I think the poll said "It's there, not huge, but it exits".

I also guess "Exits" should read "Exists".

Maybe this will shine a light to Meltz on who his demo is.

 

What was your favorite promotion ever?

WWF 1997-2001 38.4%

WWF 1984-1990 13.0%

Crockett 1984-87 12.0%

ECW 1995-98 10.9%

WCW 1996-98 10.1%

Mid South 1982-1986 4.8%

World Class 1983-1985 2.9%

Current WWE 2.5%

Georgia 1977-1981 2.3%

Memphis 1980-1985 1.9%

Crockett 1977-1983 1.1%

I'm a little surprised that he didn't include two general buckets:

 

* a Japanese promotion

* a Lucha promotion

 

Simply to give other buckets for people who might not have one of the above.

 

And while the numbers don't have any relation to WON *subscribers* given it being an online site shared with Bryan where anyone could vote, these splits are kind of telling:

 

51.4% WWF Glory Eras:

38.4% WWF 1997-2001

13.0% WWF 1984-1990

 

That's pretty strong, and shouldn't be surprising.

 

48.5% Monday Night Wars:

38.4% WWF 1997-2001

10.1% WCW 1996-98

 

59.4% MNW+ECW:

38.4% WWF 1997-2001

10.9% ECW 1995-98

10.1% WCW 1996-98

 

These were the "hottest" periods of wrestling on TV, so it's not surprising it's this high. It's once you get beyond this that things are a problem for Current WWE.

 

25.0% 80s Expansion Era:

13.0% WWF 1984-1990

12.0% Crockett 1984-87

 

In turn, the mass of folks in these categories are two decades removed from their fandom.

 

Still, putting the two together:

 

84.4% 80s Expansion or MNW Era:

38.4% WWF 1997-2001

13.0% WWF 1984-1990

12.0% Crockett 1984-87

10.9% ECW 1995-98

10.1% WCW 1996-98

 

Versus:

 

2.5% Current WWE

 

That's brutal.

 

It's actually worse:

 

13.0% Misc 80s Nostalgia:

4.8% Mid South 1982-1986

2.9% World Class 1983-1985

2.3% Georgia 1977-1981

1.9% Memphis 1980-1985

1.1% Crockett 1977-1983

 

Or worse:

 

38.0% 80s Era:

13.0% WWF 1984-1990

12.0% Crockett 1984-87

4.8% Mid South 1982-1986

2.9% World Class 1983-1985

2.3% Georgia 1977-1981

1.9% Memphis 1980-1985

1.1% Crockett 1977-1983

 

Which could be summed to create this:

 

 

59.4% 90s MNW+ECW

38.0% 80s Era

2.5% Current WWE

 

That's worse than brutal.

 

John

Maybe seeing that poll was the last straw for Vince

 

According to WrestlingObserver.com, Vince McMahon was not in a good mood this afternoon before Raw. The fallout was that after working for WWE for over a decade, Brian Gewirtz was removed as the head writer. Gewirtz will remain under contract as a consultant

 

People backstage are said to be scared, and Vince told the producers today, "I want results or I want resignations."

Is anyone really shocked that Vince's idea for bringing things back to the rating despair is Vince vs Punk in the main event

after working for WWE for over a decade, Brian Gewirtz was removed as the head writer.

Yeah that's some shit I didn't see coming at all.

 

Amusing him & Jim Cornette both get removed as bookers on the same day.

after working for WWE for over a decade, Brian Gewirtz was removed as the head writer.

Yeah that's some shit I didn't see coming at all.

 

Amusing him & Jim Cornette both get removed as bookers on the same day.

 

WOL 10.9.12

 

Runtime

 

over/under 70.5 minutes

Is Mike Sempervive (sorry don't know how to spell it) doing the audio? if so then the over under is more like 105

Can someone give some background on why the shit is hitting the fan? I haven't been paying attention to the business side of the WWE this year.

 

I do enjoy how it isn't Steph or Trip taking the hit.

 

John

Can someone give some background on why the shit is hitting the fan? I haven't been paying attention to the business side of the WWE this year.

 

I do enjoy how it isn't Steph or Trip taking the hit.

