Skip to main content

When it rains...

As if Punk being gimped, ironically on the day that he passes Cena who also had his reign ended by injury, wasn't bad enough.  Now apparently RAW has found a new bottom of the ratings barrel, hitting a 2.4 or so.  This is not good.  To say the least.

Comments

  1. None of this is punks fault. Nope. Not at all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Six million more people watched Redskins-Giants than watched Panthers-Eagles a week ago. The show itself was extremely dull, but at least they can take comfort in the fact that MNF was a huge deal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nobody can draw ratings with these shitty shows.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You're pissing in the wind by arguing with Dougie/Danny Treo/Troll. Ignore it and move on.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 3 hours is too fucking long. Its just getting watered down now. I end up skipping through most of it cuz I don't got time in my adult life to watch 3 hours of RAW and 2 hours of Smackdown.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh yeah, and unless Trish Stratus poses completely nude next week, the rating will probably still be in the toilet because ESPN has Texans-Patriots.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is all World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk's fault.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Go back to reading the bible Douglas

    ReplyDelete
  9. I AM INCREDIBLY ANGRY AT YOU AND DISAGREE WITH YOUR COMMENTS! YOU HAVE MADE ME SO UPSET WITH YOUR CONCISE AND UNIQUELY CONTRARIAN COMMENTS! ARGH!



    Dougie has been fed for the day. Move along, people.

    ReplyDelete
  10. And even THAT isn't as much of a draw anymore since she had her implants taken out.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lie detector tests apparently don't equal ratings.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wait, he does this with everyone?


    Dougie.....I thought we had something special!

    ReplyDelete
  13. We're not going through this again. It's Kofi's fault, dammit. Kobe Johnston must lose his IC title to a proven ratings winner, like Pat Patterson, X Pac, or Giant Silva--all men who popped bigger ratings than what they're doing now.

    ReplyDelete
  14. He's wwe champion.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm admitting that it's everybody else's fault. This week let's blame it on Kane.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Maybe this will lead to a shake up where they actually, you know, shake things up?

    ReplyDelete
  17. With the lack of dings and buzzers, it really wasn't bringing it last night. I hope it doesn't get future endeavored, though.

    If so: What's The Dishonesty Identifier doing in the Impact Zone, Taz?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Why does ANYONE still have investments in this company

    ReplyDelete
  19. This is absolute proof to all of the haters that Punk is over. When he told viewers to turn the channel, they listened!

    ReplyDelete
  20. You've been used like the rest of us.

    ReplyDelete
  21. ...then Cameron and Naomi should do it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I hear that WWE is *this close* to a big deal to sign the sound effects from The Price is Right!


    How much cooler will the next WWE title change be with the "Double Showcase Winner" sound blaring?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Vince's champion is hurt and the ratings are in the toilet. On the other hand, he had a tremendous singing voice.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Honest question: did Punk have the intercourses with your girlfriend? no one would be surprised.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Patterson with shit stained underwear or without?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Lol yeah right.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Apparently, the female demo dropped from 1.0 to 0.7 this week. Oh shit, more AJ/Cena!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Without this time. I said popped bigger ratings, not pooped.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Threadjack: Apparently Jim Duggan has been dissing Austin again, saying there was no need for that kind of bad language and attitude, and wrestling needs to remain family-friendly. Because he and Austin have no reason to have any heat. Anyway, it got me thinking about how they might use him today.

    They should bring him in to team up with Tensai, call them 'The Hooooo Train', then Godfather comes back to protest gimmick infringement but loses that match and has to go back to being Karma. And then has to feud with a returning Kharma. She loses, has to just go by 'H' or 'Single H', causing HHH to come back except SWERVE Hollywood Hulk Hogan returns for an epic 'Rights To The Use Of The Letter H' match. Booker can talk about how that reminds him of when he had to fight 'Big T' for the use of the letter T. Big T being better known as Ahmed Johnson - and then he returns for an epic 'Most Unintelligible Promo' feud with The Great Khali.


    That's 4 hours of Wrestlemania GOLD right there.

