NintendoLogic Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 So, um...according to the latest Observer, WWE's goal in bringing in Rousey is to make Stephanie a bigger mainstream star. Yeah. Yeah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 My level if surprise to that is about zero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 So, um...according to the latest Observer, WWE's goal in bringing in Rousey is to make Stephanie a bigger mainstream star. Because anyone knows who the fuck Stephy is already outside of the US wrestling bubble ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 Copying what I put in the Heyman to manage Rousey thread: That's at least the idea for the Mania match, but I don't know that it's the idea beyond that. It makes sense if you accept these truths: (1) They care more about television rights and stock prices than house show attendance and network subscriptions since the former are primary sources of revenue. (2) Because of this, their customers are on Wall Street now, not in their live crowds. In fact, we aren't the target audience, we're the product, presented to shareholders in sheer numbers -- number of viewers, number of social media followers, number of countries where they have fans, etc. They don't want the bottom to fall out, but we aren't the end goal anymore. We're mostly something they can brag about to the people they really care about. (3) They have decided that they want their public face to no longer be a man in his 70s, but a working mom. (4) As the face and voice of the company (the Chief Brand Officer), they want to put Stephanie's name out there more and make her more visible, because they think that is good for the image of the company and will make WWE more visible. (5) They think it is more important to the company's future to get Stephanie over with the general public and their shareholders than it is to generate interest in a hot new star or get their wrestling fanbase excited about something. Are all of those things true? I don't know 100%, but I suspect they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Liska Posted February 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 I think you're a little cynical on them not caring about attendance or Network subs, or maybe I'm not understanding what you mean. Vince did everything he could to make Roman the guy to replace Cena and keep attendance strong for another decade, he broke The Streak so Roman could avenge it. Now, Vince didn't do a very good job with that push and you could write a book about why it hasn't worked, but I think Vince put a lot of work and thought into trying to have his next Cena ready. Sometimes it just doesn't work. The Goldberg-Lesnar feud was classic simple pro wrestling. Same with Brock/Joe. They put a Mania caliber card on in September with the Cena/Roman and Brock/Braun matches. Vince took a shoot headbutt to sell a B-show PPV in a time of year that's usually boring and then had Shane wrestle. They put a ton of work into hyping Survivor Series with the brand warfare angles. Again, you can complain about how good things are, but I think the effort is still very much there if not competence at times. I think Vince very much cares about those old metrics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 They care for sure, but I don't think it's their primary goal at this point. I'm not even sure it should be since they don't make most of their money under a traditional pro wrestling model, which can get pretty volatile. It's secondary. It's not a zero-sum game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 This about sums up why WWE has mostly been a shitty pro-wrestling promotion since it's became a publicly shared company. Pro-wrestling needs an alternative. Not ROH. Not TNA. It needs a new WCW. Well, not exactly, but you get my drift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 So, um...according to the latest Observer, WWE's goal in bringing in Rousey is to make Stephanie a bigger mainstream star. Because anyone knows who the fuck Stephy is already outside of the US wrestling bubble ? That was Dave's point. Stephanie is a big deal in wrestling but means nothing outside of it. The goal is to make her a star outside the wrestling world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 That was Dave's point. Stephanie is a big deal in wrestling but means nothing outside of it. The goal is to make her a star outside the wrestling world. Ah ah ah. Stephy. She'll be on WWE TV for the next 20 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMKK Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 This sounds like another step in the succession plan for Vince then. Get Stephanie out front and centre as a public face, delegate more control to HHH, promote Barrios etc. They're laying the groundwork for Vince stepping away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted February 9, 2018 Report Share Posted February 9, 2018 I thought before that news that Rousey would ultimately be a failure in WWE. That kind of confirms it for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Badger Posted February 10, 2018 Report Share Posted February 10, 2018 Honestly, I only know what's going on in the WWE because of PWO so, I wonder how much "they" want Stephanie to be mainstream? Like Rocky at the 2000 Republican national convention mainstream? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted February 10, 2018 Report Share Posted February 10, 2018 Ok, this Shes gonna run for office bullshit has got to fucking cease. Stop. I can only take so much misogyny bubbling below the surface with Steph talk without that nonsense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Badger Posted February 10, 2018 Report Share Posted February 10, 2018 Um, that's a jump to conclusion with what I asked...its not a political comment. Its a mainstream outside the wrestling world remark... I don't watch WWE so I'm generally curious if that's the level of mainstream notice that people are talking about. She seems like the face of WWE to me already. That's why I led off with the word "honestly" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FMKK Posted February 10, 2018 Report Share Posted February 10, 2018 Ok, this Shes gonna run for office bullshit has got to fucking cease. Stop. I can only take so much misogyny bubbling below the surface with Steph talk without that nonsense. No one said she was running for office. You are allowed to dislike Stephanie McMahon as a TV performer without being misogynist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted February 10, 2018 Report Share Posted February 10, 2018 The current landscape of pro-wrestling is pretty cool & fun, admittedly, but I find myself just working through 1989 WCW anyway. Everything I really need, I get from WWE Network nowadays. Even Lucha Underground is on Netflix & I've seen TNA & AAA on Twitch. It's a crazy time to be a wrestling fan but I can't help but have that nostalgia for stuff from yesteryear. When I was growing up & watching wrestling, mostly WWF at the time, I could name the card from each of the major PPVs for each year. Ever since 1998 or so, every year has blended together. I can't tell you what the main event of the last three Wrestlemanias were. There's just so much stuff nowadays & it doesn't ever feel fresh anymore. It all feels recycled or like we've already seen it a dozen times. I guess that's just due to over-saturation, mostly because of all the TV time. Someone earlier in the thread asked where they thought wrestling would be in five years... I think it'll be over-saturated. Everyone now wants their version of WWE Network. Just like everyone wants their version of Netflix. You got YouTube Red, Hulu, Amazon Prime or whatever it's called, I heard Disney wants to do one of their own... just so much streaming stuff, and they all cost money. These new streaming sites are the new television channels. Instead of paying your cable provider to package ESPN, TBS and TNT together, you're signing up for a website to stream the wrestling/movies you prefer. Before too long, they'll probably start packaging them together too. My biggest issue with pro-wrestling nowadays I feel like Jetlag sort of touched upon. Or maybe I took it that way. But wrestling today isn't about getting sucked into the show or the story anymore. The wrestlers don't have gimmicks or characters. It's just a bunch of guys trading moves until the crowd chants for them. It doesn't feel organic. It feels overly-choreographed. And I think Jetlag hit the nail on the head when he said it's a bunch of wrestlers vying for approval from Meltzer. What's really missing is charisma. It's a bunch of average looking guys that can't promo wrestling like a video game. And there's a lot of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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