Smackdown spoilers (I apologize in advance if you care) state that the Ambrose / Cena match at HIAC is now going to be a no holds barred contract-on-a-pole match to face Rollins. I guess they don't want either guy to get pinned at this point.

And Dave says "this is the same thing that got Steve Austin over."

 

I can see where Dave is coming from, but he's still way off. He's remembering Austin doing goofy shit like filling Vince's limo with cement, and driving beer trucks and Zamboni machines into arenas. But, (A. That's still not as goofy as some of the stuff Ambrose is doing, and (B. Those aren't the reason Austin got over in the first place (nor are they the reason Ambrose is so over).

 

And Dave says "this is the same thing that got Steve Austin over."

 

I can see where Dave is coming from, but he's still way off. He's remembering Austin doing goofy shit like filling Vince's limo with cement, and driving beer trucks and Zamboni machines into arenas. But, (A. That's still not as goofy as some of the stuff Ambrose is doing, and (B. Those aren't the reason Austin got over in the first place (nor are they the reason Ambrose is so over).

 

 

Not to mention, the "goofy shit" was every so often, and second it was done more so as a way of Austin getting over someone that should have been "untouchable" in Vince, since Austin beating the holy hell out of him every week would have gotten tedious and hard to accept Austin as a face (though considering the fanbase of the era, maybe not) constantly beating up a guy that couldn't retaliate physically on a consistent basis.

 

Also, the "comedic" side of Austin (especially the WHATS) didn't really get going until his heel turn. By that time Austin was clearly enjoying himself as he was doing his schtick and it was clear that his character had lost a lot of his more serious edge. A lot of the things Austin did that were perceived as being funny before the heel turn can be subverted, or maybe not as its still comes off as funny, once you realize that Austin is deadly serious 100% of the time that he is cutting a promo or whatever bit he was doing (okay, he does slip out of character every so often, which was hard to do since he couldn't hide character breaking moments). He was meant to be literally a STONE COLD killer during that entire run.

 

Not sure if you can say that about "The Lunatic Fringe" unless you further the comparisons with the Heath Ledger Joker from The Dark Knight in terms of a sadistic enjoyment of what he is doing.

man that mattel deal and the PG rating are really killing this company. It can't possibly be worth it, can it? They're really handicapping themselves by not allowing any serious violence

I think the days of putting all the blame on Mattel and PG should be over with......Stephanie really loves being the clean corporate company and she is the catalyst for all of the charity stuff they do. They can't get the good press of they go back to blood and guts violence.

They can't get good press anyway. WWE will always be a laughing stock in the public eye that can't attract any real advertisers.

Binged watched an entire month of NXT this evening, and man has Kenta looked less than impressive so far.

 

I also love the Vaudevillains, way too much.

 

Lastly, Enzo Amore is all around terrible.

Any news on Daniel Bryan's condition?

Any news on Daniel Bryan's condition?

 

Set to be back in December for the TLC PPV. Bryan and Reigns should be back at the exact same time. There's thought of delaying either of their returns until the Royal Rumble. Barrett will back at that same time frame too.

I saw at Scooter's blog that Reigns is selling much more merchandise than Ambrose and Bryan. There is a strange dynamic in WWE where the live crowds reactions are not being reflected in the hard numbers. It's probably why the company seems confused on who to push and when to push them

What's funny is that Reigns doesn't have a lot of merchandise. At least I don't think he does, I've seen like 1 shirt of his on tv. Good sign if he's doing numbers though.

I'd love to try to figure out why that's the case. Why are your more vocal fans not spending money? Why are your fans who are spending money not being loud?

I'd love to try to figure out why that's the case. Why are your more vocal fans not spending money? Why are your fans who are spending money not being loud?

 

Ambrose was off shows for a number of weeks and Daniel Bryan is out injured.

I also point to the fact that for the most part, Bryan and Ambrose have really ugly t-shirts.

Still, why are the people buying all of this merchandise so quiet?

I wonder how much actual merchandise positioning has to do with it. Safe to say Cena merch is featured prominently at all stands but I believe it'd be selling leaps and bounds more than others no matter what. Is Reigns getting significantly more and better window space than others? The Usos stood out to me on that list as I wouldn't suspect their gear is promoted as much as top singles act so something is definitely connecting there.

I also think wrestling has become something weird when being able to design a cool t-shirt is more valued than being able to connect with a crowd.

I can understand it to an extent. I wanted to grab a Daniel Bryan shirt when wweshop had a big sale going. But at that time he had the goat face line. I wouldn't even want to wear that in the house, much less going downstairs to get the mail. But I grabbed one when they had the YES! in large block letters.

 

I'd love to try to figure out why that's the case. Why are your more vocal fans not spending money? Why are your fans who are spending money not being loud?

 

Different people appeal to different demographics who have different spending habits.

 

Iron Maiden could release a new single tomorrow and it would sell hardly anything, be nowhere near the charts. They could announce a gig at Wembley Stadium and sell 70,000 tickets. Conversely, Robin Thicke can sell over a million copies of one single but not sell out a 2,000 capacity 02 arena. The people who chant for Daniel Bryan are likely not the type of people who spend a whole lot of money on merchandise.

It's not like the old days where you had a picture of the wrestler and their name on the shirt. If anything, they try to disguise that it's a wrestling shirt as much as possible and come up with some other type of hook to sell it. So that's why I say it's the design of the shirt that sells more than the wrestler it is supposed to represent.

It still might not appeal to the demographic. A lot of people who chant for Daniel Bryan are heavily into their wrestling - people who are heavily into wrestling stereotypically might not spend too much money on clothes and their appearance. They also might buy whichever shirt looks the 'coolest', rather than one that identifies theirn fandom for a particular wrestler. I don't think this is a major anomaly really.

Still, why are the people buying all of this merchandise so quiet?

 

They're not, at least at house shows. Take Brie Bella. She gets no reaction on TV unless she's doing the Yes chant, but she's over huge at house shows. It seems that Raw, especially in places like Chicago and Brooklyn, provides a skewed perception of the WWE fanbase.

again with all the different revenue streams and the dissonance with the fanbase it's no wonder the company is so confused on who to push. It's not just ticket sales anymore

Smackdown is moving off Fridays in January. The delay was to wait until football was over

It'd also be worthwhile to see what merch in prominent on WWE shop or on display at shows. What merchandise does Ambrose even have?

 

And add in what Loss said about the actual designs. Most of their shirts are something I know I'd probably never wear, the only wwe shirt I've gotten is a Mark Henry one that looks like a gym shirt.