Could the WWE soon dominate the week?

[sh17]

On the latest WWE conference call, Vince McMahon was asked about the possibility of adding another show. McMahon said yes, and that they were looking at putting it on a Wednesday if the idea was ever put into play.

This would mean that we would have Raw on Monday, ECW on Tuesday, this new show on Wednesday, Superstars on Thursday, and Smackdown on Friday, with a pay-per-view about every 4th Sunday. Am I the only one who thinks this is over-saturation of the market? I realize they have a large roster, but at the same time I think should they institute a 5th weekly show Vince will truly have lost his mind. I've been a viewer of the company for about 5-6 years now, and I've toned my viewing down to Raw every week and Smackdown whenever I feel like watching it. I don't watch ECW or Superstars because there's no real reason for me too. In the long run this seems like it would hurt shows, because the viewer mentality might be "I don't need to watch show A because shows B,C, or D will catch me up on it." With the Raw ratings dipping as of late, it would seem like anything that would potentially hurt ratings would be a red flag the size of Big Show's wrestling boots.

Am I alone here, or is what I'm saying making some sort of sense?

[emokid]

No, I completely agree. I think that is completely arrogant of Mr. McMahon, and somewhat unfair to the other performers.

[Bubba JD]

reminds me of just a couple years ago. WWE was doing something like 16 Pay-Per-Views a year. had been doing so for the prior few years. fans were bitching about that, using the same logic. too many PPV's. no real build-up for title matches, main events or anything else. many of the matches didn't even deserve to be on a PPV.

adding a 5th show would be equal to that. too many matches, many of which may not deserve to be on TV, as it is.

how would WWE pull off a 5th show? would it be a recap show? would it be like Superstars (pre-taped matches)? would it be like Raw (usually live)? would it be like Smackdown (2 tapings at a time)?

i find a couple obvious problems with this. first, WWE is being hurt by the economy, just like everyone else. they've resorted to doing at least 2 Smackdown tapings at once, just to save on various costs (travel, production, etc).

secondly, everyone knows that WWE's ratings aren't as good as they should be. it's no secret that Raw's ratings are pretty pathetic. Smackdown & ECW aren't doing much better. much like the situation with the Pay-Per-Views, from a few years ago, i have to ask......how does adding more shows help? it was said that when WWE would add PPV's, they're philosophy was "more PPV's=more profit". is that the same logic now?

if you have a product that's not selling very well, you don't try to sell more of that product. you improve that product, so people will buy it. then, you sell more of that improved product.

this whole thing makes no sense to me. you don't add more TV shows, to get viewers. you give better fueds, get better performers....give us a reason to care. i may bash WWE a lot, but i'm still looking for an excuse to watch again. i want a reason to watch Raw, Smackdown, ECW, Superstars & everything else again.


also, if this new show gets actual matches, which brand would have it? would it be a mix of all three brands? how long would the show be?

[sh17]

If they really wanted to re-gain fan base, then they would cut a bunch of the talent that isn't performing or when they are don't perform well. Cut ECW completely, and go back to Raw and Smackdown by themselves. You could mix the brands or just keep them separate, either way expansion is not what is needed. Reduction and improvement of quality is something that they would benefit from having.

[Hollywood]

This is just me, but this would be my plan.

Cut the PPVs all the way back down to the big four(Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Summerslam, and Survivor Series). That would be the first step for those PPVs to actually mean something again. Secondly, go back to basics with the big four, such as the Royal Rumble match closing the Royal Rumble(isn't that supposed to be why people order that PPV?) No more of this "Well, this match needs to close so Wrestler A can do this over the top gimmick" bullshit. Book more actual Survivor Series team matches for the Survivor Series. Better yet, make it all Survivor Series matches.

Cut unneeded talent, and end the roster splits once and for all, consolidating all the brands. This allows them to only have to designate two days per week for TV. In fact, if they want to save on travel, then cut down on house shows to just one house show a week, like say on a Saturday afternoon. This will help the talent to be able to rest up and not be so banged up, and will lead to them not having to getting addicted to painkillers because they have to be in the ring every night.

