Final Smackdown rating 3.1

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

WWE Smackdown finished with a 3.1 rating and a 6 share this week. This is down from the 3.3 the show did last week, and is one of the lowest ratings ever for the show.

 

Credit 1wrestling.com

 

 

Show gets better, ratings continue to slide. What will Vince do now, pay Goldberg and Steve Austin an arm and a leg to come in?

[Guest BoboBrazil]

Smackdown sucks. It seems like guys are just thrown out there to face each other for no reason and when there is a feud it is boring and sucks ass. The writing is so boring on Smackdown. The announcing is horrible too.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Just a slump in the business. I'm sure Vince is going to keep trying to find the "magic fix" every damn week, but it just doesn't look like it's going to happen.

 

Business moves in cycles...and this is no different.

[Guest Downhome]

Sucked? I enjoyed the show last night tons, it was a great show from where I sat.

[Guest BoboBrazil]

Smackdown needs to go live too.

[Guest El Psycho Diablo]

I dunno..Lesnar/Henry..Rikishi/D-von..lots of Steph..

 

Gee, I wonder if that hurts it any..

[Guest jester]

I think the problem is that on Raw, we had practically everyone worthwhile suddenly stolen by Bischoff. Because of the HBK thing, they didn't really have a lead-in to Smackdown. Stephanie wasn't there to say, "Oh yeah, well I swiped two of your guys," giving us a reason to go to Smackdown to see who they are.

 

If I'm an average fan, i'm thinking, "90% (or higher) of the wrestlers I care about are on Raw. Why watch Smackdown?"

[Guest JericholicEdgeHead]

I guess don't underdstand what alot of fans want to see, I mean in the past 3-4 weeks there has been some GREAT wrestling, and the skits have been kept to a minium, or at least there isn't a ton of 10 minute in-ring interviews or promos as there used to be. Do the casual fans really like those boring promos and crazy hijinks over the wrestling??? I am starting to get concerned for the future of the buisness a little

[Guest Shaved Bear]

maybe they saw raw and figured only angle is left...

[Guest LooseCannon]

It's just that wrestling is not cool anymore. We're going to have to wait a few YEARS before some people, especially the young crowd, will give it a second chance. That's what happens when something goes out of style.

[Guest goodolemr]

WWE needs to face facts.

 

Fans don't like seeing women in powerful roles. Certainly, not Steph.

 

The only things fans want women to do in the WWE is act slutly. That's it.

 

As long as Steph is Smackdown's number one on-air talent, ratings will be crappy.

[Guest Shaved Bear]

which is why shane-o should have been the better GM, i mean Shane, strikes me as being a lot more of a "regular guy" than steph

[Guest nl5xsk1]

Consider me selfish, but I'd be thrilled if the wrestling boom took a turn for the worse. Let the fanbase thin out a bit, until it's just the diehard fans again. With less incoming revenue, VKM will have to release some of the older talent and keep the younger, cheaper talent to build around. Then, like the Loose Cannon said, in a few years it will get hot again.

[Guest AnnieEclectic]

I don't think it's as much that women in power roles don't succeed as much as it seems completely off kilter that Stephanie McMahon is the GM. If it had to be a McMahon, Linda would have worked better than Stephanie. She's well known as having actual power in the company, and the casual fans would appreciate that.

 

I don't think the casual fans are all about slutty women either. I'm sure no one will argue against sexy female wrestlers, but actually -slutty- turns some people off. I'm notable on that argument.

 

I don't know, this GM thing can and will work I believe, but SD will always play second fiddle to RAW because that's the way it's always been. There's no competition to heat up fans amongst themselves, no matter how much the split tries to accomplish that. Give Bisch Raw, period, have him re-make WCW for real. Then it's Bisch's Nitro v. Stephanie's Smackdown. You want Steph to play face, you got it. People start to really care about roster switches, and all booking goes through all-mighty vince.

 

Now I'm not saying give Bisch the book... ok maybe I am, but hell, he's better than Gerschwitz.

 

-Annie

[Guest TheDames7]

Show gets better, ratings continue to slide. What will Vince do now, pay Goldberg and Steve Austin an arm and a leg to come in?

According to the Ross Report, its not like they aren't trying to sign Goldberg...

 

Dames

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Screw Goldberg.

 

The answer lies in this:

 

Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Eddy Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, Edge, Christian, Booker T, Lance Storm & The retirement of HHH and Undertaker.

 

You know what ends bad cycles?

 

NEW PRODUCT.

 

Not half product on one show...half on the other.

 

Austin and Rock became LEGENDS becuase they didn't have to deal with Hogan and Savage stealing their spotlight.

 

But HHH and Taker are always going to steal the spotlight...and look...HHH brought his friends NAsh and HBK to steal some too.

 

Those 9 names in solid angles with NO ONE above them on the roster...and you just created yourself the next era of pro wrestling.

 

No Gimmicks Needed.

[Guest Just call me Dan]

I promise you, if Eddy, Benoit, Booker, and all those guys headlined and were given time, the rating would still stay around 3.5 to 4.0

 

Sorry, they are the future but they are just as less of a solution as bringing in a has been. They are on TV, they don't draw right now as it is in their roles.

 

I'd still watch and be a happier fan, but hey, I'll watch anyways. Wrestling isn't a fad anymore like everyone's said, and even if those guys wrestle well, they aren't anything ground-breaking or amazing like the "Stone Cold" character was back in the wrestling boom.

 

They'd just do what they do now and do it well, but they wouldn't rock the world, face it.

[Guest BoboBrazil]

HHH should not retire. He is still pretty young and has alot to contribute. Undertaker, Hogan, and Flair should retire this year.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Who would have thought that the Ringmaster, Rocky Maivia and Terra Ryzin would draw more money than anyone else?

