SteveJRogers Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 You would think they would advertise The Rock in advance to pop the buyrate, unless they were unsure whether he would make it. Or maybe with the Network they aren't worried about traditional buys so much. It might be a case, like with Austin where its a blurb article on the homepage, where it was a last minute thing, and they are unsure of what his role is going to be. Most likely a glorified cameo, but also something that they'd rather not cause attention to be drawn away from the rest of the card, or give cranky trolls something to bitch about on Monday (ALL THAT HYPE, AND THAT IS ALL THEY HAD ROCK AND/OR AUSTIN DO!?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 There is no buyrate to pop. Wrestling has changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 There are still going to be a couple hundred thousand buys or maybe more for WrestleMania, at least this year. The "normal" PPVs will be what completely dies off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 There is no buyrate to pop. Wrestling has changed. Maybe in the long run, but right now Wrestlemania is still going to do a few hundred thousand buys, and that isn't a negligible amount of money to the WWE. The Rock is exactly the type of guy who could have an effect impulse buys from casual fans who don't subscribe to the network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 I will be surprised if there are that many. I will freely admit I'm wrong if I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Loss, when we did the Mania Preview at P2B, two of the guys Kris and Johnny Sorrow freely admitted that they will buy Mania from their cable company even though they both subscribe to the network. I am interested to see how many people who have the network will buy the show because they don't trust the network yet to deliver Mania problem free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 On WOR this morning, Dave said that advance buys from cable & satellite companies are way ahead of an average WWE PPV, albeit nowhere near WrestleMania levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy hats Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Does anyone have a link to the HHH video package referenced earlier this week (of his early-aughts reign of terror)? Haven't come across it yet (granted my search effort was only fast forwarding through one day of Wrestlemania Today and TWIWWE). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJRogers Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Loss, when we did the Mania Preview at P2B, two of the guys Kris and Johnny Sorrow freely admitted that they will buy Mania from their cable company even though they both subscribe to the network. I am interested to see how many people who have the network will buy the show because they don't trust the network yet to deliver Mania problem free. I'd hate to sound negative, but IF something bad happened, despite the 6 month committment, how many cancellations will be made? I can see a lot of subscribers not seeing the forrest for the trees (all the On Demand content, hiccups are damn near expected early on with these kinds of ventures, etc) on this one and consider The Netelwork an "abject failure" or something along those lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Loss, when we did the Mania Preview at P2B, two of the guys Kris and Johnny Sorrow freely admitted that they will buy Mania from their cable company even though they both subscribe to the network. I am interested to see how many people who have the network will buy the show because they don't trust the network yet to deliver Mania problem free. I will be really surprised if lots of people do that. I feel like I've paid for something and I'm not going to double pay for it because I'm not sure I'm going to get what I paid for in the first place. But that's just me. If there are more buys than I expect, I will blame it on the word "Network", which is a misleading way to describe what WWE is doing in a way. That word leads people to think they can call their cable company for more information. Then maybe the customer service people there say "We don't know anything about a network, but we can help you order Wrestlemania." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 If there are more buys than I expect, I will blame it on the word "Network", which is a misleading way to describe what WWE is doing in a way. That word leads people to think they can call their cable company for more information. Then maybe the customer service people there say "We don't know anything about a network, but we can help you order Wrestlemania." Not sure if this is tongue in cheek; it seems to overestimate the ignorance and laziness of people. They have been shilling the network on Raw regularly, with the commentators running through what exactly it is and how you use this. Plus people can Google it in seconds, everyone has laptops and tablets and smartphones now. The amount of people ordering Wrestlemania via traditional channels because they are confused about the network will be very low. A lot of people don't like change, and they like things that are easy and reliable. Hence the show will still do plenty of buys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Loss, when we did the Mania Preview at P2B, two of the guys Kris and Johnny Sorrow freely admitted that they will buy Mania from their cable company even though they both subscribe to the network. I am interested to see how many people who have the network will buy the show because they don't trust the network yet to deliver Mania problem free. I will be really surprised if lots of people do that. I feel like I've paid for something and I'm not going to double pay for it because I'm not sure I'm going to get what I paid for in the first place. But that's just me. If there are more buys than I expect, I will blame it on the word "Network", which is a misleading way to describe what WWE is doing in a way. That word leads people to think they can call their cable company for more information. Then maybe the customer service people there say "We don't know anything about a network, but we can help you order Wrestlemania." I am in this bus. I will have an illegal stream kicking just in case Not sure if this is tongue in cheek; it seems to overestimate the ignorance and laziness of people. They have been shilling the network on Raw regularly, with the commentators running through what exactly it is and how you use this. Plus people can Google it in seconds, everyone has laptops and tablets and smartphones now. The amount of people ordering Wrestlemania via traditional channels because they are confused about the network will be very low. A lot of people don't like change, and they like things that are easy and reliable. Hence the show will still do plenty of buys. I think you overestimate people and their technological capabilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Does anyone have a link to the HHH video package referenced earlier this week (of his early-aughts reign of terror)? Haven't come across it yet (granted my search effort was only fast forwarding through one day of Wrestlemania Today and TWIWWE). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Despite my ambivalence towards this card, WWE is in a really good place right now. They have so much talent, all the veterans are being used well, they are engaging with the past a lot at the same time as creating future stars. Feels like there is a buzz around wrestling again. Plus Vicki Guerrero is leaving after tonight, which brings a neat close to that horrible era of the company that coincided with her as the 'General Manager' for years on end, no wonder so many long term fans tuned out. She is truly the worst 'talent' to have been with the company for any length of time, serious X-Pac Heat for years, fuck knows why they stuck with her. She was a big reason I completely tuned out between 2007 and 2011. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Just came here to post that. Tonight is Vickie's final night with the company. She's left a couple times before but always returned rather quickly. Apparently she is opening up her own business Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 If Vickie was a big reason you tuned out, you must have missed all the other stuff going on in that time frame that wasn't exactly great. Vince knew that Vickie having a regular job was an important thing after Eddy passed so that she could provide for her family. I could care less what she did while she was on my TV screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 with Stephanie returning to TV full time Vickie became sort of a non factor. The two feuding last summer went nowhere in the end. That seems like ions ago with Vince supporting her and Steph and Hunter hating her. Who would have thought that all that stuff would somehow lead us to tonight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Vickie Guerrero at her peak was awesome. One of the few people who had legitimate heat in the arena, not XPac heat or whatever . She made matches have more importance live. The Cougar character was awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 What made Vickie great is that she performed her best material the same way she performed her worst. A lot of people in WWE seem to make it obvious when they don't like the goofy or humiliating stuff they're booked to do. Vickie always stayed true to the character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 If Vickie was a big reason you tuned out, you must have missed all the other stuff going on in that time frame that wasn't exactly great. The product was awful generally at the time, true, but she was one of the worst. Her voice, her screaming, everything about her made you turn it off. Vickie Guerrero at her peak was awesome. One of the few people who had legitimate heat in the arena, She was genuinely hated, that much is true. Mostly it is because her character was so grating and annoying and a poor, one dimensional performer. It was nice of WWE to give her some financial security, but the benevolence wore thin after the tenth time you heard her screaming hysterically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Is it wrong that I was expecting Swagger to come out and hit Cesaro with the trophy after the match? Maybe that's why they made it so damn big so they wouldn't have to go through with the trope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 I did too a little until I heard that it took 5 officials to carry it inside the ring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 A trophy that size you bump someone INTO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 One of the biggest laughs we had last night was when Cesaro slammed Show out of the ring with relative ease then had trouble lifting the trophy up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Brock's had a lot of nicknames, but now it should be "The One" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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