WWE spoiling returns/big events (NOT A LESNAR THREAD)

[SFC]

While I'm using Lesnar as an example, this is NOT a Lesnar thread.

Earlier tonight, WWE spoiled the return of Brock Lesnar by posting a tweet announcing that he had walked into the arena. Approximately three to five minutes later, long enough for it to circle the Internet (which takes seconds in today's society), he appeared.

This is not the first time WWE has done this. If one can think back to SummerSlam 2010, they did the same by posting on their website that Daniel Bryan had returned to the company in the main event about a half-hour or so before it actually happened.

We can even think back to more recently when Santino won the battle royal to get into the Elimination Chamber on Smackdown, or to when Kurt Angle won the WHC in a battle royal back around 2006 or so.

My question is, what is the advantage of doing this? Does it not take away the element of surprise? I understand that Smackdown is a little bit of an exception since spoilers are usually posted on dirt sheets, but what harm would it have done to have let Lesnar have been a complete surprise, or in general, let something big occur without having to be posted prior? What is the advantage?

Again, not to say this happens all the time, but to me, it shouldn't happen period.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Yeah because we needed a tweet to confirm Brock Lesnar was returning. Hours if not two days before that tweet we were discussing the eventual return of Brock Lesnar and it made sense that he'd return over the weekend considering he flew into Miami especially for the event.

All weekend sites like WrestleZone, Lordsofpain.net, F4WOnline, PWTorch etc, etc have been updating through "reliable sources" on the status of Brock Lesnar. WWE didn't spoil anything, the Internet spoiled everything and the thing is, that isn't a rare thing, because with all the technology of modern day society and inside sources we know more or less everything before it even happens.

The few things that stick out in my mind that I didn't know was going to happen, was the return of The Rock, but on the night I guessed it anyway, Christian's return to ECW and Edge reappearing at the Royal Rumble two years ago and winning it, and even that was being speculated but just not highly. Nothing else has been spoiled by the WWE, its been spoiled by dirt sheets and sites such as the one you are using now.

Everybody knew Lesnar was coming back, we spent the entire night discussing it, the fans were chanting "WE WANT LESNAR!" not because they got news of a tweet but because of the speculation and rumors surrounding him throughout the weekend and because him returning tonight would have made sense cause from a business stance WWE were simply capitalizing on the buzz created by Wrestlemania. WWE ruined nothing, blame the Internet.

 

[Psyclone]

it takes away the element of surprise for people reading twitter at the moment it happens sure, but those people who are on twitter during the live raw are the people like you and me (and I didnt read the tweet) who knew lesnar signed a contract to wwe based on our frequenting wrestling sites like this one... The vast majority of the audience (well maybe not today's crowd which was freaking awesome..) do not ritually hunt sites like this and therefore its still a surprise... The only thing this does is grab the wrestling fan that may or may not be watching raw, and tell them to turn on their tv and go watch RAW to see Lesnar appear...

This is GOOD for them because it draws the audience that is more interested in reading their twitter (whether on computer or on their phone) and drawing them to the show... This is a GOOD thing not a bad thing...

 

[justinept]

You really can't figure this one out on your own? Really? Fine. I'll tell you.

Monday Night Raw went head-to-head against the NCAA National Championship game tonight. What good is a surprise return if your target demographic isn't watching the show when it happens? The WWE leaked the Lesnar return so that people would tune into Raw instead of the Kansas/Kentucky game. I would bet my house that the WWE leaked the story of his signing a few days ago to draw up interest throughout the weekend.

In terms of SummerSlam 2010, they did it because they wanted people to purchase the event. Again, what good is a surprise return if people aren't watching? The hope was that the Daniel Bryan tweet would spark up last minute interest for people on the fence to purchase the event.

EDIT:
This is the same logic as to why the WWE ran the 1/2/12 promos earlier this year. The WWE was competing against the Fiesta Bowl that night. The promos gave you a reason to watch ... the Lesnar leak gave people a reason to watch tonight.

 

[SFC]

First off, personal shots not needed.

I fully understand that anyone who reads dirt sheets knew this type of thing would happen, and that is normally the case.

What I don't understand is the decision to do it moments before it is actually about to happen. I understand wanting to build hype, but as many of you mentioned already, the hype was already there.

As for Bryan, that wasn't posted until before the main event. Nobody would buy the PPV with only 40 minutes left to go in it.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

What I don't understand is the decision to do it moments before it is actually about to happen. I understand wanting to build hype, but as many of you mentioned already, the hype was already there.

Well if that is your issue, them posting that Lesnar entered the arena moments before coming out, then they were just posting general news or hoping that those following on Twitter would turn to their television sets. The poster before you defines the reason why pretty well, so my advice would be look to his post, but in essence WWE didn't ruin anything, they were trying to be a sensible company and draw in some extra viewers, nothing wrong with that.

