Vince blames the war

[Guest Damn You Helmsley]

Sources close to Vince McMahon say that he has been blaming the war in Iraq for WWE’s recent television ratings problems, pay per view buyrates, and low house show attendance. One official in the TNN office agrees with McMahon and said that WWE is showing a ratings increase with the war over. TNN executive vice president of programming Kevin Kay said, "Let's face it, during a war, people are going to watch the news," "But coming out of the war, it's back to business as usual."

 

pwtorch.com

[Guest CanadianChris]

Vince is either a moron or blind. Until he pulls his head out of his ass and realizes the real problem with his company lies in Creative, his company's just going down further.

[Agent_Bond34 0]

When in doubt, blame a war.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but weren't the ratings on it's way down even further BEFORE the war got started?

[Guest j.o.b. squad]

do you actually think it is going to help for vince to actually do anything about it now.

 

Lets face it even the internet fans are going away in droves just look how short the one and only smackdown thread was last time. now compare it to a year ago.

 

Wrestling on a major network is going like the other fads. it was popular for a while allowing vince to be able to bounce each networks offers each other in tnn and usa.

 

But ever since then no network woude touch wwe with a ten foot pole. as seen in vince's total inability to get an offer to put wcw on a network.

 

lets be real wwe is on the slipery slope to the land where pet rocks and slap on bracelets live.

 

wwe may you find peace in the void of obsoleteness.

 

well at latleast vince is a billionare like he said for so many years

 

:checks forbes 500 wealthiest people list:

 

whoops sorry 570 millionare. oh well

[Guest evilhomer]

Everything is good, do not look at that man behind the curtain, everything is good.

 

So it's the war this week, will it be Spongebob Squarepants again next week, then the war again...

 

It's so true that you have to admit to a problem before anything can be done about it.

[Guest Galactic Gigolo]

You know, I could understand them blaming the business' download if the war was actually one that gripped people's minds. How long was this war? 2 weeks. Prior to the war, people were writing it off for the most part, and not watching CNN 24/7 because they were worried that evil Saddam was going to use the nonexistant WMD on us.

 

Vince, give me a fucking break.

[Guest cabbageboy]

This is so idiotic. Check out the ratings and you'll see that there has been very little if any movement over the past few months, and certainly nothing that could be attributed to Saddam.

 

2nd, would wrestling fans REALLY care that much about the war that they would halt everything to check out boring assed CNN coverage? That crap is on 24/7, I could watch it whenever I wanted. I'd hardly miss out on wrestling to see if we killed another 3 or 4 Iraquis.

[Guest wwF1587]

omg... they really are THAT STUPID!!....god this is ridiculous

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

So now that the war is "over", will the WWE create their own war ala the movie Wag the Dog just to justify their ratings in the shitter?

 

Press Release from WWE.com

 

" As you all have heard by now, we are extremely saddened by the war in Canada. As you can imagine, with such high profile Canadian superstars on our roster as Test and Rene Dupree we feel that it would be in our best intrest to take it slow in terms of in-ring work for a while and allow the horror and tradgedy of the Ice Flow War in Canada to sink in. All we can do now is hope and pray that somebody stops those renegade ice flows in Toronto before some serious damage is done to the Ontario River."

[Guest Mattdotcom]

[WWE Boardroom]

 

Vince: How could Sadaam do this to me? I gave him some great publicity back in '91!

 

Satan: I wish you two wouldn't fight. Call him! He'll appologize!

 

HHH: Shut up and get me a bottle of water! *Poses, makes raspberry sound-NO WATER*

 

Vince, Satan: Yessir!

[ChrisMWaters 0]

You know...I usually don't abdocate violence in a non sports or entertainment form...however...

 

SHANE! It's time for you to take the throne of power like the ancient rulers did! Find the sharpest sword you can find and slice off Vince and Steph's heads! Then put them on a plane and say a plane crash did it! You'll be in power in no-time!

[Guest Showstoppa Icon]

Shane should challenge Vince to a duel *slap with glove* a la simpsons

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Shane should challenge Vince to a duel *slap with glove* a la simpsons

...hehehe...that would be funny.

 

<Shane>Sir...you have insulted the wrestling business! *Slap* I challenge you! Do you accept, or are you a coward?

 

<Vince>Would a coward do...THIS? *Puts on the Gooker Costume and runs away*

[Guest saturnmark4life]

'Vince blames the war' Is the sort of thing you read in The Onion.

