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Post by cabbageboy on May 29, 2008 17:16:27 GMT -5
Bear in mind that RVD's title reign ratings were lowered a tad because he lost the belt on July 3 right before the 4th. In fact the last time WWE got any really solid ratings in a non build to Rumble or WM time period was that time when RVD had the title.
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Legion
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Post by Legion on May 29, 2008 17:19:37 GMT -5
So Ministry Undertaker = highest drawing Champion in 12 years? I knew it was the best gimmick ever. Excellent. Well, you have to remember, Ministry Undertaker's first night as champion after winning the title was Raw Is Owen, which I believe is still the highest rated single episode of a wrestling program (whether on network or cable television) in history. Didn't it do like a 9 or 10 rating or something? That alone would have definitely inflated Taker's numbers, especially since he was only champion for a month before dropping it back to Austin. Plus, wasn't the Higher Power angle going on about this time? I remember that creating a huge buzz around the product. Well, that just puts a whole pecimistic spin on things. Death = ratings. Lovely. ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png)
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Post by bclara501 on May 29, 2008 18:54:58 GMT -5
Interesting stuff, the top 3 rated champs are
Taker Rock Austin
And the lowest
Hart Sid HBK
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Mac
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Post by Mac on May 29, 2008 18:59:40 GMT -5
The ratings seem to be indicitive of how hot the overall product was at the time more than anything. You dont see a lot of sudden peaks and valleys.
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Post by chunkylover53 on May 30, 2008 0:57:29 GMT -5
So Ministry Undertaker = highest drawing Champion in 12 years? I knew it was the best gimmick ever. Excellent. Well, you have to remember, Ministry Undertaker's first night as champion after winning the title was Raw Is Owen, which I believe is still the highest rated single episode of a wrestling program (whether on network or cable television) in history. Didn't it do like a 9 or 10 rating or something? That alone would have definitely inflated Taker's numbers, especially since he was only champion for a month before dropping it back to Austin. Plus, wasn't the Higher Power angle going on about this time? I remember that creating a huge buzz around the product. RAW is Owen - 05/24/99 7.2 Highest Rated Raw - 05/10/99 - 8.1 Highest Rated Raw Quarter Hour - 09/27/99 Rock: This is Your Life - 8.4
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Magician under the moonlight
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Post by Magician under the moonlight on May 30, 2008 1:51:56 GMT -5
Van Dam's title reign did better than expected.
Funny thar Benoit did better than Orton but then again around that time, HHH vs HBK was the highlight of the show.
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JLAJRC
Don Corleone
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Post by JLAJRC on May 30, 2008 13:19:02 GMT -5
Notice that ratings started skyrocketing post-Montreal. Getting rid of Bret, while beloved by everyone, was a good business decision.
Is there a WCW version of this thread somewhere. It might be fun to compare and contrast.
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Post by rm1978 on May 30, 2008 14:00:01 GMT -5
Don't forget when comparing things that Raw has moved back and forth between USA and SciFi, so the # of households that received each channel has changed as well during that time. I think USA has a larger reach than SciFi.
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NOwave
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Post by NOwave on May 30, 2008 14:47:12 GMT -5
Two big events have pushed RAW ratings over the years:
1) The Montreal Screwjob and creation of the evil Mr. McMahon character in 1997. (ratings went up from there)
2) Purchase of WCW by WWF in 2001 and resulting lack of competition (ratings dropped from there and despite occasional upticks, are still dropping)
The first event brought incredible attention to Vince and the WWF, creating many new fans. The Attitude era kept them coming back. The second pushed away a number of fans who haven't come back. WWF never captured much of WCW's audience, and lost many of the casual fans who loved the unpredictable nature of the Monday Night Wars.
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Post by Threadkiller [Classic] on May 30, 2008 22:41:39 GMT -5
Well, you have to remember, Ministry Undertaker's first night as champion after winning the title was Raw Is Owen, which I believe is still the highest rated single episode of a wrestling program (whether on network or cable television) in history. Didn't it do like a 9 or 10 rating or something? That alone would have definitely inflated Taker's numbers, especially since he was only champion for a month before dropping it back to Austin. Plus, wasn't the Higher Power angle going on about this time? I remember that creating a huge buzz around the product. RAW is Owen - 05/24/99 7.2 Highest Rated Raw - 05/10/99 - 8.1 Highest Rated Raw Quarter Hour - 09/27/99 Rock: This is Your Life - 8.4 Dang it, I must have jobbed to misinformation. Well played.
