OAO Raw Thread - July 30, 2007

[haws bah gawd 0]

It couldn't be possible that maybe people are getting tired of seeing Cena as champ every week. Oh fucker no. Couldn't be.

[JPopStarKami 0]

How the hell did they drop nearly a whole 1.0?

 

Maybe it was the Congress stuff?

[Dangerous A 0]

Yikes. Not sure if it'll stay that way, but Raw has been trending downward the last 3 weeks and looks like the bottom fell out this week.

[Celtic Guardian 0]

The post-PPV bounce probably covered up what would have been a decrease last week. Instead, we get the accumulated two weeks of downfall all wrapped up in a disasterous one week plunge.

 

If the 2.5 number is accurate, WWE Raw is beyond the help of band-aids and now in need of radical reconstructive surgery. All creative options (good, bad or otherwise) that are legally possible and financially feasible must be considered.

[Dangerous A 0]

If this number holds true, we may see Vince back on TV as soon as next week. No way he stands for playing third fiddle to Super Nanny and the second to last episode of Hell's Kitchen!

[mysterious_w 0]

How the hell did they drop nearly a whole 1.0?

 

Maybe it was the Congress stuff?

 

Those who weren't turned off by the Benoit murders aren't likely to be swayed by some Congress request.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

And yet Smackdown has stayed relatively steady. This rating is a disaster on every level.

[Guest Hasbeen2]

I can't speak for anybody else, but I only watch Raw now once every couple of weeks, if that much. Sometimes when it's on I'm not even paying attention. I'm rarely home on Fridays and won't be any now that football is about to start, but I always tape it when I'm gone. That should show how much better I think Smackdown is even with a totaled roster. It just amazes me how Smackdown is usually decent, at least, if not very good, even after Kennedy, Booker, Benoit, Undertaker, JBL, Mysterio, etc, etc, etc, were removed, injured, etc. I expect them to take CM Punk, Burke, Matt Hardy, whoever is left and add them full time to Raw to try and get something going, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Jericho out there in the next couple of weeks. And like somebody said, expect more McMahon wackiness, possibly all four of them, maybe Foley, maybe an Austin guest shot or two. I wouldn't even be surprised to see Batista and Rey on Raw fulltime. They probably think Smackdown can be quality no matter who they throw out there and they might be right, at least compared to Raw.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Raw bombs in the ratings

 

We don't have the actual rating for Monday night's Raw at this moment, but the show did 3.4 million viewers. That was down 26% from last week, which was at terrible levels. The show's levels in the key demos were the lowest since the darkest days of early 1997.

 

I don't think it's a misprint, Tonto.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Meltzer confirmed it as a 2.5. It's no misprint, folks.

[Mecca 0]

Well I think it's safe to say we'll never see Carlito mainevent again.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

If I wanted to be one of those people that hated HHH, I would point out that the ratings dropping are consistent with the amount of times they mention his impending return.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

If I wanted to be one of those people that hated HHH, I would point out that the ratings dropping are consistent with the amount of times they mention his impending return.

The real fun begins when his return either only spikes the rating for a week or doesn't even spike it at all. Then the excuses will really come thick and fast.

[2GOLD 0]

If I wanted to be one of those people that hated HHH, I would point out that the ratings dropping are consistent with the amount of times they mention his impending return.

The real fun begins when his return either only spikes the rating for a week or doesn't even spike it at all. Then the excuses will really come thick and fast.

 

Poor King Booker.

[UZI Suicide 0]

2.5? Wow, that is just.. wow. I think the proper term for the WWE right now would be "fucked".

[bobobrazil1984 0]

i think its simply a reaction to the wrestlers. I'm not the best judge being that i havent watched a full raw in years, but I did tune in for a little bit to this RAW - i follow the forums regularly though, reading tsm wwe forum has replaced actually watchin the shows.. watched about 20 seconds of Cena, Carlito, and some other idiot, with hammocks in the ring, and changed it - these guys are just awful. I s'pose it didnt help that earlier in the day i'd been watching clips of the rock and mankind on youtube at work, which had whet my appetite to give RAW another shot... but anywyas, long term creative took a huge nosedive in 2001, stayed at that crappy level until i stopped regular weekly viewing in 03, and from all indications and times i've checked in it doesnt seem to have improved much. i'm just surprised ratings didnt hit this low plateau sooner. Have the ratings stayed low since the Benoit murders? If so there's your other reason.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Have the ratings stayed low since the Benoit murders? If so there's your other reason.