 

Exactly

[Guest geniusMoment]

Smackdown just has the feel of a taped show where you know nothing major is going to happen. Smackdown can never go as far as Raw in terms of language and overall content. Ever notice when you are in a parking garage and you hear that annoying buzzing sound from the lights overhead and it makes the atmosphere around you seem dull that is what smackdown constantly feels like to me. By the way I play baseball for UC and the whole team used to love wrestling but it is now once again considered gay due to the fact that they feel it has lost its edge and become boring

[Guest goodhelmet]

ok, is there really that much excitemnt for SD? look around the internet just to take a sampling. the raw thread will have 20-30 pages for the show. SD gets 10. the torch does 15 different articles on RAw. maybe SD will get a recap for that week.

 

right now, there is the perception that SD is a can miss show and it has always seemed like it. us smarts can tune in to the spoilers and determine f we want to watch it or not. the 'average' fan probably doesn't even care if they miss it, regardless of who is on the roster. to this day, i still haven't seen one full episode of SD since the split and i don't feel like i've missed anything except for a couple of decent matches.

 

that's not the wrestlers fault. that's the wwe's fault for not making the product must-see tv.

[Guest Dangerous A]

Bps, I think HHH still has gas in the tank and can contribute. I think what he should be retiring is backstage politics. You can say that will never happen, but I still have a little faith he can put the backstage crap away. I just hope he can do it before he gets too old to make a significant contribution.

[Guest Just call me Dan]

Well Ringmaster, Rocky Miavia and Terra Ryzin weren't established guys who worked main event matches and were already very over in most rights. these guys aren't going to do total charcter renovations because they are already over and have contributed! How does just takeing some names out and making others move up increase ratings?

[Guest geniusMoment]

Smackdown = Raw + novacaine

the excitement goes numb

[Guest BoboBrazil]

Who would have thought that the Ringmaster, Rocky Maivia and Terra Ryzin would draw more money than anyone else?

 

Exactly

WWF had Russo then. He actually cared about young talent and tried to get them over. He made feuds for everyone. Now, WWE just throws guys out there to wrestle for no reason and feuds aren't even started until a week before a ppv. Look at how they debut guys. Most new guys coming in now just debut as some jobber on Heat or Velocity with no gimmick other than some new guy wanting a chance to show what they've got. They had a chance with Cena to move him up a level after his clean win over Jericho at Vengeance, but what have they done since? They haven't even mentioned the match.

[Guest Human Fly]

right now, there is the perception that SD is a can miss show and it has always seemed like it. us smarts can tune in to the spoilers and determine f we want to watch it or not. the 'average' fan probably doesn't even care if they miss it, regardless of who is on the roster. to this day, i still haven't seen one full episode of SD since the split and i don't feel like i've missed anything except for a couple of decent matches.

 

that's not the wrestlers fault. that's the wwe's fault for not making the product must-see tv

 

That's a good point. I try to never miss Raw if I can help it, if I'm home it is on. Last night I was home when Smackdown was on, but I didn't really care to watch. The only match I wanted to see was the ME.

 

Smackdown should go live once a month. I know people say that there is no ratings increase for a live Smackdown, but if they put on an awesome show with something memorable like a title change, that would change. At least Smackdown would have a once a month "can't miss show". The people that watch Smackdown now will continue to watch it regardless, but at least a once a month boost would be a good start.

 

I'm still shocked that some people on this board were actually glad when they heard that Steph was coming back. No one wants to see Steph. Especially half of the show. At least Bischoff is a fresh character who has never been in the WWE before. In time they will need to scale his character back as well.

 

The slutty argument doesn't hold any water with me either because it's not like she's going to get naked. No one is going to tune in to get a Steph tease every week. The ratings for the Diva specials are proof that things like that don't work.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I think that's why so many people have switched sides.

 

Going in they had to think that SD! was padded.

 

But people watch Raw because it's Raw.

 

So they're trying to bring the SD! guys to RAW...where people will watch...and put the RAW guys on SD! to try and get people to want to watch that too.

 

You know what bothers me about SD!, aside from the occasional headaches from the piped in crowd noise...the goddamn colors.

 

That light blue well lit arena turns me off from the product.

[Guest Storm Tracker]

It's the weak/lack of storylines that is killing WWE now. Good storylines get the fans emotionally involved with the characters and this translates into must-see TV. I like the idea of Eric remaking Raw into WCW. By the same token, I'd like to see Shane or Paul E. as Smackdown GM. They could turn Smackdown into ECW and you could get a good WCW vs ECW feud going.

[Guest Trivia247]

What happen to first turn the ratings in 98. It took Wm14 and the proceeding Raw that Turned over and Brought the Public eye back to the WWF and made everyone watch.

 

WWE needs to find something that gets not only the lingering WWE fans to watch, but the Casual Watchers to become fans again. We Smarks get too picky expecting the Miracle Turn around every show, and then just get disappointed.

 

I read Scott Keith's rants and Like I said in earlier Posts he already Condemned the WWE and Basically looks at every match as Crap no matter what happens in it.

[Guest deadbeater]

There is only one good storyline in WWE Smackdown: Noble and Nidia. It is also a case of no followup to other main storylines: the Anti-Americans vs The New Blood. Also, Molly vs. Torrie, the only feud in WWE today that's an extention from WCW, is relegated to Velocity or dark matches. Angle, Brock, Hogan, and Edge are between storylines. The only real reason to watch is to see if Stacy will get severely punished for her insubordination. Forcing her to be a great wrestler or die whimpering in the ring would be an auesome story.