all fueds but they could add more presitgue to the mid-card titles with great fueds and matches e.g. WCW Booker-t vs. Chris Benoit for the U.S. title. The matches they had cemented that match for a long time for that title. What do you goes think?

 

[Viola Moonlight]

Currently, RAW is used as the Entertainment brand where everything is aimed at entertaining the audience. Most of the WWE Main Eventers are here because of this reason, as they can provide this & as well as getting away with what some call "horrible booking" due to their high-profiles. Why do you think the Chavswoggle feud went for so long? Why is it that Kofi Kingston has the US title? What other reason is there that the titles exclusive to RAW look like toy belts?

The SmackDown brand is the other half of the business, the Wrestling side. Everything & anything done on this show is for the wrestling. Character development, in-ring storytelling & backstage scenes to hype feuds... they are providing the alternative for those that don't enjoy what the current scene is about. That is the way it always has been for SD. Back when the WWE was not in PG, SD was the family-friendly product. Now its PG entertainment, its the non-PG wrestling show.

As for ECW, its the training ground for up&comers, the veterans to show them the way & those whom need to regain their wrestling roots with the crowd or their skills. They determine from what your skills & what they need to possibly transfer you over to which brand.

This is the formula the E uses & will continue to do so until the next era of WWE comes around the corner. It is working great wonders for them despite what is happening over on the SD roster with the shuffling & whatnot. People are starting to take an interest again & the E are repairing their mistakes from the past.

 

[gers09]

is raw and smackdown were the belts it would be raw is the wwe champ and smackdown is the ic champ

now i'm going back to times of Mr perfect and time round him

raw the wwe champ the top names top guys the main eventers

smackdown the ic champ the best the best wrestlers most entertain guys

 

[healyz84]

There are a number of things that need to be done to improve the wwe product. For instance, though raw is the "entertainment" brand for the wwe, they need to scrap this guest host concept. It really takes away from the show, the matches, and any storyline build. You are generally going to have this guest host come out for the first 15 minutes of the show. Then, you will generally have the guest host have a few backstage segments, also around 15 minutes in length total. This leaves you roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes (not including commercial time) to build an effective show, which just is not going to happen. Also, a lot of these guest hosts are horrible, and effectively kill any of the momentum of a show. The only way this can become tolerable is if they make the guest host concept into a longer storyline where one of the guest hosts end up taking full control of raw.

The other thing that the wwe needs to do is decide what they are. What I mean is, they want themselves to be directed towards kids, be a pg show. However, they keep doing things that contradict this. For instance, the Breaking Point ppv, Orton effectively was torturing Cena. At times this was a bit squeemish even for me. I could see some of the kids in the front few rows in Montreal that had looks of absolute horror and the parents who had that wtf sort of look in their eyes. If your going to be pg, then stay pg. I don't care that its a ppv or not, kids are still going to be trying to watch regardless. And this kind of violence or what not is not just going on when a ppv takes place, as you see this countless times on raw as well.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The WWE has divided up the three brands of the company to each offer something a little different as has already been mentioned. While Raw does sometimes have very good matches on the card, Raw is primarily about getting the big ratings by focusing on other things besides the in-ring competition. Smackdown is a show that's more devoted to wrestling. More often than not, you'll see the better matches take place on Smackdown. While SD doesn't draw as many viewers as Raw, I do believe that part of the reason why is that SD isn't a live show, it airs on Fridays which is the night more people go out on and it airs on a very shitty network that LOTS of wrestling fans don't get. While I don't think it would be quite equal to Raw, SD could still draw bigger ratings on a better channel. As for ECW, you'll see a lot of young guys getting built up and showcased there and eventually move to Raw or Smackdown.

