Why Are We Still Unhappy?

[mrfantastic111]

In the past 2-3 years, we (The IWC) have wanted to see alot of change in the product that is WWE. Let's have a look...

- New talents to take over the main events

- New talents to bring prestige to the championships

- Overall better wrestling matches

- PPV's which were generally better and had more then one drawing match

- 'Indy' favourites to make it on the big stage

- Better storylines

- Better extreme wrestling

- Better womens and tag divisions

Well we have new young and entertaining talents in the main events/picture, the midcard titles have become interesting again, PPV's have become worth the money we're paying and usually have consistently entertaining matches, both brands are alot more entertaining to watch, the storylines (However not always great) have improved alot, and we even have indy favourites D-Bry and CM Punk with the two major titles!

So apart from excessive weapon violence, a decent divas division and a good tag team division, It's all there - everything the IWC seems to have wanted these past few years. However, having less extreme matches helps them become more meaningful and enjoyable, giving them a 'wow' factor. It also helps build intensity to rivalries which lack in the 'wow' factor. The tag team division is still in the slum, but the WWE tried to fix it with Air Boom, and were actually having regular appearances and were a good draw until Bourne decided to participate in some 'extracurricular' activities. The divas division also looks hopeless, but let's be honest, who at this point really wants to see less of Ziggler, Punk, Rhodes etc so that we have to watch more divas matches? (I'm not saying that I don't enjoy womens wrestling, but atm it's pretty awful).

I'm pretty sure that judging from all of this, the WWE does listen, and has done ALOT to try and satisfy the IWC. Sure we have a few holes here and there, but if you compare the products from the past 3 years, 2011-present has really satisfied alot of our wants to a certain degree. We forget sometimes that the product isn't just specifically written for keyboard warriors. Personally, there was a period of time between 2007-2010 in which I couldn't really enjoy either RAW or SD, but now I not only enjoy, but look forward to watching WWE weekly.

I guess you could say that alot of us still put 80's-90's on a pedestal, and so alot us in the IWC watch and compare the product rather then REALLY watching it and trying to see the shows for what they are - just generally good entertainment. It's difficult to enjoy something when all you want to do is critique it, for whatever reason. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. You might not enjoy every episode of your favourite sitcom, but you may still enjoy it! It shouldn't be THAT bad that judging from the criticism from alot of people on this site that it seems to be ruining your day!

So I ask you now, even though the WWE is giving us so much to offer; why are we still unhappy?

Discuss.

 

[Adalam]

Very good points and a well drawn up argument. I have to say that I feel like the current dissatisfaction from the IWC is baffling. Cena is starting to change his character up thanks to his current storyline with Kane, so the character is fresher. Younger guys are in the main event, which is needed to keep the main event itself fresh. The only problems are the divas and the tag team divisions, though the tag team division was close. I just want to know why so many people were wondering why Ryder didn't get a push of some kind, only to turn around and bash him when he got the push. Why are people being worse than congress?

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

Internet fans have ALWAYS been unhappy and ALWAYS will.

I found old wrestling posts from the late 90s complaining about how The Rock sucks and can't wrestle in 1999.

That's just one example.

As long as internet fans act like they can write and book shows better, ala movie critics, they will find things sucky and hate it. Even though they'll continue to watch.

 

[D-Man]

This thread topic is created every few months or so and it's probably the only duplicate topic that I won't get annoyed at. You ask why? Because it can never truly be answered.

Fact of the matter is that the internet wrestling community consists of a few different categories of people:

1. Avid watchers of the product who have followed the product for years and years and actually formulate decent opinions and views on the product.
2. People who want to be like the ones in #1 but they're still young. They watch the product regularly but are totally inexperienced with it all and probably only started watching during or after the Attitude Era. They wind up being followers of the long-time fans and complain for the sake of complaining to make themselves feel like they're smart or have a clue what they're talking about.
3. Absolutely clueless morons. These are the guys who constantly sit behind their computers and formulate "fantasy bookings" that make no sense, storylines that make even less sense, and either lack the experience, the knowledge, or the intelligence to form opinions or views that can be synchronized with the product.
4. 100% Smarks. These are guys who have watched the product for years, know the ins and outs of the business, can rattle off stats and past occurrences like they just happened yesterday, and they think that everything that wrestling promotions come up with sucks and they could do a much better job when they honestly don't have a clue.

