The Wrestling Thread: WWE WrestleMania 31 [NSFW]

[Dig Dug]

[Dark Ritual]

Rating now confirmed at 2.8.

[IronMaiden]

Oh and Raw was just there. Couldn;t care less about Summerslam.

[Prototype]

Looking forward to some reactionary changes.

[Mockmaster]

strawberry float this company

[Return_of_the_STAR]

As a lead in to summerslam, their second biggest ppv, a 2.8 rating must be causing major concerns for wwe. Problem is with Linda's election campaign and them already splashing the cash on Lesner I can't see them investing in much of a change.

On positive thing from raw for me was wade barretts promo video.

[Dig Dug]

strawberry floating lol at bully ray.
Because the aces & 8's came out to get him Ray ended the match by power bombing Jeff Hardy through the table and then volted over the top rope and ran off as if to say "strawberry float this gooseberry fool"

[KK]

From the hilariously dilapidated car Shawn Michaels was driving off in, to the overblown sound effects, that closing segment on RAW was comedy gold.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

From the hilariously dilapidated car Shawn Michaels was driving off in, to the overblown sound effects, that closing segment on RAW was comedy gold.

Yeah I remember thinking there's no way HBK would be driving that car.

[KK]

Knew at 3 hours week in and week out things would sink into the 2s, as RAW was teetering on the edge most weeks at the regular 2 hours. Wait till football season starts in September.

WWE would be wise to dump the 3 hours sooner rather than later, as WCW dropped the 3rd hour late in the day with the belief that losing an hour would boost the rating back up. It never happened, and the decline continued.

[systematic]

It's USA that wants the three hours, not WWE.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1194 ... hed-for-it

While outwardly, nobody can say anything negative, the feedback we’ve gotten internally has been almost all negative. There is the feeling that the two hours drags most weeks and adding a third won’t be a benefit. It’s unknown exactly how this went down other than for years USA has been interested in a third hour of Raw, and WWE has not been interested.

I don't think Vince can turn down an extra $5 million + a year for the extra hour anymore lol.

[Mafro]

Me and Foley from the meet the other day

[Dig Dug]

The ladder match at Hardcore Justice was awesome by the way.

[Prototype]

It's USA that wants the three hours, not WWE.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1194 ... hed-for-it

While outwardly, nobody can say anything negative, the feedback we’ve gotten internally has been almost all negative. There is the feeling that the two hours drags most weeks and adding a third won’t be a benefit. It’s unknown exactly how this went down other than for years USA has been interested in a third hour of Raw, and WWE has not been interested.

I don't think Vince can turn down an extra $5 million + a year for the extra hour anymore lol.

How long is their contract with USA?

[KK]

It's history repeating again. Not usually one to start quoting Eric Bischoff, but he's actually right on with this one.

On WCW's expansion to 5 hours on TNT and TBS (not including Saturday Night and the various other C shows)...

If I used just the wrestlers I already had in another two-hour show, I'd overexpose them. I'd also run the risk of watering the stories down to the point where they wouldn't be significant any longer. And that assumed I didn't run them down to the point of sheer exhaustion. Another show meant I had to add on-air talent and writers or bookers as well.

Adding more house shows only made morale worse. It contradicted one of the basic rules I'd followed in making WCW profitable. One of the draws for talent had been the fact that we put on substantially less shows per year than WWE. The better quality of life had been a big motivator, a reason for wrestlers to join us. Now we'd taken that away. I tried to split up the wrestlers and rotate the schedule, but the load remained much heavier than it had been. Wrestlers weren't the only ones who were stretched either. The production people, the office staff, and the people in our support positions also had to do more. Some complained and were generally uncomfotable, even though they soldiered on. It was more a slow burn than an explosion.

Besides Thunder and additional house shows, we expanded Nitro to three hours. There was no additional expense doing that, because everybody was already there. Whether you do a one-hour show or a three-hour show, 95% of the costs are the same. But the problem was, the expansion meant we had to fill the extra forty-four minutes with content. That helped overexpose the talent, watering down the impact of a lot of what we were doing.

WWE are producing just as much television at a time when wrestling is not only less hot, but with a roster that isn't remotely near the levels of a WCW.

These C shows in particular are total write offs, as proved by Superstars, ECW, NXT and Tough Enough - all were cancelled by the networks because ratings were terrible. So now WWE are coming back with another show on Wednesday nights and WWE Slam, though at least that's going to be specifically for kids (though you could argue so is the rest of their output, so what's the difference).

[Dante]

Looking forward to some reactionary changes.

4 HOUR RAW INCOMMMMMMMMING!

I think what is even worse for RAW then low ratings; low social media score!

The Trendrr.tv social media score for Monday's 3-Hour WWE RAW was 369,933, down 8% from last week (401,202). RAW ranked #5 on cable TV, trailing "Love & Hip Hop Atlanta" (VH1), "Teen Wolf" (MTV) and Shark Week programming (Discovery).

I see the Did you know caption "Raw had more viewers then other shows that weren't on VH1, MTV and Discovery - it had triple the amount of viewers that watch Channel 5 in the UK and was the most watched program at 1 in the morning!"

oh and regarding the WHC title match at SS

It's Sheamus v Del Rio, back on

I liked how they're focusing who is going to win a wrestling match between two ladies to become a assistant manager, rather then who gets to fight for the Diva title; shows that women love power more then a shiny butterfly title

Edit - Also seems that Mr.Mat Morgan is on his way to WWE as well (or atleast he thinks he is)

[captain red dog]

3 hours is too long for any show. They seem to be really sacrificing creativity to do everything they can to keep Linda's campaign free of controversy. Sadly Linda won her primary yesterday so expect WWE to stick along the same course until the general election is done in Nov.

[Return_of_the_STAR]

3 hours is too long for any show. They seem to be really sacrificing creativity to do everything they can to keep Linda's campaign free of controversy. Sadly Linda won her primary yesterday so expect WWE to stick along the same course until the general election is done in Nov.

Noooooooo

[Prototype]

That poster.

Morgan knows the score. Absolutely awesome.

[Dante]

That poster.

Morgan knows the score. Absolutely awesome.

I think by now, everyone knows that his career so far has not been about making an impact