Overall, the formula seems to be pretty successful. Raw has shown a significant increase in ratings, SD's ratings have taken a hit by being put onto MyNetworkTV but the quality of the show overall is vastly improved and ECW has found a nice little niche for young guys. Now, this formula will probably change over time since the WWE changes to keep up with what general audiences want. That's why they've gone to the so called PG Era. Some say it outright sucks, but the vast majority of the WWE audience and television audiences in general want stuff to be a bit more family oriented, something that's not going to stir up controversy. Times will change eventually and, when they do, the WWE will change with it.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I don't think it's much the wresting on Raw that is making raw the second rated show. It's the booking and horrible story lines. I think what will help WWE product all in all if the just combine the Raw and Smackdown writers and agents/bookers for all brands. Two weeks ago Smackdown book a hell of a good match I seen on t.v. in a long time with Rey vs Morison for the IC title. There's wrestlers that have chemistry and can have great fueds with less promo and let their actions speak value. Attacks, interence etc.. I'm not saying they should do this for all fueds but they could add more presitgue to the mid-card titles with great fueds and matches e.g. WCW Booker-t vs. Chris Benoit for the U.S. title. The matches they had cemented that match for a long time for that title. What do you goes think?

Well, who says that Raw is the "second rated show"? I don't see any consensus from people on that whatsoever.

Raw is the highest rated show, and their ratings have increased ever since doing the Guest Host concept. So obviously they are doing something right. And notice how that wasn't a move that involved improving the duration or quality of in-ring action.

Now, has Smackdown, the show that focuses solely on the wrestling ... have their ratings increased or decreased? They've decreased. And I think it only goes to show that people don't necessarily tune into WWE programming for the quality or duration of the wrestling. That is what should be the purpose of the PPV's, not the weekly shows.

 

[FromTheSouth]

Sidious, I'm surprised you didn't copy and paste your sig.

Now, I agree with you that the wrestling isn't the draw anymore. Since 1997, WWE programming has been identified, by the company, as a TV show. With that in mind, the stories have been the focus of the show for a long time. This is why Raw is so much more successful. It is focused on the stories, and the matches serve the same functions as an action sequence on 24.

Smackdown, the wrestling show, is lauded by, and is a concession to, the people like us. It caters to the people who post on boards and watch puro. I find it funny that Raw is the show that has the snarky shoot comments (courtesy of DX) even though a higher percentage of the SD! audience would understand the joke.

I don't think ratings are the only determining factor. First of all, for 35 weeks a year, Raw is far and away the most watchable show on Monday night (the NFL offseason), and everyone has USA. MyNetwork, while growing, is still in limited markets. Combining that with the time and day, Friday between 5 and 8, depending on time zone, is just shitty for a program trying to get teenagers to watch. I know, the PG rating is looking for nine year olds, but the commercials are geared toward teens, the music is geared toward teens, Michelle McCool is geared toward teens.

The best thing for the show is to keep doing what they are doing. Ratings are not as high as they used to be, but they still kill the competition.

 

[CH David]

Well, who says that Raw is the "second rated show"? I don't see any consensus from people on that whatsoever.

Raw is the highest rated show, and their ratings have increased ever since doing the Guest Host concept. So obviously they are doing something right. And notice how that wasn't a move that involved improving the duration or quality of in-ring action.

Now, has Smackdown, the show that focuses solely on the wrestling ... have their ratings increased or decreased? They've decreased. And I think it only goes to show that people don't necessarily tune into WWE programming for the quality or duration of the wrestling. That is what should be the purpose of the PPV's, not the weekly shows.

Well Sidious, that is the thing. Raw is the highest rated show, but it starts the week for everyone. Now that school is back, and has been for about 3-4 weeks, people have been settling in for some good old WWE programming. I am not doubting that one bit. Raw is the superstar (no pun intended) show.

But I think you are not counting in the factor of Friday Night Smackdown. At the start of the week, people aren't going to go out that often, so they will stay home and flip on Raw. But on Fridays, people, adults, teenagers and even younger kids, are going out to bars (not the young kids or teens), hang out with friends, go out to eat, etc. I don't think the wrestling is affecting why Smackdown has the lower ratings. They have some very good storylines, Jeff vs. CM Punk was probably my favorite of the summer, and CM Punk vs. Undertaker is a fun one too. Hell I went to the Smackdown taping last week, and it was a lot of fun.

Raw has the stars, and are on the right day to be successful. Friday isn't a good night to be successful, and personally I would rather Smackdown go back to Thursday nights like it used to be. But I don't think the wrestling is the reason of low ratings, I would say it is more likely that people aren't home when it is on, and that they are out and busy with their lives.

