NXT requires a subscription to either Hulu or WWE Network so it's not really comparable.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
WWE and AEW weekly ratings discussion
- Thread starter TheAvatar
- Start date
- Entertainment OT
- Status
NXT requires a subscription to either Hulu or WWE Network so it's not really comparable.
I sure don't watch WWE for quality women's wrestling. I unsubbed from the Network and instead got a Stardom subscription.
Yet, despite all this, according to Meltzer, USA needs RAW more than ever.
Which means, Vince still wins.
Which means, Vince still wins.
Had to flip through the TV guide real quick to see what they've got nowadays, and boy is it dire. Apparently one of their big originals this season was the same generic-ass singing competition show that's been run into the ground, but this time it's all country music. Besides that and Christley Knows Best (which I swear has only survived this long by being immediately after Raw/SD) it's nothing but reruns of crime procedural and Modern Family with the occasional 5 year old blockbuster to break-up the monotony. The death of cable TV can't come soon enough at this point...
Wrestling outside of WWE is actually going through a bit of a boom period, which is why WWE are throwing an absolute shitload of money around trying to sign any and all talent and basically suffocate any potential competitors, same as Vince did in the 80s.
I'm not sure you would ever come back. NXT is legit better than its ever been. NJPW's G1 has been incredible. It sounds more like you aren't interested in wrestling anymore.
Honestly it's only RAW that's legitimately awful atm. Smackdown is...not great, but it's watchable.
It's all about content. They run a stupid amount of content every week.
3 hours of RAW
2 hours of Smackdown
1 hour of NXT, their developmental brand where they put hot indie stars
1 hour of 205 Live, where they keep their Jr. Heavyweight wrestlers
2 hours of NXT UK, their developmental brand in the UK.
Add on:
3 hours every month for a PPV.
If it's a big five weekend (Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Money in the Bank, Summerslam or Survivor Series) it's a four hour PPV AND a PPV for their developmental brand. In the era where everything's grabbing your attention, they've gone with more being better.
This is what it boils down to.
Problem is that every now and then Vince will cave in and try something new but because WWE are going to keep losing viewers because of years worth of bad booking he takes the next drop as evidence that doing things how the fans want doesnt work and he goes back to his shit booking.
They need to continually book things well for months so lapsed fans can hear that things have changed and are being consistently good for them to come back.
You cant book a 3 hour show for years where stories dont make sense, the wrong people are being pushed, things are ignored one week after its happened etc and expect ratings to pick up instantly when you start booking things better. WWE need to earn those viewers back and not just feel entitled to them like they currently do.
Its why is stopped watching WWE years ago because nothing gets better. They may have one cool segment here and thee but 99% of the show is boring, illogical, or outright insulting to viewers intelligence.
Yeah, Raw seems like the only that is actual dog shit right now. I don't watch Smackdown either, but just reading the results, it doesn't sound like something that I would be against watching. This weeks episode opened up with Bryan vs Ali and had Charlotte vs Asuka as the main event, and at the very least that sounds like it could be alright. Meanwhile Raw is just a shit show from start to finish.
To be fair, they had everything riding on Roman as the Raw headliner going forward. They lost that with no warning, and without anyone that can really take his place outside of Rollins. They had no reason to think they would need to lay the groundwork for that yet. Putting the title back on Lesnar was a panic move.
It's not even just that. Sure, the main event scene is dire, and them taking their sweet ass time trying to decide which face should be pushed isn't helping. The tag division is an absolute joke. There's a grand total of three teams that are booked credibly and all three of them are on Smackdown. The women's division is bad over there too. Every face not named Ronda has been booked into the ground and the Smackdown women's match at TLC contains three women who are way more over then Ronda. Every heel aside from Ruby (And I don't really like what they've done with her since she got to the main roster anyway) are kind of bad also, and Ruby sure isn't being booked to be a challenger for Ronda.
The WWE produces way too much content on a weekly basis, and IMO wrestling matches done have the anything could happen magic that real sports have, so there is really not reason to watch some throwaway match that is used to build the PPV match. In that regard, I wish that RAW returned to be a 2 hour show while dialing back the competitive aspect in the weeklies and save it for the events. The only thing that I miss from the attitude era was the must see aspect of the show where you watched it because you really didn't know what could happen there.
lol no, the experiment of doing the show around Baron Corbin is what is failing.
There are no stars anymore, people watch the show and attend the shows to see their favorite wrestlers. But because it's all about the brand brand brand there's really no incentive to watch anything
I quit watching after the Saudi debacle despite enjoying the product more than most other people seem to. But one area I was always frustrated with is how they have so many incredibly talented wrestlers right now and don't seem willing or able to use them well. Considering the level of talent the WWE should be in a resurgence right now.
While Rhonda is problematic to put it lightly I'd hardly say her spot is undeserved. She's adapted to the ring and the WWE style way better than I think at least I know I was prepared for.
You still need stars though. Wrestling always has been and always will be a star driven business. Brock and Roman are stars whether people like it or not. Their inability to write good stories is what hurts Roman, but the dude is a star and moves a shitload of merch.
Smackdown has been better than Raw for a bit now and I'm curious to see how long it lasts.
Damn. And here I thought I attended the least watched RAW in history.
Are we at TNA ratings yet?
Smackdown being the better show will last until the Fox deal starts. Fox is heavily rumored to want it to be a more sports oriented show and less of the traditional wrestling comedy and wrestling persona driven. Which means it's probably going to be mostly wrestling and less talking.
We're at 3 Years, 4 Months left to go for anyone who wants to keep count.
Last edited:
NXT is one if the highest watched shows on the network. I don't think millions tune in though. Really all I watch is TakeOver.
It took people way to long to realize that. The show's been trash for years, and hasn't had any legitimately exciting moments since Punk's storyline, and Daniels XXX run that they fell into. But I'm so glad it's happening now.
So....it'll still be the better show? Smackdown has the majority of their best wrestlers. Don't get me wrong, they've got strong personalities, but every SD I've watched as of late has been by and large a wrestling program. There are still promos and skits because without those you have nothing to build towards, but it seems to be ( at least for the last 6 weeks or so as that's as long as I've been watching), Smackdown has been primarily a wrestling show.
Just updated to clarify that's how long is left on the clock, in case there was any confusion.
Maybe WWE should invite Norm McDonald to host an episode of Raw sooner than later.
99 WCW still had interesting cruiserweights, Goldberg, Bret (used poorly but still more entertaining than anything in modern WWE), DDP, Scott Steiner, etc.
A few years ago when it was some what "hotter" it was getting something like 300k viewers generally but NXT actually airs on TV in pretty much every region that plays WWE so that does skew the numbers a bit.
Wrestling has been losing viewers since at least 2002, it has been very gradual, but last time it seems to be going down faster than usual.
- Show is way too long
- Writing is garbage
- Can't build new stars to save their lives
- Product in the ring is homogenized garbage 99% of the time
- Same...shit...every...week
Not surprised. "Sports entertainment" was the worst thing to happen to this company.
- Writing is garbage
- Can't build new stars to save their lives
- Product in the ring is homogenized garbage 99% of the time
- Same...shit...every...week
Not surprised. "Sports entertainment" was the worst thing to happen to this company.
- Status