Please continue any discussion on wrestling here.

Hes gotta be a half orc or something.

RAW ratings were back down after a strong rise last week's. I hope wwe realizes soon that the occasional bump from something interesting (Ambrose) isn't enough to stave off the overall decline

the entire format and booking is boring. 

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

RAW ratings were back down after a strong rise last week's. I hope wwe realizes soon that the occasional bump from something interesting (Ambrose) isn't enough to stave off the overall decline

the entire format and booking is boring. 

One word: Stephanie. Fans tune out.

A story from bloody elbow contains some hilarious Steph quotes:

"Brock is a unique proposition, but just to get to the broader question: UFC is not a competitor to the WWE because we are entertainment and UFC is competitive sport," McMahon said in an interview with Business Insider. "It's very different. WWE is all about protagonists and antagonists where ultimately our conflicts are settled in the ring with action that is akin to Hollywood."

"It's incredible stunt-like action and the match itself tells a story, but our audience is engaged in the characters and their storyline. It has to be relatable to them so that they care to see the tragedy or triumph and we're at an advantage because we can script it."

McMahon also further delved into the differences between both companies, revealing that while they do not fully support Lesnar’s fight, it still gives the WWE some free publicity that benefits them at the end of the day.

"UFC, they can make a big star but the second that person loses, they lose credibility, and how do you continue to make that star rise? So I think we have the best of both worlds and the opportunity to tell the stories in the way we want to tell them," McMahon said.

Im not sure if Steph is smart enough to realise she's full of **** or stupid enough to believe what she says.  But it doesnt bode well for WWE.

On 6/28/2016 at 10:07 PM, iso_55 said:

One word: Stephanie. Fans tune out.

I actually agree with this. I think once it's realized that shane isn't on, the fans start to tune it out. I also think tho that people shouldn't really read in to ratings week to week... ratings go up, ratings go down, they go up, they go down... You can't be worried about what the rating is gonna be one week and then if it's not as good the next week change things completely... It's about having a plan and sticking to that plan. 

 

You wanna know what will fix ratings? Have a good show, be consistent, week to week... that will fix the ratings... i also think ratings are somewhat overrated now a days... but that's a whole other story. 

 

But yup, do agree that Stephanie is a ratings killer for sure. It's interesting to me that the shows with just shane draw higher ratings than the shows with just stephanie. 

Definitely ratings are about trends.  Macro, not micro.  In 1997, WWE was getting killed in the ratings by Nitro but were putting on better shows.  They stayed the course and eventually over-took WCW. 

But you can see how other programming impacts WWE.  During NFL season, NBA playoffs, even NHL playoffs to a degree.  Dancing with the Stars etc.  This past monday was the week with no excuses and they did poorly.  Their first hour, which is usually good, started off very low.  Their third hour didnt drop as much as last week so it showed people who tuned in stayed tuned in.  But over-all, with no other programming, the rating was awful.

Steph is annoying,  What's worse than her as an annoying character is the damage she does to other characters.  She routinely dresses them down and cuts their balls off.  That has an impact.  WWE doesnt create stars anymore.  And I actually think its on purpose.  The only stars are Hunter & Steph, the two people that will never leave.  Other than that, the Brand is the star and WWE has this sense that no individual person matters.

Probably no person has done as much damage to wrestling as Stephanie McMahon has over her career.  And the next year is all about Steph, with a DVD documentary coming, an auto-biography and pushing her role as Chief Brand Officer.  I sort of wonder if Vince has an exit strategy now that they are pushing Steph to the outside world so hard.  They desperately need the rest of the world to accept her as a legitimate business person.

6 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Definitely ratings are about trends.  Macro, not micro.  In 1997, WWE was getting killed in the ratings by Nitro but were putting on better shows.  They stayed the course and eventually over-took WCW. 

But you can see how other programming impacts WWE.  During NFL season, NBA playoffs, even NHL playoffs to a degree.  Dancing with the Stars etc.  This past monday was the week with no excuses and they did poorly.  Their first hour, which is usually good, started off very low.  Their third hour didnt drop as much as last week so it showed people who tuned in stayed tuned in.  But over-all, with no other programming, the rating was awful.

Steph is annoying,  What's worse than her as an annoying character is the damage she does to other characters.  She routinely dresses them down and cuts their balls off.  That has an impact.  WWE doesnt create stars anymore.  And I actually think its on purpose.  The only stars are Hunter & Steph, the two people that will never leave.  Other than that, the Brand is the star and WWE has this sense that no individual person matters.

