Current WWE

[Johnny Sorrow]

I had no idea music this lame still existed but of course it's associated with WWE.

Not really "associated with WWE". That act is currently one of the top acts in modern country. That just says more about modern country music than the WWE.

And I thought Vickie was a blast during that segment.

[efrim]

Nice to see WWE Being A Star by mocking AJ fainting in Europe. It's not like they don't have two injury prone guys as champs right now....oh wait.

Sometimes it just takes my breath away how petty the wwe can be.

[Sean Liska]

They really showed AJ by booking a segment where the fans would love her and she constantly out-thwarted the hated heel before delivering her comeuppance to the crowd's approval.

 

That main event was awesome.

[evilclown]

I think when Punk said "Vince McMahon is a millionaire who should be a billionaire" is always right on the money. They seem to recognise a money making opportunity for about 8 weeks and then panic mode sets in when the ratings aren't amazing. Hell, maybe the infatuation with ratings in a DVR society is the telling reminder that WWE are still woefully behind the rest of television.

I think this is exactly wrong. WWE is trying to, ironically enough considering the 1980's push to do the opposite, position itself alongside sports programming. What makes sports so valuable is that it isn't as likely to be DVR'ed. It is consumed live and in real time. WWE is the same way and is working to encourage that with their strong push towards social media integration during the shows.

 

The last thing Vince and the WWE wants is to be DVR'ed or to let anyone think, even for a minute, about DVR'ing their show. Live and social is what makes them valuable.

[NintendoLogic]

I missed the main event. I heard it was good.

It was basically the same match the Shield have every week.

[Matt D]

Just with some extra added elements of storytelling due to a slowly growing trust trust between the heel factions and Punk being great on the apron and one really great Daniel sequence that ended with this huge power bomb.

 

Neither here nor there, but Rollins has really come a long way from where he was even a year and a half ago.

[soup23]

I missed the main event. I heard it was good.

It was basically the same match the Shield have every week.

 

Are you saying this like it is a good or bad thing?

[NintendoLogic]

I missed the main event. I heard it was good.

It was basically the same match the Shield have every week.

 

Are you saying this like it is a good or bad thing?

 

A little of both, I guess.

[tim]

I think when Punk said "Vince McMahon is a millionaire who should be a billionaire" is always right on the money. They seem to recognise a money making opportunity for about 8 weeks and then panic mode sets in when the ratings aren't amazing. Hell, maybe the infatuation with ratings in a DVR society is the telling reminder that WWE are still woefully behind the rest of television.

I think this is exactly wrong. WWE is trying to, ironically enough considering the 1980's push to do the opposite, position itself alongside sports programming. What makes sports so valuable is that it isn't as likely to be DVR'ed. It is consumed live and in real time. WWE is the same way and is working to encourage that with their strong push towards social media integration during the shows.

 

The last thing Vince and the WWE wants is to be DVR'ed or to let anyone think, even for a minute, about DVR'ing their show. Live and social is what makes them valuable.

 

Is this working really? I guess maybe it could. People watch sports live because the whole point is they care what happens so much that they want to see it in real time. Sure a good game would be nice but they have their team and they want to know how it ends up. Wouldn't booking a product that makes people care about what happens go further in making people tune in live? Or is that just impossible to do.

[MJH]

I realise this is completely superfluous but the Strat should've been a Tele.

[efrim]

They really showed AJ by booking a segment where the fans would love her and she constantly out-thwarted the hated heel before delivering her comeuppance to the crowd's approval.

 

That main event was awesome.

I don't think that does her any favors considering she's supposed to be a heel right now. She's single-handedly carrying the Diva's division right now, so a passive aggressive rebuke is about the best they could do. Like I said, it just strikes me as very petty.

[Sean Liska]

They really showed AJ by booking a segment where the fans would love her and she constantly out-thwarted the hated heel before delivering her comeuppance to the crowd's approval.

 

That main event was awesome.

I don't think that does her any favors considering she's supposed to be a heel right now. She's single-handedly carrying the Diva's division right now, so a passive aggressive rebuke is about the best they could do. Like I said, it just strikes me as very petty.

