Ryan Faulconer Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 They probably can't fix the problem when week after week they seem to be rewriting the shows either right before or during RAW's broadcast. This doesn't explain Smackdown's similar routine but I don't think they are very good at problem solving of any kind. I really dislike commercial breaks on live TV wrestling broadcasts. Bulking up to a three hour RAW has not only given us longer but also better matches which makes the break in action tolerable. The 1980s wrestling formula was so avoidable. They would tease a main event and then run out of time during the ring introductions. Now that I have been enjoying a lot more WWE this past year I rationalize the frustrating TV format. They always use the same formula for ad breaks for every single match. In a messed up but vengeful way I think every match should be held under cage/lumberjack/barbed wire/inferno match rules. It would force them to use more than one transition into their almost agonizing ad breaks. I found it so annoying in CMLL back in 2006. The commercial breaks could be longer than the first or second falls...or both combined sometimes. It was probably one of the reasons I stopped watching lucha TV as religiously. I know I know...I was watching it on a VHS or DVD and the fast forward button was right there at my fingertips. It still took me out of the match and helped ruin my enjoyment of my favourite promotion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Lacelle Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 Someone on deathvalleydriver made this comparison and I feel like it's reasonable. Look at any other sport, football, baseball, hockey and so on, they would never think of going to commercial during the action. A sideline interview with an athlete would be an excellent opportunity to pay the bills, it's the opposite in wrestling. What is basically the filler gets highlighted as the can't miss stuff. No, there won't be an aad break during those HHH promos but you better believe that the Kofi match will get interrupted. This presents the promos as being more important when the neat thing to do would be to present them as being equal with perhaps even hedging toward having the action seem more important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FedEx227 Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 They didn't use to bother me years ago because JR would always say "We have to go to break but this will be the last one of the night!" or something to that effect. Made it seem a bit more rational that they are cutting away, it's not something they WANT to do but they HAVE to do it but there was transparency in knowing it was the last commercial break. I also felt like more of those 1996-1998 commercial breaks happened during an interesting point in the match so there was a bit more intrigue in not only sticking with the action to see what happens but also a more transparent "SHIT WE HAVE TO TAKE ONE MORE BREAK, SORRY!" Today, guy goes outside the ring and you know what's happening. Cole just rambles about coming back soon, return to action and somethings happening when nothing was happening when we left. You know nothing of importance happened and it's just overall very aesthetically jarring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 I seem to remember in WCW they'd always say if the match ended during the break they would show the end of it. I'm pretty sure that's never happened, but I'd love to see if I'm wrong though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMJ Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 My biggest gripe is that they show entrances we have seen hundreds of times instead of just having us come back from commercial with the entrants in the ring. For example, we get uncut John Cena and Randy Orton entrances for any match they're in. God forbid it's a tag or a 6-man because that could mean up to 4 separate entrances. Then, two minutes into the match, we're in a commercial break. Is there a single wrestling fan alive that needs to hear/see Cena's, Orton's, or Triple H's entrance more than once an episode of RAW? (I bring them up because, oftentimes, they have multiple segments on the same show) I think the WWE does a great job with their entrance themes, pyro, etc...but I'd trade never seeing Rey Mysterio or The Rhodes Brothers' entrance again if it meant their matches wouldn't be "paused" after the first 90 seconds every week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FedEx227 Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 I seem to remember in WCW they'd always say if the match ended during the break they would show the end of it. I'm pretty sure that's never happened, but I'd love to see if I'm wrong though. I feel like there was some random Cruiserweight match perhaps something with Jericho in late 96 ending during a commercial break. I could be totally wrong though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mookeighana Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 I've wondered if having those commercial breaks essentially "forces" matches to be certain lengths to fit into time constraints. I was looking at distribution of Raw/Smackdown/PPV match lengths today on my blog: http://indeedwrestling.blogspot.com/2014/02/bury-points-and-match-lengths.html One thing that really jumped out was how much shorter average 1 on 1 singles matches got during the Attitude Era -- it dropped from 5-7 minutes during 1993-1997 down to an average of 3-4 minutes from 1998-2001. It was really crazy. Now we're back to the 5-6 minute era. It total more than half of all matches I looked at from 1993-2013 were less than 5 minutes long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 Ricky Steamboat vs Brian Pillman on WCW Saturday Night on February 20, 1993 had the match end during the commercial break. True enough, they showed us what happened when we returned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduardo Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 When I was young, in the mid-90's, I pretty much accepted this, and just saw it as, "At least [insert wrestler I liked] is getting featured in two segments instead of just one." I always just thought that's how it is. Then I remembered being shocked when Austin-Benoit in Edmonton got 24 uninterrupted minutes on Smackdown. I had been so conditioned with commercials that it always stood out for me, and I wondered why we didn't get more matches like that, that were formatted without commercial breaks. I remember wishing I had DIRECTV and had "WCW Nitro Backstage Blast". Back in 1999, I was always curious of how Hart-Benoit was without commercial breaks, and I know there's some tape traders out there with it now, but I'm not really interested in watching Benoit stuff at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 Did any footage of the July Cesaro/Bryan match from the commercial ever show up? I'm pretty sure they were airing commercial breaks on the app at that point. It sure didn't look like those guys were wont to take it easy for even a minute that night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 I was there live. They took breaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricR Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Some have mentioned the "throw to the