Meltzer with a perfect summary of what is wrong with the WWE
Sept 17, 2015 8:58:37 GMT -5
Tyler Black likes this
Post by Chip on Sept 17, 2015 8:58:37 GMT -5
saw this posted on wreddit...i had to share because even though I don't always agree with Meltzerdriver, and I feel over the years he's been more a part of the problem than the solutions, he is 100% right here....and it's pretty much exactly how we all feel just made into one long piece that makes sense.
This is the latter part of a longer piece about the ratings, this part specifically being about WWE's role in their declining ratings
The positives WWE has right now is that they are really the only game in town to all but a tiny percentage of a wrestling fan base. But in being the only game in town, the popularity of pro wrestling is declining, even as some media sources in recent weeks have made the laughable statements that it is the most popular of any period in history, being manipulated by irrelevant numbers. At the same time, to its most loyal audience, the product is hot when it comes to the big shows, which seems to be a worldwide pattern, since it’s the same thing that is going on with CMLL and AAA in Mexico and with New Japan. You could also argue that boxing, UFC and Bellator fall into this pattern. For the big events, such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam this year, WWE can charge far more than ever before, and be more successful from a live gate perspective. And even with the ratings decline, house shows have held up, although so far in September, the numbers have been, in the words of Big Cass, SAWFT.
The issues are stated weekly and endlessly. The three hours isn’t going to change. The revenue difference, even when you erode overall interest with it, and long-term contracts in place, lock WWE into that.
However, the show can change its predictable pattern. The opening interview segment to set up the show inherently isn’t bad, but it would be better most weeks with half the time. The interviews, with the exception of the elite few, need an overhaul. For one, the verbiage feels overly scripted and when it does, whatever goal or message is lost. The disaster of the Ryback promos the past two weeks may in some fault be his due to delivery, and perhaps somebody like Michael Hayes or Roddy Piper in their primes could have taken the wording he was given and pulled it off, but he is not them. The constant buzzwords may read great in a marketing textbook, but they don’t connect with the audience and are not effective in the goals of the interview, which is to generate more interest in the program.
What’s weird is, and there are always exceptions, but as a general rule, the promos, both believability and effectiveness, of wrestlers in the non-scripted generation blow the current generation out of the water. Having seen this generation’s guys outside the scripted environment, while not all are great, almost all are better unscripted.
There are also issues of context. Throwing out matches, even with big names and being of good quality, with no importance, has its limitations. My turn, your turn booking has created the generation of midcarders. Sting, a midcarder with some natural charisma, became an overnight superstar because he went to a 45 minute draw with Ric Flair on television. But the key was the follow-up. Had Flair then beaten Sting once each of the next two months on television, with a submission in the third match, Sting would have never been the enduring star he was. Similarly, if Undertaker, or Ultimate Warrior lost half the time on television in their first year, they’d have never gotten out of the blocks. Yet, even with Kevin Owens, a guy they were trying to make fast and the most promising talker in developmental, they gave him the big win first, and figured since they gave him that win, they could beat him constantly. So instead of being a top tier superstar, he joins the fun sea of very talented mid-carders, guys that fans know, think of as stars, have good matches, but their ability to move the needle is minimized.
Even though it didn’t work, the creation of records like with Nikki Bella’s streak, put more emphasis on the Divas title than any time in recent memory. The Twin Magic screwjob finish which is fine in certain situations, but somewhat out of context given the type of emphasis on the match, did make sense to build the rematch on the PPV. But the follow-up has to be strong. This isn’t pure sport and shouldn’t be booked like sport. But within its context, it should have meaning. The idea that we’re entertainment and anything goes is fine, but when something isn’t working, it needs to be looked at as to why. The key right now is the ability to create interest and an emotional response. If things are presented as if they don’t matter, in almost every case, they won’t. If they don’t matter to the participant, it’s hard for them to matter to the fan. One of the reasons real sports work is the ramifications, the exhilaration of the win, the disappointment of the loss, and even more, the follow-up. The loser creates a story as to either the mistakes he’s made, what he’s learned and how he’ll change things, or, if it is legitimate based on what happens, blames an outside party for derailing his upward mobility. When upward mobility doesn’t exist, and the context of wins and losses don’t matter, you lose a key interest element.
But you also need variety in a three-hour show. That is, very different personas, which WWE somewhat has, and a wide variety of styles, which WWE has less of than many other wrestling companies with far less resources. But all of those are minor points.