 

What would AJ prefer? The usual treatment where she's part of a 3-minute jumbled divas match that nobody remembers, or a longer featured segment where she's getting one over on one of the most hated performers on the roster? She's been in kind of a weird tweener status since cutting that pipe bomb on the divas.

[NintendoLogic]

Yeah, what Diva wouldn't be thrilled to have her body image issues turned into a joke on TV?

[Exposer]

I think when Punk said "Vince McMahon is a millionaire who should be a billionaire" is always right on the money. They seem to recognise a money making opportunity for about 8 weeks and then panic mode sets in when the ratings aren't amazing. Hell, maybe the infatuation with ratings in a DVR society is the telling reminder that WWE are still woefully behind the rest of television.

I think this is exactly wrong. WWE is trying to, ironically enough considering the 1980's push to do the opposite, position itself alongside sports programming. What makes sports so valuable is that it isn't as likely to be DVR'ed. It is consumed live and in real time. WWE is the same way and is working to encourage that with their strong push towards social media integration during the shows.

 

The last thing Vince and the WWE wants is to be DVR'ed or to let anyone think, even for a minute, about DVR'ing their show. Live and social is what makes them valuable.

 

Is this working really? I guess maybe it could. People watch sports live because the whole point is they care what happens so much that they want to see it in real time. Sure a good game would be nice but they have their team and they want to know how it ends up. Wouldn't booking a product that makes people care about what happens go further in making people tune in live? Or is that just impossible to do.

 

For me, I HATE watching football games and sports after the fact. It already happened. I missed it. What's the point? Sure, I'll catch the highlights or maybe even turn on CSS to watch a little bit of a game re-run but no way in hell am I going to be happy about missing it. Raw? I have missed it numerous times over the years. I've been annoyed at times and couldn't care less at others. I can catch it all on DVR or the internet.

[Slasher]

I think when Punk said "Vince McMahon is a millionaire who should be a billionaire" is always right on the money. They seem to recognise a money making opportunity for about 8 weeks and then panic mode sets in when the ratings aren't amazing. Hell, maybe the infatuation with ratings in a DVR society is the telling reminder that WWE are still woefully behind the rest of television.

I think this is exactly wrong. WWE is trying to, ironically enough considering the 1980's push to do the opposite, position itself alongside sports programming. What makes sports so valuable is that it isn't as likely to be DVR'ed. It is consumed live and in real time. WWE is the same way and is working to encourage that with their strong push towards social media integration during the shows.

 

The last thing Vince and the WWE wants is to be DVR'ed or to let anyone think, even for a minute, about DVR'ing their show. Live and social is what makes them valuable.

 

Is this working really? I guess maybe it could. People watch sports live because the whole point is they care what happens so much that they want to see it in real time. Sure a good game would be nice but they have their team and they want to know how it ends up. Wouldn't booking a product that makes people care about what happens go further in making people tune in live? Or is that just impossible to do.

 

For me, I HATE watching football games and sports after the fact. It already happened. I missed it. What's the point? Sure, I'll catch the highlights or maybe even turn on CSS to watch a little bit of a game re-run but no way in hell am I going to be happy about missing it. Raw? I have missed it numerous times over the years. I've been annoyed at times and couldn't care less at others. I can catch it all on DVR or the internet.

 

It is impossible. With sports games, you really have to dvr the games to catch it, because really, the sports leagues do not rebroadcast the games unless in special circumstances like flashback games or whatever but yes you lose the emotion of watching with the rest of the world. Wrestling? It is easier to watch a rebroadcast and the emotional connection or analytical connection has long ago been developed differently. Very rarely you get an excitement where you reach out to others "you gotta turn this on now!" Look at the NBA. You have certain guys designated as the "tune in now!" Heat checkers like Stephen Curry or Kevin Durant or Lebron James or whatever. Who do you got that with in wrestling?