    ReplyDelete
  30. It ain't the champ that's broke it's the play it safe boring random show they throw out every week. Raw is getting as bad as WCW Thunder.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I'd be surprised that Dougie would have a girlfriend that Punk would be willing to bang.

    ReplyDelete
  32. You mean fans didn't want to stick around for a 20-some odd interview segment which led to a lie detector main event? To use the lamest "face" catchphrase, Really??

    ReplyDelete
  33. i blame the viewers... for not viewing.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Come on... Coloreds dont draw.... they barely read...

    ReplyDelete
  35. I haven't looked downthread yet but I bet at least some people are mentioning MNF. It might matter...but it doesn't change a 4.0 to a 2.4. It can't be used as an excuse. Nobody is watching b/c the show is a boring waste of 3 hours, with only a few highlights of interest. I'm REALLY starting to regret those WM tix I bought ahead of time.

    ReplyDelete
  36. TEACH ME HOW TO DOUGIE.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Eh, it seems like Punk casts a reasonably wide net..

    ReplyDelete
  38. I'm seeing more sites say 2.55 than the non-sourced original post here. What does this mean!?

    ReplyDelete
  39. Meltzer says it was a 2.5 this week. Next week will probably be even worse. Pats/Texans will dominate the ratings.

    ReplyDelete
  40. I don't know how people can try to blame falling ratings on ONE guy. If I listed reasons I don't consistently watch anymore they'd be: 3 hours is too long. Product not compelling enough to watch. Punk is one of the only reasons I still keep up.

    I have trouble pinning the shitty state the company is in on CM Punk.

    ReplyDelete
  41. That you shouldn't use Scott Keith as a source.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Bunch of god damn cranks, it was funny.

    ReplyDelete
  43. This week, a lie detector. Next week, Phrenology! It can't fail.

    But, yeah...umm, bad rating. Telling stories?

    ReplyDelete
  44. Blaming one guy makes more people annoyed faster, so it's WAY more time-effective. Easier to troll at greater lengths and speed.

    ReplyDelete
  45. I don't want 'em to draw...I want 'em to dance nekkid. Colored folk are good at dancin'..

    ReplyDelete
  46. VKM (feeling the head of CM Punk): "He has the sloping brow and cranial bumpage of the career criminal."

    HHH: "Uh, sir, phrenology was dismissed as quackery 160 years ago."

    VKM: "Of course you'd say that. You have the nose of a stagecoach tilter!"

    ReplyDelete
  47. I think it's kinda like doing Psy's horsey dance.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Watching the Raws leading up to WM14. They're much better programs because things lead to things, they treat things as important. JR talks about breaking news, important announcements, things are built up. I recently watched the dumpster episode and they shut down the whole first half of Raw to deal with it. It's good TV because it feels believable, with faces and heels are calling out the NAO for going too far. It's also unexpected, it doesn't follow a formula. DX encourages the NAO, saying that you need to do what you can to get ahead. This segment illustrates how important winning is to these people, how your spot matters. It elevates the whole show and has more going on for it than pretty much anything in the last 10 years.

    Not being blinded by nostalgia here, as there is stuff about that segment that I didn't like (awkward use of shoot terminology) and bad angles going on etc, but the overall booking philosophy is superior. Treat things as important, build anticipation for them and make sure the shows are as unpredictable as possible, so people feel like they cannot miss a moment. Now Russo eventually took that philosophy in the wrong direction and sacrificed logic for surprises, but Raw could benefit from writing it that style now.

    Another Russo concept that should return is characters remains consistent, even as their actions change the way the crowd feels about them. CM Punk is the obvious example. He spent a year as a face champion, winning cleanly and so on and then suddenly he is cowardly heel who cannot win. While he is actually better as a heel, the transition just doesn't feel right. The motivation feels wrong, he was getting respect from the fans, but not from the company. That shouldn't make him a heel. I like his current heel work, it's joyously dickish, but the motivations feel wrong.

