After the buzz generated by the high overrun rating for Kane's unmasking, this week's Raw rating drops back down to a 3.6. I'll be interested to see what the main event/overrun gets after the big angle closing the show last week. Numbers courtesy of 411 (411mania.com)
Well I'm sure everyone stayed on to watch the end of RAW cause they thought RVD would really win the World Title. Ok maybe not, but still I'm shocked by such a low number. I really thought the ratings might be a little higher coming off last week's show.
(edited by XPacArmy on 1.7.03 1753) Shopkeeper: Take this object, but beware;it carries a terrible curse! Homer: Oooh, that's bad. Shopkeeper: But it comes with a free Frogurt! Homer: That's good! Shopkeeper: The Frogurt is also cursed. Homer: That's bad. Shopkeeper: But you get your choice of toppings! Homer: That's good! Shopkeeper: The toppings contain potassium benzoate. [Homer looks puzzled.] Shopkeeper: That's bad. Homer: Can I go now?
There was no way RAW was going to go up this week. Kane's unmasking, no matter which way you look at it, had no direction nor real reason for happening. Once everyone saw his horribly disfigured face and curly hair last week, that draw was gone.
Foley also left last week, leaving yet another black hole. WWE is going to have to sign the Warrior or something to get the ratings back up. Let's not forget that the ratings went up starting with Austin's return as commissioner (or Flair's "last title shot" against HHH), so the ratings increases have been due more to outside factors over the last month or so.
Now, those novelties are gone and we're left with the same matches that didn't draw in the first place. Except the novelty of HHH vs Goldberg.
Let the SMACKDOWN!-RAW trades begin.
"If you're asking if I would ever date a wrestler, certainly I would. However it wouldn't be good business for me to get romantically involved with anyone in any aspect of our business." -Stephanie McMahon (Off the Record, June 3rd, 1999)
The President of TNN said two months ago that RAW ratings would be rising with the war over from the low 3.9 ratings they were receiving. How does he explain the 3.6 rating now?
Where have you gone Gene Rayburn, a nation turns it lonely eyes to you.
Originally posted by spf2119After the buzz generated by the high overrun rating for Kane's unmasking, this week's Raw rating drops back down to a 3.6. I'll be interested to see what the main event/overrun gets after the big angle closing the show last week. Numbers courtesy of 411 (411mania.com)
Credit:1W
The RAW overrun did a 4.2 rating. I wonder how many RVD fans who sitting there everytime Easy E changed the match hoping to God, RVD wins the title?
Shopkeeper: Take this object, but beware;it carries a terrible curse! Homer: Oooh, that's bad. Shopkeeper: But it comes with a free Frogurt! Homer: That's good! Shopkeeper: The Frogurt is also cursed. Homer: That's bad. Shopkeeper: But you get your choice of toppings! Homer: That's good! Shopkeeper: The toppings contain potassium benzoate. [Homer looks puzzled.] Shopkeeper: That's bad. Homer: Can I go now?
Originally posted by SKLOKAZOIDFoley also left last week, leaving yet another black hole. WWE is going to have to sign the Warrior or something to get the ratings back up.
SKLOK, you should burn in the fires of Hell for even suggesting that possibility. The last thing WWE needs is that asshole back in the company.
Besides, HHH would make him cut his hair. It just wouldn't be the same.
"Is this just your 40 favorites or is there some other criteria involved here? I feel like I'm looking at a list of the 40 best Uruguayan light-heavyweights compiled by the DVDVR boys." - JayJayDean to Feely
I had my fingers cross that just mabe there was a slight glimmer for RVD to finally beat HHH. Considering all he went through, I thought mabe. After the screwy rule thing and the interference I was like nope, not going to happen. YET I mainly watched to see how long it would take til Kane finally came out. FINALLY he did.
This is getting annoying now isn't it?
Banned Once! The independant thought alarm went off, knew to much about b*tching.
I'm not sure if this is an indication of how fans like Kane's new look. I can't imagine anybody watching a 2 hour program every week, especially one who wasn't a regular viewer before, just because of what Kane looks like.
This was simply a ploy to create interest based on curiousity, and that did work based on last week's rating. However, the idea is that you get more viewers in based on that interest, and give them a reason to stay for upcoming weeks. So Kane got the new customers through the door, but you still have to sell the product (and I don't think Kane's look would be enough, because once you've seen it, you've seen it, regardless of what it looked like).
This week's rating may be an indication that most of the new customers didn't buy. That would still be bad news for the WWE, because now you have to come up with a new way to get customers back inside the door. Not to mention, actually figuring out a way to give people a reason to stay once they are there.
Everything that is wrong in this world can be blamed on Freddie Prinze Jr.
I'm shocked the overrun even got above the 4.0 mark. I doubt there are too many fans out there who actually think "Will tonight be the night RVD gets the title?"
I actually laughed everytim Lawler tried to put over RVD as an actual threat. I just had to laugh and think "Yeah, right Jerry. Triple H finally loses the title, and he drops it to RVD? Sure. Kevin Nash, maybe. But not Van Dam."
Foley left, and took all of what good writing there was in the show with him.
No Gail Kim interview before she debuted and won the Divas match? No Vickie kneeling down talking trash on Jazz Austin-style after she knocked her out? Molly and Jacqueline doing most of the ringwork before they got eliminated early? Trish just kicking? What a way to drain the Buffalo crowd.
