Russellmania Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 I don't think a brand split is necessary, but I kind of wish they didn't feel like they have to involve certain guys in *every* PPV. I think this is something they could learn from UFC. UFC has monthly shows, but it's not like the heavyweight champ defends on every PPV. I know it's not a perfect comparison, but I would like to see WWE recognize when a smaller show like Battleground is going to do more harm than good for certain programs and instead build the show around guys who maybe don't get to feature as much in the bigger shows. Problem is that in order for that to work you need your secondary titles to mean something so that you can have say...the IC title main event a PPV. They are obviously a long way off from that. I guess my point is that they have enough talent to fill out all the TV and PPV's they have, but they rarely make the best use of that talent and that tends to send a clear message that certain guys aren't important enough to get significant PPV time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 I don't think a brand split is necessary, but I kind of wish they didn't feel like they have to involve certain guys in *every* PPV. I think this is something they could learn from UFC. UFC has monthly shows, but it's not like the heavyweight champ defends on every PPV. I know it's not a perfect comparison, but I would like to see WWE recognize when a smaller show like Battleground is going to do more harm than good for certain programs and instead build the show around guys who maybe don't get to feature as much in the bigger shows. Problem is that in order for that to work you need your secondary titles to mean something so that you can have say...the IC title main event a PPV. They are obviously a long way off from that. I guess my point is that they have enough talent to fill out all the TV and PPV's they have, but they rarely make the best use of that talent and that tends to send a clear message that certain guys aren't important enough to get significant PPV time. I agree with a lot of this and before the Monday Night Wars, you saw this practiced. Then when it became all about ratings, the top guy needed to be on every week. You see how much they panic now to one bad non-Cena main event, it's ridiculous. I think having four or five over guys would help but they don't seem willing to do that. It's Cena then a huge step down to everyone else. No reason why they can't have some Piper's and Savage's to supplement their Hogan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man in Blak Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 I can't see them willingly cancelling Smackdown or throttling down the PPV schedule, not when Wall Street is flinching over projected WWE Network subscriber numbers. The brand split comment is interesting because, in a way, they already have a brand split that would work for splitting PPVs: WWE and NXT. NXT's deliberately set up as the "developmental" organization, but that hasn't stopped people from being enthusiastic about it -- to me, it seems more viable as a second brand than an arbitrary split of the "big league" roster, especially since the current WWE is so thin that they're already re-running matches in the undercard constantly. If they ramped up the roster in NXT so that they could handle a longer PPV-level card (rather than the two-hour specials that they're doing now), they'd be doing themselves two separate favors -- they'd not only buy themselves from breathing room from a storyline standpoint in WWE, but they'd also theoretically be building a strong developmental roster that could ascend and eventually excel in WWE. Here's a potential schedule, with WWE PPVs in bold: Late January - Royal Rumble Late February - NXT PPV1 Late March - Wrestlemania Late April - NXT PPV2 Mid May - WWE PPV3: Payback, Backlash Late June - Money in the Bank Mid July - NXT PPV3 Mid-August - Summer Slam Early September - NXT PPV4 Mid-October - WWE PPV6: Fall Brawl, Halloween Havoc Late November - Survivor Series (with Elimination Chamber match?) Mid December - NXT PPV5 (most important NXT PPV of the year - think Starrcade) This gives PPVs in both brands some time between major events to build up storylines. Plus, NXT talent that are ready to make the jump to WWE could seamlessly transition from a big blowoff in NXT PPV5 into the Royal Rumble. EDIT: Another option with this plan, though it would probably require re-negotiation of the TV deal - use a replay of NXT from the previous Thursday to replace the first or third hour of Raw. That gives NXT exposure on TV (though Network subscribers would still get the incentive of seeing it live), plus it brings Raw back to a more compact two-hour timeslot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 You see how much they panic now to one bad non-Cena main event, it's ridiculous. I think having four or five over guys would help but they don't seem willing to do that. It's Cena then a huge step down to everyone else. No reason why they can't have some Piper's and Savage's to supplement their Hogan. I don't remember where I heard or read it from but this has come up in the past before & was answered with "if you have a lot of top guys, you have to pay a lot of top guys top guy money" or something like that. I'm not sure how much validity that even has but it is something to ponder, I reckon. I do imagine that Cena makes more in WWE than most. Maybe it's a thought-process layover from the guaranteed contracts in WCW where guys would have stipulations where if someone made more money than them, their pay went up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 You see how much they panic now to one bad non-Cena main event, it's