    A lot of this is to do with WWE's bizarre attitude to continuity. On one hand, they fail to think out angles and forget details, but also love doing incredibly indulgent self-referential nostalgia segments. They love trumpeting their past and gloating about how great they are, but at the same time cannot even keep consistency within their stories. I think it says a lot about how the company operates that Chris Kreski, who's tenure produced amazing television in 2000, was mocked for using storyboards to keep track of storylines. And that he was replaced by Stephanie, who, let's face it, has done a terrible job. The company needs a fundamental shift in the way it writes, new writing structure, new writing team.

    ReplyDelete
  49. I stopped watching because of the three hour shift. It's just too long. The 2 hours raws were feeling long enough.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Or a disqualification loss:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=CA&v=1ytCEuuW2_A

    ReplyDelete
  51. What you just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone on this blog is now dumber for having read it. I award you no likes, and may God have mercy on your soul.

    ReplyDelete
  52. The only thing this is leading to is a token firing on Creative and Vince McMahon out next week to pump up the business with some convoluted storyline.

    ReplyDelete
  53. I've mentioned before that Vince & Steph need to move away from creative and blow the whole thing up by bringing in a qualified showrunner(s) from Hollywood. Having 2-3 executive producers (ideally one each for Raw, Smackdown, and secondary programming) who work cohesively to map out storylines in at least 3 month cycles to get to each of the big four PPVs, as well as a year long arc for Mania (think HBK's chase for the belt from 11 to 12 or the Mega Powers) to build to. Have writers/agents work with them who understand the fundamentals of wrestling booking such as Hayes, Dusty, etc. to keep them from straying too far into soapy content.



    If Steph really wants to succeed Vince someday, she should really start taking a page from Linda, who was very good at running the business aspect of the company while leaving creative to Vince and the more wrestling minded types for her reign as the head of the company.

    ReplyDelete
  54. The original source was Meltzer, who said 2.4-2.5, but I never know which updates are members-only and which are open to all so I didn't link to it.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Good rants and good points except for one (imo), Russo was anything but consistent with character motivations. You gotta give me that.


    Cornette may have lost it in 2012, but he was around in 97 and plenty influential before Russo take over. There's a definite shift from good booking to bad booking from when Corney left and Russo got the power.

    ReplyDelete
  56. It got six down votes by six people who didn't think of it first.

    ReplyDelete
  57. I want them to draw, I hear Naomi is quite the artist.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Once again, the show drops every hour, although this week the drop-off between H1 and H2 was the most substantial.

    H1: 3.58 million

    H2: 3.37 million

    H3: 3.36 million

    ReplyDelete
  59. "Due to the earlier reported injury, WWE announced at tonight's SmackDown tapings from North Charleston, South Carolina that WWE Champion CM Punk will no longer defend against Ryback at the TLC pay-per-view.

    Instead, Ryback will team with Kane and Daniel Bryan to face Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in a six-man match. No word yet what the stipulation will be."



    Well, that's good.

    ReplyDelete
  60. When ratings dropped in 02, everybody blamed hogan, because he was the champ. When attendance was down in 95, everybody blamed diesel, because he was the champ. Now, everybody makes excuses for the champ. Everybody wants to change everything, except the champ. Won't even consider that maybe he isn't the draw you all hoped he would be.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Special THREADJACK~! for jvc11, because he's always up for honoring the LEGENDARY RIC WHOO! BY GAWD FLAIR!

    http://bls.uieblender.com/iphone/article_kit/articleitem.jsp?itemid=12830377&modelid=947&activityid=83&snum=2&user=1

    ReplyDelete
  62. Teach me teach me how to dougie!!

    ReplyDelete
  63. Why am I of the opinion that, 1-3x a week you will turn the lights down real low and masturbate in a fit of rage to posters of CM Punk?

    ReplyDelete
  64. How can a viewer not view?


    By definition, a viewer has to be viewing!