 

It had been 3.4 the past three weeks, 3.7 the week before that, and 3.8 the week before that.

 

The Benoit tragedy really had little effect on the ratings.

[Vanhalen 0]

Holy shit, thats absolutly terrible, does that mean Smackdown will probably get more viewers this week?

[JustJoe2k5 0]

I remember when it seemed that WCW had a yearly "restart" of the promotion where they would take a week off, strip everyone of the belts, and start over. In this case, that may not be too bad of an idea for WWE.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

I remember when it seemed that WCW had a yearly "restart" of the promotion where they would take a week off, strip everyone of the belts, and start over. In this case, that may not be too bad of an idea for WWE.

 

You really think that would work? I'd hate to see that happen. How would they do it? Would they have the indestructable Cena have a faux injure and drop the title? I have no idea, but I wouldn't like to see it, I think they just need to mix things up a bit, make things unexpected.

 

I'd really like to see a return of the King of the Ring or something similar, maybes used to highlight the new talent coming up, that would make me watch again.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I remember when it seemed that WCW had a yearly "restart" of the promotion where they would take a week off, strip everyone of the belts, and start over. In this case, that may not be too bad of an idea for WWE.

 

 

Yearly, or one time?

[JustJoe2k5 0]

I remember when it seemed that WCW had a yearly "restart" of the promotion where they would take a week off, strip everyone of the belts, and start over. In this case, that may not be too bad of an idea for WWE.

 

 

Yearly, or one time?

 

It may have been one time, but it certainly seemed like they "wanted to change the direction of the company" numerous times between '99 and '01.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

I remember when it seemed that WCW had a yearly "restart" of the promotion where they would take a week off, strip everyone of the belts, and start over. In this case, that may not be too bad of an idea for WWE.

 

You really think that would work? I'd hate to see that happen. How would they do it? Would they have the indestructable Cena have a faux injure and drop the title? I have no idea, but I wouldn't like to see it, I think they just need to mix things up a bit, make things unexpected.

 

I'd really like to see a return of the King of the Ring or something similar, maybes used to highlight the new talent coming up, that would make me watch again.

 

They need some type of shake-up. I don't think this downward trend can be fixed by a one-time appearance by Steve Austin or The Rock. New challengers need to be made, the return of the King of the Ring would be one possible avenue for this. Perhaps you fill the Royal Rumble with new and young talent, instead of the same old contenders and the same old winner. People clearly don't like the current crop of stars that main event RAW every week.

[Celtic Guardian 0]

I'd really like to see a return of the King of the Ring or something similar, maybes used to highlight the new talent coming up, that would make me watch again.

 

Open invitational tournament, invite TNA and Ring of Honor wrestlers by name. Actually make a deal with one or both companies if possible. WWE needs to think completely outside the box now.

 

[2GOLD 0]

I'd really like to see a return of the King of the Ring or something similar, maybes used to highlight the new talent coming up, that would make me watch again.

 

Open invitational tournament, invite TNA and Ring of Honor wrestlers by name. Actually make a deal with one or both companies if possible. WWE needs to think completely outside the box now.

 

Yeah, there is no way it would work. The WWE would want all of their main eventers to go over, they would treat everyone from ROH and TNA like second rate losers and wrestling would be completely slammed.

 

Even TNA and ROH aren't that stupid and TNA is pretty damn stupid right now.

[Downhome 0]

From PWInsider:

 

RAW RATINGS TANKS

by Dave Scherer @ 4:56:34 PM on 8/1/2007

 

This morning, I mentioned here on the site that I heard the Raw rating was so low I had to confirm it before I would post it. Well, I have done that with WWE sources. After three straight weeks of doing a 3.4 cable rating according to Nielsen Media Research, Monday's show did just a 2.5. That is a drop of 26% from the previous week and a downright scary number. When I first heard it, I thought it had to be a mistake given that Raw never drops that much in a week. I am still somewhat hesitant to believe it wasn't affected by some kind of glitch along the way. Next week's number will be telling for WWE, for sure. If it stays low, WWE has serious, serious problems.