But there is one thing all of these people have in common; they will NEVER be 100% happy. The law of large numbers shows that out of the thousands and thousands of internet users who discuss wrestling, it's impossible to satisfy everyone. And once one person complains, it's like a virus that spreads since everyone on the internet loves to hear themselves talk.

The truth is that none of us are experts. We watch a television show, read a few articles, read the IWC's posts on sites like Wrestlezone, and we think we know everything. But if we came anywhere near a wrestling ring and had to take bumps, come up within the indies and deal with its hardships, work for a billion dollar conglomerate, deal with the backstage politics, and live with the trials and tribulations of the industry, I think a lot of our views would change. Until then, we'll have this total windbag known as the IWC, where little kids come to act like they're en expert on something the majority of them know little to nothing about.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Internet fans have ALWAYS been unhappy and ALWAYS will.

I found old wrestling posts from the late 90s complaining about how The Rock sucks and can't wrestle in 1999.

That's just one example.

As long as internet fans act like they can write and book shows better, ala movie critics, they will find things sucky and hate it. Even though they'll continue to watch.

That's true but it's not just IWC or Internet Fans. During The Attitude Era there were friends I had that complained that why they can't they go back to the Hogan era when it was about WRESTLING and the MATCHES.

But its our general tendency to feel nostalgic about a previous era.

As what the movie Midnight in Paris shows, people in their current era tries to over sentationalize the previous past due to nostalgia and the history surrounded by it. And we never stop to think but appreciate the time we live in now.

Thankfully I am not like that. Sure I can make a lists of things I was not glad about (there are a lot).

But its amazing to have come from this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpn9nco4_-Y

to this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSsScb7orLg

 

[Davi323]

D-Man's categorization of the IWC is 100% spot on. The problem is, if you make the old timers happy, you piss off the newer watchers who liked the Attitude era the best. If you make those fans happy, you piss off the old timers. You will NEVER get the approval of the smarks who think they can book better than the professionals, they will always be pissy regardless of what you do, and the idiots will most likely always be idiots.

There is simply no way you can make everyone happy at the same time, people look at wrestling differently from each other, it simply doesn't matter which way you do it, someone will always complain. It could be the the absolutely perfect era, with fantastic matches, compelling storylines, charismatic wrestlers, drawing ratings in the 20s instead of the 3s and 4s...Everything you could ever hope for in professional wrestling...someone is still going to bitch about it.

 

[kokoBawesome]

I thought I'd be happy, but C.M Punk's title reign is unmemorable. Ryder Already lost the title to Swagger, Bryan is wasting his time and talent against two giants instead of wrestlers, Cena still main events every raw only now the matches aren't as good because he has to end them quick before Kane appears, Evan Bourne keeps fucking up, after months of Brodus Clay talk i get a Funkasaurus, and the Jericho comeback is somewhere between clever and infuriating.

Two months ago I thought I was going to have this fantastic wrestling world that I wouldn't be ashamed of, but now I feel stupid when I rush out of work to catch Raw.

I don't buy this "mass IWC unhappiness." the grand experiment to see if we'd be happy failed when they pulled the rug out from under us.

 

[akrassikauda]

Internet fans have ALWAYS been unhappy and ALWAYS will.

I found old wrestling posts from the late 90s complaining about how The Rock sucks and can't wrestle in 1999.

That's just one example.

As long as internet fans act like they can write and book shows better, ala movie critics, they will find things sucky and hate it. Even though they'll continue to watch.

Your 100% correct the IWC does not know what they want. In the 90's when the internet was starting to get going as wrestling was concerned that's where I first seen Die Rocky Die, give HHH a push, ECW are innovators WWF and WCW are just copiers Rey Mysterio is the greatest cruiserweight there's way too much sex and violence in the attitude era etc. Now Rocky is the greatest ever, HHH only got where he's at because Shawn is his friend and he's married to Steph, ECW was filled with bums and Mysterio is washed up and overrated, the attitude era was the best ever.

