How to kill a crowd within three hours

[Chiral]

Because WOW if this is how Raw's gonna be with fans back...OOFTA. That whole show felt like a giant middle finger. Endless heat, long stretches of nothing, yeah yeah insert "What else is new" here, but Raw was actually promising for a few weeks there...did we need 40 minutes of Charlotte beating down Nikki and whining about how much better she is?

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

It took them less than two weeks to kill live crowds dead again with the daunting realization that they are still the WWE and nothing has changed.

You can only polish a turd for so long.

[Deleted]

At least they had the 24/7 shenanigans to... Oh, a heel won those too...

[fw91]

Shitty episode, but it felt like a punt more than a conscious effort of putting something together. That's not a defendable course of action, but I feel like it won't be a regular thing. They will at least try even if we don't like it. This week they didn't. Nikki isn't ready for a prime spot.

[Bang Bang Bart]

…at least they get a John Cena dark segment?

[Deleted]

And to think THIS is all suppose to be the build to summerslam.

Yikes.

[Deleted]

I genuinely don't understand how no one making decisions at WWE seems to grasp that they're putting on shitty television. I don't know if they've just deluded themselves into a mindset of, "People are just going to complain about it and sit on their hands no matter what we do, who cares," but surely they should take away something from how it's been years on end of crowds showing up to the building red hot and ready to have some fun and then walking out of the building sounding like they're on their way to a funeral. Especially when every other f***ing wrestling company on the planet does not have this problem this consistently.

[häšhtå.gdālėÿ]

Man. You could see the crowd deflating as you watched poor Santa in the first row. Dude was HYPE to kick off the show. Poor guy was nearly slouched below the eye-line at the end.

[warden]

3 hours is a long time. Wish it would go back to 2 that's the right number for televised wrestling

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Here's a recap of the main event between heel Charlotte and brand new champion babyface Nikki A.S.H:

- Charlotte dominates 90% of the match
- Charlotte wins clean
- Charlotte shit talks Nikki who then says "well I ALMOST won!"
- Charlotte beats her ass again afterwards

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Jul 26, 2021 22:07:29 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I genuinely don't understand how no one making decisions at WWE seems to grasp that they're putting on shitty television. I don't know if they've just deluded themselves into a mindset of, "People are just going to complain about it and sit on their hands no matter what we do, who cares," but surely they should take away something from how it's been years on end of crowds showing up to the building red hot and ready to have some fun and then walking out of the building sounding like they're on their way to a funeral. Especially when every other f***ing wrestling company on the planet does not have this problem this consistently.

What tends to be the thing is that “heels winning” inherently equals “bad show”, but I don’t think having all the babyfaces winning would make THAT much difference, because the overall structure of the shows is still f***ed.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Jul 26, 2021 22:09:42 GMT -5 warden said:

3 hours is a long time. Wish it would go back to 2 that's the right number for televised wrestling

I feel like this was an excuse for a while but I have seen crowds at AEW, New Japan, ROH, and elsewhere that went through 3+ hours of wrestling and were up for most of it. It's certainly not easy but I don't buy it as a crutch anymore. 

[Bang Bang Bart]

Jul 26, 2021 22:10:05 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

Jul 26, 2021 22:07:29 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

I genuinely don't understand how no one making decisions at WWE seems to grasp that they're putting on shitty television. I don't know if they've just deluded themselves into a mindset of, "People are just going to complain about it and sit on their hands no matter what we do, who cares," but surely they should take away something from how it's been years on end of crowds showing up to the building red hot and ready to have some fun and then walking out of the building sounding like they're on their way to a funeral. Especially when every other f***ing wrestling company on the planet does not have this problem this consistently.

What tends to be the thing is that “heels winning” inherently equals “bad show”, but I don’t think having all the babyfaces winning would make THAT much difference, because the overall structure of the thing is still f***ed.

Even if it’s flipped where we have Charlotte getting her ass beat every week and Lashley’s made to look like a bitch, the fact is that RAW is still three hours and being put together by people who apparently don’t know how to make a cohesive wrestling show.

[mistery]

It doesn't help that Charlotte gets the wrong type of heat, and Nikki ASH is easily the worst RAW Women's Champion in the history of that belt.

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2021 22:11:07 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

Jul 26, 2021 22:09:42 GMT -5 warden said:

3 hours is a long time. Wish it would go back to 2 that's the right number for televised wrestling

I feel like this was an excuse for a while but I have seen crowds at AEW, New Japan, ROH, and elsewhere that went through 3+ hours of wrestling and were up for most of it. It's certainly not easy but I don't buy it as a crutch anymore. 

And really after, what, nine years of being three hours full time, if they're not used to structuring their shows around it at this point then they're wildly f***ing incompetent.

[Deleted]

IMO the show being 3hrs is not the problem...the problem is it is 3hrs of LAZY , REPETITIVE , TERRIBLE TV!

Nothing happens and except just the same shit over and over and over and over and over.

There is no life to anything no spontaneity...it is the missionary position of wrestling.

People may be highly critical of the Attitude Era but things atleast happened on those shows whether good or bad they were not afraid to try things and live with those mistakes.

[Wieners=$$$]

In a way, it's very sad when you think about it.

The world is still going through hell, and many places are seeing things like the WWE coming to their city. An event like that, where people have fond memories of seeing so many people become unglued and electric, gives people hope to reconnect with humanity via exciting spectacle.

Spare no expense! Kids! We're going to Raw and watch some wrestling!

3 hours later...

[Bang Bang Bart]

Jul 26, 2021 22:25:09 GMT -5 Wieners=$$$ said:

In a way, it's very sad when you think about it.

The world is still going through hell, and many places are seeing things like the WWE coming to their city. An event like that, where people have fond memories of seeing so many people become unglued and electric, gives people hope to reconnect with humanity via exciting spectacle.

Spare no expense! Kids! We're going to Raw and watch some wrestling!

3 hours later...

I mean, those live fans at least get John Cena dropping by for a dark match, so their night is not a total loss, I guess?

[Deleted]

Still the same dull show it was before the pandemic.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Jul 26, 2021 22:12:51 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Jul 26, 2021 22:11:07 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

I feel like this was an excuse for a while but I have seen crowds at AEW, New Japan, ROH, and elsewhere that went through 3+ hours of wrestling and were up for most of it. It's certainly not easy but I don't buy it as a crutch anymore. 

And really after, what, nine years of being three hours full time, if they're not used to structuring their shows around it at this point then they're wildly f***ing incompetent.

I said it before but they moved to three hours nine years ago and it GENUINELY feels like they have showcased and featured less talent than ever before in those three hours of time.

Look at how much talent AEW will showcase within one hour of programming. It's not hard to build talent up and down the cards... WWE just simply chose and chooses not to do that on a consistent basis despite the sheer amount of talent AND time they have per week to do it in. They just choose to do rematches from last week or even PPVs to fill time because again... they've failed to build new stars up and down the card for people to care about... which has lead to the crowd apathy you see before you.

Like seriously how can you get invested into certain talents when you know you may not see them again for weeks or when you finally do see them they just... lose? Keith Lee being a prime example!