WWE TV 12/03 - 12/09 Bolsonaro made me abandon my sports team

[sek69]

Raw seems like a sports team that had one franchise player and no backup plan if that player gets hurt and is out for an extended time.  Only difference is a sports team that loses a star player can tank for a season and get a shot at a top draft pick the next year to potentially replace that person. WWE could do that too but they seem more determined to kneecap their "draft picks" from NXT. 

[Alucard]

18 minutes ago, SomethingSavage said:

The last time they were in this situation - Raw sucked, SD consistently delivered - was the Fall/Spring of 2016/17. And their brilliant solution was to "shake up" the rosters just enough to make sure both shows sucked again.

That initial August 2016 to April 2017 era of SDL felt like peak level stuff where everything was firing on all cylinders, new stars were being created, awesome matches/feuds were happening, it was on fire. Until as you said the shakeup bombed the roster. These days it feels like there's some pretty good stuff going on but there is still so much of the 'half the roster disappears for weeks/months at a time with no mention' going on, whereas the 16/17 era had most everyone being used well.

[Strummer]

I know a lot of people (a fair amount here) thought Raw sucked in late 2016/early 2017 because of Jericho/Owens push as top heels but I always thought it went deeper than that.  I always kinda thought they were scapegoats for Raw sucking so much during that time

[sek69]

I don't know if it's intentional, but I love how Paige has ended up the only authority figure in wrestling history to prevent a contract signing from getting turned into a brawl/attack.

[FMKK]

8 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

The last time they were in this situation - Raw sucked, SD consistently delivered - was the Fall/Spring of 2016/17. And their brilliant solution was to "shake up" the rosters just enough to make sure both shows sucked again.

... So those of you holding out hope for a shakeup may want to be careful what you wish for. I mean, at least SmackDown is good for now. Enjoy that and let Raw continue to dog it. If one show has to be a total mess for the other to be serviceable, then so be it.

Just please, for the love of god, keep Seth Rollins and your fantasy booking of him in the Mania main event far, far away from the actual A-show.

I'd assume that they won't kneecap Smackdown so badly this time because of the Fox deal but I'd never want to assume that they'll make the logical choice.

[clintthecrippler]

The other problem with the "why worry about Raw when Smackdown is so much better" theory is that when Raw sucks and the ratings keep declining, Smackdown's ratings go down too no matter how good SD is since there is still an trend that interest in Raw drives interest in the product as a whole.

So when someone decides to turn off Raw because they are tired of Baron Corbin, they aren't bothering to come back the next night to see what is going on with Smackdown.

[SomethingSavage]

4 hours ago, clintthecrippler said:

The other problem with the "why worry about Raw when Smackdown is so much better" theory is that when Raw sucks and the ratings keep declining, Smackdown's ratings go down too no matter how good SD is since there is still an trend that interest in Raw drives interest in the product as a whole.

So when someone decides to turn off Raw because they are tired of Baron Corbin, they aren't bothering to come back the next night to see what is going on with Smackdown.

Except that your theory doesn't really hold any weight when we can put it to the actual test and PROVE there are people who regularly choose to watch SmackDown but skip Raw.

I'm one of them. I've seen plenty of other posters - both here & at various other sites - that talk openly about doing the same week to week.

Same thing occurred back in 2002. And again in 2016. Why would it be unreasonable for people to simply watch the better program but pass on the shittier show? It absolutely can & does happen.

[DMJ]

Yea, hate to piggy back, but wasn't there a stretch where SD was getting higher ratings than RAW in 02'?

A cursory google search also reveals that SmackDown 1000 outperformed the RAW from that week and in the last week of 2016. 

That being said, this week's very cold RAW did no favors to SmackDown, which did a miserable rating too.

[sek69]

I'm not sure I was expecting "potential eco terrorist" to be the angle they'd go with Bryan's heel character but I dig it. 

[fakeplastictrees]

A million authority figures, lame babyfaces, and 50/50 booking has been WWE's undoing for years. I surprised the Houston attendance isn't the norm.

[Mad Dog]

Could you imagine having this roster at your disposal and then building your flagship show around Baron Corbin?

[sek69]

I almost want to say this is all part of their plan to make people pine for Vince/Steph/HHH to return, but even that would require them to plan for the future. 

[Strummer]

Don't forget that after the run SD was on in 2002 wwe's response the next year was to fire Heyman and build the show around a Vince v Stephanie feud for 6 + months that produced some of the worst tv the company has ever presented 

[clintthecrippler]

4 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

Except that your theory doesn't really hold any weight when we can put it to the actual test and PROVE there are people who regularly choose to watch SmackDown but skip Raw.

