Vince blames the internet fans for low ratings.

[Guest Army Eye]

Degrading the professionalism of his hosts?  Muttered insults about callers hygiene?  Wrestlers embarrassed by this physique?  Isn't it quite obvious that he was in character?  I don't know, that's how I see it.  Seems clear as day to me.

 

Besides, isn't Byte this a somewhat kayfabed show, unlike WCW Live which was more of a shoot?  I haven't watched it for a while, so someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[Guest Sakura]

Yes, it's still a mark program. It's hard to believe people at a site called "The Smarks" would get so worked up over Vince getting cheap heat.

[Guest Tony149]

Byte This is mostly kayfabe with a little shoot thrown in. I still wouldn't throw jabs at the net fans. The WWF has shown in the past it has no problems placing blame on the internet.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I keep saying the same thing because everbody is glossing over it. The internet fans are going to watch the WWF almost no matter what happens. A hardcore wrestling fan is likely to watch wrestling no matter how bad it the wrestling is. As disappointing as the WWF is right now, it is not as bad as it could be. Vince McMahon making remarks about internet fans will not cause them to stop watching WWF television. It won't cause me to stop watching. If anything, the underwhelming programming might keep me from watching it.

 

On a side note, I was in Suncoast Videos today purchasing the Best of RAW Volume 1. The cashier was asking me if I was going to buy Wrestlemania. It was awkward because he seemed like a smark that didn't want to come across as one. I didn't go into detail about why I won't be ordering Wrestlemania, I just said it was because they weren't doing a great job of selling the PPV. I left out the part about our cable being free for some reason, which causes us to decline from ordering PPV events for fear of being discovered by the cable company. Have any of you ever encountered this situation? I'm talking about the odd moment of meeting someone who you think is a smark.

[Guest Sakura]

Have any of you ever encountered this situation? I'm talking about the odd moment of meeting someone who you think is a smark.

 

 

Many times. There's a cashier at Best Buy who will talk to me if I am wearing a wrestling shirt or if I am buying something about wrestling. He's so annoying. He'll tell me the latest "news" he got from some kiddy newzboard. I remember the week before Judgment Day 2000 he was trying to convince me that HHH was going to lose to Rock then leave for WCW.

 

At the arcade there's an employee who will stand next to the Tekken 4 machine and go on and on about wrestling. He's another wanna-be smart who will tell you all about his goofy theories and "inside sources". He's been telling me about how HBK is going to return and Kane is going to unmask for ages.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

This is a bit off topic. Why does Vince always act like such an idiot on any main stream interview he does.

[Guest goodhelmet]

"Why does Vince always act like such an idiot on any main stream interview he does."

 

Because regardless of his millions (no longer billions) or being the only game in town or having the biggest talent pool in wrestling history, Vince is one insecure man. The mainstream press sees him as a joke. wrestling has zero credibility in the "real world" in large part due to Vinnie Mac but he refuses to accept the blame or responsibility or the reality of the situation. Time after time, the man has the opportuniy to set the wrestling world afire, yet he chooses to fuck it up somehow. And I don't think he even realizes it because he has so many sycophants kissing his ass, he obviously feels everone else is to blame. With everyone surrounding him telling him how great he is, why should he think any different?

[Guest converge241]

Vince, or anybody else for that matter, shouldnt be wating any time "working" the internet.

Internet fans for the most part dont care or think its stupid.

And casual fans who arent on the 'net or not "smart" have no idea.

It serves no damn purpose.

[Guest mastermind]

Okay, I think Vince is part working/kayfabing in that interview. His views about the internet probably is true to life though. The net is a damn headache for the wwf and rightfully so.  I mean look at this board. It is opening up the damn wwf holes that it tries to cover with monkey crap. The biggest money match the wwf has going for them at the moment is Rock and Hogan. Go to that thread about Rock and Austin and see why Vince would think the net gives problems.

