Guest Jobber of the Week Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 People here are saying "the ratings are dead because they aren't doing (list of things Smarks have been wanting for a while now)" I hate to say it, but aside from Jericho, WWE has been trying to improve on every area the smarks talk about. RVD is being pushed. Don't give me that Brock Lesnar crap response because that doesn't work. The Lesnar push helps RVD too as long as the two feud. And if Lesnar can't bring it to the dance, than RVD ends up looking like the better man in the ring. Booker T is likely THE most over guy right now that WWE has introduced in the past year. This transformation has happened only recently, and while Golddust is an odd choice for a partner, it helps get Booker over and when he is, the fans will not care about his flaws. Main flaw being that his charisma doesn't really strike with everyone. Benoit and Eddy were getting so much airtime and matchtime last week that you couldn't move without accidentally stepping in the workrate. People still complain. People complain about too many promos, so Raw two weeks ago tried a show with only one promo (the Shawn one) and ratings STILL came in bad and people still post "I think this show SUCKS LOLOLOMGLOL" If the shows are sucking, it's because they're trying new things (good idea) and often trying a lot of things that the Smark crowd has been campaigning about for a long time.
Guest MrRant Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 Eh... I think that a lot of it is so people don't want the WWE to experiment unless it is EXACTLY how they outlined it. Everyone wants to see stuff that makes THEM enjoy it but they don't think about who makes the most important part of the wrestling biz... the marks.
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 "Booker T is likely THE most over guy right now that WWE has introduced in the past year. " coughbullshitcough As Raw proved the word SUCKA is over...not Booker T. The NWO has yet to let him gain any heat off of them...and when he's in ring...the matches are pretty quiet crowd wise. I love Booker...but he ain't RVD yet.
Guest Downhome Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 It isn't that they are trying new things, it's simply HOW they are presenting them. That is where the problem lies, and the only way to make things better is by solving that.
Guest MrRant Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 But... what if the marks liked it and just the smarks didn't? Only way to find that out would be to go around and ask the marks in the neighborhood what they think since they generally outnumber us.
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 "But... what if the marks liked it and just the smarks didn't? Only way to find that out would be to go around and ask the marks in the neighborhood what they think since they generally outnumber us. " The lack of ratings improvement shows everything you need to know about what the marks think.
Guest Downhome Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 "Booker T is likely THE most over guy right now that WWE has introduced in the past year. " coughbullshitcough As Raw proved the word SUCKA is over...not Booker T. The NWO has yet to let him gain any heat off of them...and when he's in ring...the matches are pretty quiet crowd wise. I love Booker...but he ain't RVD yet. I agree, I mean, I have no clue why everyone all of a sudden thinks that he is over just becaus "sucka" gets a reaction. It really pissed me off at how much of a non-reaction Booker T got on RAW, seriously. Perhaps if they allowed him to just be Booker T, instead of "the black guy", things would be different. But noooooooooooooo, they must make him "the black guy" who talks incoherantly with no purpose. Damn, he has so much potential, but he hasn't even BEGAN to be able to show it here yet! My point though, like bps21 said, is that he is NOT over, "sucka" simply is.
Guest MrRant Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 "But... what if the marks liked it and just the smarks didn't? Only way to find that out would be to go around and ask the marks in the neighborhood what they think since they generally outnumber us. " The lack of ratings improvement shows everything you need to know about what the marks think. Can't prove that.. it could be smarks that are disgusted with the product and only tune in every few weeks.
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 Ok then I'l go with poor attendance. Those two things combined have to show a mark disinterest
Guest MrRant Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 Again.. you would have to poll the crowd. It could be 50% marks in the crowd or 50% smarks, it could even be 25% marks and 75% . I'm not trying to be a bitch by the way.
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 But when everything (attendance, ratings and buyrates) are down accross the board...marks can't exactly be into the product so much.
Guest Jobber of the Week Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 when he's in ring...the matches are pretty quiet crowd wise. That promo was terrible, but I'm assuming it was the script. Even the Rock can't get a pop if he's busy chatting away about Busta Rhymes' new movie and not telling guys to bring it. And I also fault that flaky mic system. The pops are (were?) like 3x greater in person than on TV, by my experiences.
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 ok...but even with the falty mic system...RVD is more over.
Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 As Raw proved the word SUCKA is over...not Booker T. Yeah and the word WHAT was over not Austin. The STUNNER was over not Austin. The middle fingers were over not Austin. The BEERS were over not Austin. The MOVES are over, not RVD. The CATCHPHRASES are over, not the Rock. The PROMOS are over, not the Rock......
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 um...no see Austin's matches had heat. Bookers do not.
Guest El Psycho Diablo Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 Allright..tell me this.. If booker stopped saying.. "Suckaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" would he still get the same pop? Unlike Booker, RVD dosen't really rely on words to get over. He just is.
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 the answer is no. SUCKAAAAA Spinaroonie. that's about it. He should be over...but his face turn (getting kicked out of the NWO as opposed to leaving them) gave him nothing to gain. Getting beaten by them every week gives him nothing too. He needs to get away from them and do something that he can...you know...benefit from.
Guest El Psycho Diablo Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 ..as opposed to Rocky or Van Dam..or Eddy..who could get heat by just standing around..
Guest Vitamin X Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 But that's because those fellas are already over, whereas Booker T has been made to look like a bitch for the better part of the year. That's not his fault, that's the Kliq's fault, everyone knows that. Considering what position he's in, he's more over than he should be, I'll tell you that much.
Guest El Psycho Diablo Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 Don't kill me, but..compared to some of the WWE's top level talent, Booker T does seem kind of bush league.
Guest bps "The Truth" 21 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 "But that's because those fellas are already over, whereas Booker T has been made to look like a bitch for the better part of the year" Tell that to the guy calling Booker the most over guy they brought in in the last year.
Guest Vitamin X Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 The most over guy they've brought in in the past year has been RVD, no question about it he made an impact the second he was in a match, and especially the Jeff Hardy feud and subsequent match just blew everyone out of their minds. Another thing, why does Booker T seem bush league to you? I WANT ANSWERS! And yet another thing, that cheeses me about ratings...STATISTICS ARE IDIOTICS TO PLAN BY. Know why? How many people on this board are nielsen families? I know I'm not, and if I were, that's an additional vote going toward the WWE, and for all we know the real number for Smackdown or RAW could be much higher. I don't know why we base life, death, or business around this retarded number which is a measure of how 5% of the entire American population watches TV. Thank you, drive through.
Guest chirs3 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 If the shows are sucking, it's because they're trying new things (good idea) and often trying a lot of things that the Smark crowd has been campaigning about for a long time. The ratings don't reflect the job they're doing, I don't think - they're doing a lot of things right, or trying. The problem is not that people are saying "I don't like this, so I'm not gonna watch". The problem is that people have already said "I don't like this, so I'm not gonna watch". Smackdown! could produce a Rock/Angle ***** Match of the Year candidate, the cruiser division could get 20+ minutes and good matches, Knoble could continue to get over like he is, and I'm betting the ratings wouldn't bump but a tiny bit. The problem isn't that the WWE's losing viewers, the problem is it's already lost them. So even if they do what the smarks are asking, it doesn't mean the ratings should or will be better.
Guest GenerationNever Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 Honestly, I think Van Dam and Booker would have been a better choice for the "Odd Couple."
Guest chirs3 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 Booker: Tonight, we goin' take their ass to school... SUCKAAAAAAA! Rob: Shyea. Whatever, dude. Booker: ... you didn't say that... Eh... I think Goldust is a better fit...
Guest Madmartigan21 Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 Allright..tell me this.. If booker stopped saying.. "Suckaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" would he still get the same pop? Unlike Booker, RVD dosen't really rely on words to get over. He just is. I disagree. RVD is over, in large part, because he does have a catch phrase. "Because, I'm ROB VAN DAM," complete with the thumb pointing to the head. Also RVD is easily chantable for live crowds. It's a lot harder to get the an arena full of people( or half full for that matter) to get the correct cadence while chanting "Booker T, Booker T." It's a large part of the reason why Jericho was able to stay so over as a babyface for so long, even though he lost most of the time. Y2J is also very easy for a crowd to chant. I know that saying someone is over mostly because of how easy it is to chant their name sounds somewhat ridiculous. But sometimes it's the little things that can get wrestlers substantial heat.
Guest DrEvil Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 And yet another thing, that cheeses me about ratings...STATISTICS ARE IDIOTICS TO PLAN BY. Know why? How many people on this board are nielsen families? I know I'm not, and if I were, that's an additional vote going toward the WWE, and for all we know the real number for Smackdown or RAW could be much higher. I don't know why we base life, death, or business around this retarded number which is a measure of how 5% of the entire American population watches TV. The theory behind statistics is that if your subject pool is correctly randomly chosen then it will be representative of the whole population. One in five people will have the same opinion as 20 in 100, and as 200 in 1000, and so on. So you don't need to poll 100% of the population, the trick is choosing the polling group in an unskewed manner. Personally, I don't believe that the Neilson people have done that, and moreover, couldn't give a shit if the show does a 0.2 or a 58.9, but networks and advertisers do. Show a commercial to more people, and more people are likely to buy your product. Convince someone that more people can see your commercial on your show, you can charge them more for that commercial. The Neilson ratings are the only basis available for determining how many people watch the show so they are life and death.
Guest Brian Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 "It's a large part of the reason why Jericho was able to stay so over as a babyface for so long, even though he lost most of the time. Y2J is also very easy for a crowd to chant." I agree, but also RVd's spots are more noticable, in that eye catching way, than Booker's. Aside from the spinaroonie does he have anything quick and flashy. Bring back the harlem hangover! Difference is, between those guys and Booket, he's basically been made to look like a bitch and job to the NWO every week. And when he needs a win? X-Pac gets hurt. He was big over those few weeks, but his characters has done nothing. If anything they have to now force the Golddust turn if they're going to do anything with Booker, becuase Nash out kills the order (unless triple H comes in, and he's not going to job).
Guest Downhome Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 "Because, I'm ROB VAN DAM," complete with the thumb pointing to the head. Also RVD is easily chantable for live crowds. It's a lot harder to get the an arena full of people( or half full for that matter) to get the correct cadence while chanting "Booker T, Booker T." It's a large part of the reason why Jericho was able to stay so over as a babyface for so long, even though he lost most of the time. Y2J is also very easy for a crowd to chant. I know that saying someone is over mostly because of how easy it is to chant their name sounds somewhat ridiculous. But sometimes it's the little things that can get wrestlers substantial heat. If that is the best you can come up with, then you might as well stop right now. Have you never heard the fans chanting in unison "Eddy Sucks", "X-Pac Sucks", or other such frequently chanted three-sylable sayings? The fact is that Booker T as his own character is not over. The fans seem to give two sh*ts about him aside from his "Suckaaaaaaaaaa" and his spinaroonie. Give him time though, and HE will get over, it just hasn't happened yet. Like many have said before... ...it isn't because of himself, but rather, how he is being used and presented. Honestly, I think of Booker T in the same "over" grouping as HHH, just not as intense. His sayings get a pop, and his taunts get a pop, but durring his matches and the such, it's just not there.
Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly Posted July 13, 2002 Report Posted July 13, 2002 The crowds like Booker T's segments, which you can't say about alot of wrestlers that get the backstage segments. To say that they are comedy roles and stuff is bullshit because how many comedy skits has the WWF produced that have sucked tremendously? As far as heatless matches, the last time RVD and Eddie wrestled the crowd was dead except for when RVD did a few spots. If you want to talk about heatless matches and wrestlers only getting pops for certain things, how many matches sustain heat for the entire thing? Crowds pop for wrestlers when they see certain moves, you can't say that a character isn't over because the crowd doesn't pop for moves that he does. There was an audible chant during the Booker/Eddie match so you can't say there wasn't heat during that match.
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