Monthly News Thread (May 2018)

[M.C.G. 31]

Apparently when Rusev turns on Aiden, that’ll be the end of “Rusev Day.”

 

[KaseMeOutside]

It will still be Rusev day to me dammit

 

[WingsMJN2965]

A short time ago being 2-3 years ago, and it was consistent 2.6-3.1 for a longer stretch.

And then they’ve been consistently in the 3.3-3.6 range for the better part of 18 months, with some hitting 3.9 and even 4 million viewers.

Uhh... Wut? They hit 4.5M for the 25th anniversary episode. Other than that they haven't sniffed 4 million outside of post-WM raws.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Uhh... Wut? They hit 4.5M for the 25th anniversary episode. Other than that they haven't sniffed 4 million outside of post-WM raws.

yeah I was probably counting in some extra special shows from what I used to chart, disregard the 4 million aside from those two shows.

Regardless, WWE's average viewership moved from the 2.6-3.1 range to the mid-3's and it led to their huge increase in TV rights for Raw.

 

[WingsMJN2965]

yeah I was probably counting in some extra special shows from what I used to chart, disregard the 4 million aside from those two shows.

Regardless, WWE's average viewership moved from the 2.6-3.1 range to the mid-3's and it led to their huge increase in TV rights for Raw.

But... It hasn't. You're saying it's done this over the last 18 months, and that they've consistently been in the 3.3-3.6M range over that period. From Labor Day 2017 to the 2nd week in January 2018 (19 weeks) they exceeded 3M viewers twice. Granted, this is common due to NFL season, but that's over a third of the year. It then popped for the WM build up, was big for the Raw after and the Superstar Shakeup. After that it has tanked right back down into the sub 3M area.

It's not about the viewership increasing, because it hasn't. It's because these networks are starving to get as much content as they can.

 

[GKJ]

Rusev turning on Aiden will be death. Next Bray Wyatt.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

Why would they end the massively popular catchphrase?

So Roman can't turn heel because he sells merch but Rusev comes up with a catchphrase that sells merch and they want to strip him of it entirely?

Very disappointing if true.

 

[dahrougem2]

Rusev Day wasn't their creation so it has to be held down and eventually destroyed.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

But... It hasn't. You're saying it's done this over the last 18 months, and that they've consistently been in the 3.3-3.6M range over that period. From Labor Day 2017 to the 2nd week in January 2018 (19 weeks) they exceeded 3M viewers twice. Granted, this is common due to NFL season, but that's over a third of the year. It then popped for the WM build up, was big for the Raw after and the Superstar Shakeup. After that it has tanked right back down into the sub 3M area.

It's not about the viewership increasing, because it hasn't. It's because these networks are starving to get as much content as they can.

You’re probably right on second thought. I stopped viewing the numbers week-to-week a long time ago, and all I remember of viewership was seeing post-Backlash numbers go below 3 million for the first time in the number I said in a previous post from that article. It may have just been talking about the 18-49 demo rating though.

Either way, something TV networks see as DVR-proof will get big $$, and I guess they see WWE as that based off the numbers since Goldberg came back. It wasn’t looking too good for the company before that.

 

[ColePens]

Why would they end the massively popular catchphrase?

So Roman can't turn heel because he sells merch but Rusev comes up with a catchphrase that sells merch and they want to strip him of it entirely?

Very disappointing if true.

Your question just makes too much sense, then I look at things like Daniel Bryan or CM Punk and believe it. It actually had to hit an all-time low to finally reach it's high. And no matter how over they were, it was ignored.

Or maybe another example is Ryder. Obviously he was just a mid carder, so it's different than Rusev who can be a main event guy, but they purposely wrecked him when he got over naturally.

 

[Lunatik]

Raw’s TV viewership increase is the entire reason for this deal that’s 3x the current rate.

No, it's not the "entire reason". More networks/services being interested in content is also very much a key factor.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Why would they end the massively popular catchphrase?

So Roman can't turn heel because he sells merch but Rusev comes up with a catchphrase that sells merch and they want to strip him of it entirely?

Very disappointing if true.

Because these idiots hate when talent get over without the machine behind it. Rusev is entertaining he should be a Babyface

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Dave says if Smackdown gets between $80-$160 million, WWE is on easy street as they won’t even have to sell house show tickets, merchandise, PPVs or network subscriptions anymore as their TV deals will carry them to extreme profitability.


So, with that, Dave was right. WWE doesn’t have to ever book a show for fan satisfaction ever again. All they have to do is book a product to sell to networks.

 

[Hypernova]

Apparently when Rusev turns on Aiden, that’ll be the end of “Rusev Day.”

That's what they think

 

[Cor]

Dave says if Smackdown gets between $80-$160 million, WWE is on easy street as they won’t even have to sell house show tickets, merchandise, PPVs or network subscriptions anymore as their TV deals will carry them to extreme profitability.


So, with that, Dave was right. WWE doesn’t have to ever book a show for fan satisfaction ever again. All they have to do is book a product to sell to networks.

Except they will still want to do that to make even more money.

Not too mention, the TV Contracts will almost certainly have a performance limit in it. So if they started ignoring everything the fans wanted and mailing it in and fans tuned out and ratings dropped, WWE could still lose the TV deals.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

Imagine a heel Rusev vs. face Reigns feud.

Rusev lays a savage beating on the beloved babyface superstar Roman Reigns as Cole recoils at the horror of the situation despite the fact that the crowd is going nuts for Rusev.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Except they will still want to do that to make even more money.

Not too mention, the TV Contracts will almost certainly have a performance limit in it. So if they started ignoring everything the fans wanted and mailing it in and fans tuned out and ratings dropped, WWE could still lose the TV deals.

Of course they’ll still sell those, but Dave was just saying even if they didn’t sell any of those, they’re on easy street financially.

 

[Cor]

Of course they’ll still sell those, but Dave was just saying even if they didn’t sell any of those, they’re on easy street financially.

Which is how it should be.

 

[Cor]

According to ESPN, SmackDown will be moving to Fox in October.

The deal is reportedly “massive”

 

[WingsMJN2965]

According to ESPN, SmackDown will be moving to Fox in October.

The deal is reportedly “massive”

Also read that it'll be on the big network, but that it'll be on Friday nights.

So you just got the good news before the bad news lol.

And it's October 2019.

 

[Lunatik]

Also read that it'll be on the big network, but that it'll be on Friday nights.

So you just got the good news before the bad news lol.

And it's October 2019.

I wonder if it will still be live

 

[WingsMJN2965]

I wonder if it will still be live

Hence the "Bad news".

On the main FOX network it could've passed Raw. But if it's taped it won't. Spoilers will have everybody skipping and watching the highlights on Youtube.

 

[Del Preston]

Return of the seagull pops.

 

[Lunatik]

Hence the "Bad news".

On the main FOX network it could've passed Raw. But if it's taped it won't. Spoilers will have everybody skipping and watching the highlights on Youtube.

Potentially, do they state it will no longer be live? Because they could film it live on Friday's. It's not like they don't do house shows on weekends already. I suspect Vince will do whatever Fox wants for the right money.

 

[Cor]

To be fair, the move to Friday isn't from a great source.

If it is going on the Main Network, I doubt it will be taped