Vince mad at low ratings

[Atticus Chaos 0]

The Raw rating was a bigger cause of stress for Vince on Tuesday than Benoit's toxicology report. He's very much on edge, particularly since sources say Bonnie Hammer is putting a tremendous amount of pressure on him to get the ratings up.

 

There is strong talk, as appalling as this sounds, that USA wants Raw to move to three hours permanently in the fall. WWE is very much against it, citing the burnout factor, but it's unlikely they'd be able (or willing) to turn it down. Vince, despite being the main guy in charge of every storyline, is blaming everyone but himself, and the feeling is that if things don't turn around soon there will be a major shake-up and the only ones safe will be Stephanie, Kevin Dunn and perhaps John Lauranitis, since he's a schmoozer and a good talker and is the only one they have faith in to do the Director of Talent Relations job, even though he's often largely incompetent.

 

Michael Hayes has taken more than his fair share of abuse over the past month or so with Vince constantly mocking him at all the producer's meetings, making fun of him in front of his own creative team, and making comments about him to other people when he knows Hayes is within earshot.

 

Brian Gewirtz was also on the crap list Tuesday after the rating came in, ending up on the receiving end of the McMahon blow-up. The feeling is that he's actually OK, and the reason Vince went nuts on him is because he's super close to Vince and Vince always bullies the people closest to him (Shane was often an easy target and would always pout, whereas Stephanie would "take it like Vince would"). Stephanie had to calm Vince down and apparently everything is fine now.

 

 

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[Perfection 0]

The Raw rating was a bigger cause of stress for Vince on Tuesday than Benoit's toxicology report. He's very much on edge, particularly since sources say Bonnie Hammer is putting a tremendous amount of pressure on him to get the ratings up.

 

There is strong talk, as appalling as this sounds, that USA wants Raw to move to three hours permanently in the fall. WWE is very much against it, citing the burnout factor, but it's unlikely they'd be able (or willing) to turn it down. Vince, despite being the main guy in charge of every storyline, is blaming everyone but himself, and the feeling is that if things don't turn around soon there will be a major shake-up and the only ones safe will be Stephanie, Kevin Dunn and perhaps John Lauranitis, since he's a schmoozer and a good talker and is the only one they have faith in to do the Director of Talent Relations job, even though he's often largely incompetent.

 

Michael Hayes has taken more than his fair share of abuse over the past month or so with Vince constantly mocking him at all the producer's meetings, making fun of him in front of his own creative team, and making comments about him to other people when he knows Hayes is within earshot.

 

Brian Gewirtz was also on the crap list Tuesday after the rating came in, ending up on the receiving end of the McMahon blow-up. The feeling is that he's actually OK, and the reason Vince went nuts on him is because he's super close to Vince and Vince always bullies the people closest to him (Shane was often an easy target and would always pout, whereas Stephanie would "take it like Vince would"). Stephanie had to calm Vince down and apparently everything is fine now.

 

 

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Thanks for posting this. I just posted the ratings in the GD thread. Mcmahon sure is an odd individual. Blaming everyone but the actual people in charge who have the final say on everything. It makes you wonder sometimes if he is all there upstairs.

[mysterious_w 0]

Yeah well a staredown is hardly a RAW main event is it, especially when you need to hard-sell this PPV coming up. They should have had a 6-man tag, say Cena/Lashley/Hardy vs Umaga/Booker/Orton. There you can have all the staredowns and tension between Cena and Lashley you want, have Booker talking trash to Lawler on the outside, and maybe have Hardy scoop a cheap win over Umaga to set up their match at GAB.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

I'm sure all these "changes" will lead to nothing because the people behind the fall of the ratings (poor creative team led by Steph) won't be blamed/dismissed. Instead, lets get rid of Michael Hayes who's actually done a decent job. I didn't think Hayes had any impact on RAW at all, though. I thought he was a Smackdown! guy.

[mysterious_w 0]

Yeah Hayes does Smackdown I'm sure, which won the ratings overall for the 2nd hour last week.

[Jingus 0]

...and NOBODY in the WWE executive branch realizes that the massive ratings drop happened to occur right after one of their top wrestlers turned mass murderer?