With the unneeded talent gone, and with the PPVs scaled back down to the big four, they could air Saturday Night's Main Event more frequently(when Saturday Night Live is going to be a re-run) and have the show actually be worth a damn(and have the wrestlers cut promos for their matches to make them mean something... and not scripted promos either). Maybe even do cross-promotion with NBC, having wrestlers appear on NBC shows such as SNL or Jay Leno, and in turn have celebs attend SNME as fans or conduct promo interviews(don't put them in the ring) to help increase ratings for all parties involved. And the first SNME special under my plan would be used to have all the belts unified. IC vs US Title to determine undisputed IC Champion; Diva's vs Women's Title to determine undisputed Women's Champion; Tag Titles are already unified, so keep it that way and have a knock-down drag out for a Tag Title match(maybe like a tornado rules, falls count anywhere tag match for unpredictability); and lastly, World vs WWE Title(ECW Title would be dissolved by this point) to determine undisputed WWE Champion.

If they really wanted to be on five nights a week, then they could have Raw on Monday nights, Smackdown on Friday nights, then the rest of the week could be designated for classic WWE programming, such as old episodes of Superstars, Wrestling Challenge, even classic programming from other promotions whose video library they now own, such as the old WCW shows, ECW shows, World Class, etc.

But alas, I've never run a wrestling promotion before, so what do I know?

[sh17]

I like you idea. Start doing this with SNW, jk

[Bubba JD]

Matt's actually got valid points on many of his comments. i might keep the US Title, so the lower card wrestlers would have something to fight for....much like the European Title, during the Attitude Era.


WWE needs to cut back on their roster, considerably. too many people under performing.....or not performing at all.

instead of trying to force wrestlers to do things in the WWE-style of wrestling, go back to the logic of letting guys work their own style. that logic worked great for decades. when i was growing up, nobody forced Tito Santana to wrestle like Hogan. Piper was allowed to wrestle his own style. same with Ultimate Warrior, HBK, Bret Hart, & every other successful wrestler. they were allowed to work the style that fit them best. fans enjoyed it, too. quite honestly, we need to see a wider range in differing styles of matches.

while they're at it, they should give us matches that fans might like. remember when WCW had the luchadors? fans would go nuts, watching them fly all over the place. fans enjoyed the Japanese wrestling, too. more of that might actually help.

if WWE wants the extra TV time, maybe reinstate Heat & Velocity. keep them at hour long shows. use them for the wrestlers that can't always get on. perhaps use it as a way of allowing newer wrestlers to get exposure with the fans, so they can develop a fanbase or something.

Pay-Per-Views seriously need to be scaled back, no question about it. the PPV's they have now are just overglorified versions of their TV shows. there's no real meaning to anything, anymore.

another thing WWE should consider doing is put wrestlers on an alternating schedule. if they have a match on Raw, only make them cut a promo or do a few segments on Smackdown. then, the following week, do the opposite......they do promos on Raw & wrestle on Smackdown. maybe give them a Raw or Smackdown off, so they don't have to take constant beatings.

[Hollywood]

If they want to bring in hour-long shows for people that can't get a spot on Raw or SD, just bring back Wrestling Challenge and convert Superstars into a similar format. And make the two shows worth watching by having EVERYONE, even top-level guys, appear on those shows. And the storylines could carry into those other shows. For example, Superstars could be taped after Raw, with some storylines maybe being advanced and others discussed throughout the course of the program. And Superstars could air the next night. Then Wrestling Challenge could be taped after Smackdown, and air on say, Saturday morning/afternoon.

Or better yet, have Raw live on Mondays, tape Smackdown on Tuesdays, then tape Superstars and Challenge on Wednesdays, and Superstars and Challenge could be syndicated throughout the weekend or air on MyNetworkTV or USA or somesuch.

[Bubba JD]

maybe Superstars could be used in a capacity, similar to WCW Saturday Night. put on a 2-hour show. have a combination of lower-card matches, followed with a few top stars getting some jobber matches. maybe have one or two matches involving upper-midcard guys going at it (like Morrison & Punk, for example). use the show to develop the talent of the undercard and/or new talent. use it to also test the waters for guys that WWE may want to bring in from FCW or other developmental territories.

[sh17]

OK, just a little blurb about this topic, and this should re-assure most, nay all of us:
(Crediting prowrestling.com)

The feeling within WWE is that when Vince McMahon talked about a Wednesday night TV show at the shareholders conference last week, he wasn‘t really serious about it. The WWE crew is already stretched to the limit as it is with the shows that they have now. Additionally, there has been no brainstorming for Wednesday night show ideas going on within the company at all.


YAY!

[Bubba JD]

that's some good news.