Should Vince listen to the interwebz?

[Monster Heel #2]

I found this on another board, not aware if it were ever shared here. THIS was someone's ideas on how to "fix" Raw when the messed up rating came in a few weeks ago. I found this over on the smartmarks forums.

I'd really like to see a return of the King of the Ring or something similar, maybes used to highlight the new talent coming up, that would make me watch again.

Open invitational tournament, invite TNA and Ring of Honor wrestlers by name. Actually make a deal with one or both companies if possible. WWE needs to think completely outside the box now.

Yeah, there is no way it would work. The WWE would want all of their main eventers to go over, they would treat everyone from ROH and TNA like second rate losers and wrestling would be completely slammed.

That's old style "WWE is the universe" thinking. We've had that already. How's it working out?

Whatever WWE does to fix this has to be outside Raw as we know it. Simply adding in concepts that have already been done or names that have already been worked won't do it.

We need a new Monday wrestling template with a new creative czar, new voices to hear each week, maybe even a new Monday show not called Raw.

That's what 2.5 means.

So - you guys think this has $$$$$, asses in seats, and ratings/buyrates written ALL over it... or not?

[mysterydriver]

Vince probably shouldn't listen to the...ahem...interwebz because they aren't the majority of viewers.

Majority rules. Minority complains about Majority. Minority still goes with Majority anyway.

While WWE could use a few "winks" to the internet audience with a smart (as in smart, not smark) storyline every once in a while, they need to keep the majority there.

Now, if a 2.5 ever truly happens? Maybe Vince could focus towards the internet more. Just be advised, if Raw would start appealing to "internet" fans only...It wouldn't probably make a 2.5.

Scratch that....what were WcW's ratings during its dying days?

[infrared]

I think that they shouldn't limit the main events to the World title. They should build main-event stories for Tag Team, mid-card, CW, and maybe Women's titles. You only need a simple "I hate you, I want to get my revenge on you" feud for it to get over rather than "You drove a monster truck into my underground headquarters so I tied this random guy dressed as a hummingbird to a Nasa space rocket so you blew up my house with C4 so I shot the president of Uzibekistan to become one quarter of the Undisputed Transatlantic Tag Team Champions" and other excessive drama that nobody gets

[Parrish]

WCW took alot of ideas from the WCW chatroom back during its dying days...it paid off for them.

[mysterydriver]

infrared said:

I think that they shouldn't limit the main events to the World title. They should build main-event stories for Tag Team, mid-card, CW, and maybe Women's titles. You only need a simple "I hate you, I want to get my revenge on you" feud for it to get over rather than "You drove a monster truck into my underground headquarters so I tied this random guy dressed as a hummingbird to a Nasa space rocket so you blew up my house with C4 so I shot the president of Uzibekistan to become one quarter of the Undisputed Transatlantic Tag Team Champions" and other excessive drama that nobody gets

That sounds like a HUSTLE idea.

I like it.

[Lancers]

In WCW's defense, they had an actual monkey booking shows from September 2000 to November 2000. Needless to say, Mojo's constant pushing of a giant banana stage got him axed real quickly and resulted in them using chatrooms.

True story.



I wish.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

mrlancers said:

In WCW's defense, they had an actual monkey booking shows from September 2000 to November 2000. Needless to say, Mojo's constant pushing of a giant banana stage got him axed real quickly and resulted in them using chatrooms.

True story.



I wish.

That was pure awesome, coated with diamond encrusted gold!

That being said... I move that we accept this as a WCW Fact, regardless of what really transpired.

[Baixo Astral]

They should ignore 'teh' interwebz... if they follow the interwebz, they'll lose far more of their viewship.

[knightboat]

The internet does come up with a few good ideas, but we all know most of our stuff is pretty crappy. Most people on the internet aren't great writers, haven't been in the business, etc. There are some good ideas that come up on the internet, but for the most part sticking to professional writers is the best way to go.

[Loki]

Nope...