    ReplyDelete
  65. I think it's fairly obvious that the quick descent in ratings is due to viewer burnout and the number of programming hours being produced. I also think the only way to gain viewership is to produce consistently entertaining shows over a long period of time with one or two breakout characters. But who does Vince start blaming and when? I mean, it's still the Cena & Sheamus Show starring John Cena and Sheamus. Other than this week, those two account for an hour of Raw just about every week. Does he blame them? Does he blame the champs? Does he start blaming HHH for this TAG TEAM BS, GODDAMMIT!? Does he blame his daughter? Does he blame his inept creative staff that can come up with good ideas with absolutely no Act II to their gimmicks and angles? Does he start blaming the new guys or ROH alums?

    I don't think even Cranky Vince can get into his head at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Because you're a retard.

    ReplyDelete
  67. The difference between "0.01 million viewers" (especially since it's not actually 10,000 viewers, but an estimate based on a small sample size) is negligent. It's almost just as likely that they actually gained viewers during the third hour.

    ReplyDelete
  68. In a related article, John Cena's now humping Nikki Bella? Not too shabby John.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Because there are two World Champions now.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Why does everyone try to state things in the form of a question?

    ReplyDelete
  71. Well mine was a question, not a statement. I want to know why.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Yeah that is going to do big numbers

    ReplyDelete
  73. How should anybody but you know how you came to your opinion??

    ReplyDelete
  74. Douglas knows. It wasn't rhetorical.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Well yeah, that's what matters most to fans: ratings!

    Second most: shareholder dividends

    ReplyDelete
  76. Really random, I know Cole gets a lot of hate(most deserving) but if you haven't seen him on the Divas NXT you NEED to watch it. Cole, Stryker and Josh on commentary is priceless and I think Punk did a few too. Honestly, I laughed throughout the entire season because none of the announcers gave a shit and it was hilarious.

    ReplyDelete
  77. I feel bad for the midcard. They'll blame them and fire half the roster or demote them and not see the real problems.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Yeah, I'd probably give you that. It's more the Russo era booking philosophy. After he left, it came back to a greater extent.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Corney booked 96 with pritchard and it had some awful characters and boring storylines. I'll take russo's strength for characters and stories in 97-99 anyday. Cornette did help him in 97 but he fought him constantly and McMahon went with the guy with more ideas that were working. Russo gets a lot of shit but he thought outside the box with concepts involving the undertaker, brood, dx, stone cold, etc. Corney would have been happy keeping everything in the ring--no big concepts outside it. I know some people here prefer that style so to each their own.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Corney booked the entire Kane storyline in 97. I think my point stands. Russo really got the power in late 97.

    ReplyDelete
  81. lol, is Ric trying to equal his world titles to ex-wives?

    ReplyDelete
  82. Anyone else having second thoughts about dismissing that proposed angle where Raw gets canceled? Not sounding so bad now is it?

    ReplyDelete
  83. How the fuck did that happen? Was she struck by his "aw shucks" routine?

    ReplyDelete
  84. This was exactly what I expected. You can't tell the viewers your show sucks and they should change the channel without expecting them to do exactly that. The first hour did 3.579 million viewers. Hour 2 did 3.372 million. Hour 3 did 3.362 million. Wasn't the change the channel promo early in Hour 2?

    ReplyDelete
  85. More importantly I'm projected to beat you 148 to 144 this week.

    ReplyDelete
  86. WWE needs to covertly start another national wrestling promotion, get Tony Schiavone to announce, and have him talk sarcastically about some WWE action that will put "butts in the seats" every week.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Only time I could stand heel Cole was during the NXT Divas season.


    Pretty much the reason you explained is why Cole was so great. Vince didn't give a shit, so might as well let Cole bury it.

    ReplyDelete
  88. I still want to see where Scott saw the rumor that RAW might be going back to 2 hours.


    It's a little disheartening to think that if they were still 2 hours, they'd be nearly on a 1 month roll of good shows.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Another exploding limo?

    ReplyDelete
  90. Depends on the health of Cecil Shorts or Darren Sproles for the flex spot; I don't think Dwyer will end up in my final lineup. Plus, Stafford's been on fire and the Bears D just lost Urlacher a week after getting carved up by a rook.