 

[Liberace]

The best product for WWE would be to get back the light heavyweight divison back they lack that and give us some awesome wrestling action for a change! Get rid of the midget Hornswoggle and Chavo (TNA bound) get rid of the storylines and focus on wrestling action more! I noticed RAW has not been pulling any great matches so far for over a month half the time it is fillers filled in by wasting time and space with stupidity
Get someone to be manager of RAW no more guest hosting it 's not a talk show like Jay Leno or David Letterman lol!
WOrk on the women's division as well bring up some hype I have yet to see the women's title defend from either of them whether DiVA or WWE Womens CHampionship for over 5 months! I see people talking about the best of matches and WWE never did that I don t see them doing althought it would be nice! Even TNA had the best of 3 matches between A.J Styles and Matt Morgan!
1)Scrap the guest host concept as it not a comedy or talk show like Jay Leno/Letterman
its wrestling!2) FOcus on the women's title division and get guys glued for it like TNA does 3) Get back the cruiserweight title (lightweight) and scrap and get rid of Hornswoggle and CHavo for crying out loud!
4) Get rid of PG family entertainment and make it rated 18 as it always was no kids wants to tell his parents "suck it" indicating hand gesture to crotch! Or do the finger like SCSA would do or the fact Orton torturing Cena with the cuffs can be duplicated by kids
I don't see UFC pg lol and although they are going in that marketable route with action figures makes me think if they are aiming for kids and even with the videogames!
In other words cut the entertainment BS and give us the definition of wrestling to keep us to the edge of our seats like WCW used to do (cliffhangers) people seem to be tuning out then tuning in I don' t even watch when I read it on wrestlezone column!

 

[ABMorales787]

Now, has Smackdown, the show that focuses solely on the wrestling ... have their ratings increased or decreased? They've decreased.

Probably cuz its on a channel not too many people have, I have to see it in a local channel in Spanish and I dont even get to see ECW (never been able to see it)

But back on subject, I for one think the guest host concept is OK, as long as the host knows where he/she is, remember "Summerfest"?, "Charo"? or ZZ Top? I get that Vince wants rating but there's no need to sound desperate. Id love to see Raw with another host like Shaq. How about giving Mr. T a call, he is alive... right?

(By the way how the hell is it that the English commentators are all babyfaces & in Spanish we get 2 faces and at least 1 heel?)

 

[Liberace]

There are a number of things that need to be done to improve the wwe product. For instance, though raw is the "entertainment" brand for the wwe, they need to scrap this guest host concept. It really takes away from the show, the matches, and any storyline build. You are generally going to have this guest host come out for the first 15 minutes of the show. Then, you will generally have the guest host have a few backstage segments, also around 15 minutes in length total. This leaves you roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes (not including commercial time) to build an effective show, which just is not going to happen. Also, a lot of these guest hosts are horrible, and effectively kill any of the momentum of a show. The only way this can become tolerable is if they make the guest host concept into a longer storyline where one of the guest hosts end up taking full control of raw.

I agree with you 100% there it makes RAW look like Jay Leno tonight show or Late Night with David Letterman show they need to scrap it for sure!

The other thing that the wwe needs to do is decide what they are. What I mean is, they want themselves to be directed towards kids, be a pg show. However, they keep doing things that contradict this. For instance, the Breaking Point ppv, Orton effectively was torturing Cena. At times this was a bit squeemish even for me. I could see some of the kids in the front few rows in Montreal that had looks of absolute horror and the parents who had that wtf sort of look in their eyes. If your going to be pg, then stay pg. I don't care that its a ppv or not, kids are still going to be trying to watch regardless. And this kind of violence or what not is not just going on when a ppv takes place, as you see this countless times on raw as well.

I agree there but it's not PG for many reasons the Orton/CENA and I was there at the Bell Center shouting "you screwed Brett" "CENA SUX" and "Lets Go Orton" kids shouldn't be bought to these events like when I went with my exgf then to see Britney in 2004 Bell Center many bought their kids and had to cover their kids eyes coz of the semi-nudity from Britney and Dancers lol
Britney was not your innocent girl but a madonna wannabe and was learning from her master so there you go!But whether WWE is PG and intended for kids and if UFC is a question for us to know! If WWE says 50% for kids and 50% adults well what is the marginalized splits for it is or isn't
same with UFC now they are getting a younger audience so don't know there
WWE needs to change this PG to rated 18! You don t want your kids or any other families kids mimicking thier wrestlers and responding to their parents
"suck it" like DX does and indicating crotch sign and lifting middle finger like SCSA used to do!