There are two "lines of thought" around the internet [I'm keeping it very simple and schematic, I know every single person has different ideas, but just follow me...]

1) Rehire ALL the Stars from the Attitude Era, rehash all the Attitude Era storylines, with the new Superstars in tow, hoping they get over by association.

2) Hire all the Indy Sensations and push all the underused, misused, underappreciated guys. Book them in long "real wrestling" feuds, with long chain wrestling matches. Who cares if the general audience can't recognize a face or a name, and they chant boring after the second armbar.

Most 'net fans have a whole different idea and approach about wrestling, so their ideas would drive away a huge portion of the general audience.

[blackstussyshirt]

No.

[Hiroshi Hase]

mysterydriver said:

Vince probably shouldn't listen to the...ahem...interwebz because they aren't the majority of viewers.

Majority rules. Minority complains about Majority. Minority still goes with Majority anyway.

While WWE could use a few "winks" to the internet audience with a smart (as in smart, not smark) storyline every once in a while, they need to keep the majority there.

Now, if a 2.5 ever truly happens? Maybe Vince could focus towards the internet more. Just be advised, if Raw would start appealing to "internet" fans only...It wouldn't probably make a 2.5.

Scratch that....what were WcW's ratings during its dying days?

Their ratings were roughly in the 2.0-3.0 range, as bad as the booking was at the time they still had stars like Booker,Nash, Sting, Steiner so people still wanted to watch them.

www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/wcw/wcwnitro.htm

[Mr. Mediocre]

mysterydriver said:

infrared said:

I think that they shouldn't limit the main events to the World title. They should build main-event stories for Tag Team, mid-card, CW, and maybe Women's titles. You only need a simple "I hate you, I want to get my revenge on you" feud for it to get over rather than "You drove a monster truck into my underground headquarters so I tied this random guy dressed as a hummingbird to a Nasa space rocket so you blew up my house with C4 so I shot the president of Uzibekistan to become one quarter of the Undisputed Transatlantic Tag Team Champions" and other excessive drama that nobody gets

That sounds like a HUSTLE idea.

I like it.

As do I.

Regardless...following the internet would be a bad idea.

[Gene Mean]

The day Vince listens to the internet audience is the day before he goes out of business.

[Hiroshi Hase]

loki said:

Nope...

There are two "lines of thought" around the internet [I'm keeping it very simple and schematic, I know every single person has different ideas, but just follow me...]

1) Rehire ALL the Stars from the Attitude Era, rehash all the Attitude Era storylines, with the new Superstars in tow, hoping they get over by association.

2) Hire all the Indy Sensations and push all the underused, misused, underappreciated guys. Book them in long "real wrestling" feuds, with long chain wrestling matches. Who cares if the general audience can't recognize a face or a name, and they chant boring after the second armbar.

Most 'net fans have a whole different idea and approach about wrestling, so their ideas would drive away a huge portion of the general audience.

Seriously, Cena isn't the most technically sound wrestler around, but then he doesn't have to be, what he does is good enough to make the WWE lots of money.

I know the net fans for the most part would love to see guys like Paul Burchill get a main event push, but the fans would Conway Pop that faster than you can say Velocity.

[willywonka666]

I think Vince, along with television,radio etc should listen to MORE people than he is right now. Nielson ratings are what he lives and dies by right now, but that's not the whole picture,I think we have a lot of great thoughts here, whether we watch Raw every monday or not, we are fans of wrestling and it couldnt hurt him if he heard our thoughts

[Big L]

willywonka666 said:

I think Vince, along with television,radio etc should listen to MORE people than he is right now. Nielson ratings are what he lives and dies by right now, but that's not the whole picture,I think we have a lot of great thoughts here, whether we watch Raw every monday or not, we are fans of wrestling and it couldnt hurt him if he heard our thoughts

i agree

["Nature Boy" Ric Moranis]

nightboat said:

The internet does come up with a few good ideas, but we all know most of our stuff is pretty crappy. Most people on the internet aren't great writers, haven't been in the business, etc. There are some good ideas that come up on the internet, but for the most part sticking to professional writers is the best way to go.

