The OAO RAW Thread 10/08/07

[2GOLD 0]

 

All it really said was Rev 22:12 instead of 222, so now I'm hoping for the return of the UnderFaker.

 

As for using this for the new Hart Foundation, sorry but that would be the most anti-climatic ending to this ever. You'd get the crowd all pumped up, expecting someone great and out comes a bunch of people they couldn't name if you were there to tell them their names. You can have them attack Shawn or something at Survivor Series and rehash this crap one last time but to us 222 on them? That would be a huge disaster. At least with an attack of Shawn they could play up the "who are these guys? Why are they attacking Shawn Michaels?" and get a bigger surprise going.

 

Don't try to swerve anyone with this, it would backfire.

[MrRant 0]

The thing that I noticed the most was the "2nd coming" part.

[OldSchoolWrestling 0]

All it really said was Rev 22:12 instead of 222, so now I'm hoping for the return of the UnderFaker.

 

As for using this for the new Hart Foundation, sorry but that would be the most anti-climatic ending to this ever. You'd get the crowd all pumped up, expecting someone great and out comes a bunch of people they couldn't name if you were there to tell them their names. You can have them attack Shawn or something at Survivor Series and rehash this crap one last time but to us 222 on them? That would be a huge disaster. At least with an attack of Shawn they could play up the "who are these guys? Why are they attacking Shawn Michaels?" and get a bigger surprise going.

 

Don't try to swerve anyone with this, it would backfire.

I hear you on that. The fans might think its the Spirit Squad 2.0.

[chuck415 0]

I found an excellent review of Shawn's return if anyones interested. He makes some good points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb1FpCH13Pw

 

[King Cucaracha 0]

You know, a real longshot, it could be Jericho leading The Hart Foundation 2.0.

 

He's not a Hart. And he's only Canadian when WWE want him to be. But, ya know, close enough.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

RAW RATING DROPS UNDER A 3.0

by Dave Scherer

 

This week's edition of Raw did a 2.8 cable rating. Unless this is a situation where there was a problem with Nielsen's computations, it's officially cause for concern for WWE and Raw. The show did hours of 2.8 and 2.8, and this was on the day after a PPV where a new WWE Champion was crowned. Again, if there wasn't a problem at Nielsen, this is downright scary, even if you bring DVR time-shifting into the mix.

 

For those looking to other places for shows that could have affected the rating on cable, ESPN did a 10 cable rating for the Dallas vs. Buffalo game, which was up from the 9.0 that last week's game did. The Indians-Yankees game hurt WWE as well as they did a 7.0 for the deciding game of the series. But still, there have been football games and playoffs in the past and WWE never dropped this far. This is a scary number.

[mfn 0]

wow 2.8? is this the first time they have been in the 2's??

[LJSexay 0]

..and John Cena is a bigger phenomena than most gave him credit for.

[Celtic Guardian 0]

..and John Cena is a bigger phenomena than most gave him credit for.

 

John Cena's not a big phenomena but he's a notable one. The man may not have had a majority of fans on his side but there was a significant minority (mostly women & kids) who likely tuned in only to see him. Without his services as an active performer, WWE has a major problem.

[Downhome 0]

I guess this is part of the reason that we're starting to see a slight change in WWE here lately. First creating interest with the save_us.222 thing, then having all of that stuff happen at the PPV, then the big return of HBK on RAW.

 

We should also give WWE and HHH, a lot of credit for their work over the past two days. At the PPV, at first, it looked like HHH was back up to his old tricks, but in the end he was simply being used as the one big name, the biggest name in WWE, to put Orton over. The following night it once again looked like HHH was one again in the title picture, but instead he bowed out and it was revealed his thing is still with Umaga, and Orton is moving on to HBK right now. It was a great job by HHH as well, and exactly the sort of thing he needs to be doing for a little while more. They needed a big name, he stepped up to help them get everything back on track, then he stepped back to where he was before.

 

We've seen some great things, great booking, over the past two days, and I really hope to see that continue leading up to the big reveal of save_us.222, Chris Jericho, the return of Edge, and so on.

 

As for that horrible, horrible RAW rating, well that doesn't surprise me. With the way things have been booked over the past few months, this is where we've been heading. That ratings is not because of what we saw on the PPV and on RAW. I fully expect to see the rating start to crawl back up if WWE keeps their shit together going forward.

 

It's a very, very scary number for them though, that's for sure.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

I wouldn't call Cena a huge ratings getter either. The ratings were 3.2 last week, remember?

 

In terms of merchandising he's huge. But that has never translated to ratings for some reason (unlike Rey).

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I wouldn't call Cena a huge ratings getter either. The ratings were 3.2 last week, remember?

 

In terms of merchandising he's huge. But that has never translated to ratings for some reason (unlike Rey).

The numbers for Cena's segments say his popularity definitely does translate into ratings.

[mfn 0]

It's ignorant to think that because Cena is gone that's why the ratings dropped so much. They have been on a downward slide for months now.