 

Everyone there pretty much gives the impression that Rock/Hogan's hype is just that when you got Austin on the roster(and in reality it's true). The way it's being promoted because quite frankly Rock claiming the match to be on the level to see who the best ever is kind of ridiculous. It's more like past vs. present as J.R. was billing it. A fan comes here smark or not and reads that and it clicks in their head. It spoils some of the promotion of the match.

 

The divorce angle is also getting ripped on the net and rightfully so. The net makes things harder for the wwf because they can guage that maybe some of the masses is thinking the same thing. Not that the masses has insight like "smarks", but certain thoughts must come to mind like why the hell is Stephanie fighting for 50% from Trips when she is a freaking million dollar mcmahon? So, the wwf does stupid stuff like Rock almost dying. They don't make it easier on themselves when we see Rock come back without any visuals or pain. I don't count that stupid piece of tape on his side ribs either. How much people pointed out that Austin has the wrong leg taped up. Now they got to stick with that taped leg or it will really look obvious if he switches it back.

 

See all of this stuff makes the wwf's job harder. I bet they wish it was like in 1986-1987. However, that piece I wrote about the wwf's booking after 1989 with the reshuffling had a piont. The wwf caused some of the ridicule it gets upon themselves. I read about the interview Hogan had with one of the press on E! or something. He was looked at as more of a joke. I mean seriously we can laugh and stuff at Hogan, but the interviewer missed the chance to say stuff like Hogan helped take a business that was regional and made it worldwide. Talk about Hogan being a pioneer for ppv "fighting" events and that WM generally takes in the biggest gross for the ppv year with the exception of big money boxing matches.

How about Hogan jumping to the competition and making it so hot that it almost put the wwf out of business? Or how Ted Turner's networks benefitted from wrestling in the late 90's?

 

The interviewer just took Hogan as a joke because the wwf treats itself as a joke and really did during the early 90's. You see if the wwf focuses on stuff like this it CAN get respect in the media. The Rock is also another person that can be talked in a good light with his Saturday Night Live ratings boosts and his new movie coming out. However, the silliness the wwf puts out overshadows all of this like the ambulance attack. I fully blame Vince Mcmahon for this because he could put on a more realistic show and put his workers in a better light. I mean if a person puts on RAW for the first time and sees Regal on his knees kissing Vince's ass what the hell you think the media is going to do? Call it fantastic entertainment?

 

So, that's why Vince is really what Rock said to Hogan on SmackDown. A bitter old man who revolutionized a business TWICE, yet he still gets no props from the media. When he is asked about questions to bring back some sports elements to the show by people like Costas(a sportscaster) he attacks them. Vince Mcmahon is fantastic for the business sometimes, but also a detriment. Many of the stuff he did wasn't really because he was a genius. One example is WrestleMania. I wonder if Starrcade wasn't doing gang busters if he would even think about doing this show. He just wanted to one up the NWA. I mean he did one up them with signing Hogan. Vince making Hogan is another monkey crap that he likes to throw out there. Sure, he made Hogan EXCELL, but Hogan was already hot when Vince got him. The same with Savage, Bundy, Jake, and the rest of the mid 80's wwf stars.

 

He doesn't do the successful things wcw did which made them have some kind of fanbase at least. He runs the group like the wwf and then spits on it. Vince is just a bitter old man at times who wants to get credit for everything. Why do you think he downplays Paul Heyman so much?

 

The other stuff I think he is kayfabing about though. Like not knowing when the split is going to happen or how it's going about. He makes mistakes, but isn't that dumb to spill the beans on his OWN website. I wil say Vince has his place in the business' history without a doubt.

[Guest converge241]

Good points mastermind.

my whole thing is I dont think Vince should be concerned about the net fans at all. He has a better chance at getting complacency from mainstream fans than ever making smarks/smarts/insiders all happy anyways.

For the most part "we" will keep watching no matter what and "we'll" always be tearing some stuff apart.

[Guest Army Eye]

Vince, or anybody else for that matter, shouldnt be wating any time "working" the internet.

Internet fans for the most part dont care or think its stupid.

And casual fans who arent on the 'net or not "smart" have no idea.

It serves no damn purpose.

