WingedEagle Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Right, I don't think it would matter if they had Sam Muchnick rise from the grave and run Raw from the Chase with the audience all classed up. Its rasslin. The end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 They built their grave in the 90s its really hard to change that going forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parties Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 The anecdote also makes the tenuous assumption that anyone in television marketing has any idea of what they're talking about. You'd be hard pressed to name an industry more steadily managed by creepy people distorting hard data to their own whims and biases. Â Except of course, for professional wrestling. Â I have no idea which companies (if any) throughout wrestling history have ever gotten good ad rates. I would think 70s/80s Memphis could have charged a lot (locally) given their ratings. Maybe New Japan in the early 80s, in that narrow pocket that Ohtani's Jacket referred to recently, or in Choshu's best 90s run as booker? But WWE/WCW seem to have always been dismissed as viewing for low-income people, even when endorsed by massive celebrities at the height of their popularity and revenue. WWE and MTV teamed up in the mid-80s largely because MTV was at the time also considered low-rent, and their powers that be wanted to be associated with Mr. T. If you explained to the average U.S. citizen that the person who wrestling has to thank for its peak cultural cache is Mr. T - that Mr. T is the man who we must thank for bringing class to wrestling - you'd be laughed out of the room, and you'd know everything you need to know about WWE's status in American life. Â http://deadline.com/2014/06/tv-series-most-watched-rich-educated-viewers-787403/ If this Deadline study is to be believed, the most-watched shows among the wealthy are a mix of terrible network dramas, the overrated network comedies that metropolitan people watch because they think they're too smart for the terrible network dramas, and reality shows that are sleazier than anything WWE in years. Sleaze is somewhat subjective, and The Bachelor fulfills a more common indulgence fantasy than that of wrestling, esp. modern wrestling in which the scumbag corporate exec antagonists are depicted as triumphant geniuses, while the would-be heroes are written to be impotent morons. Â It isn't quite that wrestling is viewed as trashy (though no doubt a lot of executives remember the Attitude era exclusively, if they know anything about wrestling at all). It's more that wrestling is viewed as childish, fake, and bizarre. TV ad executives are the last people to run from trashiness. But they're the first people to run from anything they perceive to be uncool. Katie Vick probably did less harm than Hunter boring people to sleep with inane 20 minute promos. Also: the WWE writing staff is comprised of incompetent people who've been fired from low-rated sitcoms and dramedies. The show comes off as low-rent because it's produced by the people who have been deemed the lowest dregs of the television industry. Which is really saying something, given that TV writers are some of the most overpaid people in the universe, and that you can become a powerful millionaire even when writing bad stuff for quickly cancelled shows. It's often said within Hollywood that there are about 10 to 20 really good TV writers who everyone wants to hire, and that those rare few are in obscenely high demand. Almost everyone else outside of those 10-20 people are paid ridiculous salaries to produce fair-to-middling stuff that costs their studio money and wastes everyone's time. To be the writer who is so bad that you can't even fake it in an industry of shameless goons speaks volumes about who is currently scripting WWE TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Ewiak Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 You're confusing the word "trashy" under your definition with what TV execs mean when they use the word "trashy." When they say "trashy," they basically mean "poor uneducated people." Trashiness on the Bachelor is fine because it's all good looking people with good jobs drinking wine and hooking up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Yeah that's an understandable point but the other is definitely in play as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parties Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 You're confusing the word "trashy" under your definition with what TV execs mean when they use the word "trashy." When they say "trashy," they basically mean "poor uneducated people." Trashiness on the Bachelor is fine because it's all good looking people with good jobs drinking wine and hooking up. Â I think we're saying nearly the same thing, and even if we aren't, I totally agree with you. There's "trashy" that you can laugh about in the boardroom, and there's "trashy" that causes people to roll their eyes. The Bachelor is an affluent, lilywhite, all-expenses paid version of Tindr in the tropics. Wrestling is sweaty performance art coming to you live from Colorado Springs. Â Regardless of whether media millionaires compare WWE to cosplay or to Honey Boo Boo, these are still petty, image-obsessed people with a stigma against something they consider unhip. That lack of hipness is as big a factor as demographics or ratings. There are shows on NBC, FOX and cable that get terrible ratings in comparison to their CBS and ABC competition. Yet they still command superior ad rates, because the agencies think that old people are boring/thrifty, and have convinced themselves that people in their 20s will buy luxury cars. Recent trends suggest the opposite: boomers still have all the money and spend it faster than anyone. These are trends which would actually be a positive