[cabbageboy 0]

As far as the ratings go, it doesn't matter if they bring back Jericho, HBK, or whoever. As long as fucking ORTON has the WWE title they are going to have crappy ratings. This alleged good booking that gave Orton the title on Sunday is the same ultra shitty booking that WCW did in 1999 with Sting and DDP that resulted in Nitro going from a 4.4 to a 3.4 in a month's time. Booking where a guy loses a belt and regains it in the same night cheapens a title and only pisses off viewers in a very hostile way to where they don't want to watch.

 

Think I am bashing Orton with no justification? Check this out: On Aug. 9, 2004 Raw did a 3.9 rating. The next week after SummerSlam (where Orton won the title) they did a 3.4. Also, recall that Raw did that sorta bogus 2.5 on July 30 this year in the show where Orton was announced as the #1 contender.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Think I am bashing Orton with no justification? Check this out: On Aug. 9, 2004 Raw did a 3.9 rating. The next week after SummerSlam (where Orton won the title) they did a 3.4. Also, recall that Raw did that sorta bogus 2.5 on July 30 this year in the show where Orton was announced as the #1 contender.

 

Didn't Orton just come out and RKO Cena in the last 30 seconds of Raw on July 30th and that's how he was announced number 1 contender? I don't see how that could have made a huge difference to the ratings for that particular show.

 

I don't think Orton is a huge ratings draw, but he's no worse than anyone else. ECW ratings have dropped to their lowest since CM Punk's been champ, but no-one's blaming him for that, are they?

[Scroby 0]

The low rating for Raw doesn't surprise me, Raw has been boring for quite sometime now. Sure there are some matches here and there that have been good to watch, but the overall product for Raw has sucked.

[Hawk 34 0]

Wrestling is just not popular right now. That could never be the reasoning, though. Someone is always to blame.

[Celtic Guardian 0]

It's ignorant to think that because Cena is gone that's why the ratings dropped so much. They have been on a downward slide for months now.

 

Yes, the ratings were on a slide, now it's a plunge. Cena's absence didn't cause the slide but I'd bet it's a factor now in making that downturn a whole lot worse.

[Perfection 0]

..and John Cena is a bigger phenomena than most gave him credit for.

 

or it could be mcmahon eats up about half of the show now every single fucking night.

[billdynamite 0]

Aren't bad ratings a good thing for us? When the product is sucking and the ratings drop, it's a clear message to WWE. If the product is sucking and the ratings go up, that's when we should be worried.

 

i don't care if they do a 1.0, if that means they bust a gut trying to do something interesting, i don't care if the rest of you aren't watching.

 

And i dont care if the little kids aren't tuning in to see Cena because he's injured. I'm glad he's injured, i'm sick of the bloody sight of him. Hopefully in 8 or so months time, i may actually miss him and be glad when he returns.

 

In 2 nights they've done 2 big things. 1) the title switching at the PPV. 2) bringing HBK back. Both highly unexpected. This is exactly what I want from Raw. Frankly, after Cena's massive reign, hotshotting the belt a couple of times really isn't gonna hurt.

[Mike wanna be 0]

When the 10:00 main event is a combination of the matches we saw three times the night before, and the show-ending segment is hyped up to turn into a fight between the two guys we saw wrestle twice last night, no wonder the ratings were down. You're supposed to book like everyone bought the previous night's PPV (because if you're doing your job correctly that assumption will be as accurate as possible), and they failed to do that.

 

And they did announce & deliver a Cena interview, so it's not like he wasn't there in any aspect.

 

They have faced MNF & baseball playoffs before, but how often have they had really good, competitive MNF competition with one of the teams being the Cowboys (arguably the most popular throughout the country) and a decent, competitive elimination baseball game involving the Yankees?

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Kids are still out trick or treating.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Geez o man, I thought that was the rating for the WCW Saturday Night ep headlined by Goldberg vs Chase Tatum.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I really believe that people as a whole (ie: not just smarks) are simply not interested in Randy Orton as the champion. I know I was interested in what WWE was going to do with the vacated WWE title but once I saw that Randy Orton was walking out the champion, I went "Oh... okay. Chuck/Heroes/Journeyman it is."

[Downhome 0]

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Best superkick since Shelton/HBK.

[muzz 0]

Love that sell.

[Downhome 0]

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

..and John Cena is a bigger phenomena than most gave him credit for.

 

Perhaps more like he was the only thing keeping the WWE from completely falling apart

[Guest Joseph2112]

This is a long time coming and I don't believe you could ever call one wrestler a "ratings" event. It is a culmination of things with some meaning more than others. But I think if you look at these things:

 

1. Wrestling is overexposed. It's on 4 nights a week. Vince re-started ECW and then made it EXACTLY like all the other shows. People are burned out.

 

2. The booking has been generally lazy for years now. There has been very few compelling things on WWE programming. Every week there is only one or two things people actually like on Raw.

 

3. How long has it been now since you have been reading on the internet that people are saying "eh, I caught some of Raw but I was flipping around"? It's been a few years and things are finally catching up.

 

4. WWE has become the ultimate "tweener". And what I mean by that is most adults think it is an insult to their intelligence, but it is raunchy enough that they would never let their kids watch it.

 

In the end I think it is a lot of things all added together, and changes are needed or I don't see it getting any better.