 

The 2.5 is the lowest non-holiday rating since October 27, 1997, which was a 2.3. That show was a taped Raw (taped on October 21st) and headlined by WWF World Champion Bret Hart vs. Ken Shamrock, Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart vs. Ahmed Johnson and WWF Tag Team Champions The Legion Of Doom vs. Los Boricuas. It also had one of Jim Cornette's rants about how horrible WCW was.

 

That same night, a live WCW Nitro did a 4.3 headlined by World Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page, Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage, U.S. Champion Curt Hennig vs. Booker T, Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho and Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Dean Malenko.

 

Since we've already had the 2.5 rating confirmed (although it wouldn't shock me if this was just a huge glitch, and it's really supposed to be 3.5 instead), I post this only because of the part in bold. Holy shit, sometimes I forget just how stacked those Nitro shows used to be at times!

[JustJoe2k5 0]

From PWInsider:

 

RAW RATINGS TANKS

by Dave Scherer @ 4:56:34 PM on 8/1/2007

 

This morning, I mentioned here on the site that I heard the Raw rating was so low I had to confirm it before I would post it. Well, I have done that with WWE sources. After three straight weeks of doing a 3.4 cable rating according to Nielsen Media Research, Monday's show did just a 2.5. That is a drop of 26% from the previous week and a downright scary number. When I first heard it, I thought it had to be a mistake given that Raw never drops that much in a week. I am still somewhat hesitant to believe it wasn't affected by some kind of glitch along the way. Next week's number will be telling for WWE, for sure. If it stays low, WWE has serious, serious problems.

 

The 2.5 is the lowest non-holiday rating since October 27, 1997, which was a 2.3. That show was a taped Raw (taped on October 21st) and headlined by WWF World Champion Bret Hart vs. Ken Shamrock, Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart vs. Ahmed Johnson and WWF Tag Team Champions The Legion Of Doom vs. Los Boricuas. It also had one of Jim Cornette's rants about how horrible WCW was.

 

That same night, a live WCW Nitro did a 4.3 headlined by World Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page, Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage, U.S. Champion Curt Hennig vs. Booker T, Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho and Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Dean Malenko.

 

Since we've already had the 2.5 rating confirmed (although it wouldn't shock me if this was just a huge glitch, and it's really supposed to be 3.5 instead), I post this only because of the part in bold. Holy shit, sometimes I forget just how stacked those Nitro shows used to be at times!

 

If there was any chance it was a glitch, I think WWE would've already done everything in it's power to find the problem and announce it. That is a pretty stacked WCW show.

[OldSchoolWrestling 0]

I remember when it seemed that WCW had a yearly "restart" of the promotion where they would take a week off, strip everyone of the belts, and start over. In this case, that may not be too bad of an idea for WWE.

 

 

Yearly, or one time?

That is pretty much what the WWE does with the draft each year. Lashley even got stripped of the title since he got drafted to Raw.

[Celtic Guardian 0]

Yeah, there is no way it would work. The WWE would want all of their main eventers to go over, they would treat everyone from ROH and TNA like second rate losers and wrestling would be completely slammed.

 

That's old style "WWE is the universe" thinking. We've had that already. How's it working out?

 

Whatever WWE does to fix this has to be outside Raw as we know it. Simply adding in concepts that have already been done or names that have already been worked won't do it.

 

We need a new Monday wrestling template with a new creative czar, new voices to hear each week, maybe even a new Monday show not called Raw.

 

That's what 2.5 means.

[Enigma 0]

RAW RATING LOWEST NON-HOLIDAY RATING IN ALMOST 10 YEARS

 

The 2.5 rating for the July 31, 2007 edition of Raw is the lowest non-holiday rating for Raw since October 23, 1997, which scored a 2.3.

 

That show was headlined by WWF Champion Bret Hart vs. Ken Shamrock, Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart vs. Ahmed Johnson, and WWF Tag Team Champions The Legion of Doom vs. Los Boriquas. The show also featured one of Jim Cornette's "shoot interviews" about how bad WCW was.

 

The opposing WCW Nitro show scored a 4.3. Nitro was headlined by WCW Champion Hollywood Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page, Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage, United States Champion Curt Hennig vs. Booker T., Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho, and Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio, Jr. vs. Dean Malenko.