 

[Headman]

The only reason I can think of is to get people who aren't watching the show to change the channel to RAW. I figure the re-tweets could catch the eye of people who are casual fans or maybe UFC fans or what have you. This is the only possible advantage I can think of.

 

[healyz84]

If you remember correctly, in the Monday Night Wars, the tide of the battle was shifted when it was announced on Nitro (live) that Mick Foley had won the wwe championship on raw (taped) in an attempt to sabotage the show. What turned out happening is that millions tuned in to watch this take place, thereby giving raw the ratings victory that evening and ending Nitro's dominance, and was the beginning of the end for Nitro.

I bring this up because this is exactly why the WWE chooses to spoil some of their big "angles" or "returns". This is happens because, quite frankly, if Lesnar were to return with no spoil or rumor, then its only the 4 mil or so people who tune into raw on a regular basis who will experience it. By spoiling it ahead of time, you create a word of mouth "hey did you hear? Lesnar is returning tonight! Or may be returning tonight!" What this leads to is more casual fans, or fans who have not watched for a long time, to tune in to see the big angle moment or the return they have waited for. Its a reason why if someone big, i.e. HBK or Austin, were returning for a 1 night showing, they are typically hyped a week or so earlier.

This "big return" or "big angle" once spoiled may cause a ratings bump for that week's episode, which is usually the case, but it doesn't typically last. However, the WWE brass do see the merit in having such instances occur. The diehard fans will tune in no matter what, its the casual fans you want to draw in. Hopefully, and probably, the spoiling of Lesnar ahead of time caused a few casual fans to tune in.

 

[MaverickAZ]

They did an admirable job of acting like The ROck was going to come back at the very end of the show

in fact, most of the arena was beginning to chant "Rocky" , and its not like they were all chanting BROCK BROCK like they were "yes!, yes!' all night

Crowd exploded when he appeared, rivaled only by CM Punk's entrance back in CHicago at MITB

 

[Huey]

They tweet it so that people not watching Raw, or those that just turned the channel for the nightly news, know something good is about to happen and to turn it back.

By not promoting his return days or weeks before they give up the possibility of increased viewership but this allows them to still reach out a little but maintain the surprise factor. I know he reportedly signed a contract but I didn't see the tweet and it was a surprise to me when he came out.

I was dreading the Cena/Rock respect bro hug kissy face crap and was stoked when Lesnar's music hit.

 

[Kong]

Maybe the tweet was designed for the purpose of inciting the crowd to chant "we want Lesnar" or just to get people not watching to tune in so they didnt miss it?

 

[prestonluv]

If you remember correctly, in the Monday Night Wars, the tide of the battle was shifted when it was announced on Nitro (live) that Mick Foley had won the wwe championship on raw (taped) in an attempt to sabotage the show. What turned out happening is that millions tuned in to watch this take place, thereby giving raw the ratings victory that evening and ending Nitro's dominance, and was the beginning of the end for Nitro.
.

This is a completely false statement in regards to ending Nitro's dominance.

Raw did go live soon after this though and Nitro continued to win the ratings for around 80 weeks or so.

I know its 15 years ago so your memory might be fuzzy...but the announcing of Raw results did not end nitro's dominance in the short run...but it speed up the WWF airing Raw live.

 

[SomeAreSet]

Let me paint the picture for you. This is why:

Casual WWE fans or people who watch wrestling in general who were not watching Raw tonight. Let's just call them Guy: "Hmm,let's check twitter...'@WWE: THIS MAN has just walked into the building!' *clicks the link* OH MY GOD! *switches to Raw* *texts friends who also watch wrestling 'DUDE,BROCK LESNAR IS COMING BACK!'"

His friends: "What? Really?"

Guy: "YEAH! SWITCH TO RAW RIGHT THE HELL NOW!"

His friends: "Holy shit,okay!" Then they turn on Raw

Guy: "I gotta retweet this! *retweets*"

Someone who follows him on twitter: "FOR REAL?"

Guy: "YEAH!"

Someone who follows him on twitter changes the channel to Raw.

- End scene -

This is how they get ratings and extra PPV buys. If you weren't watching Raw and didn't know Lesnar was going to appear on the show,you wouldn't change the channel. Of course,since you were watching Raw,then all it serves is to build your anticipation,or in your case,ruin the surprise. How is it a surprise anyway? WrestleZone broke the story that Lesnar had signed with WWE the day before WrestleMania,and since he didn't appear on Mania,you would imagine that he would make his return after WrestleMania and probably as soon as possible while the spotlight is still on the company.