The key is making larger-than-life superstars. Whether it’s Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Graham, or Dusty Rhodes, or Hulk Hogan, or Steve Austin and The Rock, or Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Antonio Inoki, Perro Aguayo, Konnan, Mistico, or Ali, Mayweather, Leonard, or today’s Rousey and McGregor, the boom periods are either created by technological changes or larger-than-life superstars. More then boxing or MMA, pro wrestling has more ability to create them, since they can fully script their storylines and control all their outcomes to maximum benefit. But they haven’t, and for whatever reason, have dropped the ball frequently when the seeds of momentum are there because of having pigeon-holed themselves into a mentality that while certain guys are fine on the show, only a certain type can be that larger than life star. And they’ve muted their value when they are either quivering geeks or guys who are good but not great in presentation who are being controlled or propped by up the authority figures who are the biggest stars on the show. It’s worse when those same figures slip from charming and philanthropic babyface who are the people responsible for giving you your wrestling, and then flip to being heels, almost telling you while watching that you are supposed to think, “She’s this really great person who has to play a bad guy in a few skits on this show.” And then they wonder why the other people in the skits, or the skits themselves, have minimal traction as compared to usual historical levels of the business.
Yet, ironically, staring them in the face is a 5-foot-9 skinny Irishman and a woman who they are desperate to copy, yet the people in charge have absolutely no idea how she got there. And they don’t allow people to be themselves and tell their real stories enough to take advantage of what they are to have them connect at the same level.
The excuse that wrestling isn’t real and thus can’t be as popular would ring less hollow if documentaries were kicking the hell out of screenplays at the box office. And while there are exceptions to every rule, and fantasies are prevalent in movies, you rarely see character and plotline inconsistencies and the muting of character development, or the general level of bad dialogue and poor delivery that you see on Raw. Wrestling at its best should be something you look forward to every week and when it’s over, can’t wait to see what happens next. It should not be something where you feel like you deserve a medal just for being able to sit through it and maintain interest in the third hour.
Keep in mind, that in January, ratings will bounce back, to a degree. In actuality, the early year bounce back in 2015 felt like less than most years, and the pre-football decline was significantly lower to start with than any year since Raw was getting killed by Nitro. So record lows, as we’ve had already the past two weeks, should get even lower, particularly in October when the sports competition gets even stronger.
This is the latter part of a longer piece about the ratings, this part specifically being about WWE's role in their declining ratings
The positives WWE has right now is that they are really the only game in town to all but a tiny percentage of a wrestling fan base. But in being the only game in town, the popularity of pro wrestling is declining, even as some media sources in recent weeks have made the laughable statements that it is the most popular of any period in history, being manipulated by irrelevant numbers. At the same time, to its most loyal audience, the product is hot when it comes to the big shows, which seems to be a worldwide pattern, since it’s the same thing that is going on with CMLL and AAA in Mexico and with New Japan. You could also argue that boxing, UFC and Bellator fall into this pattern. For the big events, such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam this year, WWE can charge far more than ever before, and be more successful from a live gate perspective. And even with the ratings decline, house shows have held up, although so far in September, the numbers have been, in the words of Big Cass, SAWFT.
The issues are stated weekly and endlessly. The three hours isn’t going to change. The revenue difference, even when you erode overall interest with it, and long-term contracts in place, lock WWE into that.
However, the show can change its predictable pattern. The opening interview segment to set up the show inherently isn’t bad, but it would be better most weeks with half the time. The interviews, with the exception of the elite few, need an overhaul. For one, the verbiage feels overly scripted and when it does, whatever goal or message is lost. The disaster of the Ryback promos the past two weeks may in some fault be his due to delivery, and perhaps somebody like Michael Hayes or Roddy Piper in their primes could have taken the wording he was given and pulled it off, but he is not them. The constant buzzwords may read great in a marketing textbook, but they don’t connect with the audience and are not effective in the goals of the interview, which is to generate more interest in the program.
What’s weird is, and there are always exceptions, but as a general rule, the promos, both believability and effectiveness, of wrestlers in the non-scripted generation blow the current generation out of the water. Having seen this generation’s guys outside the scripted environment, while not all are great, almost all are better unscripted.