You seem to be saying Internet fan = smark.  I can assure you that's not necessarily true.  Working the viewers of Byte This is no different than working the viewers of Raw/Smackdown.  The intended audiences are the same.

[Guest Carbon Tiger]

This is Vince we're dealing with. The guy has the biggest ego in wrestling. He'll continue to ignore the dropping raitings, the shitty product, and jadded fanbase untill it hits critical mass.

 

At which point he'll blame everyone else but himself and fire the writting staff. I think Vince isn't living in the same reality as the rest of the human race most of the time.

[Guest converge241]

You seem to be saying Internet fan = smark.  I can assure you that's not necessarily true.  Working the viewers of Byte This is no different than working the viewers of Raw/Smackdown.  The intended audiences are the same

 

yeah thats more of what i meant. that makes sense cause I dont read byte this, just hear the tidbits like this on the threads or the Torch et all.

[Guest mastermind]

I also agree with the statement that net fan doesn't necessarily equal smark. The masses also do have computer access and will hit up wwf.com before ever thinking there is a site like this that exists. Even then the person would get run out with their markism like hurricane did. Actually, Vince's pwtorch interview awhile back is the reason which made me conclude Vince is kayfabing in that interview. Vince admitted to some of the problems of the company like over saturation. This is not to say Vince still doesn't hate the dirthsheets. He just acknowledges them more in this era. He probably got interviewed to fix his image with the wrestling "press".

[Guest Flyboy]

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.

If that's true... than why the hell did he come up with Tough Enough?  Then, do a Tough Enough 2?  Does that mean that the new season will get cancelled?  

 

We can only dream...

 

And yes... Vince IS weird.

[Guest WWF4Life]

You all do realise that Vince was 100% in character...don't you?? It was an interview with 'Mr. McMahon', not Vince McMahon. As if he's going to answer a load of shoot questions on an internet broadcast!!! For the people moaning about the interview, did any of you actually listen to it, or are you just reacting to what you've read on unreliable websites?

[Guest converge241]

So Mr.McMahon , the character, is commenting on the internet bashing of the writing for his character and others?

Wouldnt people in character not talk about how they are being written?

[Guest WWF4Life]

Actually, the only 'characters' that were mentioned were the nWo, not him. If you'd have actually listened to the interview, then you'd know that.

[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.

If that's true... than why the hell did he come up with Tough Enough?  Then, do a Tough Enough 2?  Does that mean that the new season will get cancelled?  

 

We can only dream...

 

And yes... Vince IS weird.

That was around '93. I think Jerry Lawler also agreed with McMahon on that at a time where the two didn't get along. Vince seemed to change his attitude about the fans getting smarter after a while.

[Guest converge241]

You all do realise that Vince was 100% in character...don't you?? It was an interview with 'Mr. McMahon', not Vince McMahon.

 

oh so vince wasnt in character? The only characters were the NWO?

 

Actually, the only 'characters' that were mentioned were the nWo, not him. If you'd have actually listened to the interview, then you'd know that.

 

sorry i "misunderstood" that

[Guest Shawn]

I think he just misplacing his anger for the ratings drop... mm'kay?

 

Man, that felt goooood for some reason...

[Guest converge241]

He's so angry that ratings are dropping that even experts like WWF4Life cant tell if he's "in character" or not.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

Internet fans can influence casual fans, bcause I know I have done it before. I was home for the summer and watched wrestling every Monday with my father and younger brother. We even watched our first PPVs since Wrestlemania 7. We were a house divided though because I was in Booker T's corner while they were in the Rock's. We had great fun talking trash and everything, but in the end I was pretty pissed off. After we watched the main event of Summer Slam, my mother was confused as to why I wanted the Rock to lose. When I went away to college, I was a big Rock fan, this summer, I wanted him to lose. That's when I summed up my feelings about the WWF. I told them that it's pretty damn bad for them to buy the WCW and have the climax be the Rock versus Stone Cold. They had no choice but to agree with me. They weren't thinking along those lines, they were just happy that the Rock won, while I was thinking about the long term plans of the WWF.