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Well Sidious, that is the thing. Raw is the highest rated show, but it starts the week for everyone. Now that school is back, and has been for about 3-4 weeks, people have been settling in for some good old WWE programming. I am not doubting that one bit. Raw is the superstar (no pun intended) show.

But I think you are not counting in the factor of Friday Night Smackdown. At the start of the week, people aren't going to go out that often, so they will stay home and flip on Raw. But on Fridays, people, adults, teenagers and even younger kids, are going out to bars (not the young kids or teens), hang out with friends, go out to eat, etc. I don't think the wrestling is affecting why Smackdown has the lower ratings. They have some very good storylines, Jeff vs. CM Punk was probably my favorite of the summer, and CM Punk vs. Undertaker is a fun one too. Hell I went to the Smackdown taping last week, and it was a lot of fun.

Raw has the stars, and are on the right day to be successful. Friday isn't a good night to be successful, and personally I would rather Smackdown go back to Thursday nights like it used to be. But I don't think the wrestling is the reason of low ratings, I would say it is more likely that people aren't home when it is on, and that they are out and busy with their lives.

Actually, I still was. Smackdown has been on Friday nights since 2006.

Since being on Friday Nights, ratings have gone down from where they once were. Even after going to a new network, ratings were at a 2.3. Now, they typically fall below a 2.0 and more tend to average between a 1.8 and 1.9.

I do think Friday is a horrible night to have wrestling on, but the fact is that it has only gone downhill from what it once drew being on the same network with the same time slot.

 

[ABMorales787]

I love Smackdown a lot but its even worse over here, its on saturdays at 6pm, I'm a college student, it doesn't at up. As for Raw, it's on from 9pm to 11pm and like the other brands its supposed to be PG, when I was still in school I had to sneak out of bed come up with something to let me know when my parents where close and run off to bed when they where too close, so why is a "kids show" on so late Ill never understand. Its probably why the ratings are "low" if any changes can be made, Id suggest re-runs of Raw and ECW at 3pm right after school Tuesday and Thursday respectively, and Smackdown after Saturday morning cartoons (if that still exists).

By the way Ive never been able to see ECW (Nobody provides it), is it worth watching?

 

[lenguy]

Now i live up here in Canada wooo. so i dont know what its like down there. you guys get mynetwork. for us smackdown is on the same channel as raw.the score.which is played at a lot of bars. at least where i live. Even sometimes when we all go out to places like boston pizza. sometimes you'll see smackdown on or even raw, depending which night you go on. so for at least us up here. ratings right take a slight hit because maybe friends want to gather at your local bar and watch SD or even Raw. not saying that this is the reason for the huge drop in the SD ratings but, it could be a tiny factor.

 

[Benson Almighty]

Well, who says that Raw is the "second rated show"? I don't see any consensus from people on that whatsoever.

Raw is the highest rated show, and their ratings have increased ever since doing the Guest Host concept. So obviously they are doing something right. And notice how that wasn't a move that involved improving the duration or quality of in-ring action.

Now, has Smackdown, the show that focuses solely on the wrestling ... have their ratings increased or decreased? They've decreased. And I think it only goes to show that people don't necessarily tune into WWE programming for the quality or duration of the wrestling. That is what should be the purpose of the PPV's, not the weekly shows.

The only thing they are doing right on Raw is getting people to tune in to see what effect the celebrity of the week will have on the show. It's a short term, quick fix and it's not improving the product AT ALL. Because they aren't putting the proper attention on the superstars. I have enjoyed the guest host thing so far, however, it's taken away from the story.

For instance, last week, on the Price is Raw, there was NO attention to Kofi Kingston (US Champ) or the main contender to the belt, Miz.

Cena vs Orton wasn't given the proper "send it home" push needed to sell the PPV.

And guys like MVP, Swagger, Miz and others lose valuable time to promote themselves on the mic. Rather we see them promote Barker or Trish. The Guest Host idea is a quick fix as lkong as they take the oppurtunity to find the long term solution and use it to elevate Miz, Swagger, Kofi and some others, but outside of a lost oppurtunity for Cody Rhodes, they haven't.