[Loss]

WWE is able to do a lot of this off of the fumes of the Monday Night Wars, when Monday night wrestling felt like an event. I think WWE encouraging their fans to use social media to record video of themselves enjoying RAW with the possibility of a brief clip airing on TV isn't a bad idea. It added a lot to the aura of Nitro in the late 90s. That's what Dave doesn't get about them pushing social media -- they aren't going to see hard indicators of improved ratings or buyrates or anything like that, but it can add to the perception that RAW in real time is an event, which in turn makes the show seem like more of a commodity, which in turn ideally increases the money they can make off of TV rights fees.

[efrim]

Its really hard to understate how important the sports-like live event feel is to the positioning of the wwe. Live sports is really the only thing holding up the whole traditional tv model. I recently got an anti-sports friend of mine to start watching basketball games with me. During games, every time a commercial comes on, it is the first time he has ever seen that commercial. He consumes a lot of media, but this is the one time where he is actually a captive audience to traditional advertising. Advertisers are very aware of this and covet advertising during sporting events.

 

Despite any missteps, wwe has that same inherent advantage. I think things are really going to change when they negotiate their new TV deal. There will be a lot of interest from networks that didn't exist the last time they inked a deal and it might be the moment when a lot of quality ad buyers get over their pre-conceptions about the pro wrestling audience.

[MikeCampbell]

I'm normally fine with WWE keeping the same ring names that their developmental guys use in while in developmental. It beats watching them in OVW and them showing up on RAW with a new name and goofy gimmick. But, I think they dropped the ball by not having Xavier Woods use the "Consequences" name. They basically did the same thing TNA did with him, pair him with Killings, but not allow them a clever team name.

[cheapshot]

Remember when it was reported that HHH wouldn't be bringing anyone up from developmental unless a long term plan was in place for them. Poor Consequences Creed

[Log]

WWE is able to do a lot of this off of the fumes of the Monday Night Wars, when Monday night wrestling felt like an event. I think WWE encouraging their fans to use social media to record video of themselves enjoying RAW with the possibility of a brief clip airing on TV isn't a bad idea. It added a lot to the aura of Nitro in the late 90s. That's what Dave doesn't get about them pushing social media -- they aren't going to see hard indicators of improved ratings or buyrates or anything like that, but it can add to the perception that RAW in real time is an event, which in turn makes the show seem like more of a commodity, which in turn ideally increases the money they can make off of TV rights fees.

I think this is right. Right now, my newsroom is ALL about social media. Building loyalty, etc. It really sounds stupid to most of us with half a brain, but you cannot overestimate how much people are into having their tweets, facebook posts, etc. shared on television.

 

That said, I think you could hear the eyes rolling this week on Raw when Cole announced that the Wyatt Family was trending on Twitter and wondered how that would sit with the Shield.

[Slasher]

Remember when it was reported that HHH wouldn't be bringing anyone up from developmental unless a long term plan was in place for them. Poor Consequences Creed

I'm thinking this is just a set-up for a heel turn for Woods down the line, like in a month or two, after establishing the team. Maybe with Tyler Breeze attached to it.

[cheapshot]

Remember when it was reported that HHH wouldn't be bringing anyone up from developmental unless a long term plan was in place for them. Poor Consequences Creed

I'm thinking this is just a set-up for a heel turn for Woods down the line, like in a month or two, after establishing the team. Maybe with Tyler Breeze attached to it.

 

Hopefully. But I doubt it.

[Tim Evans]

Matt, you are gonna love Regal vs Cesaro that took place tonight. Such a brutal and awesome match. Also Davey Richards almost broke his neck Benoit style in his tryout match. I would be really surprised if they aren't signed though as they were really over with the crowd vs the Ascension.

[Matt D]

Matt, you are gonna love Regal vs Cesaro that took place tonight. Such a brutal and awesome match. Also Davey Richards almost broke his neck Benoit style in his tryout match. I would be really surprised if they aren't signed though as they were really over with the crowd vs the Ascension.

I love it when people start posts with "Matt, you are gonna love"

 

I'm looking forward to seeing that match as much as anything in wrestling right now.

[Dylan Waco]

Matt, you are gonna love Regal vs Cesaro that took place tonight. Such a brutal and awesome match.

On paper that sounds like it would be at worst great and at best a MOTY candidate.