There are also issues of context. Throwing out matches, even with big names and being of good quality, with no importance, has its limitations. My turn, your turn booking has created the generation of midcarders. Sting, a midcarder with some natural charisma, became an overnight superstar because he went to a 45 minute draw with Ric Flair on television. But the key was the follow-up. Had Flair then beaten Sting once each of the next two months on television, with a submission in the third match, Sting would have never been the enduring star he was. Similarly, if Undertaker, or Ultimate Warrior lost half the time on television in their first year, they’d have never gotten out of the blocks. Yet, even with Kevin Owens, a guy they were trying to make fast and the most promising talker in developmental, they gave him the big win first, and figured since they gave him that win, they could beat him constantly. So instead of being a top tier superstar, he joins the fun sea of very talented mid-carders, guys that fans know, think of as stars, have good matches, but their ability to move the needle is minimized.
Even though it didn’t work, the creation of records like with Nikki Bella’s streak, put more emphasis on the Divas title than any time in recent memory. The Twin Magic screwjob finish which is fine in certain situations, but somewhat out of context given the type of emphasis on the match, did make sense to build the rematch on the PPV. But the follow-up has to be strong. This isn’t pure sport and shouldn’t be booked like sport. But within its context, it should have meaning. The idea that we’re entertainment and anything goes is fine, but when something isn’t working, it needs to be looked at as to why. The key right now is the ability to create interest and an emotional response. If things are presented as if they don’t matter, in almost every case, they won’t. If they don’t matter to the participant, it’s hard for them to matter to the fan. One of the reasons real sports work is the ramifications, the exhilaration of the win, the disappointment of the loss, and even more, the follow-up. The loser creates a story as to either the mistakes he’s made, what he’s learned and how he’ll change things, or, if it is legitimate based on what happens, blames an outside party for derailing his upward mobility. When upward mobility doesn’t exist, and the context of wins and losses don’t matter, you lose a key interest element.
But you also need variety in a three-hour show. That is, very different personas, which WWE somewhat has, and a wide variety of styles, which WWE has less of than many other wrestling companies with far less resources. But all of those are minor points.
The key is making larger-than-life superstars. Whether it’s Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Graham, or Dusty Rhodes, or Hulk Hogan, or Steve Austin and The Rock, or Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Antonio Inoki, Perro Aguayo, Konnan, Mistico, or Ali, Mayweather, Leonard, or today’s Rousey and McGregor, the boom periods are either created by technological changes or larger-than-life superstars. More then boxing or MMA, pro wrestling has more ability to create them, since they can fully script their storylines and control all their outcomes to maximum benefit. But they haven’t, and for whatever reason, have dropped the ball frequently when the seeds of momentum are there because of having pigeon-holed themselves into a mentality that while certain guys are fine on the show, only a certain type can be that larger than life star. And they’ve muted their value when they are either quivering geeks or guys who are good but not great in presentation who are being controlled or propped by up the authority figures who are the biggest stars on the show. It’s worse when those same figures slip from charming and philanthropic babyface who are the people responsible for giving you your wrestling, and then flip to being heels, almost telling you while watching that you are supposed to think, “She’s this really great person who has to play a bad guy in a few skits on this show.” And then they wonder why the other people in the skits, or the skits themselves, have minimal traction as compared to usual historical levels of the business.
Yet, ironically, staring them in the face is a 5-foot-9 skinny Irishman and a woman who they are desperate to copy, yet the people in charge have absolutely no idea how she got there. And they don’t allow people to be themselves and tell their real stories enough to take advantage of what they are to have them connect at the same level.
The excuse that wrestling isn’t real and thus can’t be as popular would ring less hollow if documentaries were kicking the hell out of screenplays at the box office. And while there are exceptions to every rule, and fantasies are prevalent in movies, you rarely see character and plotline inconsistencies and the muting of character development, or the general level of bad dialogue and poor delivery that you see on Raw. Wrestling at its best should be something you look forward to every week and when it’s over, can’t wait to see what happens next. It should not be something where you feel like you deserve a medal just for being able to sit through it and maintain interest in the third hour.
Keep in mind, that in January, ratings will bounce back, to a degree. In actuality, the early year bounce back in 2015 felt like less than most years, and the pre-football decline was significantly lower to start with than any year since Raw was getting killed by Nitro. So record lows, as we’ve had already the past two weeks, should get even lower, particularly in October when the sports competition gets even stronger.