The reason the IWC is never going to be taken seriously is the fickleness. How can any promotion take you seriously when you can't make up your mind. Sometimes it's like the kid who just doesn't want the toy but wants every accessory that comes with it, then when the kid gets it plays with it for a while then gets bored and wants a new toy with all the accessories.

 

[Xumer]

Can't speak for the IWC but for me the reason I'm unhappy is because I want to see a wrestling product that makes me feel like I CAN'T WAIT until the next show like during the attitude era. I don't care how they do it, I don't care if it's PG or attitude or whatever it is, if I am not left with that feeling at the end of the show than I am unsatisfied. I'm sick of people blaming fans for not liking a lame and stale product.

 

[ThinkinSmart]

The reason I'm unhappy is because it is still a broken show that lasts 2 hours and thats a lot of time for whats broken to shine through. Every raw has a Divas match and it embarrasses me that I'm watching it, so it is going to piss me off that no ones put any time into it. Hell seriously just think of one story line for the divas division right now and you would be doing a better job than the people who work there. If they booked a decent feud involving Pheonix or Neidhart and some one who can actually wrestle, not just some big titted bimbo, I wouldn't feel embarrassed for watching such garbage. The tag devision is a joke and every time theres a tag team match it shines through. Theres always the tag champs with no competition, every week they face some random mix of guys or a legit tag team that never gets off nxt or superstars so in my mind they still aren't real competition. It's pathetic, build up some tag teams, have ones have matches for number one contender. I know the live audience wants to see the champs but they have the belts they dont need more legitimacy and every other tag team does. If we actually saw Primo and Epico cut a promo or two and win some matches(and I mean not one or two) against other tag teams for a wile.

Yes every one on the internet will always have something to bitch about, its very tre, and every one wants the glory days back. But I also thing the contributing problem to every ones unhappiness is that the overall whole product you get from wwe doesn't work. They dont just sell you what works, they sell you the whole show and no one likes getting a broken product.

 

[boywithbluehanger]

Its like I always say: the worst thing to happen to the internet is the online community. When everyone views an open forum as a means to voice a critical opinion of something, you end up with a shitload of negativity. After all, it's not as common that we rush to use the same effort to praise something when it's to our liking. If we we're truly being honest about the intent of forums such as these, it generally leans towards expressing a critique of something rather than satisfaction. You'll even notice when there is a thread where IWC posters are happy with something, they feel the need to grab the attention of the cynics by strategically wording the title like "Am I the only one who likes ______?" or using the word "we" a lot to convince readers that a majority of people are already behind them.

It's a "people thing". Whenever we have something we enjoy, we constantly find ourselves wanting it to improve. When you hate something, the usual tendency is to ignore it or dispose of it in some way. So my advice would be to just take the constant bashing as a sign that these people do enjoy much of what they see in the WWE and are just obsessed with a never-ending quest to improve on what is already done.

 

[mrfantastic111]

@Xumer - That's fair enough. I've enjoyed RAW and SD alot over the past 6 months or so, but there have been a few annoying bits and pieces which have gotten under my skin (Mainly womens wrestling which can be REALLY embarrassing to watch).

When you watch a comedy or a sitcom or maybe a drama, you keep watching each episode because you are intrigued about what will happen to the protagonist the following week.

So here's the problem. When everyone is complaining about the protagonist, of course they don't care what happens the following week. I think variety has a huge influence of this problem, because everyone has their favourite wrestlers or wrestlers that they think should have a push, so unless something happens to them, then the fan has no incentive to watch next week. For example, if a fan really enjoys watching R-Truth or the Miz, but neither of those two are in a popular storyline, then the fan won't want to watch the show.

Wrestling is like football, you're more excited to watch it when your favourite team is playing.