 

John

 

 

Last two RAWs have had the lowest non-holiday ratings in 15 years. Football started, which is taking a little chunk, but three hours is kicking their ass so their idea was to throw the head writer under the bus.

 

The funny thing is that USA has been pushing them to go three hours for a long time before Vince finally gave in, so it seems he knew this was likely to happen.

Business wise they have been doing quite well it's just Vince is blowing a gasket on ratings again

Wonder if their contract with USA is coming up for negotiations.

No, they renewed their deal for four years on November 16th, 2010. So they've got two years left on their contract.

Looking at the history:

 

03/10/2005: decision to not continue with Spike

04/04/2005: three year deal with USA (10/05 - 09/08)

12/06/2007: extended two years (10/08 - 09/10)

11/16/2009: extend four years (10/10 - 09/14)

 

They've finalized the contract extensions roughly one year out from expiration, which means they're starting to enter the period where they want to get a deal done by next Oct-Dec.

 

Looking at revenue:

 

$131.5M TV Rights Fees (27%)

$104.7M Live Events (22%)

$78.3M PPV (16%)

$54.4 Licensing (11%)

$30.4 Home Video (6% and declining)

$18.3M Venue Merch (4%)

 

Everything else is below 5%, much of it flat or declining.

 

 

I think when we've had this discussion before we bounced around that Raw (and to a degree SmackDown and PPV events) are strong contributors to the Live Events and Venue Merch buckets because the 50 or so Raw events a year (along with the SmackDown tapings and PPV) draw well above average crowds, and in turn do a big chunk of the venue Merch.

 

We all agree that Vince focuses too much on Raw and Raw ratings, but I suspect that someone within the WWE Finance Department could pull together very compelling numbers on just how critical Raw is to the company's bottom line, both in terms of direct revenue (rights fees, live ticket sales, venue merch) and in terms of indirect revenue (it is the company's #1 promotional vehicle). Too much focus, but it does warrant considerable focus in the big picture of the company.

 

John

I really like Meltzer and even his more off beat opinions are at least valuable to think about, but comparing Tanahashi/Suzuki to Misawa/Kawada as the only 'close comparison' is crazy.

Yet to read the Observer bar last night scrolling down to the match ratings for the show after watching it. I thought it was ****3/4. I didn't go the full 5 as it didn't have any special/epic/legendary intangible - it certainly wasn't a business, cultural or stylistic high point like some of those Misawa/Kawada matches were.

I need to catch up on some New Japan from the last 1-2 years. Even if Dave is overrating it, I'll be happy if it's solid.

I need to catch up on some New Japan from the last 1-2 years. Even if Dave is overrating it, I'll be happy if it's solid.

As an indirect comment to this post even if you dislike Tanahashi you should watch the match as it is a great departure from his standard high spot and near fall driven match favouring more selling and such like. Minoru Suzuki puts on both a strong and amusing showing. His facials are great here:

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xu7mv8_hi...zuki-njpw_sport

Well, Minoru Suzuki was awesome last time I saw him in 2005-2006, so that doesn't surprise me.

New Japan has been great all year, I would say the best promotion in the world, and Okada's entire run was a ton of fun. I still have him as Wrestler of the Year and 3/5 of my MotYC are from NJPW.

I'm going to check some stuff out, but I'm interested in Tanahashi. Some people love him and some people don't like him at all. I don't even know what he's like as a wrestler. Can someone explain? Like I said, I will watch, but I'm curious what to expect.

Best way I can explain Tanahashi is that he looks like a rockstar that would not look out of place wrestling a main event style in a WWE ring. I wouldn't even know who to compare him to. He's a hybrid of several different people, I think, but naming names would either not do justice to Tanahashi or be too high-praise & a slight against the people named. It's sort of like that, if it makes sense.

 

 

HBK & Guerrero

 

I'm going to check some stuff out, but I'm interested in Tanahashi. Some people love him and some people don't like him at all. I don't even know what he's like as a wrestler. Can someone explain? Like I said, I will watch, but I'm curious what to expect.

Whole PPV is worth watching, no bad matches at all and several really great ones. Tanahashi/Suzuki was def the best but I wouldn't put it over Okada/Naito IWGP or Okada/Tanahashi II from earlier this year.

I like Tanahashi better in Mexico than Japan. I think it's the face paint.