Probably no person has done as much damage to wrestling as Stephanie McMahon has over her career.  And the next year is all about Steph, with a DVD documentary coming, an auto-biography and pushing her role as Chief Brand Officer.  I sort of wonder if Vince has an exit strategy now that they are pushing Steph to the outside world so hard.  They desperately need the rest of the world to accept her as a legitimate business person.

I can accept her as a business woman. But as you say I can't accept her as you said dressing down other wrestlers & making them look like they're nothing. She's a *****.

She's a horrible business woman because she knows nothing about the business.  Her education in wrestling is so well-protected that she doesnt get it.  Her comments on UFC are parroting Vince's from years ago and they are wrong.  I dont even think she has a business degree.  I think she has an arts degree.

She's attractive and well spoken and personable.  So in that role, she's good as the Chief Brand Officer, a totally made up position for her that has no real responsibility.  But its needed because Hunter has no education, no business experience and will be running WWE because he married the boss's daughter so the intent is that they basically take Vince and split him in two among Steph and Hunter, hoping that Steph as a "Chief Officer" with the McMahon name can keep shareholders from jumping over-board if/when Vince dies.

 

6 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

"UFC, they can make a big star but the second that person loses, they lose credibility, and how do you continue to make that star rise? So I think we have the best of both worlds and the opportunity to tell the stories in the way we want to tell them," McMahon said.

This one quote shows how little she truly knows.  Every single UFC star has lost at least one fight (Jon Jones would be the exception since his one official loss was a DQ) but that hasn't stopped them from either reaching that status, maintaining it, or getting even bigger.  That's the nature of "real" sports and it's not limited to MMA.  If anything, when the big stars do lose a fight, it creates more interest and gets people talking.      When Rousey lost, it was huge news... way bigger than it would have been if she had just walked through another fighter.

Besides, with ratings the way they are for the WWE, what does that say about their ability to tell stories the way they want to?

Vince said the same thing years ago and Steph just doesn't have the knowledge to realize how stupid it is.  Also Vince thinks UFC is barbaric and hates it and neither Steph nor Hunter are fans.  They just don't get it.

The fact UFC is a legit competition is part of its appeal and the fact WWE is scripted, in  fact over-scripted, is part of why its popularity has waned.  There's a reason UFC is worth 4 times as much as WWE.

Tajiri has signed with WWE.  Not sure how much he has left in the tank but he was great during his day.

Also, charges against Lawler and his fiancé were dropped and Lawler has been reinstated by WWE.

Edited July 3, 20169 yr by The Unknown Poster

Lawler must have a very interesting life outside wrestling...

In a UFC interview Brock had a great line saying he doesn't give a **** what Stephanie thinks. 

 

Seth Rollins should be World Champion, Dean Ambrose should hold on to it thru the next PPV but lose it in the near future to Rollins. Unless Reigns become a full heel the belt just doesn't look good on him. Time to turn Rollins a face.

This is rather incredible and perhaps the greatest thing TNA has ever done. Well worth the watch.... Some people love it and some people hate it. Worth seeing

 

My reaction is WTF?

Orton vs Brock announced for summerSlam 

Great buildup. Like really, who cares?

9 hours ago, iso_55 said:

Great buildup. Like really, who cares?

A lot of wrestling fans wont care but its not a bad match from a marketing perspective.  They will pull the "never wrestled before" line even though its not true.  Orton will be as fresh as can be coming back after a long layoff.  Its a fresh match for both.  And the finish is somewhat unpredictable (though I wouldnt be surprised if Orton goes over to build a rematch).

Started watching Lucha Underground and all I can say is forget WWE.

Love what I'm seeing so far.

TNA's announces they will move to Thursday Nights coinciding with WWE moving Smackdown to Tuesday.

TNA also drew their largest audience in over a year, almost 100,000 more people to see the Hardy vs Hardy spectacle this past week.

Quote

 

Coming off a PPV it would only make sense that Lesnar squashes Orton but that won't happen.

34 minutes ago, iso_55 said:

Coming off a PPV it would only make sense that Lesnar squashes Orton but that won't happen.

As silly as it sounds it might depend what happens at UFC. If Brock loses then he's almost surely losing to Orton 

but Brock made the remark that Vince knows a happy Brock is easier to deal with. So it also wouldn't surprise me that they asked him to lose clean to Randy in return for cooperation on UFC. 

But Vince sees Brock differently than Hunter and Steph. He knows Brock is the only special attraction he has. Hence why he squashed Cena and beat Taker. So you just never know. Which is part of the appeal. Randy is a good worker. Should be a good match. 

Then again they could offer Jones a ton to come in and "fight" Brock lol