 

[I Heart Cena]

This is a completely false statement in regards to ending Nitro's dominance.

Raw did go live soon after this though and Nitro continued to win the ratings for around 80 weeks or so.

I know its 15 years ago so your memory might be fuzzy...but the announcing of Raw results did not end nitro's dominance in the short run...but it speed up the WWF airing Raw live.

??? The last night that Nitro beat Raw was in November of 1998. Raw won every single week after that. Look it up.

And yes, spoilers are actually good for business. "We want Lesnar!" drowning out Cena was epic. What a great Raw. What a great 2 nights!

 

[prestonluv]

??? The last night that Nitro beat Raw was in November of 1998. Raw won every single week after that. Look it up.

And yes, spoilers are actually good for business. "We want Lesnar!" drowning out Cena was epic. What a great Raw. What a great 2 nights!

sorry..i guess its my memory that has faded..

i was thinking of raw switching to a 2 hours show which happenned in 97. I forgot that one show was live and the next one was taped on tuesday kind of like smackdown.

My bad. I apologoze to poster who originally stated this

 

[Richard Blonoff]

I would say about 80% of the spoiled returns and events are simply due to people reading dirt sheets.

In some cases they do it to draw people in though. Like it was said, Raw was up against UK/KU tonight. I don't know the specifics but when I logged onto ESPN.com to join my fantasy baseball draft(around the time Cena came out) the game was a lot closer than it was in the first half. People were probably expecting a generic Cena/Rock huggy kissy promo and would rather watch a close national title game, so they tweet that Brock is in the building to get people to keep watching.

Unless its to see who won on Superstars or NXT I avoid all WWE articles that have *Spoiler* before the article name

 

[Shotaro]

While I'm using Lesnar as an example, this is NOT a Lesnar thread.

Earlier tonight, WWE spoiled the return of Brock Lesnar by posting a tweet announcing that he had walked into the arena. Approximately three to five minutes later, long enough for it to circle the Internet (which takes seconds in today's society), he appeared.

This is not the first time WWE has done this. If one can think back to SummerSlam 2010, they did the same by posting on their website that Daniel Bryan had returned to the company in the main event about a half-hour or so before it actually happened.

We can even think back to more recently when Santino won the battle royal to get into the Elimination Chamber on Smackdown, or to when Kurt Angle won the WHC in a battle royal back around 2006 or so.

My question is, what is the advantage of doing this? Does it not take away the element of surprise? I understand that Smackdown is a little bit of an exception since spoilers are usually posted on dirt sheets, but what harm would it have done to have let Lesnar have been a complete surprise, or in general, let something big occur without having to be posted prior? What is the advantage?

Again, not to say this happens all the time, but to me, it shouldn't happen period.

I think the Daniel Bryan one was a legitimate fuck up, but that aside, I agree. It's difficult though because as fans we do little to show we don't WANT to be spoiled. Look at Jerichos return. He didn't even arrive at the closest airport, but someone spotted him, grabbed a candid and then it was all over the 'net. We ruin more stuff than the WWE ever does.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

You really can't figure this one out on your own? Really? Fine. I'll tell you.

Monday Night Raw went head-to-head against the NCAA National Championship game tonight. What good is a surprise return if your target demographic isn't watching the show when it happens? The WWE leaked the Lesnar return so that people would tune into Raw instead of the Kansas/Kentucky game. I would bet my house that the WWE leaked the story of his signing a few days ago to draw up interest throughout the weekend.

In terms of SummerSlam 2010, they did it because they wanted people to purchase the event. Again, what good is a surprise return if people aren't watching? The hope was that the Daniel Bryan tweet would spark up last minute interest for people on the fence to purchase the event.

EDIT:
This is the same logic as to why the WWE ran the 1/2/12 promos earlier this year. The WWE was competing against the Fiesta Bowl that night. The promos gave you a reason to watch ... the Lesnar leak gave people a reason to watch tonight.

This is exactly right.

You could have the best episode of Monday Night Raw of all time, but that wouldn't matter if there wasn't that many viewers. WWE wants as many people to watch their shows as possible, and knowing that they were up against some other big shows that night, took the wise decision of leaking that Lesnar had arrived at the arena.

It made sense to do. Most people who were watching Raw already wouldn't have checked their phone/internet to see the Lesnar news, they would have been concentrating on their TV, and it was done so that someone who was considering watching Raw would have seen it, wanted to see Lesnar and tuned into the last few minutes of Raw, hopefully been impressed and then will watch the show next week to see what happens.

It was just a way of convincing people not to watch the football, but to tune into Raw. I don't think its a big deal to be honest.

