So I caught WWE AM RAW late last night (yup, I'm the guy that watches that show), and saw Vince's claim that those who don't watch Raw are elitists who thumb their noses at wrestling fans.
Ya gotta love them going for the most simplistic, backwards explanations to try to net some cheap heat from the live crowd.
Vince, here's some real reasons why a lot of people don't watch your shows:
1. Your storylines are unrealistic and frustrating. You still rely on booking mentalities and psychology from the days of "Boo the commies!" for a more mature audience. And when you don't follow through on storylines, it frustrates any viewer who takes the time to invest in your product for any length of time.
2. You keep pushing the same people, over and over, with the same storylines, over and over. HHH vs. Orton? I feel like I've been seeing this for five years now. Because I have.
3. Maybe you've gotten over the Chris Benoit tragedy, and over Eddie Guerrero, and the umpteen deaths in between, but maybe some fans still haven't. I don't know about you, but when I see a chair shot, a high-risk move, or even a simple DDT or backdrop, I wonder how many pain pills the guy involved will have to take to deal with the stress, or had to take just to get to the ring. It also makes me uncomfortable to see scenes like the one a week or two ago on SmackDown, where Chavo Guerrero is pushing a casket to the ring as part of a storyline. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, or maybe we outside the business choose to mourn those you seem to have forgotten. Actions have consequences, and what you see is not as fake as you'd like to believe.
4. There's a lot of other really good stuff on TV, Vince. You should try watching some of it. You might get some ideas. The stuff you're doing now is revolutionary for 1997, back when WWE was reality TV before reality TV ever existed. But now the weak storylines, thinly drawn characters and stilted action plays second fiddle to the stuff on any of 100 other networks.
Gone are the days when wrestling fans would watch whatever we were being spoon-fed. The fact that we don't watch doesn't make us "elitist" or any of the other propaganda you try to throw at us. It means that we demand a better product, and we know that the way to get you to change things is to focus our attention elsewhere, to make you realize that we won't come back until you give us a product we want to watch.
Comments (9)
To be fair, he said 'some' people were elitist. That was only one group he talked about. He didn't say every single person who doesn't watch Raw is.
"So I caught WWE AM RAW late last night (yup, I'm the guy that watches that show), and saw Vince's claim that those who don't watch Raw are elitists who thumb their noses at wrestling fans."
AM RAW actually beat TNA's ratings a couple weeks ago. I don't know whether that says something good about WWE or really, really bad about TNA.
Also, Vince's elitists comment was directed at people "who would never be caught dead watching RAW", which seems to address people who have never watched the show ever.
My God, for someone who goes as far as to even watch AM RAW you sure do bitch a lot.
My God, for someone who goes as far as to even watch AM RAW you sure do bitch a lot.
Wait, how was that post about the Vince McMahon Million Dollar Mania? Nevermind, the answer would require another post, and I was quite happy to see that this was the last one about it. And for that same reason, I won't ask if addressing it to Vince would successfully get him to read it.
Anyway, I personally disagree with #1, I do agree with #2, I admit #3 has some validity (for other viewers moreso than myself), but #4 makes my brain hurt to think of wrestling as the origins of Reality TV in the first place - yikes, interesting choice of straws to grasp.
Also, Ceasar, I agree with your first point but I find the second one to be rather redundant.
For some reason I still watch RAW. I hate it, I fast forward through the fast majority but still watch. Though I'm hoping my DVR will fix the problem and stop recording it.
Like I said before, when I created my script, I should have had Cena beat Edge. They would have thought I was brilliant.
I stopped watching when Eddie died. He was the last person who I found interesting. If CM Punk or Jeff Hardy ever get to the top, I might tune back in.
A simple DDT or backdrop makes you wince? Stop watching then. There simple moves that when done proper have zero chance of hurting someone.
I agree with #2, especially HHH. No interest in seeing HHH do anything on TV. I somewhat agree with #3 but for a different reason. They should make chair shots, tables, blood and so on rare so when it does happen it would stand out. It would also, as you mentioned, be safer for the sports entertainers. Another thing they should do is make Mickie James the star of the show. Plus, whenever Mickie's not on screen, all the other sports entertainers should be asking "Where's Mickie"?