[Bored 0]

Let's see March 24 Raw scores a 3.5, this past week it also scores a 3.5.

 

March 27 Smackdown scores a 3.2, this past week it also socres 3.2.

 

WAR IS HELL PEOPLE!

[Mecha Mummy 0]

*Laughs* Compare the recent Raw ratings to October's. They've actually gone UP. Damn that war.

[Guest Y2DAYDAY]

If I remember correctly, I think the ratings did drop a little at the beginning of the war.

[Guest AndrewTS]

If I remember correctly, I think the ratings did drop a little at the beginning of the war.

About the time of the Rock/Austin comebacks, correct?

[Guest Olympic Slam]

I'd agree with Vince for the FIRST week of the war as I was glued to war coverage and only war coverage that week. But once it became somewhat apparent that the war was going to be a squash, it was back to wrestling as usual.

 

So we can add the war to ever-growing list of reasons why WWE ratings have gone down. What else has it been?

 

- March Madness

- The bad economy

- Terrorism

- NBA Playoffs

 

I'm sure there have been dozens more

[Guest RugbyDiva]

Vince is either a moron or blind.

Is it possible he can be both...

That's what I thought.

 

In all seriousness though.. Vince needs to take a look in the mirror, or possibly watch some old tapes of RAW and/or SmackDown!.. you know, back in the 'good ole days'. WWE could make it back to the top if they tried hard enough and utilized some old techniques (whatever the hell they were). But until then, let Vince think of reasons to blame the dwindling ratings on, instead of ways to improve them.

[Guest AndrewTS]

I'd agree with Vince for the FIRST week of the war as I was glued to war coverage and only war coverage that week. But once it became somewhat apparent that the war was going to be a squash, it was back to wrestling as usual.

 

So we can add the war to ever-growing list of reasons why WWE ratings have gone down. What else has it been?

 

- March Madness

- The bad economy

- Terrorism

- NBA Playoffs

 

I'm sure there have been dozens more

- Spongebob Squarepants

- Tough Enough hurt HHH's heat

- It takes time to make "new stars" (i.e. HBK, Steiner, Nash, Hogan)

- They're "in the rebuilding process."

- er...it's Jericho's fault?

[Guest DerangedHermit]

Vince is dyslexic...."war" is "RAW".

[Gert T 0]

Or Shane could "hug" him to death like in Gladiator.

 

But I don't even know if Shane is the answer.

[Guest The Decadent Slacker]

well, what can be said about this company that hasn't been said a million times over? although i love how Vince never blames TNA so as to not give the audience any idea of an alternative, but that's just me.

 

It's times like this where i'm glad Vince is a genius.

[Guest cabbageboy]

It basically comes to this: Vince is as smart as his conniving lackies. When he was being conned by Hogan and that bunch in the 80s, it worked out and everyone got rich. During the mid 90s Vince was manipulated by the Kliq and things went to shit. As much as you wanna trash Russo at least his ideas in the late 90s drew money.

 

I almost think Vince is like any other egomaniacal multimillionaire. Just appeal to his vanity, kiss his ass, and you'll find yourself in a position of power.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

Vince needs to admit that his run is over and take it like a man.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

No McMahon is the answer to the WWE's problems. Stupidity is genetic.

 

Now for the REAL report:

 

"Sources close to Vince McMahon say that he has been blaming an untied shoelace for WWE’s recent television ratings problems, pay per view buyrates, and low house show attendance. One official in the TNN office agrees with McMahon and said that WWE is showing a ratings increase when the shoelace gets tied. TNN executive vice president of programming Kevin Kay said, "Let's face it, with an untied shoelace, people are going to be looking at their shoes," "But when those shoelaces are tied, it's back to business as usual."

[Guest Youth N Asia]

I completly agree with Vince here. I mean look at the product now, and look at their 1997-2000 stuff. Are you really going to tell me the new stuff isn't as good IF NOT better.

 

This post has been brought to you by the letters F and U. And by the word SARCASM.

[Guest JDMattitudeV1]

The reason they are in the shape they are in is because they are booking to please Vince, Steph, HHH, and the rest of the locker room instead of booking to entertain their fans. When promoters start to book to entertain them selves trouble will always follow.

[Guest Space_Cowboy]

Wow, Vince blaming something other than himself for the shithole he's put the WWE in? Never saw that coming.