QUESTION - What happened to all of those John Cena 6-7 year old fans from 2006/2007?

[Emperor Smeat]

Majority moved on from wrestling based on a wrestling ratings and viewer chart I semi-remember reading about last year. Wrestling Observer had something about that problem in the past as well with the explanation being MMA took a chunk as part of their boom popularity years ago and a large chunk just stopped watching wrestling.

Cena's been great for the WWE at grabbing the children's market but horrible at keeping them and getting other age markets interested.

[Heyman]

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball Majority moved on from wrestling based on a wrestling ratings and viewer chart I semi-remember reading about last year. Wrestling Observer had something about that problem in the past as well with the explanation being MMA took a chunk as part of their boom popularity years ago and a large chunk just stopped watching wrestling. Cena's been great for the WWE at grabbing the children's market but horrible at keeping them and getting other age markets interested.

I appreciate everyone's responses in this thread.


Smelly Meatball - I especially like your insight and think that's pretty interesting. Your last sentence, in particular, interests me.




Lets assume the following:


1) John Cena has about 3-5 years left in the tank as the top guy.


2) Roman Reigns will be the next 'face of the WWE"




What would be a better strategy for the WWE?


A) As was the case with Cena, have Roman Reigns be targeted towards the child demographic since they are the primary target audience and largest demographic in the WWE. One potential pitfall against this strategy however, is that the WWE has shifted away from the PG era and so it may not be as conducive to target the child demographic as it was with Cena back in 2005.


B) Have Reigns be targeted towards the 'teen' demographic. In other words, have Cena still be "the guy" that caters towards kids, but position a guy like Reigns in such a way that he appeals to the 'teen' demographic. In other words, Reigns becomes "the guy" that kids naturally gravitate towards as they enter their adolescence.


My personal line of thinking is to go with Option 'A', as many kids stop watching wrestling after the age of 12 anyways (as seems to have been the case over the last 10 years or so).




-Make Reigns your next "Top Star"
-As the WWE did with Cena back in 2005, have Reigns be targeted towards the 'child' demographic.