Too much, or just too little effort?

[Guest Jason]

I’ve been hearing a lot that many people believe WWE are putting on too many PPV events in 2005, which will simply cost too much for the average American/Canadian to buy and leaves very little time to actually promote the event. But do you believe the problem lies with World Wrestling Entertainment putting on too many Pay per View shows, or is it also down to them just not putting all their effort into making each show as great as they possibly can?

 

Back in the 90s, people had 24 PPV events to choose from, from both WCW and WWF. Add in ECW, and that’s almost one event a week. With all those PPV’s on offer, WWE didn’t have a problem selling the events to their customers; in fact they sold a lot more than they are doing today. The reason they did this, in my opinion anyway, was because they put their all into each and every show. They could have been running a big feud between Rock and Austin for the upcoming PPV, while at the same time beginning an angle with HHH and Jericho for an event that will be held the following month. Nowadays it’s go-go-go with most feuds beginning on the 1st of the month and ending at the PPV, with another match at the next event.

 

Vince Russo and Ed Ferrari basically worked their asses of each week to make WWF television as best they could, to outdo WCW. Now we have these big panels of Hollywood script-writers and honestly, they have less knowledge of writer a wrestling show than Russo and Ferrari had in their little fingers. The difference was, Ferrari and Russo were fans of the business, they knew what the fans wanted, the current writers, for the majority, are just doing it as general script writers who are more interested than cashing their cheque than entertaining the fans.

 

So do you believe the problem lies with WWE putting on too many PPV events, or is their just not enough build up and effort being put into the shows for you to care about the majority of them?

__________________

[Youth N Asia]

I think people wouldn't mind as many ppvs if they'd build the matches better. Seems like they try and sell 2 or 3 matches from ppv to ppv, then the rest are just thrown together. Seems like most of them are made the show before the ppv.

 

Also $35????? waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy too much.

 

I haven't ordered a ppv since Mania 19...and I used to get them all the time

[Guest Loss]

They have a pre-BE mindset and a pre-monopoly mindset in many ways, and it's costing them money. Like right now, why haven't they announced any matches for New Years Resolution? Instead, we're just seeing a lot of time killing when they should already be doing commercials and promoting the show. But instead, they're waiting until the SD PPV to even start hyping it, and that baffles me. The point of alternating the PPVs was to give them more time develop the feuds, and they're not taking full advantage of that time.

[Guest Loss]

Also, matches where HHH, Chris Benoit and Edge are in the same ring shouldn't be happening on free TV. Fans should pay to see matches that big. HHH v Rhyno should be about as big a match as we get on free TV.

[King Cucaracha]

Also, matches where HHH, Chris Benoit and Edge are in the same ring shouldn't be happening on free TV. Fans should pay to see matches that big. HHH v Rhyno should be about as big a match as we get on free TV.

Which leads to everyone complaining about the lack of importance of the T.V shows. T.V shows in 2000 had the main players facing each other pretty consistantly and buyrates weren't suffering (as far as I remember).

 

They shouldn't be facing each other every week though, that I'd agree with.

[Guest BDC]

Also, matches where HHH, Chris Benoit and Edge are in the same ring shouldn't be happening on free TV. Fans should pay to see matches that big. HHH v Rhyno should be about as big a match as we get on free TV.

Which leads to everyone complaining about the lack of importance of the T.V shows. T.V shows in 2000 had the main players facing each other pretty consistantly and buyrates weren't suffering (as far as I remember).

 

They shouldn't be facing each other every week though, that I'd agree with.

Well, I'd rather complain about a lack of big matches than see a ppv match redone over and over. It's kind of like when WCW had Luger v Bagwell on Starrcade, gave it a Dusty finish and then had it on Nitro the NEXT NIGHT. Make people watch ppvs to see the matches they wanna see and not milk them til no one cares.

[Guest Loss]

Which leads to everyone complaining about the lack of importance of the T.V shows. T.V shows in 2000 had the main players facing each other pretty consistantly and buyrates weren't suffering (as far as I remember).

You're right, but I think it eventually got to a point where people didn't care about PPVs anymore because so many big name matches were happening on free TV. It worked in 2000, but mistakes were made that year that contributed to the current state of the company.

[Guest bigm350]

I think though if they put on squash matches on Raw or SD, then ratings will drop even further down the toilet. I don't think too many people want to see a HHH vs Rhyno main event, or a Christian vs Jericho main event.

[Guest Loss]

I think though if they put on squash matches on Raw or SD, then ratings will drop even further down the toilet. I don't think too many people want to see a HHH vs Rhyno main event, or a Christian vs Jericho main event.

They need to worry less about ratings, and more about making money. TV should just be an infomercial for PPVs and house shows anyway. As long as they can maintain a 2.5 or above, I'd expect the network to be happy, because they'll still be its highest-rated programming.

[redbaron29]

I think though if they put on squash matches on Raw or SD, then ratings will drop even further down the toilet. I don't think too many people want to see a HHH vs Rhyno main event, or a Christian vs Jericho main event.

Maybe if they let more of the Rhyno's and Christian's and Jericho's main event, they would have more breakout stars (and perhaps even an Austin somewhere in there) and it would settle some of the interest problems. In this post "attitude" era, letting the stars act natural instead of feeding them with all these pre-fabricated promos and talking points would lead to a more spontaneous and more exciting of a product, that people would take interest in.

[Hunter's Torn Quad]

As long as the squash matches don't last more than a few minutes, any effect on ratings will be minimal at best. They don't need to be long anyway; the star hits his signature spots, poses a bit, hits his finish, and it's over. Not only would be it give the guy a win on Raw or SD, but it might get finishers a bit more over, if fans actually see them used to get wins, rather than as a transition.