floor" = commercial break thing, and that doesn't really bother me. What bothers me is the Michael Cole "x is ROLLING" or "x is REELING!" every fucking time. Michael Cole announces like the worst version of an early 2000s video game soundbite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakeplastictrees Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 In the mid 90's WWF didn't give a shit about going to commercial during a main event title match. I believe WCW Nitro was the first wrestling program in the later 90's to not have their main event interrupted by commercials. In all reality, that is all I care about. The big match. If the entire night has been building up to Batista/Undetaker...take all the commericals breaks BEFORE the match. You want to go to commericals do it during a Divas match or do like The Grammys and run a commercial before Lawler can finish a lame joke. Has this ever killed a match for me? Yep. Rhino vs. Angle vs Christian (?) in a triple threat match. It was the main event of Impact and this was shortly after WWE did an Iron Man match on free tv (HBK vs. Cena?). Everyone was raving about that match so of course, not to be outdone, TNA did their own..and it was good. There was NOTHING wrong with the match with the exception that it went to commercial like 3 times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakla Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Like a few of you had said, the match breaks come up quite predictably. Not sure if that's good or bad. Throw guy to the floor/Cole suspense/WWE logo fades before ad. I'm far more annoyed at the increased reliance of having marketed (but not always pushed) stars already in the ring to the home audience, forgoing their intro/theme. Or as I call it, the "jobber intro". Even current US/IC titleholders have gotten jobber intros as of late. How does it help anyone for Ryback to come off like Rusty Brooks on a 1988 Wrestling Challenge ep? It makes the matches really predictable. You figure with a 3 hour RAW, it would be easier than ever to have full intros shown, but apparently not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 I remember how cool and special a Hunter vs Taker main event on Smackdown was (this was in 2008) when they ran the entire 15-20 minute match with no commercial breaks. It's one of those things that, like the rest of you, I'm completely desensitised to. But if you step back and think about it, in a perfect world, they wouldn't happen. Random cheap plug, but for my Rebooking NXT thread, I'm sure it doesn't come across in the writing because I don't think I've mentioned it, but the way I picture it the matches don't have any ad breaks in the middle of them. Mainly just as another way to differentiate it from the rest of WWE programming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Some have mentioned the "throw to the floor" = commercial break thing, and that doesn't really bother me. What bothers me is the Michael Cole "x is ROLLING" or "x is REELING!" every fucking time. Michael Cole announces like the worst version of an early 2000s video game soundbite. "RAW (or SMACKDOWN) ROLLS ON" before every mid match commercial break is quickly becoming my #1 hated WWE verbal tic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackwebb Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 Yeah this what a friend of mine that stopped watching years ago and checked it out again recently complained about. I am not a fan of the commercials either. I wouldn't mind as much if the announcers acknowledged them. Say that if the match ends during the break we will show you what happens when you return. I only started watching again when I had a DVR and wasn't watching live so I didn't think about it much at first. When I watch live though it is irritating. It is just more unnecessary attention to the fact that what you are watching is fake. It seems like a lot of this stuff just comes from laziness on their end and could easily be addressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badlittlekitten Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 In my experience with casuals the problem is less the commercial breaks and more the length of the matches. Everything is a Super Competitive Athletic Contest. I get that gripe. Why The Wyatt Family has to go fifteen minutes with Sin Cara and the bloody Matadors on Main Event I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 In my experience with casuals the problem is less the commercial breaks and more the length of the matches. Everything is a Super Competitive Athletic Contest. I get that gripe. Why The Wyatt Family has to go fifteen minutes with Sin Cara and the bloody Matadors on Main Event I don't know. That reminds me. I wanted to check that match out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGuy Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 Ricky Steamboat vs Brian Pillman on WCW Saturday Night on February 20, 1993 had the match end during the commercial break. True enough, they showed us what happened when we returned. The only other match I can think of that ended during a commercial break was Mr. Perfect versus Rick Martel on an early 1993 Raw. What makes that particular instance even more annoying is that on the Best of Raw set, they showed the finish as a replay, exactly as it originally aired. Commercial breaks generally don't bother me much. On the other hand, I remember being a little frustrated when the first commercial aired, or the one immediately preceding the return from the break, was any kind of company commercial. It really seemed to devalue the show, and more specifically the match airing, when the company could have easily run that commercial at any other point during a two hour show instead of taking time away from the action. It seemed illogical. At this point, I'm used to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted February 15, 2014 Report Share Posted February 15, 2014 Dolph and Kofi had a 2/3 Falls match on Raw where the first fall happened during the break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 I am so over the top on my hatred for commercials in general. Do no watch wrestling live currently so it is not something that really effects me. Though Dailymotion pisses me of so much when those commercials every five minutes and then not letting me watch rest of match. But I am not going to rant on that. I watch no current TV at home. Commercials make me automatically change the channel if I have a remote in my hand. I almost never return to channel either. Soccer is the only really thing I watch which has no commercial breaks during game itself. Love Olympic Hockey as they do not use commercials during game either. I am curious how use of commercials will be on WWE Network. I do plan on watching the stuff I want from Raw/Smackdown but wonder if I will be forced to watch commercials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheapshot Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Though Dailymotion pisses me of so much when those commercials every five minutes and then not letting me watch rest of match. Get Google Chrome, Get Ad BlockPlus Extension. No more adverts in Youtube or Daily Motion videos as well as websites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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