So at my house, we got MTS and i was browsing the channels and came to channel 1528 and low and behold, wwe network free preview. Pretty cool stuff, went to parents house, they have shaw and switched it to 225 and low and behold, wwe network but no free preview. My dad told me it's because Shaw are A holes but yeah.. Anyone gonna get this channel? I'm thinking about it, 11.99 a month, lots of footage, archived stuff, get to watch NXT, lots of history on that channel it seems, plus pay per views are included in that 11.99 a month. Say what you will but if a fan of wrestling, 11.99 for all that stuff plus a pay per view which goes for like 50 or more bucks on ppv, Not a bad deal is it? 

 

 

And Wrestlemania is coming up this Sunday too, not sure how many wrestling fans there are here but anyone gonna check it out? I haven't watched as religiously as i have in the past but do enjoy me the big 4, gonna say 3 cuz survivor series has sucked recently but do enjoy watching the big 3 PPV's (rumble,mania,summerslam)

 

and hell, it's only gonna cost 11.99 this time i think. Instead of the 50 bucks, Gotta make that decision to order the network soon i think, unless the free preview on MTS is all this month. 

 

The last live event I went to was in 1991 or 92 when WWE came to Calgary during the Stampede. The Hart Family with their Canadian flag & put downs of Americans wrestled Shawn Micheals, Steve Austin & another guys that was tops with the Company at the time. The Harts were heels in the US but faces up here & guys like Austin & Michaels who normally were faces were the heels carrying the American flag. Saddledome sold out & the Harts won in a brawl at the end. Lots of fun. First time I ever saw the Undertaker with Paul Bearer. 

You must mean 1997.  That was the Canada/US feud between the Hart Foundation and Steve Austin.

 

Yeah, you're right. It's still a long time ago. My friend from Winnipeg came to visit & take in the Stampede. Big wrestling fan. Good time. 

The Brandon Raw i believe was the one after the "IN YOUR HOUSE" PPV they did here... HBK got beat up real good in syracuse or something and had to relinquish the IC Title to Dean Douglas and then  Razor beat him immediately for the IC Title. 

Couple of Marines tuned him up at a bar.  The Shawn clique didnt like Douglas so they made sure the belt ended up on Razor.

 

Brandon is a lousy town for wrestling.  WWE doesnt come here because we're too far from other major centres for TV. 

Yup. Stand alone town altho not that far from Minneapolis

Sinking slowly

Raw set yet another 18-year low in audience last night with 3.24 million viewers, down slightly from the 3.27 million viewers for the 10/12 show.

This show seemed to hit an audience base of about 3.18 million viewers, which is where the second hour fell to, with the Survivor Series match gimmick in the third hour actually increasing slightly over hour two. But the first two hours were way down from usual levels.

It wasn't the football competition, and it was without any baseball competition. But the show didn't have the benefit of coming the day after a PPV like last week, and had none of the big guns like John Cena, Brock Lesnar nor any special attractions.

I found it a bit nonchalant.  same ol matches, tho ever since that give divas a chance thing they've really seemed to increase the female matches, but at the same time they are not really giving them stories to work with.  When I read Awesome Kong was wrestling in TNA i was like whaaaaat? Didnt she have to take a LOA due to pregnancy? did WWE release her? the chicks need a monster to run wild in their division to shake it up.

 

also that selfie stick gimmick on tyler breeze was pretty lame

I found it a bit nonchalant.  same ol matches, tho ever since that give divas a chance thing they've really seemed to increase the female matches, but at the same time they are not really giving them stories to work with.  When I read Awesome Kong was wrestling in TNA i was like whaaaaat? Didnt she have to take a LOA due to pregnancy? did WWE release her? the chicks need a monster to run wild in their division to shake it up.

 

also that selfie stick gimmick on tyler breeze was pretty lame

Awesome Kong needs to come back for one match. A handicapped match against the Bella twins. And I don't mean Kong. 

I assume that 90% of the people who watch wrestling are kids these days are they not?   I don't know any adults who watch wrestling anymore ?  I would assume football/baseball or any mature tv show wouldn't put a dent in the ratings these days?

I assume that 90% of the people who watch wrestling are kids these days are they not?   I don't know any adults who watch wrestling anymore ?  I would assume football/baseball or any mature tv show wouldn't put a dent in the ratings these days?

I guess only kids are on this site to talk Blue Bomber football as the same names that do that are also here including you.

I rarely watch live the full 3 hours PVR it every week though

I kinda jump back n forth during raw, like yesterday watched wsop n raw back n forth. I definitely cant just sit glued for 3 hours, but its nice show to have on ur "last" or recall button when its needed. I actually follow canoes wrestling reports fairly frequently more then the show itself

I'll watch it but switch when something dumb is on.

Guys I'll watch... Rollins. Wyatt. Owens. Neville. Lucha Dragons. Ambrose. Cena. Lesnar Heyman. Divas and Cesaro

I rarely watch live the full 3 hours PVR it every week though

I don't get thru the last hour anymore. Its just too long at 3 hours. 

I really watched the lucha dragons for the first time yesterday (tag matches havent been the same for a long time) I like the finisher that the smaller lucha dragon pulled off on barrett. I kept thinking he was rey mysterio for a while

 

I assume that 90% of the people who watch wrestling are kids these days are they not?   I don't know any adults who watch wrestling anymore ?  I would assume football/baseball or any mature tv show wouldn't put a dent in the ratings these days?