[cabbageboy 0]

I was about ready to say, did they not expect some sort of business downturn due to Benoit? They really ought to be relieved that they only have lost a 0.3 or so. I figured it might drop below 3.0, and it may yet.

 

But hey, if Vince is pissed at Gewirtz and wants to fire him, be my guest.

[Taker666 0]

It has to be Triple H. ever sence they started airing his return promos, thats when the ratings started to slip. Yep. its definlly him.

[Guest panthermatt7]

It has to be Triple H. ever sence they started airing his return promos, thats when the ratings started to slip. Yep. its definlly him.

 

Careful, the IWC will pick up on that one.

 

I don't know if anyone's noticed this besides me, but every time I click on Raw (which is once every three weeks or so, I'm usually busy Monday nights), the crowd is either dead or barely reacting. One can only guess that the audience watching at home feels the same. It's been that way for a couple of years now... they've lost too many charismatic, over performers in too short a timespan to have fully recovered yet, in energy or ratings.

 

I guess there is one consistent moment which I've noticed while watching Raw: when Cena comes out, girls scream really loud, and the male chorus of boos tries to cover it up. Then the crowd is pretty much dead for the majority of his matches. I'm not a Cena-hater, just observing crowd response.

[Jingus 0]

It has to be Triple H. ever sence they started airing his return promos, thats when the ratings started to slip. Yep. its definlly him.

It has to be Rey Misterio. ever sence they started airing his return promos, thats when the ratings started to slip. Yep. its definlly him.

[Ravenbomb 0]

It has to be Triple H. ever sence they started airing his return promos, thats when the ratings started to slip. Yep. its definlly him.

It has to be Rey Misterio. ever sence they started airing his return promos, thats when the ratings started to slip. Yep. its definlly him.

It has to be Monk. ever sence they started airing his return promos, thats when the ratings started to slip. Yep. its definlly him.

[haVoc 0]

This gives Vince a reason to rush himself back on camera.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Don't blame Vince, he voted for Kodos (that one is for you, GQ).

[RepoMan 0]

Raw has been boring as hell, and I havn't been interested in the main even scence pretty much since last summer before DX came back.

[Jingus 0]

And of course there's the irony of how Raw is drawing WORSE with all the new talent it took like Kobe Bryant taking some nookie drafted from Smackdown.

[LJSexay 0]

And of course there's the irony of how Raw is drawing WORSE with all the new talent it took like Kobe Bryant taking some nookie drafted from Smackdown.

 

interesting. There may be something to that actually. What if the steady increase in ratings on SD last year, with Lashley Booker and Kennedy on the roster (plus the lower ratings now on RAW) are some sort of indicator that the two brands really do have a different audience, and it could be that those who watch RAW exclusively just really like their Cenas, HHHs and HBKs. Just throwing that out there. It is the show pushed the most to the common mark, anyway.

 

More important for everyone (Vince included) to understand is that uh, the wrestling scene wasn't on a high anyway, AND the media has created a blitzkrieg out of the Benoit tragedy. Sure it may have raised interest and has, but people will quickly, quickly change the channel when they see something stupid like 4597 videos on Lashley vs Cena in the span of two hours.

[cabbageboy 0]

Well, they raped SD mainly so they can bring guys on Raw in order to bury them. Let's face it, that's what is happening or is going to happen. Booker is there to job out to HHH and get buried, so I can see him being pissed about leaving SD. Kennedy has already jobbed in 3/4 of the matches he has had on Raw, including an assbeating from Edge (MITB loss) as well as losing to Super Crazy in 20 seconds. The jury is still out on Lashley, but if he jobs out in this Cena feud you can add him to the list.

 

What does it say that The Sandman of all people is one of the few guys that was brought to Raw that hasn't jobbed yet?

[Celtic Jobber 0]

Well, they raped SD mainly so they can bring guys on Raw in order to bury them. Let's face it, that's what is happening or is going to happen. Booker is there to job out to HHH and get buried, so I can see him being pissed about leaving SD. Kennedy has already jobbed in 3/4 of the matches he has had on Raw, including an assbeating from Edge (MITB loss) as well as losing to Super Crazy in 20 seconds. The jury is still out on Lashley, but if he jobs out in this Cena feud you can add him to the list.