Many professional writers pay great attention to internet feedback, and I'm sure that WWE writers/Vince do, too.

The thing about writing for any audience is that when it's your actual job, it's just like any other job, and you run the risk of losing proper prospective. When you're dealing with material for long hours day after day, you run the risk of losing sight of the forest for the trees.

In my opinion, people that spend their free time evaluating and enjoying a product often have a richer, more honest and geniune perspective of the bigger picture (or the little things) than the writers that are talented, trained in structure, etc. The writers might disagree with some of it, because the general public doesn't always have the clearest idea as to WHY they wrote what they wrote (or because they're pissed and defensive that people are crapping on their stuff). But that's part of the gig.

Trust me, I know that many professional writers feel this way (because I am one), so I know that many pay attention to what the Internet says about what they're doing, whether they're in entertainment, journalism, or what have you. Nielsen numbers and website hits tell whether or not people are watching or paying attention. But internet feedback is the most accurate representation of why they are or aren't watching (or paying attenton).

It's 2007, these aren't the mid-to-late 1990s days when Russo stole ideas from WCW or WWF chatrooms. Computers are cheaper, connections are faster. Far more people have the Internet, to the point that millions have the capability to shoot videos on their cell phone and upload it to the 'net before they set foot at home.

It's a different age than the 1990s. Internet buzz can kill/save any struggling TV show, and Hollywood powerhouse agencies sign up any fat kid from the Midwest that can get 9,000,000 people to watch a 2-min. video of him farting in front of a webcam in the 1-and-1,000,000 shot that he's the next Chris Farley. The dude from SNL starred in that awful "Hot Rod" movie solely because he appeared to be super duper popular on the 'net.

If wrestling companies don't pay attention to the internet, they're far behind the rest of the entertainment business. Time will tell whether that's ultimately a good or bad thing (see: that movie I just mentioned that bombed, and various examples like the vloggers with agents who won't even star in movies). But wrestling has it backwards if they really think they should ignore internet feedback, and not use it to their advantage.

Just my opinion, but I think the IWC just has an outdated view that nobody in the business will/does/or ever should care about our feedback. Die-hard fans of other shows still troll, or write long-ass posts like mine, and people in power do pay attention. And like I said, if wrestling companies don't pay attention because it didn't matter in 1997 when 100s of millions of less people had less immediate access the internet, they've got it backwards from the rest of entertainment.

Don't assume you don't have a voice. Right or wrong. If you don't like something, the writers might not know if you post a hateful one-liner on WrestleCrap, but they might figure it out if you e-mail their "comments" address, network, executives, or sponsors (with well-thought out constructive criticism).

[Lancers]

skellman said:

mrlancers said:

In WCW's defense, they had an actual monkey booking shows from September 2000 to November 2000. Needless to say, Mojo's constant pushing of a giant banana stage got him axed real quickly and resulted in them using chatrooms.

True story.



I wish.

That was pure awesome, coated with diamond encrusted gold!

That being said... I move that we accept this as a WCW Fact, regardless of what really transpired.

Your wish is my command.....


Ted Turner: MOJO! The fans are booing Jeff Jarrett. I don't think him in the main event is such a good idea. What do we do?

Mojo begins jumping up and down on his desk

Turner: Have an entire PPV devoted to cruiserweights?

Mojo starts hanging on the ceiling fan

Turner: You want to book another triple deck cage match like the one from the cinematic masterpiece "Ready to Rumble"?

Mojo throws his feces at the wall

Turner: Give the Heavyweight Title to Disco Inferno for the next eight months?

Mojo jumps out the office window

Turner: That's it Mojo! I'll keep Jeff Jarrett in the main event until the fans start liking him! I don't care what my shareholders say. You're gonna get us back to the top.

[Sir Bill of Chainsawberg]

Lemme put it like this -- If teh interwebzzx owned a large, national wrestling promotion, I'd bet the farm on that promotion going out of business within a year.