ridiculous. I think having four or five over guys would help but they don't seem willing to do that. It's Cena then a huge step down to everyone else. No reason why they can't have some Piper's and Savage's to supplement their Hogan. I don't remember where I heard or read it from but this has come up in the past before & was answered with "if you have a lot of top guys, you have to pay a lot of top guys top guy money" or something like that. I'm not sure how much validity that even has but it is something to ponder, I reckon. I do imagine that Cena makes more in WWE than most. Maybe it's a thought-process layover from the guaranteed contracts in WCW where guys would have stipulations where if someone made more money than them, their pay went up. I can see that to an extene, but it seems short sighted. Wouldn't a lot of top guys make your company a lot of money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 They'll never scale Raw back to 2 hours. The loss of ad revenue would kill their bottom line. You're talking about cutting their main ad revenue source by 33%. They'll continue to water down the product before ever giving that money up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man in Blak Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 They'll never scale Raw back to 2 hours. The loss of ad revenue would kill their bottom line. You're talking about cutting their main ad revenue source by 33%. They'll continue to water down the product before ever giving that money up. This article seems to imply that ad revenue isn't that great for wrestling anyway - is it really that big of a chunk of WWE's revenue? Does WWE even get a piece of that ad revenue or does it go to NBC Universal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 It hurt WCW a lot when they cut an hour off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 I can see that to an extene, but it seems short sighted. Wouldn't a lot of top guys make your company a lot of money? You would think, right? It seems flawed. But with the current direction of the company, with the roster cuts, the new USA contract, the lack of subscribers for the WWE Network, stock coming back down to earth, etc. I'm not sure WWE higher ups would see anything other than "pay more money" ya know? Plus, I really like the UFC idea where every other month you could have a different match on top. It would be really cool to see a PPV where the main event is the IC title or Tag Team title & Cena isn't on the show. That just doesn't seem realistic though with the current landscape of WWE. It would take a lot of work & reconditioning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted July 21, 2014 Report Share Posted July 21, 2014 I like how right after the Lana promo last night, the WWE Creative parody twitter made a comment along the lines of "Lana was referring to some other current event and totally not the one you're thinking about".....then today the real WWE issued a non-apology basically saying the exact same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Hunter's opening promo on Raw was something...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Was out picking up food. What'd he say? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiva Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Was out picking up food. What'd he say? Lots of jabs at people complaining about things on Twitter. I guess HHH promos about social media are the new "Vince promos about politics" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 They should bring up CJ Parker as a smark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 He was saying that since things didn't go his way last night he was going to angrily tweet about it and stop watching the show. He might even do an Instagram or a Vine, and that he and his friend Mark were going to riot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Social media creeping into promos is one of the worst things to ever happen to wrestling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 WWE isn't even the worst talking about social media anymore.....ESPN has taken that throne....all they do is talk about tweets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russellmania Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 why the fuck did they book Bo in the face position of this segment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Stephanie is kind of in the right here. Brie willingly quit and fans aren't allowed to jump the barricade. Also wouldnt it make more sense for Nikkii to wrestle Steph at .Summerslam for Brie's job? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboy hats Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 He was saying that since things didn't go his way last night he was going to angrily tweet about it and stop watching the show. He might even do an Instagram or a Vine, and that he and his friend Mark were going to riot. who is mystery mark??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 I wish Undertaker would have come out and said "I WILL NOT JOIN YOU IN YOUR RIOT" in his Undertaker voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Man does Jericho look old in the face. The plastic surgery made him look worse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 I miss Bryan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Biggest pop of the show so far was when .steph mentioned Bryan. He's still the most over guy and hasn't been on the show in 2 months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 The crowd came back alive for Dolph. So god dammit, make him job against Mizanin. edit: holy shit Dolph won! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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