I'm one of them. I've seen plenty of other posters - both here & at various other sites - that talk openly about doing the same week to week.

Same thing occurred back in 2002. And again in 2016. Why would it be unreasonable for people to simply watch the better program but pass on the shittier show? It absolutely can & does happen.

There may be some folks doing that, but not enough. 85-90% of Raw's audience has been the consistent metric for SDL since the brand split from a couple of years back, with spikes primarily centered around "Event Episodes" like Smackdown 1000 or John Cena's return last year after a lengthy absence.

And this week's episode of SDL had the second lowest viewership since the 2016 brand split. 

 

[rovert]

2 hours ago, sek69 said:

I almost want to say this is all part of their plan to make people pine for Vince/Steph/HHH to return, but even that would require them to plan for the future. 

I think so. Wrestlemania is in New York and Vince will be flouncing off to do the XFL soon enough and he's 73 years old. 

[SomethingSavage]

1 hour ago, rovert said:

I think so. Wrestlemania is in New York and Vince will be flouncing off to do the XFL soon enough and he's 73 years old. 

That looks like the most nonsensical, cobbled-together statement ever. I can't make heads or tails what you're even talking about there.

Might as well have said, "The Rumble is coming up and Vince likes Shark Week and his favorite color is powder blue."

I mean, sure. It's a statement you've made, but it's not really saying anything to anyone.

[sek69]

I believe his point is that there might be something to what I said because Vince is presumably going to be devoting significant energy toward the XFL.

[SomethingSavage]

Except that Vince being old and concentrated on the XFL doesn't exactly line up with him, Steph, and Hunter staging this grandiose return to WWE television or anything.

[Johnny Sorrow]

You know what fucking ruled? Smackdown this week. I want more Samoa Joe PSA's, and I want a Daniel Bryan/ Miz alliance.

[rovert]

10 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

That looks like the most nonsensical, cobbled-together statement ever. I can't make heads or tails what you're even talking about there.

Might as well have said, "The Rumble is coming up and Vince likes Shark Week and his favorite color is powder blue."

I mean, sure. It's a statement you've made, but it's not really saying anything to anyone.

Seriously were you drinking here? 

[rovert]

10 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

Except that Vince being old and concentrated on the XFL doesn't exactly line up with him, Steph, and Hunter staging this grandiose return to WWE television or anything.

Yes, it does. This Spring is likely the last opportunity to do a full McMahon return if ever. XFL is launching in 2020 not 2019. Why are you being this dense? 

[SomethingSavage]

Maybe you should've elaborated and actually said THAT in your previous post.

Go back and read your last response. It was all over the place - just one big run-on with random stuff about Vince. It made no sense without the context you just framed around it.

Whether you realize it or not, we don't all exist in a bubble or hover around wrestling Twitter 24/7. We're not all clued into the XFL bullshit & its specific timetables.

I follow WWE very casually and have since 2014. If you want someone to follow what it is you have to say, maybe try forming a complete thought and presenting it as such, rather than typing out some ridiculous run-on sentence that looks like a bunch of Vince facts or whateverthefuck.

Am I being dense for expecting you to possess the social skills to converse with people who aren't obsessed with wrestling reddit or Twitter? I don't know. Maybe. But it's equally ignorant for you to just automatically assume everyone here lives like that & knows all that shit.

[rovert]

6 hours ago, SomethingSavage said:

Maybe you should've elaborated and actually said THAT in your previous post.Go back and read your last response. It was all over the place

 

Stopped reading here. It is far from being all over the place. Wrestlemania is in WWE's traditional home base of New York in April. Vince's focus will change in 2019 to the XFL. He's 73. Wrestlemania probably isn't coming back to New York for another 5 or so years. If there's a time to do a full McMahon TV return it is this Spring. 

The XFL isn't a 24/7 Twitter thing. It is a major startup sports franchise covered by the mainstream press this week. Pick up a newspaper or watch the news.

Write more paragraphs pretending not to get something so basic as that and not apologising for being a dick for no reason. 

[SomethingSavage]

I don't come here to argue, man. The post didn't make any sense when I first read it. I totally understand it now that you've laid it out like that.

Apologies if my response was a little much. No apologies for the XFL being a joke & not on my radar though. My work/life schedule is plenty crazy enough without giving any time to that nonsense.

[NintendoLogic]

On 12/3/2018 at 11:59 PM, Alucard said:

This week they seemed to go out of their way to do the opposite, with the exception of Roode getting squashed 3 on 1.

Yeah, Dave said that Vince rewrote the show to have less HEAT~! because they were in Houston and he wanted to put smiles on faces since Bush had just died.