On Smackdown, the quality of matches have only recently jumped. It wasn't good last year when we were watching HHH/Kozlov/Edge/Big Show/Taker/Hardy.Nor was it a couple years ago when Batista was facing Khali/Edge/Taker. It just about a few months ago started becoming a real "Wrestling" show. Right about the time of the draft this year, and unfortunately, the show is on MyNetworkTV. And also, it's hard to argue rating with the inception of Tivo's etc.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

The only thing they are doing right on Raw is getting people to tune in to see what effect the celebrity of the week will have on the show. It's a short term, quick fix and it's not improving the product AT ALL. Because they aren't putting the proper attention on the superstars. I have enjoyed the guest host thing so far, however, it's taken away from the story.

For instance, last week, on the Price is Raw, there was NO attention to Kofi Kingston (US Champ) or the main contender to the belt, Miz.

Cena vs Orton wasn't given the proper "send it home" push needed to sell the PPV.

And guys like MVP, Swagger, Miz and others lose valuable time to promote themselves on the mic. Rather we see them promote Barker or Trish. The Guest Host idea is a quick fix as lkong as they take the oppurtunity to find the long term solution and use it to elevate Miz, Swagger, Kofi and some others, but outside of a lost oppurtunity for Cody Rhodes, they haven't.

On Smackdown, the quality of matches have only recently jumped. It wasn't good last year when we were watching HHH/Kozlov/Edge/Big Show/Taker/Hardy.Nor was it a couple years ago when Batista was facing Khali/Edge/Taker. It just about a few months ago started becoming a real "Wrestling" show. Right about the time of the draft this year, and unfortunately, the show is on MyNetworkTV. And also, it's hard to argue rating with the inception of Tivo's etc.

The worst thing I have feared from WWE, as I have made my thoughts known for some time on this topic, is it becoming a large scale Ring of Honor, because not only would I not find it entertaining in the least, but nor do I think it is a great business strategy to attract more fans. I have always advocated WWE being portrayed as more so of a soap opera for guys, as opposed to an actual sport ... and several years ago I could safely see that reflected in the product. I can't say that so much anymore, as Vince has done things to the shows to give it more of a sports feel, which I am not in favor of. Nobody is going to take wrestling seriously as a sport, so its no sense even bothering. However, it does give him an excuse to be lazy with his storylines, or lack thereof if he can get his fans to simply derive their entertainment from watching nothing but matches. It also helps him get away with his PG rating, since he doesn't have to worry about edgy storylines or characters.

Smackdown, in my view, has been the "Wrestling Show" for a long time now. So was ECW, although ECW is becoming more Entertainment-Driven. Superstars is another show that is nothing but wrestling. And even Raw, could be construed as a "Wrestling Show" when Adamle and Vickie were the GM's.

When Stephanie took over, things improved, primarily due to the Orton storyline (one of the few storylines they've actually done recently). However, they ruined his character, as many agree, with removing the one element of intrigue he had, that being the IED factor.

The WWE has pretty much been all wrestling and no storyline, with very half-assed efforts placed into feuds, and even people's characters these past couple years. And that has led me to become very disgruntled with the product as a whole.

Where as I agree that the Guest GM concept is a short fix and is not a good long-term solution, at least it offers something for fans who do not solely derive their entertainment from simply watching the same matches, over and over again.

So where as I am not thrilled with any of the shows they have on at the moment, Raw is still my preferred show to watch (if I have to choose), as it still is more Entertainment Driven than the others.

 

[Southwind]

Smackdown was my favorite show back when it was on Thursdays they had Angle, Guerrero, 'Taker, JBL etc. It was loaded and got great ratings because of it's timeslot and recognizable network. Now while the wrestling is solid the show lacks the charisma the flare of Raw it doesn't glue me to my seat it's bland.

Entertainment is best it should be the top priority the Rock was not a great wrestler by any means but the man was the best entertainer even and that's why we call him
"the great one".

Raw needs entertainment based storylines Orton had one (IED) but it was unceremoniously scrapped for unknown reasons, we must also take into account the restrictions the PG rating puts on the bookers. Edgy storylines can't be that edgy it's a transition period like a sports team rebuilding and we must be patient and success and entertainment will surely follow.