Yesterday was the lowest ratings in raw HISTORY

[The Intergalactic Koala]

That's that WCW short term thinking.

The company is dropping in popularity every year, meanwhile the company is doing nothing to arrest slump. Instead they're doubling down on their terrible booking decisions and purposely antagonising their remaining fanbase. They ain't going out of business any time soon, but they don't have a healthy long term future if things continue this way. They're basically WCW in 1998 now. The warning signs are all there but they don't care because they're making bank.

While this is true, there was an alternative to WCW with WWE being their main competitor. WWE have no competition now on a financial level for companies and sponsors to be like "these dudes is trippin". Unless MLW, NJPW, or even Impact gets a bag along with viewership that goes into the 4.0 and 5.0 levels like the Monday Night War days, WWE is pretty much complacent with these slump ratings and negative feedback from every media outlet and wrestling fan.

 

[THE 101]

While this is true, there was an alternative to WCW with WWE being their main competitor. WWE have no competition now on a financial level for companies and sponsors to be like "these dudes is trippin". Unless MLW, NJPW, or even Impact gets a bag along with viewership that goes into the 4.0 and 5.0 levels like the Monday Night War days, WWE is pretty much complacent with these slump ratings and negative feedback from every media outlet and wrestling fan.

People will just stop watching wrestling, breh. I mean...when WCW died, most of the remaining fanbase didn't even make the jump to WWF.

A lot of these viewers are gonna just turn wrestling off completely. There's a million other entertainment options out there now. Why waste their time watching 3 hours of garbage. Most of them won't feel the need to find another wrestling promotion.

 

[dh86]

That's that WCW short term thinking.

The company is dropping in popularity every year, meanwhile the company is doing nothing to arrest slump. Instead they're doubling down on their terrible booking decisions and purposely antagonising their remaining fanbase. They ain't going out of business any time soon, but they don't have a healthy long term future if things continue this way. They're basically WCW in 1998 now. The warning signs are all there but they don't care because they're making bank.

Turner Networks paid WCW $0 in rights fees. They made no money from television yet they prioritized tv ratings over PPV or live shows. Holding PPVs from biker rallies, nitros from spring break in front of broke ass college kids. Antagonizing turner management with the “standards and practices” shyt. WWE is not too big to fail but there’s an extremely long fall before they’re WCW

 

[THE 101]

Turner Networks paid WCW $0 in rights fees. They made no money from television yet they prioritized tv ratings over PPV or live shows. Holding PPVs from biker rallies, nitros from spring break in front of broke ass college kids. Antagonizing turner management with the “standards and practices” shyt. WWE is not too big to fail but there’s an extremely long fall before they’re WCW

I agree.

But the attitude that "well we've got the big TV deal, so no need to worry" is the kind of arrogant shyt that WCW was doing in 1998 that eventually sunk them. WWE haemorrhaging viewers ain't gonna effect them today, but what about the next TV deal, and the one after that? Shouldn't they be trying to grow their audience so they can sustain this success? And if their numbers sink even lower on Fox please believe they will be bushed quickly. That shyt will not fly on Network tv.

 

[ill_will82]

I haven't watched a raw or smackdown episode since 2012

Has there even been black wwe or heavyweight champion since?

do those belts still exist?

As far as a black WWE Champion since The Rock... No

As far as World Heavyweight Champion: Mark Henry (I think that was in 2010) 2012 nope...

 

[richaveli83]

Can the shows ever be cancelled? Or do they pull in enough ad revenue for a network to not pull the plug?

I don't have actual facts but I'm pretty confident Raw and Smackdown are the highest rated shows on USA. They might not be ratings draws like they were 18-20 years ago but they still are a draw for USA.

 

[ill_will82]

I agree.

But the attitude that "well we've got the big TV deal, so no need to worry" is the kind of arrogant shyt that WCW was doing in 1998 that eventually sunk them. WWE haemorrhaging viewers ain't gonna effect them today, but what about the next TV deal, and the one after that? Shouldn't they be trying to grow their audience so they can sustain this success? And if their numbers sink even lower on Fox please believe they will be bushed quickly. That shyt will not fly on Network tv.

Yeah FOX is quick to bush shows real quick because a lot of shows don't last very long on that network. Vince has a 1yr 1/2 to pull shyt together on SD.

 

[Rarely-Wrong Liggins]

Now YOU ALL just need to stop watching.

 

[dh86]

I agree.

But the attitude that "well we've got the big TV deal, so no need to worry" is the kind of arrogant shyt that WCW was doing in 1998 that eventually sunk them. WWE haemorrhaging viewers ain't gonna effect them today, but what about the next TV deal, and the one after that? Shouldn't they be trying to grow their audience so they can sustain this success? And if their numbers sink even lower on Fox please believe they will be bushed quickly. That shyt will not fly on Network tv.

Well I predict SD will be shuffled to FS1 within a couple of years without changes but whatever it does would be far better than what FS1 gets currently. Outside of major college football, that network has literally nothing. Paw Patrol reruns slaughter Skip Bayless in the ratings. I don’t think that’ll have much of a disastrous effect financially

 

[Rarely-Wrong Liggins]

“See you next week”

“You’ll be back watching with us on Monday”

The people those statements are aimed towards are the ones still watching the show on a weekly basis. There shouldn't be RAW or SD threads at this point.

 

[dh86]

People will just stop watching wrestling, breh. I mean...when WCW died, most of the remaining fanbase didn't even make the jump to WWF.

A lot of these viewers are gonna just turn wrestling off completely. There's a million other entertainment options out there now. Why waste their time watching 3 hours of garbage. Most of them won't feel the need to find another wrestling promotion.

Indies haven’t done this well in 20 years. There’s always going to be wrestling fans and there will always be someone to serve that niche. If WWE didn’t exist, Turner would have never sold WCW because it would still be #1, and Heyman would have never shut the doors of ECW and kept taking on short term investors because they’d be #2.

 

[Crashwd5]

I tuned into raw. But as soon as i did i saw mojo rawleys retarded cringe entrance and i changed that shyt. Wwe is trash

 

[MenacingMonk]

I don't have actual facts but I'm pretty confident Raw and Smackdown are the highest rated shows on USA. They might not be ratings draws like they were 18-20 years ago but they still are a draw for USA.

Cause USA ain't shyt with the shows.

Pretty sure Mr. Robot beats them, but it's a seasonal show.

 

[Ku$h Parker]

Cause USA ain't shyt with the shows.

Pretty sure Mr. Robot beats them, but it's a seasonal show.

Queen Of The South is decent

 

[HipHopStan]

I saw that the RAW thread only got past 30 pages, so I didn't even bother watching.