    ReplyDelete
  91. Caliber_Winfield_69420BoobiesDecember 5, 2012 at 4:47 AM

    Nah, you know her, she's probably one of those really rare kind of women who go for extremely good looking men with killer smiles, once-in-a-life-time physiques, who happen to be the most sucessful person at their given profession in over 10 years, as well as being hard-working, honest, passionate, and an all around great guy.



    Are you kidding me? I'm not jealous of John, I'm jealous of NIKKI!

    ReplyDelete
  92. Caliber_Winfield_69420BoobiesDecember 5, 2012 at 4:48 AM

    Well, you can count my vote now...

    I'm here to see the nWo

    ReplyDelete
  93. Caliber_Winfield_69420BoobiesDecember 5, 2012 at 4:50 AM

    Yeah, I watched that WWF 1997 with Corny, and Russo wanted Undertaker to chokeslam Kane through a table the Monday following Badd Blood.

    Man alive is Russo a brain dead moron. That would have killed the angle dead, and my early teens would no longer have the memory of a match that I salivated for.

    ReplyDelete
  94. HOW DID THIS GET DOWNVOTED!!?!?

    THIS POST IS HILARIOUS!

    ReplyDelete
  95. Holy fuck thats hilarious.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Cole burying R-Truth in Green Bay or Milwaukee was classic as well.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho6jbxnxGds

    ReplyDelete
  97. You wont need an angle... the ratings are doing it themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  98. You really think they'd only cut the grabage segments by going back to 2 hours? If they go back to 2 hours, the Cena/AJ nonsense will take up 25% of the show instead of 15%. They'll cut the good matches, drop a midcard match or promo, etc.


    I fully agree 3 hours is WAY too long, but I have zero faith that going back to 2 hours will solve the problem.

    ReplyDelete
  99. That was one of the worst matches in the history of Raw.

    ReplyDelete
  100. I'd rather it was Britani Knight and Rosa Mendes.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Well, it's still better then Cena/Rock II. Then again a Brooklyn Brawler/Duane Gill match would be better then Cena/Rock II.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Then we can finally get the return of the AWF!!! Maybe bring back Global and UWF too?

    ReplyDelete
  103. ..as long as she's nekkid, I'm all for it.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Since we're lightly treading on discussion of Punk and if he's working or not, I think if anyone needed to reprise the "Cerebral Assassin" gimmick it was him. I enjoy Punk's promos, but at this point he's 2003 Triple H shouting at everyone that he's better. It's a good promo, but it's not creating must-see TV. Punk's calling is really that of the guy who led the SES.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Okay, so Wrestlemania 30 is shaping up to be, from bottom to top:

    Brooklyn Brawler v. Duane Gill
    Karma v. Kharma
    Jim Duggan v. Albert (after their tag team breaks up)
    Ahmed Johnson v. Great Khali w/ Booker T as special ref
    Hunter Hearst Helmsley v. Hollywood Hulk Hogan
    John Cena v. The Rock

    Throw in a diva battle royale, some side-splitting backstage 'celebrity' segments involving e.g. Santino, OctoMom, The Miz and Erik Estrada, and you've got yourself a double-disc Blu-Ray set that anyone in the WWE Universe would be proud to own.

    ReplyDelete
  106. No, it's still terrible.

    ReplyDelete
  107. I agree. Even with Russo's haphazard writing, one thing I loved about 1998 was how they had clear booking cycles for each Big 4 PPV. Everything from May to August built towards SummerSlam, September-November built towards Survivor Series, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  108. With the amount of Packers jerseys in the crowd, they might as well be in Green Bay.
    But great moment regardless.

    ReplyDelete
  109. I was at that show.....It was the RAW the day after the Packers won the Super Bowl (Hence all the jerseys). I really couldnt fault him a bit, and I laughed my ass off.


    I thought it was the start of an easy angle, where he botches the name of every city he goes to. "WHATS UP GARY, INDIANA!!" in the city of Chicago would get him shot and killed in the heat department.


    But I digress.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment