[Mister Sinister]

This past week's Raw was the second lowest scoring ever. Nothing is going to turn the ratings around immediately, but it can be done in as little as a year with a change of direction. I don't think this is the time to do rearrange the chairs on the show-- it's time to rearrange the chairs backstage.

1. It's time for Vince to retire and for Stephanie and Shane to truly take over direction of the two shows. The loss of audience in the last year is a watershed moment. It's time for Vince to accept that it's time for a new generation.

2. The worst thing they can do is keep the program centered around Roman Reigns. The only interesting choice to defeat Lesnar is Joe, but Joe hasn't done shit in front of the WWE's softcore audience but have the same match with Rollins 19 times. WWE's audience hasn't seen Joe be the savage mf he was in TNA. WWE doesn't even allow him to wrestle faster workers in the cruiserweight division so Joe hardly gets to display his talents.

3. The champions for the last year have been KO, Flair, and New Day; and they sent them all to Smackdown screwing everything up. Who is the franchise of Raw? We haven't seen the champion since WM. There is no franchise. This superstar shakeup screw-up cannot be undone. The goose is cooked and now it's going to take a whole new year to build franchises (Joe, Aries).

4. The only thing of consistency right now is the cruiserweight division. Austin Aries should be the new champion come Monday, but the audience isn't going to get lit to see Aries vs Neese or Galagher or Perkins this Monday or the next. What the WWE needs to do with Aries after his win over Neville is have someone like The Miz come out and do an angle with him. This is where Miz is at his best; getting heat against a new face who is a veteran from the indies.

5. Demographics-
a. Who is WWE's big Latino star? They don't treat any of them like star material. Where is Lince? Where is Metalik?

b. Who is the WWE's black star that is one of the top 3-4 in the company? They don't push any of them into that position (instead, you get the likes of Wyatt, Orton, Reigns). Part of Rock's success was/is his ability to draw a whole different demographic. The WWE is paying more attention to India as a demographic than the American black audience.

 

[DoctorWhosawhatsit]

It's too early for it to have sunk into WWE's think skulls... but hopefully ratings continue to drop, if only stay at near record lows for a sustained amount of time, and network subscriptions start to take a hit.

That's the only thing that's going to wake WWE up from this coasting/half ass everything/eh fuck it we'll be fine mentality they've had for a long while now and motivate them to improve and change their booking methods.

Either way I don't see WWE changing for a while. As I said the people at WWE have VERY thick skulls. It's gonna take a while longer (not that it hasn't already been a while lol) for the obvious disengagment of fans to be taken seriously. I'm sure they already have a dry erase board up in Stanford with a million excuses why ratings have been low that have nothing to do with the product itself.

 

[Wildcat410]

I'll try to address point by point best as I can without getting too wordy.

Steph taking over a show does not figure to boost it's quality. I mean yes, Vince is past his creative peak but still.........

I seriously doubt Joe will be one of their next go to people. He is closing in on 40, carrying substantial extra weight, and is minus probably his #1 signature move. I was a TNA fan during his tenure there. I honestly don't think he is up to being a bigtime every week destroyer and longterm centerpiece anymore. I hope I am wrong here, but........

I'm hoping Miz goes IC Title again myself. But I would not mind him working with Aries. That could be a cool feud actually. The mic work should be superb.

With the Hardys, Sheamus/Cesaro, and now The Revival, the tag division should be in good shape for a while. New Day can do more good over on SDL now.

The women's division has been hurt by injuries (Emma) and meltdowns (Paige.) But they are, at times clumsily, building something with Bliss. Plus Sasha is still there for them.

Is there an African American on the main roster, or able to be sent to it, that exhibits Rock-like potential or shows signs of possessing the "It factor?" I mean, I am actually blanking on that one atm.

Xavier Woods is a good talker and cool personality but I doubt they will break up New Day for a risky solo run at the top. They move merch too well from what I understand. And are still over, just now on SDL. Sort of the same story with Big E. Many, including myself, supported Kofi for a ME run a number of years back. But that ship sailed long ago.

 

[Ace]

It's too early for it to have sunk into WWE's think skulls... but hopefully ratings continue to drop, if only stay at near record lows for a sustained amount of time, and network subscriptions start to take a hit.

That's the only thing that's going to wake WWE up from this coasting/half ass everything/eh fuck it we'll be fine mentality they've had for a long while now and motivate them to improve and change their booking methods.

Either way I don't see WWE changing for a while. As I said the people at WWE have VERY thick skulls. It's gonna take a while longer (not that it hasn't already been a while lol) for the obvious disengagment of fans to be taken seriously. I'm sure they already have a dry erase board up in Stanford with a million excuses why ratings have been low that have nothing to do with the product itself.

From my understanding, this weeks raw was 1/100th off being the lowest rated Raw ever.

 

[THE MAN.THE MYTH.THE SHIV.THE END.]

The good ship WWE has sprung a leak. Only Aquaman can save them. :reigns2

 

[DoctorWhosawhatsit]

From my understanding, this weeks raw was 1/100th off being the lowest rated Raw ever.

They'll still come up with a million excuses and reasons why people didn't watch blaming everything but the actual product... NBA playoffs, Doctor Who reruns, a lunar eclipse...

 

[Stadhart02]

It is the same show every single week so it is boring. Plus they have zero star power at the moment too

they badly need an off season to get everyone looking forward to the show when it returns. I understand that that will never happen though

 

[InexorableJourney]

I suppose if USA really wanted to they could put in their own showrunner, as it is the show they pay for. But why would they pick Shane/Stephanie?

A new showrunner could bring new direction, energy, ideas, or they might just trot out old angles again, especially Stephanie.

 

[MarkovKane]

RAW is like an old recipe that no one wants to tell their grandmother is not that good....WWE's formula is so fucking played out, Kevin Dunn needs to get the fuck out, just getting some "actually talented person trained in the field of live tv", would change things instantly, no more stupid shit.

Vince should go find some new pet project, like imposing his will in 2017 is fucking bat shit crazy. Steph and Shane need to Game of Thrones Vince's ass.

 

[phyfts]

This past week's Raw was the second lowest scoring ever. Nothing is going to turn the ratings around immediately, but it can be done in as little as a year with a change of direction. I don't think this is the time to do rearrange the chairs on the show-- it's time to rearrange the chairs backstage.

1. It's time for Vince to retire and for Stephanie and Shane to truly take over direction of the two shows. The loss of audience in the last year is a watershed moment. It's time for Vince to accept that it's time for a new generation.

2. The worst thing they can do is keep the program centered around Roman Reigns. The only interesting choice to defeat Lesnar is Joe, but Joe hasn't done shit in front of the WWE's softcore audience but have the same match with Rollins 19 times. WWE's audience hasn't seen Joe be the savage mf he was in TNA. WWE doesn't even allow him to wrestle faster workers in the cruiserweight division so Joe hardly gets to display his talents.

3. The champions for the last year have been KO, Flair, and New Day; and they sent them all to Smackdown screwing everything up. Who is the franchise of Raw? We haven't seen the champion since WM. There is no franchise. This superstar shakeup screw-up cannot be undone. The goose is cooked and now it's going to take a whole new year to build franchises (Joe, Aries).

4. The only thing of consistency right now is the cruiserweight division. Austin Aries should be the new champion come Monday, but the audience isn't going to get lit to see Aries vs Neese or Galagher or Perkins this Monday or the next. What the WWE needs to do with Aries after his win over Neville is have someone like The Miz come out and do an angle with him. This is where Miz is at his best; getting heat against a new face who is a veteran from the indies.

5. Demographics-
a. Who is WWE's big Latino star? They don't treat any of them like star material. Where is Lince? Where is Metalik?

b. Who is the WWE's black star that is one of the top 3-4 in the company? They don't push any of them into that position (instead, you get the likes of Wyatt, Orton, Reigns). Part of Rock's success was/is his ability to draw a whole different demographic. The WWE is paying more attention to India as a demographic than the American black audience.

:stop

 

[LongLiveTNA]

It's time for Vince to accept that it's time for a new generation..

I think, actually, that the problem lies in that he HAS accepted a new generation, and has flocked from intelligent storytelling to elementary storytelling.

Vince did what Bischoff wanted to do, but Vince had to delve into including low-end, soft-core porn to do it. Bischoff clearly in the 90's clearly saw a PG show as the future.

Once the competition was gone, the WWE could retreat into their safe space they are in now, and have been for quite sometime. Trying to appear like an appropriate, family-friendly brand.. which is laughable to anyone who knows what goes beyond the glass doors at Titan tower.

However, I think, much like many examples, we're all being the victims of Vince's ego, nothing generational. He specifically said that he was going to give 2006 WWECW Bobby Lashley, and they would LIKE IT. Well, the ECW fans did not.

He pushed HHH's buddy Sheamus in the late 2000's in the same manner, then Boo-tista, and now Roman Reigns.

While I can't stand so much of HHH, I think even he would be a slight upgrade, even though he'd heavily enforce his egotistical biases of what wrestling should be.

Shane, from all I can tell, appears to be the only one who is willing to just be hands off, and allow things to happen. No attempt of dominance of the audience needed, no self-righteous mental pleasuring...

 

[greasykid1]

Well, bad ratings and ticket sales are the only things that will truly make WWE even consider making changes.

Hopefully the low ratings will continue for a few weeks and they will think about changing the formula. It's right what people have said above. The WWE formula is SO old, played out and boring that, even when they throw a "surprise" into the show, it's poorly scripted, horribly executed and can be seen coming a mile away.

Just look at how they debuted Nakamura.

He interrupted a Miz promo. Then he didn't fight The Miz, he didn't show us what he was made of.
They put him in a dark match against Ziggler to fill the gap between SmackDown and 205Live ... FFS

The shows are being run by fucking idiots. Maybe half the time, we can ignore the idiocy and enjoy the wrestling. But there is way too much of this ridiculous, terrible booking, total lack of storylines for most of the stars, purposefully pushing people that they KNOW the fans dislike ... and this over-inflated ego of Vince constantly saying "The fans don't tell us what they want - WE TELL THEM WHAT THEY WANT."

Well, that just won't work in 2017. Hell, it hasn't worked for 5 years already. Check the ratings decline.

It's so frustrating that the company has most of the best wrestlers in the business, the TV time and audience, but is just SO FUCKING BAD at putting on an entertaining TV show, or writing an interesting angle. I hate to say it, but we need people like Cornette and Bishoff back in the front office - anyone with the balls to disagree with a McMahon and pitch a unique idea would be a good start.

 

[Taroostyles]

Never have I seen a product with so much talent yet such awful creativity and storytelling.

Nothing is gonna change though, they are still the only game in town.

 

[Beatles123]

Dat downward spiral! :vince5

 

[Demolition119]

It's so frustrating that the company has most of the best wrestlers in the business, the TV time and audience, but is just SO FUCKING BAD at putting on an entertaining TV show, or writing an interesting angle. I hate to say it, but we need people like Cornette and Bishoff back in the front office - anyone with the balls to disagree with a McMahon and pitch a unique idea would be a good start.

Nothing wrong with Cornette, the man can book. Just zip his mouth shut when he isn't booking. Hell the WWE desperately needs a guy like Cornette right now.

 

[Jam]

Stopped at "The only interesting choice to defeat Lesnar is Joe"

 

[xio8ups]

Lets hope raw does a under 1.5 this summer sometime.