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Mecca
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Post by Mecca on May 30, 2008 22:48:23 GMT -5
None of HBK's are all that good but that's not shocking he's never really been a great draw.
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JMA
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Post by JMA on May 30, 2008 22:50:56 GMT -5
Notice that ratings started skyrocketing post-Montreal. Getting rid of Bret, while beloved by everyone, was a good business decision. That had more to do with Vince's character than it had to do with Bret. It wasn't getting rid of Bret that made the company get better, it was Austin vs. McMahon (whose character was defined post-Montreal). It was a fluke that worked out in their favor. It's not something that can really be justified by a consequentalist argument.
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Post by thesunbeast on May 30, 2008 22:53:40 GMT -5
From what I can tell based off of just the ratings, is that alot of people just stopped watching when WWF changed their name to WWE.
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Mecca
Wade Wilson
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Post by Mecca on May 30, 2008 22:54:50 GMT -5
The ratings start fading as the attitude era was fading away, Wrestlemania 17 was basically the show that capped the attitude era, you'll probably see the pretty consistent fall after that show.
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JMA
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Post by JMA on May 30, 2008 22:56:27 GMT -5
None of HBK's are all that good but that's not shocking he's never really been a great draw. That's true, Shawn never was a great draw. Which is odd since WWE tries to present him as the Second Coming sometimes. However, even though I'm a big critic of the Clique, it's also true that an already polarizing champion like Shawn (who was hated by many males in the audience at the time) was not going to compete with one of the greatest angles ever--the nWo. In addition, the WWF had changed Shawn's character (from cocky to "boyhood dream, emo wuss") and basically tried to turn him into a less edgy babyface, even though his edge was what turned him in the first place. He still probably wouldn't have drawn much (as his other reigns clearly show), certainly not as good as Bret (who drew well overseas) but he would've done better.
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Mecca
Wade Wilson
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Post by Mecca on May 30, 2008 22:58:33 GMT -5
Oh yea the WWE rewrites history now but HBK as the #1 guy of the company is not a sound business plan.
Usually any wrestler that alot of women are into like Michaels was will be hated by the male crowd which also plays into it not working so well.
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JMA
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Post by JMA on May 30, 2008 23:01:35 GMT -5
Usually any wrestler that alot of women are into like Michaels was will be hated by the male crowd which also plays into it not working so well. Kind of reminds me of Cena. Except that Shawn is a good wrestler and Cena is a draw.
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Hanzo
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Post by Hanzo on May 31, 2008 0:28:06 GMT -5
You know who can draw? I mean REALLY draw?!
JERRY LAWLER!!!!!!
*Crickets*
*GONG!*
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Post by chunkylover53 on May 31, 2008 0:40:54 GMT -5
None of HBK's are all that good but that's not shocking he's never really been a great draw. That's true, Shawn never was a great draw. Which is odd since WWE tries to present him as the Second Coming sometimes. However, even though I'm a big critic of the Clique, it's also true that an already polarizing champion like Shawn (who was hated by many males in the audience at the time) was not going to compete with one of the greatest angles ever--the nWo. In addition, the WWF had changed Shawn's character (from cocky to "boyhood dream, emo wuss") and basically tried to turn him into a less edgy babyface, even though his edge was what turned him in the first place. He still probably wouldn't have drawn much (as his other reigns clearly show), certainly not as good as Bret (who drew well overseas) but he would've done better. Though this is pure coincidence, here's a cold hard fact to support your theory: 10 Weeks before Shawn Michaels left(prior to Wrestlemania XIV) 01/19/98 - 4.0 01/26/98 - 3.5 02/02/98 - 3.5 02/09/98 - 3.2 02/16/98 - pre-empted 02/23/98 - 3.2 03/02/98 - 3.8 03/09/98 - 3.6 03/16/98 - pre-empted 03/23/98 - 3.6 10 Weeks After Shawn Michaels Left(Post Wrestlemania XIV) 03/30/98 - 3.8 04/06/98 - 4.7 04/13/98 - 4.6 04/20/98 - 4.4 04/27/98 - 5.7 05/04/98 - 5.5 05/11/98 - 4.3 05/18/98 - 5.3 05/25/98 - 4.2 06/01/98 - 4.4
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