Vince blames the internet fans for low ratings.

[Guest Tony149]

I got this from the http://www.pwtorch.com website. I put the whole thing here. The part where Vince blames the net fans is in bold.

 

McMahon flippant during interview, blames internet for sagging ratings

March 08, 2002  6:05 pm

Vince McMahon

This afternoon Vince McMahon was a guest on his internet talk show, "Byte This." Torch Newsletter subscriber and PWTorch.com reader Corey Baird writes:

Between muttered insults about callers hygiene, dodging legitimate questions, and degrading the professionalism of his hosts, he managed to show me his product is doomed.

He showed absolutely no long term planning. When asked about the tag title match, Vince had no idea what was going to happen. Ditto for the split. Like that's a surprise.

He flippantly dismissed any notion the creative team isn't performing their task. He instead shifted all the blame onto the Internet community!

He said he only wrestles once in a while because wrestlers don't want to be embarrassed by his superior physique. Maybe I'm a mark, but I don't think he was working.

He seemed more concerned with his shirt than his product. It sure shows every Monday and Thursday night.

To coin one of Vince's own terms, I would suggest ratings might be in the gutter because a lot of people think a lot like us "insignificant internet fans."

But I'm sure that won't be a consideration when trying to justify this week's Smackdown rating. Enjoy my $40 bucks next Sunday, Vince. It's the last time I'll guarantee you my money.

[Guest The Vanilla Midget]

thats pretty damn stupid by vince.  that statement was totally naive, and if he keeps up with that attitude the wwf will keep going down for a fair while before it starts to pick up again.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

He's working you jackasses.

[Guest The Vanilla Midget]

maybe, but what does he stand to gain from working us? insulting the net is only going to turn people off, and wont attract anybody to watching wwf, though many of his other comments were works, so the possibility is there.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

insulting the net is only going to turn people off, and wont attract anybody to watching wwf

 

Who will it turn off? The internet comunity? The internet community is going to watch wrestling no matter what, so I doubt anyone ws turned off. Who listens to Byte This except for the internet community (it is a webcast after all)?

[Guest The Vanilla Midget]

i wasnt so much emphasising that it would turn people off, but rather that it wouldnt turn people on.  how stupid is vince to denegrate the very audience he is speaking to, if it were a promo it would be what we dismiss as cheap heel heat.  but blaming the net doesnt do anything for him, it doesnt get the casual fan excited again, and it certainly doesnt address the creative issues, it merely ignores them.  that is delusional and suicidally short-sighted in my opinion.

[Guest JHawk]

Well, it's obvious Vince is working us here, but here's the thing.  If the ratings are dropping as it is, and now he's pissing off the people who are actually watching his product...is this an elaborate plan for the WWF to fold so Vince can get out of the business without passing the torch to Shane and Stephanie?  Hmm...

[Guest The Vanilla Midget]

actually if you follow that train of thought, its more of a way to destroy the wwf brand, as they recently lost their appeal against the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

[Guest Tony149]

I don't know if Vince is working the net or not. He could be or the pressure of trying to get the ratings higher and the bad writing the net is complaining about is getting to him.

[Guest The Vanilla Midget]

well if this is his solution to the problem, perhaps he is not the genius he claims to be oh so often.

[Guest Tony149]

Another thing to remember, Vince had a whole week to get ready for his online appearance. While most of the stuff was in-character...I could see him really beliving the net is causing trouble. Linda once blamed spoilers for low Smackdown ratings. So for them to blame the net wouldn't be a shock.

[Guest teke184]

Vince seems to be blurring the lines between kayfabe and reality again.  This seems a LOT like the early episode of Excess where someone like Debra would be in TOTAL kayfabe mode and dodge the real question.

 

As for the Internet comments, blaming the Internet community has been the standard WWF line since the Smackdown ratings went into the shitter last year.  Linda "human insomnia cure" McMahon made a big deal about the Internet spoilers for Smackdown killing the ratings, hence the live Smackdown experiment which didn't have any positive effects.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

I am pretty sure that this is a work.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

now he's pissing off the people who are actually watching his product

 

But they will keep watching regardless of what happens.

[Guest The Vanilla Midget]

yeah, but hes pushing the envelope further and further.  whats he trying to do, see how far he can get before the net fans actually turn off? he would *really* be in the shitter then.

[Guest Will Scarlet]

Okay.  I am kind of confused here.  Is he actually blaming the Internet community for low ratings or he is blaming the Internet community for the belief that the writing is bad?  I just wonder because I cannot exactly figure out the reasoning behind why the Internet is to blame for the ratings slump.  On the one hand, you could use the reasoning that things slip out on the Internet, thus ruining the surprise.  Of course, the fact that the WWF heavily promoted Triple H's return and announced that Rock was returning at the beginning of Smackdown kind of blows that theory out of the water.  I know, maybe the evil Internet community is trying to convert people to expect wrestling on a wrestling program instead of B-level comedy skits and hosses.  How exactly is it the Internet's fault that the WWF seems to be a bizarre combination of WCW and the XFL? They seem to have WCW's massive screwups combined with what they used to say about the XFL, or "You should watch because everyone works hard."  