 

[matman8540]

Most people who comment on any type of news item, like to show off how clever they are by bashing every news item to pieces. This is not exclusive to wrestling, and can be seen in entertainment, sports, politics, religion, etc. It's the same formula that's used for news reports. "Bad News Sells, Good News Gets a 2 Minute Segment".

 

[JaylisJayP]

The writing and storytelling have gotten worse, that's why people are still unhappy. The feuds are shallow and fleeting, there's very little follow-through on anything.

Point being, there's less reason to invest your time enjoying the "show", the "entertainment", than in years past. Whatever the reason behind it, it sucks.

You can make all the changes and bring in all the talent in the world, if the storylines and writing sucks, the ratings will never improve.

Put that in your Twitter and smoke it.

 

[Cravendale]

As in every aspect of life , people will ALWAYS find something to complain or bitch about. It is just human nature to always want more, we are never satisfied. This point is proven perfectly by the IWC. Everyone has different opinions, you know how the phrase goes: Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. No matter what wrestling promotions do there will always be that one person who will try and point out their flaws and want it changing.

The reality is that as a whole the IWC really doesn't know what they want case in point with Zack Ryder. The IWC was literally begging for him to receive a push throughout 2011 then when he finally got one at the back end of the year people start complaining that WWE are pushing him down our throats and they want him on TV less. You cannot win when it comes to the IWC as it is impossible to please everyone.

 

[The_Southern_Star610]

I think a really big problem is that people tend to remember negative things rather than the positives. It's like somebody said previously, bad news sells, and bad news is remembered as well. If a cure for cancer was invented on the same day as a terrorist attack, 30 minutes of news would be split up into 5-10 mins on the cure, and the rest on the attack. And its the same phenomenon in wrestling.

CM Punks story over the middle of last year; by far the best storyline in WWE for probably years and yet the internet exploded with criticism of it. "He came back too soon" "Why is John Cena the other champion" "This should have been done at a bigger event".

I fall into the IWC category of new kid I started watching when I was 6 (1998) and i started understanding it when I was 9 (2001, right around the time that VKM turned on Austin). Now most people on this site would correctly consider me too young to truly understand every little in and out of the business, but I think that helps in being satisfied with the product. I know its two guys out there working together and I know its planned. I know certain things happen because of politics or drug tests and I can also guess a few endings of matches, and the fact is I don't need to know any more then that.

I think that most of the IWC has seen too much behind the curtain to truly be caught up in the entertainment anymore, like when you know the secret to a magic trick, its no longer amazing, its just a trick.

Ignorance is bliss but because the IWC is not ignorant to the backstage goings on, they'll always find more things to be unhappy about.

 

[AndThat'sTheBottomLine]

Bitching whining moaning and complaining is what we all do best. I personally aside from the divas and tagteam division am very happy with the product. But on topic ppl will always find something to complain about. It's like the perfect job. Everyone wants a certain job thinkin it's perfect but when they get it they will almost immediately find something wrong with it. When we all pushed for punk to win the championship again we were all for him. But now that he has it alot of people say his promos are getting boring and he's getting stale. People will never be happy least of all the IWC.

 

[The Deadly Viper]

I believe the reason for this is actually quite a simple one. Once we get what we have been wanting, we think of new things the WWE should do to please us even more. I for one am happy with the WWE at the minute, and believe they are doing a fine job. You are always going to get people who are like "ATTITUDE ERA SO MUCH BETTER ?!?!?!" And well that'll never change, and thus they will never be pleased.

 

[xavyer]

The IWC will never be happy with anything, first, they want some changes, they get them, then they say that it should have stayed the way it was, then they want the WWE to push Zach Ryder, then he was a champion too soon, or is too green, i remember wrestlemania 18, they were booing the Rock against Hogan, now they love him more than Cena, the WWE should not even care about bitter people and just keep diong what they're doing, like some people say, if you don't like it, don't watch it, period, i always say that the IWC is people that nobody likes, or this is the only way they think they are important, all i can say to these peolpe is just sit back and enjoy the show, if not, get a life.......

