We've joked about it for years, but Is WWE in a new BOOM per

[PTBartman]

Is WWE in a new BOOM period?

Smackdown may have won the week. Sure it's summer, but it's never been done before.

RAW is must watch for me.

I can't remember the last bad PLE.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

If it isn’t, it’s pretty damn well close.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Business wise - definitely. They're the hottest they've been since 2001. You can certainly take it or leave it with some of the creative (just as you can with the Attitude Era which in my view was a lot of trash despite being super super popular) but there's no denying that they're doing incredibly well right now thanks to the top acts.

[lucas_lee]

It also helps a lot of their celebrity gets were on par with Tyson 98 in terms of fame and name recognition for their demographic. I dont agree with a lot of their booking but to not admit their firing on all cylinders would be foolish.

[polarbearpete]

I think this would certainly qualify as a boom period. They’ve been super hot since the middle of last year (right around the time Cody returned). Ratings, attendance, and other business metrics, and even the quality of the shows to the majority have all been on the rise.

[gl83]

Jul 11, 2023 9:25:46 GMT -5 lucas_lee said:

It also helps a lot of their celebrity gets were on par with Tyson 98 in terms of fame and name recognition for their demographic. I dont agree with a lot of their booking but to not admit their firing on all cylinders would be foolish.

Also helps that the celebrities that they’re using are wrestling fans(Bad Bunny, Logan Paul) so it’s not like they’re going through the motions and don’t even want to be there like many of the people from the “Guest Host-Era”

[Deleted]

Business wise...yea I guess so.

Creative wise?...naw

And if we were to directly compare to the AE then it is not even close IMO specifically creatively...Roman is still ceilings below Cena and not even in the same breath as Austin and Rock as far as being so big a star he transends in defining popculture.

[Stu]

If it’s a boom period, I wouldn’t put it on par with the Attitude Era. At most, perhaps a boom period by 2023 standards where ratings are measured differently, streaming services have more entertainment options and household names are less common.

[FinalGwen]

Yeah, I'd say so. Nothing is ever going to be like the 80s/90s again, unless we suddenly have a massive technology crash and most available routes of consuming media disappear, but wrestling's on quite an upswing.

[Fundertaker]

Not a boom period, but a rising one I'd say. Wrestling being more accepted as part of regular pop culture is helping huge there.

[lucas_lee]

Also with how outdated the ratings are calculated and how media is consumed I don't put much stock into their rating being that number. I think it's much higher than suggested same for AEW.

[eJm]

Jul 11, 2023 9:43:07 GMT -5 Stu said:

If it’s a boom period, I wouldn’t put it on par with the Attitude Era. At most, perhaps a boom period by 2023 standards where ratings are measured differently, streaming services have more entertainment options and household names are less common.

This and Lucas’ point about metrics being different are where I stand. I don’t think we’re going to see Roman appear on a random adult cartoon as the tribal chief for various reasons but the fact someone like Liv Morgan can show up at the premiere of Barbie and Bad Bunny can basically drag WWE kicking and screaming to doing an actual PPV in Puerto Rico does say it’s status has grown.

I think for it to be a boom period, it needs to feel like it defines the era its in along with other stuff doing the same thing and honestly, I don’t think that’ll happen for various reasons.

[polarbearpete]

Jul 11, 2023 10:10:45 GMT -5 lucas_lee said:

Also with how outdated the ratings are calculated and how media is consumed I don't put much stock into their rating being that number. I think it's much higher than suggested same for AEW.

I think the rating is accurate as to cable viewership, but many more people are consuming the product through YouTube or social media that didn’t exist back during the Attitude Era. So the actual number of people consuming/following the product is likely closer to the Attitude Era than we realize.

[4real]

Until I see a WWE version of Gogglebox no!

[deezy]

I have to say yes it is. They have the best storyline in wrestling right now, One of the best storylines of all time ( the best in my opinion ). With other hot acts like Cody ( probably the most over face in wrestling right now, imo ) Judgement Day, K.O. and Sami, Gunther, Edge and so on.

The best boom period in wrestling for me was the Monday Night Wars. That's why for me this ranks behind that because instead of 2 companies hitting a booom period its only 1.

[Stu]

Also of note, you're more likely to see wrestlers partaking in random activities for other companies as shown here (this is several years old, but my point stands)

[polarbearpete]

The similarity I see to the Attitude Era is how over a lot of the roster is now, top to bottom. Those dead crowd lulls during a 3 hour Raw used to be so prominent, but now it seems almost every segment (outside of 1 or 2 here and there) involves someone super over- whether it be Cody, KO, Sami, Gunther, Drew, Becky, Judgment Day, Ronda, even Alpha Academy. They’ve concentrated more on establishing credibility of each character and title under Triple H and I think it’s paid off for most.

[Cyno]

By today's standards, absolutely. The industry is in a really good place right now.

[HIM]

Feels like we're in that 97/98 area. So yeah, we are IMO.

[Push R Truth]

If they booked WeeLC 2 for Wrestlemania then the WWE would surpass the World Cup, the Superbowl and Velma's viewership combined.