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XL · 11-27-2016, 02:17 PM

I think the issue here is the idea that wrestling can be as big as it used to be, and that there are a number of reasons why it's not, and different people are pointing at different things to explain why it's not, or how it could get back to those heights.

We have Noid (I love you, man) who for years proposed the likes of Val Venis, Paul London, and Doug Basham as talents that WWE should push right to the top, now pushing for WWE to revert back to body guys, or that they need a Rock/Austin/Hogan type to drag them back into prominence because that's what worked when wrestling had mass appeal, and I don't buy it.

WWE had its heyday.

It's the same as a show like The X Files. At the height of its popularity it was a cultural phenomenon that premiered Season 5 at over 27.3m viewers. On its return to screens this year it garnered nearly 16.2m. Sure the TV environment has changed in the last 20 years, no doubt fewer people watch first-run TV than they used to (for example, this years biggest TV show and current cultural phenomenon The Walking Dead, premiered at 17.03m viewers - 10m fewer than X Files S5) and peoples' interests are dessiminated across other platforms, but simply X Files is not as "in" in 2016 as it was in 1996.

Same can be said for wrestling.

It's a niche product. It's always been a niche product, it just captured something in the mid/late 90s that garnered more public interest.

I don't think the lack of a body builder on top, or landing lucky on a guy like The Rock will propel them back to the pinacle of pop culture.

I don't think better writing will do this either, but it will increase my personal enjoyment of the product.

But beyond those issues, the single biggest issue is the volume of product.

I'm the type of person that "goes deep" with the TV I enjoy; ahead of the X Files mini series this year I watched the entire 9 seasons again, and read endlessly on the X files wiki site, I was the same with Lost, spending hours talking about theories on line. Current one is Westworld. But the minimum I am required to do is watch a 1 hour show once a week for maybe 24 weeks of the year.

Then there's wrestling. This is one of maybe 3 websites I go to daily, I watch Raw, SmackDown, NXT, PPVs, I watched the CWC, I watch the exclusive network stuff, I even still watch TNA, and Lucha Underground. I listen to the SCG podcast, and more often than not Jericho's show, Austin's, JR's, and Colt's. A lot of this is through force of habit (and clearly I live a very boring life) but the minimum I am required to do is watch 3 or 5 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. That's a lot. It's a hurdle the Attitude Era didn't have (they gave us 2 extra hours when they already had the audience).

Sure there will fans turned away by Balor/Owens being on top, and there will be a portion you can bring back with returns like Goldberg's, and WrestleMania will still get that casual bump, but otherwise wrestling's upper limit isn't as high as it was in 1999.

11-27-2016, 02:17 PM	#17
XL Feeling Oof-y Posts: 17,151	I think the issue here is the idea that wrestling can be as big as it used to be, and that there are a number of reasons why it's not, and different people are pointing at different things to explain why it's not, or how it could get back to those heights. We have Noid (I love you, man) who for years proposed the likes of Val Venis, Paul London, and Doug Basham as talents that WWE should push right to the top, now pushing for WWE to revert back to body guys, or that they need a Rock/Austin/Hogan type to drag them back into prominence because that's what worked when wrestling had mass appeal, and I don't buy it. WWE had its heyday. It's the same as a show like The X Files. At the height of its popularity it was a cultural phenomenon that premiered Season 5 at over 27.3m viewers. On its return to screens this year it garnered nearly 16.2m. Sure the TV environment has changed in the last 20 years, no doubt fewer people watch first-run TV than they used to (for example, this years biggest TV show and current cultural phenomenon The Walking Dead, premiered at 17.03m viewers - 10m fewer than X Files S5) and peoples' interests are dessiminated across other platforms, but simply X Files is not as "in" in 2016 as it was in 1996. Same can be said for wrestling. It's a niche product. It's always been a niche product, it just captured something in the mid/late 90s that garnered more public interest. I don't think the lack of a body builder on top, or landing lucky on a guy like The Rock will propel them back to the pinacle of pop culture. I don't think better writing will do this either, but it will increase my personal enjoyment of the product. But beyond those issues, the single biggest issue is the volume of product. I'm the type of person that "goes deep" with the TV I enjoy; ahead of the X Files mini series this year I watched the entire 9 seasons again, and read endlessly on the X files wiki site, I was the same with Lost, spending hours talking about theories on line. Current one is Westworld. But the minimum I am required to do is watch a 1 hour show once a week for maybe 24 weeks of the year. Then there's wrestling. This is one of maybe 3 websites I go to daily, I watch Raw, SmackDown, NXT, PPVs, I watched the CWC, I watch the exclusive network stuff, I even still watch TNA, and Lucha Underground. I listen to the SCG podcast, and more often than not Jericho's show, Austin's, JR's, and Colt's. A lot of this is through force of habit (and clearly I live a very boring life) but the minimum I am required to do is watch 3 or 5 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. That's a lot. It's a hurdle the Attitude Era didn't have (they gave us 2 extra hours when they already had the audience). Sure there will fans turned away by Balor/Owens being on top, and there will be a portion you can bring back with returns like Goldberg's, and WrestleMania will still get that casual bump, but otherwise wrestling's upper limit isn't as high as it was in 1999.