 

[justin71]

I remember reading 12-13 years ago on prowrestling.com of how people were sick of Rock/Austin hogging the spotlight and WWE needed new break out stars and I was thinking to myself "You don't realize how good you have it!". I have to wonder in 10 years are people going to be like "Cena/Orton that was the golden age of wrestling!". I won't bitch about it until Cena surpasses Ric Flairs title run.

 

[trashboy]

Internet fans have ALWAYS been unhappy and ALWAYS will.

I found old wrestling posts from the late 90s complaining about how The Rock sucks and can't wrestle in 1999.

That's just one example.

As long as internet fans act like they can write and book shows better, ala movie critics, they will find things sucky and hate it. Even though they'll continue to watch.

Yeah, and it's not just wrestling either. Everywhere you look, no one is happy about anything. The video games suck, movies suck, whatever. I don't understand why people can't just watch and enjoy this stuff. Everyone's a critic.

 

[King of the Words]

The product is based for children so why am I going to like it as much as back in the attitude era. they through the loyal fans for decades an r rated bone every now and then to keep us watching but IMO that isn't enough to keep my interest.

After Mania 28 this year I think I'm going to take a break from wrestling all together and only return if the product becomes something that is not an insult to my intelligence. As long as Cena is being Superman and having his face everywhere, and they are pandering to the kids to get a new fan base they won't be getting my money. And why should they if they are not giving me what I want to see. I'd rather spend it on something I'm going to enjoy. i have spent 25 years watching WWE programing faithfully and getting most of the PPV's since 1993. I've given the company plenty of chances to entertain me, and helped make them the #1 wrestling company in the world with my loyal viewing and buying most of their ppv's. It's up to them now if they want me and people like me back. After everything I have done for them this is how they treat the loyalist, by throwing us a bone every now and then to keep us watching. I say too little too late. If you're going to make the product childish then I'll take my money elsewhere. Once Mania 28 is over it's bye, bye WWE for me.

 

[dman1373]

im unhappy because of the show their putting on. If you have watched the last 2 monthes of wrestling it has been shit. Its just not entertaining. And it doesn't matter who you have, if the show is written badly its gonna suck. Now right if you look at before money in the bank up to a little after summerslam, raw was great. It was the best its been in years. But then after triple h buried cm punk it reverted back to sucking. And it reached a low. Finally after last raw it seems like its finally getting good traction again. But as to answer your question, i didn't like it cause its sucked.

 

[akrassikauda]

The product is based for children so why am I going to like it as much as back in the attitude era. they through the loyal fans for decades an r rated bone every now and then to keep us watching but IMO that isn't enough to keep my interest.

After Mania 28 this year I think I'm going to take a break from wrestling all together and only return if the product becomes something that is not an insult to my intelligence. As long as Cena is being Superman and having his face everywhere, and they are pandering to the kids to get a new fan base they won't be getting my money. And why should they if they are not giving me what I want to see. I'd rather spend it on something I'm going to enjoy. i have spent 25 years watching WWE programing faithfully and getting most of the PPV's since 1993. I've given the company plenty of chances to entertain me, and helped make them the #1 wrestling company in the world with my loyal viewing and buying most of their ppv's. It's up to them now if they want me and people like me back. After everything I have done for them this is how they treat the loyalist, by throwing us a bone every now and then to keep us watching. I say too little too late. If you're going to make the product childish then I'll take my money elsewhere. Once Mania 28 is over it's bye, bye WWE for me.

So in your 25 years of watching that means you've been watching since the last PG era which was way more cartoonish you choose to stop watching because it's PG. So the Gobbely Gooker,King of the Ring fiasco,the convicted rapist being a part of a WM main event, Mark Henry and Mea Young and the hand,Kate Vick, Vince mocking god, the constant homophobia,stereotypes and misogyny. You pick this PG era to stop watching. SMMFH at your logic.

 

[King of the Words]

Defending todays WWE product, and putting down everything that came before which was 100 times better will only make a person look pathetic and uneducated. All grown ups know that todays product is garbage compared to what it use to be. If you have the mind of a child, though you may enjoy it.(lol)