Should the WWE air "specials"?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Watching RAW and SmackDown! this week, two things were different. One was that there were several pretty damn good matches. The other was that RAW is holding a tournament for the #1 Contendership to the World Heavyweight Championship. I like the idea of this tournament, and I couldn't help but compare it to the King of the Ring PPV.

Now I know RAW and SmackDown! need to have good matches, and occasionally needs special attractions to get the fans tuning in next week, but I couldn't just help but wonder, what if the Gold Rush Tournament got its own PPV. Then I thought it was stupid, since I assume PPV providers would need to know when PPVs will take place quite a while in advance, etc. But then I thought, why not do something with a regular WWE timeslot, and make it a "WWE Special".

You could turn WWE Experience into the base for WWE Specials. By this I mean, every couple of months or so, instead of hosting a recap show, you have the two-hours dedicated to a special WWE program like "WWE Gold Rush". There you have the entire Gold Rush tournament take place.

This could be good for a couple of reasons. It could be used as a "trial" for the WWE's more out there ideas. TNA recently did a PPV where every match was inside a Steel Cage. If the WWE wanted to do something like that, they could have the WWE Special: Bloodbath and have two-hours filled with Steel Cage matches.

If these ideas are a success, the WWE can upgrade them to PPV, or even sell the special on DVD. Taboo Tuesday was an original idea by the WWE, but it didn't turn out as great as the WWE may have wanted it to be, but if they aired it free of charge, it might have actually done better for the WWE.

The other place they could vent these "specials" is instead of a regular RAW or SmackDown! broadcast. You could then jam Heat and Velocity full of main event talent, or have it serve as a complimentary hour to the special. So if you had "WWE Taboo" air in RAW's slot, you can have Heat sevre as an extra hour of that.

You can do all sorts of crazy stuff like this. You can have an all cruiserweight show, have RAW vs. SmackDown!, have a Night of Champions, hold the event out in a rainforest somewhere, make the show based around a wrestler/title, the possibilities are endless.

I know if the WWE had a "Special" with Chris Jericho's greatest matches, I would watch it, maybe even buy it on DVD. If they had some kind of cruiserweight event, it would be something for the ages.

Anyway, what does everyone think about the idea. Is it too expensive? Is it a good idea?

[Ruien]

Ok, I read around half of what you said I won't lie about that. But, if they have those specials then, what will they do to have people turning into Raw and Smackdown? Without the little tournys or cage matches and such, it would not be exciting to watch. Well not as exciting.

[M. Banana]

No.

[Londoner]

No.

Agreed.

[TerranRich]

^----- This thread sucks :P


Not, not really. You know what they need?

...

A Cruiserweight Tournament. :)

[M. Banana]

No.

[Londoner]

No.

Agreed.

[M. Banana]

No.

Agreed.

Agreed.

[Kane Knight]

Ok, I read around half of what you said I won't lie about that. But, if they have those specials then, what will they do to have people turning into Raw and Smackdown? Without the little tournys or cage matches and such, it would not be exciting to watch. Well not as exciting.
Or they could make the prgramming consitently better, so that they don't need a tournament every month to draw viewers.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Or they could make the prgramming consitently better, so that they don't need a tournament every month to draw viewers.

That's what I'm talking about. If they had matches like Chavo vs. Rey on SD! more often, they wouldn't need tournaments and things, and they can be used for PPVs.

Why not save the Gold Rush tournament for Vengeance to decide who will face Batista at Summerslam? Over the next few weeks you'd have qualifying matches, tag team matches, storyline build-up (particularly around Benoit's concussion). And then when the draft happens, you can make the appropriate changes.

You keep the whole "they know they're in the tournament, but they don't know who their opponent is" deal going, and when Christian comes out first on PPV and is greeted by Kane, it might mean more than what it did on RAW.

Good matches are the secret to drawing fans, not tournaments. I personally think PPVs need to use more gimmicks than what they do, because it seems as if shows like Backlash are just glorified episodes of RAW.

[The CyNick]

I would say good matches have very little to do with drawing fans.

When WWE started gaining viewers, for the most card they had average and bad matches up and down the card.

I think good wrestling is good, but I dont think it has ever drawn new viewers. New viewers are drawn by stars that people see as larger than life and want to go out of their way to see. Such as was the case with guys Like Hogan, Austin and Rock.

[Kane Knight]

Hence why I differentiated between "matches" and "programming."

[M. Banana]

Stick to the 41981 shows they already have.

[YOUR Hero]

CyNick is correct. The wrestling isn't the big draw. It's larger than life characters or taboo/outrageous storylines.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, I didn't mean the wrestling as such. I meant the programs that go on around it. I was actually referring to the story behind Rey/Chavo that made it intense and worth watching.

You're all right, good wrestling makes the product better, but the storylines and characters are what puts asses in seats.

[Xerzes]

When a thread is of poor quality, it's time for a pointless post in it. Voila.

[Evolution]

Where are all these new guys coming from? Xerzes, Hulk Hogan, Olympic Hitman?

[NoJabbaNoBogRoll]

Quit making threads, and bring back Eric Shin. :cool:

[The One]

By the way when WWE signed a TV deal with USA networks I think in the deal was an agrement to air I think it's 2 WWE "Specials" a year...so they already had this idea, we already don't like it, and that is reason enough for them to do it.

[PureHatred]

The "specials" in the USA are deal are going to be on NBC. It's a return of SNME.