 

[Demolition119]

Lets hope raw does a under 1.5 this summer sometime.

If the ratings ever dropped that low they would be getting a future endeavored letter from USA network telling them to look for a new network, because they will not be renewing their contract.

 

[Mister Sinister]

I'll try to address point by point best as I can without getting too wordy.

Steph taking over a show does not figure to boost it's quality. I mean yes, Vince is past his creative peak but still.........

I seriously doubt Joe will be one of their next go to people. He is closing in on 40, carrying substantial extra weight, and is minus probably his #1 signature move. I was a TNA fan during his tenure there. I honestly don't think he is up to being a bigtime every week destroyer and longterm centerpiece anymore. I hope I am wrong here, but........

I'm hoping Miz goes IC Title again myself. But I would not mind him working with Aries. That could be a cool feud actually. The mic work should be superb.

With the Hardys, Sheamus/Cesaro, and now The Revival, the tag division should be in good shape for a while. New Day can do more good over on SDL now.

The women's division has been hurt by injuries (Emma) and meltdowns (Paige.) But they are, at times clumsily, building something with Bliss. Plus Sasha is still there for them.

Is there an African American on the main roster, or able to be sent to it, that exhibits Rock-like potential or shows signs of possessing the "It factor?" I mean, I am actually blanking on that one atm.

Xavier Woods is a good talker and cool personality but I doubt they will break up New Day for a risky solo run at the top. They move merch too well from what I understand. And are still over, just now on SDL. Sort of the same story with Big E. Many, including myself, supported Kofi for a ME run a number of years back. But that ship sailed long ago.

I have more confidence in HHH and Shane than Stephanie, but it is time to allow the two shows to have two different directors/directions.

I don't think WWE will put the belt on Joe right now, but he is the only guy that makes sense to face Lesnar. Joe hasn't held a WWE title, he hasn't faced Lesnar before, he isn't massively outsized like Balor or Rollins, Wyatt has no business in the top of the card, Reigns will be a death knell, and only Joe could present a technical wrestling match for Lesnar. The problem is that he just debuted, and they didn't do something huge with his debut like have him start the RR like AJ Styles did.

Miz v Ambrose or other white bread mid-card guys like Cesaro or Crews just makes for boring shit. Miz v Aries is a collision of worlds. It's the crossing of the streams that makes it interesting despite the wide gap in wrestling ability.

The problem with New Day and others going to Smackdown isn't the lack of talent on Raw to take their place-- it's that they were franchises for the show. Fans tune in for the characters. Take away a character and you take away their fans (specifically, the black demographic for Raw).

The women's division needs tag titles so there is a reason for women to be wrestling beyond the world title.

Woods is the only choice to elevate to the main event. He doesn't have to be on the Rock's level on the mic-- he is already better than Rock as a wrestler, but he needs the push into the top of the card. What reason is Orton, Wyatt, Reigns, or Balor at the front of the crowd? None of those guys have the personality or ring skills of Woods. Woods isn't in the main event because he isn't white because the black audience isn't seen as valuable (like the Indian market). The main event is a lineup of talents that are deeply tanned at the darkest. It's a lineup that speaks to the audience, "You have to be light skinned enough that you don't frighten away white people." It's the kind of mindset about skin color that comes from a 70 year old.

 

[ChampWhoRunsDaCamp]

I have more confidence in HHH and Shane than Stephanie, but it is time to allow the two shows to have two different directors/directions.

The women's division needs tag titles so there is a reason for women to be wrestling beyond the world title..

It really doesn't. The women's division actually has to many titles as it is, there should only be 1 women's title and all the women should be on the same show.

Having tag titles would mean almost 50% of the women in the company would be holding titles at the same time? Do you realize how ridiculous that is?

Good feuds don't need to be built around the titles, the titles are meaningless props used to aid story telling. An improvement in story telling and booking will give the women reason to wrestle not more and more titles.