They restarted the HHH-RVD match, the Stacy fiasco, and not Christian-Booker T?
I see the problem with Kane: he looks like Dick the Bruiser, but he is not allowed to act like him. Give him a never-lit cigar.
The divas should not be about T&A, they should be about Kicking A.
No Foley, No Austin, No Evolution action outside their matches.
I think the over run would have done better if there had been some kind of RVD / Triple H action to hype the match. It was an after thought. If they don't take it seriously, why should we?
The following post expresses the opinions of a raving Jerichoholic. He is biased, opinionated and bitter. You have been warned.
It's very hard to take a World Title match seriously if it is announced on the same show that it's happening. I like the idea of Tripps defending the title every now and then on Raw, but it should seem like the opponent has a chance. Give the guy a reason to challenge and something of a build-up, and you have a well done, well received main event, assuming the match is good. Let's say, hypothetically, that HBK were to get a title shot. Announce the match this week, but not actually have the match until the week after that. That way people who watch the show can say, "Holy crap! Michaels is challenging Triple H for the World Title next week! I need to call Jimmy!"
Now you have a good match, with a lot of backstory AND a week to let people know that this is happening. Instead of your standard Raw main event, there's a PPV-quality, PPV-caliber match that feels like a mini-PPV.
The preceding post expressed the opinions of a raving Jerichoholic. He was biased, opinionated and bitter. You were warned.
Wasn't Foley's first title win announced on the same show it was on? I think that was the case but I could be wrong. I remember it was a taped episode and even the WWF site mentioned it before it aired, so that could take away from some of it.
To me, announcing a title match on the same show it's on makes it seem more likely that anything could happen. Like, "Oh shit, they had an emergency meeting before the show and now Trips is handing off the title!"
(Yeah, I fell for it. I thought Booker T would win at Wrestlemania, too.)
The following post expresses the opinions of a raving Jerichoholic. He is biased, opinionated and bitter. You have been warned.
Originally posted by Notorious F.A.B.To me, announcing a title match on the same show it's on makes it seem more likely that anything could happen. Like, "Oh shit, they had an emergency meeting before the show and now Trips is handing off the title!"
(Yeah, I fell for it. I thought Booker T would win at Wrestlemania, too.)
While I'm not going to say that those not " in the know," (marks, if you will) think that this is all real and don't know that it's scripted, I also don't think that they have the "insider information" that we are being given. Most non-IWC wrestling fans don't know, for instance, that Stephanie and Triple H are engaged. That would limit the possibility of someone saying, "OMG Vince is sick of Tripps and bnow he's gonna job for the first time in forever OM f'n G!!!"
Also, I thought Booker was going to win at WrestleMania too.
The preceding post expressed the opinions of a raving Jerichoholic. He was biased, opinionated and bitter. You were warned.
I don't think hyping HHH/RVD more would have helped matters by much. Maybe a little.
If you keep telling people that Wrestler X has a shot against HHH, build him up to the point where you want to see X win, and he never does win, you stop caring about Wrestler X as much as you used to. A year ago, people actually thought RVD could beat HHH. WWE could have tried to put more effort into the HHH/RVD match on Monday, and it might have helped a little, but everyone on RAW is about 10 levels below HHH by this point.
A Ric Flair vs HHH rematch won't do as well as it did the first time, because people cared about it, but ultimately didn't get the payoff they probably wanted. Now, Flair is HHH's lapdog again and his character is hurt. That Orton/Flair tag match drew nowhere near as well as Flair's first few matches back from "retirement."
Even if the overrun might have been higher, that means more people would have seen the match and would have been disappointed in the ending.
(edited by SKLOKAZOID on 2.7.03 0613) "If you're asking if I would ever date a wrestler, certainly I would. However it wouldn't be good business for me to get romantically involved with anyone in any aspect of our business." -Stephanie McMahon (Off the Record, June 3rd, 1999)
I don't think the over-run did so well because people were hoping for a title change, but because of Kane.
You don't need inside info to know that an RVD World Title win on Raw without any build-up is pretty unlikely. However, you also don't need any inside-info to know that it was very likely that Kane would come out and clarify his allegiances at the end of Monday's show.
They were strongly hinting that they were going to go with Kane turning heel and feuding with RVD, and they ended up giving us a little swerve. Nonetheless, we got to see a little more of where they are going with Kane now that he's maskless. As far as I'm concerened THAT is what people were tuning in to the over-run for, and the WWE delivered it.
On the other hand, what Kane's new direction actually IS, is still a little ambiguous, so they better have a good story to tell next Monday, but, for now, I'm intrigued, and that's good enough.
sergei
"A true champion knows how to deal with adversity."-- Kurt Angle
What makes me think a slap-dash main event is more likely to deliver a title change is the general "flying by the seat of their pants" feeling. You don't need to have IWC information to catch on to that.
I can't put my finger on it exactly, but something strange was in the air Monday night. The show just seemed different. Like they'd changed the way Triple H was going to be represented. And the feeling I had wasn't based on anything I'd read on the net. Trips tried to take off Kane's mask last week but it was really all on Bischoff and Kane himself. This week Tips was nowhere to be found until the main event and they kept focusing on Kane and RVD. There's this huge angle going on and he's had little to do with any of it. That kind of thing is what gives me the feeling.
For once, Shawn's injured back is doing us some good. It's forcing the WWE writers to do a real long build for the Shawn/Jericho match instead of just rushing it with quickie angles for the next PPV.