 

I just do not get what the WWF has against the Internet fans.  Is the WWF angry because we bitch about the programming?  Plus, if the programming was fine, then why hotshot the invasion angle or hire the NWO or have shows where they practically beg the fans to watch?  I would gain a ton of respect for the WWF if they just admitted that their product sucks, and that they are working to improve it, instead of blaming everyone but themselves or just never admitting there is a problem in the first place, but, what do I know?  I am just a fan.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

Blaming the internet fans for sagging ratings is not going to deter internet fans from watching WWF tv. The WWF goes from city to city and gets cheap heat for the heels by trashing the crowd, but the crowds still come back.

[Guest JHawk]

And the shows being awful aren't keeping me from watching every week.  We're wrestling fans, most of us will keep watching anyway.  But if he does turn us off, there goes the federation.  It's the hardcore fans that keep business going in slow times, so pissing off the hardcore fans is not a good idea.

[Guest Tony149]

I guess Midget is saying the WWF may alienate some net fans.

[Guest The Vanilla Midget]

exactly right, the wwf only uses cheap heat on fans at shows in a particular town once, maybe twice per year.  now the wwf seems to take a cheapshot at the 'net at every possible opportunity.  now it doesnt really bother me because i have absolutely no respect for vince mcmahon, but eventually somebody has to realise that it isnt good business to continually insult your core audience.

[Guest griffinmills]

------------------------------------------------------------

Blaming the internet fans for sagging ratings is not going to deter internet fans from watching WWF tv. The WWF goes from city to city and gets cheap heat for the heels by trashing the crowd, but the crowds still come back.

------------------------------------------------------------

 

You keep saying that but what is the point you are trying to get across by restating this over and over?  Like many people responses said, it isn't that he may drive people away it is that it doesn't help things at all.  I know I'm already wondering whether or not to get WM on ppv and those kind of comments don't really help.  I'm sure that the internet, while only a small sampling, reflects accurately a good deal of how people feel.  I know that the 'smart' guy in a group of wrestling friends can easily dictate how his buddies feel about a wrestler using his 'online contacts'  The internet reminds me of the Star Trek letter writting campaign years ago.  Back then networks figured for every 1 letter they got 50 other people felt the same.  Well when most of the dedicated fans of Star Trek wrote in to protest the cancelation they multiplied this overwellming response by 50 and said "holy moley!  Better put Star Trek back on!"  That may very well be how the WWW is.

[Guest El Satanico]

Uh...why would he waste his time "working" us on something that is basically meaningless and wouldn't help anything related to the product.

 

Rather he was serious or not it still shows he isn't concerned about rather or not they are writing good shows.

 

Bischoff was acting like this at one time and we all know what happened there. However i don't recall very many people claiming that he was "working" the fans when he did it. So why does Vince get benifit of a doubt?

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

I never got why we gpt blamed for sagging ratings for smackdown, we only make up maybe 5% of their viewers nowhere near enough to cause any damage to the ratings if none of us watched the show.

[Guest Vyce]

Who will it turn off? The internet comunity? The internet community is going to watch wrestling no matter what, so I doubt anyone ws turned off.

 

I don't know.  More and more everyday, I think about just giving it all up and become a full-fledged puro-head.

[Guest Brian]

I'd think the ratings are much more dependent on the internet community than people think. Word of mouth is a powerful tool.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

I didn't watch smackdown instead, to get my thursday night wrstling fix i rented Starcade 97.  both shows consisted of boring nWo shit and bad matches but Starcade had Bret Hart, so iwas happier watching that.

[Guest El Satanico]

Well even though Vince currently has no reason to fear turning off die hard fans like most of the internet fans. However what if he keeps doing it then as he keeps on mocking the die hards a new fed backed by someone like Turner pops up and is an legit threat. THAT is when pissing on the die hards will bite Vince in the ass. So don't think that Vince doing this can't ever hurt him.

[Guest Anglesault]

Starcade had Bret Hart, so iwas happier watching that.

 

Nothing like an whiney bitch to improve MY mood.

[Guest Tony149]

Even the Torch's feedback is somewhat mixed. Vince is weird. You can't tell if he's working or not. I think he really belives the net is nothing more than trouble. I remember hearing a while back Vince thought the fans shouldn't know how the business works.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

exactly. and it was funny listening to Tony S. bitch about how Bret did a fast count when it was totally slow.

 

What's really scary is i fine Tony less annoying than Cole and Lawler