 

What does it say that The Sandman of all people is one of the few guys that was brought to Raw that hasn't jobbed yet?

 

 

Well, even though he pretty much sucks in the ring, the Sandman is more charismatic and the crowds pop for him more than they do for Lashley or even half of the rest of the roster.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Even I'm surprised at the pops his tune gets as soon as it hits. And I must say, I am fuckin stoked to see a Sandman/Jim Duggan tag team. You can damn sure bet I'll be checkin Heat every Friday on wwe.com to get my fix of those two.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Well, they raped SD mainly so they can bring guys on Raw in order to bury them. Let's face it, that's what is happening or is going to happen. Booker is there to job out to HHH and get buried, so I can see him being pissed about leaving SD. Kennedy has already jobbed in 3/4 of the matches he has had on Raw, including an assbeating from Edge (MITB loss) as well as losing to Super Crazy in 20 seconds. The jury is still out on Lashley, but if he jobs out in this Cena feud you can add him to the list.

 

What does it say that The Sandman of all people is one of the few guys that was brought to Raw that hasn't jobbed yet?

 

 

Well, even though he pretty much sucks in the ring, the Sandman is more charismatic and the crowds pop for him more than they do for Lashley or even half of the rest of the roster.

 

Are you kidding me? Before his feud with Cena, Lashley was getting large pops.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Christ, don't tell me McMahon is going to start a stupid feud now that Smackdown is getting better rating than RAW. Hey old man, they're both your shows!

[Dobbs 3K 0]

The answer is simple...move everyone from Smackdown to RAW, and vice versa.

[BUTT 0]

Well, they raped SD mainly so they can bring guys on Raw in order to bury them. Let's face it, that's what is happening or is going to happen. Booker is there to job out to HHH and get buried, so I can see him being pissed about leaving SD. Kennedy has already jobbed in 3/4 of the matches he has had on Raw, including an assbeating from Edge (MITB loss) as well as losing to Super Crazy in 20 seconds. The jury is still out on Lashley, but if he jobs out in this Cena feud you can add him to the list.

 

What does it say that The Sandman of all people is one of the few guys that was brought to Raw that hasn't jobbed yet?

 

 

Well, even though he pretty much sucks in the ring, the Sandman is more charismatic and the crowds pop for him more than they do for Lashley or even half of the rest of the roster.

Actually, the newest WON (or maybe it was the one before that) said that Vince has become a big Sandman fan because he is intrigued by Sandman's unique character and promos.

[Fökai 0]

Well, they raped SD mainly so they can bring guys on Raw in order to bury them. <cut> Kennedy has already jobbed in 3/4 of the matches he has had on Raw, including an assbeating from Edge (MITB loss) as well as losing to Super Crazy in 20 seconds.

 

That loss to Edge was to set up a program with him down the line. THAT was the turn that he needed to become a mega babyface. It's not the writer's fault that someone begged for Kennedy to return...to RAW...as a heel.

 

What a waste of a potential program.

[NoCalMike 0]

.....yet Paul Heyman sits at home, collecting a pay check for virtually doing nothing but sitting on his couch.

[Nate 0]

.....yet Paul Heyman sits at home, collecting a pay check for virtually doing nothing but sitting on his couch.

 

why cant i get paid to do that seriously WWE needs him right now in a big way

[Ravenbomb 0]

I'd love to get paid to not work.

[Scroby 0]

.....yet Paul Heyman sits at home, collecting a pay check for virtually doing nothing but sitting on his couch.

 

why cant i get paid to do that seriously WWE needs him right now in a big way

No they don't. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Heyman fan but barely anyone McMahon or backstage wise works well with him that would cause even more stress they don't need.

[Mecca 0]

Yea the WWE needs to bring Heyman back so he can make snide remarks to Stephanie and the rest of the creative team. People act like it's Steph's fault but if someone made the comments to you that he made to her you'd hate the guy too.

[fisticuffs 0]

With SD seemingly losing someone from the main event scene every couple of months, would they consider ending the brand split if Raw goes to 3 hours?