I guess only kids are on this site to talk Blue Bomber football as the same names that do that are also here including you.

 

 

No I do hear Blue Bomber chatter at work,  I do see the CFL playing at restaurants/pubs ....   In the last 10 years I've worked at at least 10 jobs and never have heard a single person mention present day wrestling.   I assumed that it was predominately kids watching wrestling these days?  

 

No need to get defensive if it's still real to you! 

 

Okay, well I bow to your arrogant superiority.

When I worked at dakota lanes every monda night wheni was 18-20 we had raw on (attitude era) ppl would come watch between turns up to bowl. Since the attitude era, mma became the thing to watch, n talk about, but I suspect many of those ppl watching during the attitude era watched during the early 90s, 80s maybe even longer, many probably check in once in a while still, maybe just not religiously

I've been watching wrestling since I was young. I also know matches are pre-determined but these guys are athletes. The injuries they suffer are real.

Demos are fairly old actually. Mostly old fans who have watched for years and young kids. They lost the "cool" edge that attracted the 18-30 demo. Most shocking they lost all of WCW's audience almost immediately.

They never learned from that and still adhere to the idea that they know what you want better than you do.

I'll say this. People won't bring up wrestling but if you do.... most will know what you are talking about. I know lots of ppl at work who are what I'd call closet fans. Meaning they won't talk about it unless someone else does first. People know who John Cena is.

Demos are fairly old actually. Mostly old fans who have watched for years and young kids. They lost the "cool" edge that attracted the 18-30 demo. Most shocking they lost all of WCW's audience almost immediately.

They never learned from that and still adhere to the idea that they know what you want better than you do.

Wasn't the WCW a niche audience anyway for the most part? They hated the establishment WWF & liked the fact that WCW was seen as more outlaw? I think the WWE was going to lose most of their audience anyway. 

WCW actually did better than WWE in ratings before Monday nights came along. Their Saturday night programming on TBS was a long time ratings success.

WCW had a more southern audience but they were popular. And for a long time. WWE's original plan of keeping WCW as a separate brand was the right idea to try and keep those fans but they would have screwed it up eventually.

I remember how crappy wcw looked on saturdays with the tabled audience I believe and watching guys like glacier (blonde sub zero lookin dude) vs some jobber n it was much easier to be impressed by the wwf. Even when nwo hit its peak I couldnt watch wcw, reminds me of tna today, 2nd class or washed up wrestlers displayed with inferior production quality. Maybe I bought in the wwe/f too hard as a kid

WCW actually did better than WWE in ratings before Monday nights came along. Their Saturday night programming on TBS was a long time ratings success.

WCW had a more southern audience but they were popular. And for a long time. WWE's original plan of keeping WCW as a separate brand was the right idea to try and keep those fans but they would have screwed it up eventually.

Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Terry Gordy, Sting they had some great talent back then. 

I remember how crappy wcw looked on saturdays with the tabled audience I believe and watching guys like glacier (blonde sub zero lookin dude) vs some jobber n it was much easier to be impressed by the wwf. Even when nwo hit its peak I couldnt watch wcw, reminds me of tna today, 2nd class or washed up wrestlers displayed with inferior production quality. Maybe I bought in the wwe/f too hard as a kid

 

You don't think the WWF was almost all squashes on Saturday mornings as a kid?  I'm not sure I would call SD Jones, Iron Mike Sharp or Barry Horowitz 1st class talent.

The old way of doing things was little to no competitive matches on TV.  WCW would have had better competition on their Saturday and Sunday TV shows.  The formula was, money was made at house shows and TV sold house shows.  You used TV to advertise the live events where fans had to pay to see the big stars and competitive matches.  Monday Night Wars changed that (with the advent of large TV rights fees).

 

The TBS time slot was much sought after.  It began as Georgia Championship Wrestling.  In the 70's it moved to TBS and Ted Turner always had a soft spot for wrestling as a result of it being a highly rated cornerstone of the network from its inception.  The TV show was called World Championship Wrestling (booker Jim Barnett had come from Austrailia where he ran a promotion of the same name). 

 

In the 80's Vince bought Georgia Championship Wrestling from Barnett, the Briscoes and Paul Jones, leaving Ole Anderson out of the deal.  So the Saturday show became WWF World Championship Wrestling.  But fans hated the Northern style of goofy characters, squash matches and recaps.  And Turner was furious that Vince was sending in a tape and not taping out of the Omni in Atlanta.  As a result, Vince sold GCW to Jim Crocket and the rest is history.

 

But it shows the very different tastes among fans by region.  Even when WCW became more mainstream with Hogan, Savage, Nash, Hall, etc, Ric Flair and the Horsemen were always top guys, popularity rise.  Growing up, we got WWE in Winnipeg and virtually no WCW until TBS was offered by the cable companies but I read all about the WCW (NWA) wrestlers and preferred their style of wrestling.  Flair, Windham, Muta, Tully & Arm etc etc.

 

When Monday Nitro launched, the Saturday night programming became less of a focus because it went from their main TV to their secondary TV.  Glacier might have sucked on Saturday, but that was at a time when Nitro was running competitve matches with Hogan, Savage etc.