sek69

I'd say EA Sports is at least honest, they pump out sports games year after year and don't really pretend anything else. Which is fine because FIFA and Madden sell bazillions every year so why fix what isn't broken. People were lol'ing at them adding a story mode in next year's Madden but it's not like it's really changing much of the actual game. WWE acts like the fans dictate what they do when all available evidence points otherwise. It would be if EA saw that people really enjoy playing FIFA but decided to put all their effort behind a new cricket game because it's popular in India.

Or they're getting tired of the same old shit and getting mad at the bookers for seemingly not being able to move past worn out crutches to get heat. Possibly. Edit: this was in response to the post where it was suggested folks are just getting mad at the bookers for heels doing heel things.

Heels cheating to win and/or not lose has been a thing forever of course. When nearly the entire card involves heels winning and the babyfaces are constantly being portrayed as losers who never get the job done it creates a deflating environment for the crowd that just wants to see the people they cheer for have even the briefest moment to celebrate.

It's not about having her win or lose matches as much as not scripting her like they've done in promos since she's come up.

Basically old timers be all "our silly, hokey shit was just fun times while your silly hokey shit is destroying the biz".

The thing with live crowds is that outside of the handful of big cities they run regularly, most towns only get WWE shows once or twice a year. The youngsters in the crowd by and large aren't watching for 3 hours a week.

That was my understanding, plus I have a hard time believing Hulk would be aware of Dustin's existence in the slightest in any of the periods their paths would have crossed.

He was one of the biggest draws in wrestling history, and if we're going to disqualify people for being pieces of shit human beings there'd only be room to discuss like 5 people max in the history of the business.

She's been in CMLL for a long time, nothing spectacular, but CMLL luchadoras tend to range from very good to trainwreck waiting to happen. This probably explains why they've been heavily (by their standards) implying she's going to have a mask match soon.

Dave did make a good point that if you showed someone who never watched All Japan in the 90s a clip of one of those comedy matches with old Baba they'd probably think it was the worst promotion ever. Cornette making opinions of PWG over a 10 second Chuck Taylor clip is the same concept.

This seems to be fading away, but occasionally a story will pop up from someone on the indies that they inadvertently offended some old timer by not shaking their hand/genuflecting properly in their direction. I get wanting the young guys to show respect, but some take it to the nth degree. While true, the insecure nature of most wrestlers tends to cause it to be worse in their field. Hell, Roman just went on a mini Twitter meltdown over an indy wrestler who didn't share the idea that going to WWE is the end all be all for everyone in the business. #DumbAssMark is a hell of a hash tag for your supposed top babyface to try to get trending.

Getting over in WWE is all about charisma, that's why Nakamura is still popular on the main roster despite them doing their damnedest to WWE-ize him with the "Artist" nonsense.

Remember when Triple H said they'll only promote guys from NXT when they have a plan for them on the main roster? It sometimes seems like Vince is fucking with him when he pulls up guys like American Alpha and then they get forgotten. Guys like Owens got lucky that between injuries and the brand split, the ranks were too thin to not push everyone, and since you have about a month from your first appearance before Vince permanently slots you in his mind he was able to stay high enough on the card to not get sent to jobberville.

I have never once watched a wrestling match and thought about what star ranking to give it. That it became the essential part of a lot of people's viewing habits baffles me to no end. If Dave gives the next Okada-Omega match eleventy million stars and you disagree, so what? It shouldn't matter what someone else thinks.

That's the thing, it's not dying, it's just horribly stagnant. WWE has settled into a comfort zone of being just profitable enough to not piss off Wall Street while rocking the boat as little as possible (except for the Jinder thing, but even that was on the B show). It's why I wish there was a viable second major promotion in the US more than anything else it gives Vince a kick in the ass he needs to put out the best product he can.

The difference is something like Bayley should never have ended up in the "only worked in NXT" bucket. She has been so badly misused on the main roster it's nearly criminal. They absolutely suck at getting babyfaces over on the main roster to the point they reconned the Daniel Bryan era to say that it was all their plan from the start. Now they think that constantly beating babyfaces gets people behind them so you have Bayley and Sami Zayn going from huge babyfaces in NXT to geeks in WWE. But I suppose the blame will be placed on the acts themselves for "just not being able to translate".

I mean, one of the factors that helped push WCW over the cliff was the switch to 3 hour Nitros and how bad it made the product. Now obviously WWE isn't going to be at that level and have guys going on TV smashed out of their gourds, but it eroded the fan base even before the really bad shit started. WWE's position is bad in another way. It's near impossible to attract new fans to watch a three hour main program (plus two more hours for Smackdown), but they can't broach the subject with USA since TV money is their bread and butter. I know Triple H has pretty much said he hates it being three hours, so it's not as if they don't realize the problem. The age of WWE viewership is going up and up, which means they are more or less retaining the hardcores and not bringing in anyone new. There's no reason for a wrestling show to be longer than a hour, 90 minutes at tops. Even at two hours you're getting to the point of needing filler, at three hours plus the silly vestigial tail that is the overrun you're turning your flagship show into the Baatan Death March.

Speaking of, guys I watch stream fighting games on Twitch are posting photos of meeting Joe at E3 and playing the new Dragon Ball fighting game. Worlds are colliding.

Possibly, but I think he would have been fine in the role of the veteran who can work with the PC trainees on the Florida circuit to help them improve.

The Billy Corgan era was actually not too bad for the most part, but just when it looked like they were hitting their stride he got pushed out and now we're back to Double J's Fun Time Emporium that I mentioned before finally made me punt on them for good. Got to wonder how James Storm is thinking about his choice to not stick with NXT and go back now.

So many people struggle to understand the modern media landscape. And I think it's because they take their lead from Meltzer and I've never seen Dave this far behind the curve, he's basically arguing that TV is the same as 1998 and everything else is excuses. Raw is doing half the viewership it did in 2010. Every other aspect of their business is basically flat with 2010. Hmm. That's weird. Considering I heard it mentioned on a video game podcast recently that traditional TV is quickly becoming to the 30 and under set what radio was to people in their 40s (ie: something the old folks enjoyed) made me realize how out to lunch Dave is on the media landscape. He is right when he says ratings are a percentage of people able to get the channel so that cord cutters automatically aren't counted, but he really doesn't get at all that there's an entire generation who only watch content via streaming devices. TV really only has a future in areas where bandwidth hasn't grown enough to accommodate streaming, and once it does those markets jump as well. That doesn't even mention the looming bursting of the TV sports bubble, and how the trickle down will definitely affect UFC and probably WWE as well.

I'm hyped for Joe/Brock since Brock seems to enjoy working with a guy not afraid to trade bombs with him. Motivated Brock vs Revitalized Joe could be a sleeper great match.

Yeah I sometimes wonder if the people going out of their way to praise WWE for no longer having "whip your titties out" matches anymore realize that they are totally unable to book any of the current women properly.

You would think the ridiculous amounts of money he made with megastars like Hogan and Austin would make him think otherwise, but Vince seems like the kind of guy still pissed that Stacy Kiebler never came back from Dancing With The Stars.

This is true, but Vince seems more happy knowing none of his creations will ever be popular enough to be able to make money without him. He'd rather make a little bit of money for a long time than make huge amount of money for a shorter time and risk having his stars leave for bigger fame.