 

[destruct-o-tron]

All weekend sites like WrestleZone, Lordsofpain.net, F4WOnline, PWTorch etc, etc have been updating through "reliable sources" on the status of Brock Lesnar.

First of all, people who visit those sites are the VAST minority. The overwhelming majority watch it on a much more casual basis. Believe it or not, the people who even subscribe to the Twitter feeds are considered to be on the really "hardcore" side. But that's not as important as my next point...

WWE ruined nothing, blame the Internet.

No, WWE absolutely dropped the ball. They tweeted the info themselves. Furthermore, even if they hadn't, and all the info came from outside sources, IT'S STILL THEIR FAULT! It's important for a company to be able to protect its trade secrets. Even more so if said company happens to be in the entertainment industry, and if said "trade secrets" are supposed to be big surprises. That's inexcusable.

WWE absolutely dropped the ball. It falls on nobody's shoulders but their own that they were unable to keep a fucking entourage from following Lesnar around and spoiling the surprise (again, ignoring the fact that they fucking did it themselves).

It'd be like if George Lucas put the revelation that Darth Vader is Luke's father in the -previews- for Empire, then angry fans blaming movie theaters for showing the preview.

 

[destruct-o-tron]

This is exactly right.

You could have the best episode of Monday Night Raw of all time, but that wouldn't matter if there wasn't that many viewers. WWE wants as many people to watch their shows as possible, and knowing that they were up against some other big shows that night, took the wise decision of leaking that Lesnar had arrived at the arena.

It made sense to do. Most people who were watching Raw already wouldn't have checked their phone/internet to see the Lesnar news, they would have been concentrating on their TV, and it was done so that someone who was considering watching Raw would have seen it, wanted to see Lesnar and tuned into the last few minutes of Raw, hopefully been impressed and then will watch the show next week to see what happens.

It was just a way of convincing people not to watch the football, but to tune into Raw. I don't think its a big deal to be honest.

While you make a good point (as does the poster you're responding to), you're still forgetting that... THEY TOTALLY RUINED THE SURPRISE! Why even bother if you're just going to spoil it?

A big perk that having a surprising, unpredictable program (that tweeting spoilers completely negates) is that you have to tune in to see what happens. You don't have to watch the whole show if the WWE is just going to tell you via Twitter when all of the good parts are about to happen. It's just completely counterproductive.

 

[vampirek]

It did lead to that awkward moment when the fans shouting 'We want Brock' over Cena until he actually acknowledge it... (and hate me for this, Cena did a good job in getting them to believe The Rock would appear instead). However, I would agree with those who are saying it was a good way of getting people who weren't watching Raw to switch over.

The Rock did this last year, tweeting a picture of him before he was announced as the host of Wrestlemania. Sure it gave away the element of surprise but to most of us, we already knew and we all tuned in to watch if unfold. Same logic applies, yes people know that Brock was going to return but we didn't know how or what he was going to do (well it was easy to presume) but that point is people do tune in to see it unfold even if they know it will happen. It happens with most tv shows, it why we have the tv magazines, the interviews giving hints and so forth.... so in effect the WWE is doing what other shows are doing around them.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Unfortunately, the thing is in the world today, is that is is virtually impossible to pull off a major swerve or surprise anymore. Between Twitter, Facebook, the various wrestling websites and yes, forums such as this one, avoiding a premature announcement of a major development pretty much cannot be done. Granted, no one puts a gun to our head and forces us to read or to log on, and no one makes us read something buried under a spoiler tag but if you're like me, it's almost impossible to resist the temptation.

I don't fault WWE for spoiling anything, not here with Lesnar or not with anything or anyone else. I fault the dirt sheets for releasing the information early although with all due respect, they are only doing their jobs too.

How epic would it have been if no one had any idea whatsoever about a returning Lesnar, and then while anticipating yet another Rock/Cena exchange (which don't get me wrong, have been fabulous), his music hits and he comes out! Because I read the rumors, I allowed the surprise to be spoiled, yet I was still skeptical and while I am not a fan of Brock Lesnar by any stretch of the imagination, that was the biggest mark out moment I've felt in WWE for quite some time.

 

[closet_fan]

For me, it's the WWE throwing mud back at all the dirt sheets who broke the news already.

They finally realize "Hey we can't keep anything under wraps anymore. It's just impossible." So instead of pretending not to know anything, they pulled a swerve themselves and posted Lesnar's return instead. I think it was a brilliant move.

Even though most people knew he was coming back, he still got one of the biggest pops in months. I still marked out when I saw him and I knew he had signed a deal, what, Saturday?

The WWE realizes the only people who will never know anything are the ones who don't have the internet. And since those people are the ones they want to cater to, you might as well spill the beans about certain things.