for WWE and its aging fan base, were Vince not a legendary sociopath and were everyone in the entertainment industry not irrationally obsessed with youth in denial of their own mortality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strand Peanut Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Stephanie vomits on Vickie last year on RAW. Â Trashy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakla Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Stephanie vomits on Vickie last year on RAW. Â Trashy? Â I'd say more juvenile and gross. But that's the "bit" I was thinking of when I first read this story. Â Did find this story from October 2013 about WWE sponsors http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/10/14/In-Depth/WWE.aspx Not sure how many are still with them, but even if these aren't "luxury" brands, they are still owned by very large corporations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhindsight Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 re: Trips and Stephanie at the Super Bowl - fairly certain NBC Universal set them up, not the Patriots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 It should be noted that WWE no longer receives any cut of the ad revenue. And even if it did, I'm willing to bet that ad rates for Raw were higher in 1999, when the trashiness was at its peak, than they are today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steenalized Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 They don't get it directly, but you better believe it affected their TV rights fees this round and whenever it comes back up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Â Â -For those of you clamoring for Chris Benoit in the WWE Hall of Fame, well, you'll never get your wish, but you can still watch Thiago Silva fight on 3/28 on NBC Sports Network. Silva faces Ronny Markes at the Commercial Theater for WSOF on NBC Sports for a show headlined by Justin Gaethje vs. Luis Palomino. Silva vs. Markes is part of a one-night light heavyweight tournament that will also include Matt Hamill against an opponent not yet named. Â huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tofu_chipmunk Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Â -For those of you clamoring for Chris Benoit in the WWE Hall of Fame, well, you'll never get your wish, but you can still watch Thiago Silva fight on 3/28 on NBC Sports Network. Silva faces Ronny Markes at the Commercial Theater for WSOF on NBC Sports for a show headlined by Justin Gaethje vs. Luis Palomino. Silva vs. Markes is part of a one-night light heavyweight tournament that will also include Matt Hamill against an opponent not yet named. Â huh? Â Â I guess it has something to do with Silva threatening to kill his estranged wife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheapshot Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Dave mentioned on today's audio that he know's someone who knows Vladimir Putin. He then goes on to say this person says Putin is extremely intelligent but evil. Â Rather random. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadMick Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Dave mentioned on today's audio that he know's someone who knows Vladimir Putin. He then goes on to say this person says Putin is extremely intelligent but evil. Â Rather random. Struck me as odd as hell too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Dave recently compared the PED issue in MMA to America's ever expanding national debt. I'm not sure political commentary is his strong point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Dave mentioned on today's audio that he know's someone who knows Vladimir Putin. He then goes on to say this person says Putin is extremely intelligent but evil. Â Rather random. Â I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows (and probably gets along with) Putin. 3 degrees of separation. I'm so glad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Some silly part of me kind of wonder if Putin knows about the gimmick and is amused by it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 For some reason I'd think if he's aware about it he would be amused by it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strand Peanut Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Just imagine when he realizes Rusev is Belarusian.. ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert S Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Just imagine when he realizes Rusev is Belarusian.. ha! Bulgarian, not Belarusian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dooley Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Dave recently compared the PED issue in MMA to America's ever expanding national debt. I'm not sure political commentary is his strong point. Â Ya think? MMA isn't even Meltzer's strong point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strand Peanut Posted February 25, 2015 Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 Â Â Just imagine when he realizes Rusev is Belarusian.. ha! Bulgarian, not Belarusian. oh hell.. that's even better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artDDP Posted February 25, 2015 Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 Some silly part of me kind of wonder if Putin knows about the gimmick and is amused by it. Â Wade said the same thing on his Raw recap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted February 28, 2015 Report Share Posted February 28, 2015 Dave mentioned on today's audio that he know's someone who knows Vladimir Putin. He then goes on to say this person says Putin is extremely intelligent but evil. Â Rather random. Well, today's news only adds to that. Did Meltz know something?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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