How good is Tessa Blanchard?

[The Elemental O]

Here's the problem with that though...the ratings were already shit. IMHO there are only two types of fans left watching WWE. Performance fans...and leftover suspension of disbelief fans. Performance fans are the ones who don't need to buy into what they're watching. They're the ones who want to see stuff that looks neat and don't car if the 4th wall is broken because it's just a show. They're also the ones most likely to be part of those social media numbers WWE like to post after ad breaks on their shows, and I think that's why so many of the people in WWE are the type of person who appeals to them. Their also a niche market...they like things that don't usually resonate with the larger part of society. The second type...the suspension of disbelief type...are a dying breed. Their the fans that don't want the 4th wall broken during the show...they don't care as much about things looking neat as things making sense. The want to believe the guy on their screen is the baddest motherfucker walking even if they know he's not. They're also a niche market just by the fact they like rasslin...but they stuff they like has a better chance of getting over with the larger audience...the mainstream if you will. Unfortunately...and this is just my opinion...they're not the type to be as active on social media about the product...and thus their opinions don't matter so much. Even when WWE tries to go back towards what this type of fan wants...they screw ti up because they're too concerned with what the other group wants. So you get a product that no one is happy with and the ratings stink, house show sellouts are a distant memory, and you a second promotion in a "war" that gets less hype than the average eurotrash dork with a videogame channel. It's a sad state of affairs all around...and again...imho...taking social media interactions as the standard for fan opinions has hurt rasslin to a point it will never recover from.

I suppose you're right, though I would argue the decline to below 3.0 started after Brock won the Undisputed championship in 2014 after he beat the streak, it started out high with the post PPV RAW getting around 4.0 when Brock first won but then he would spend around a month not defending the title or even appear on TV and when people complained WWE (to be more exact Vince in an interview) responded to the criticism by saying the title was a prop for Brock like how Damien the Snake was a prop for Jake Roberts. I think from there is when the damage was done and became permanent and the highest they could get was around a 2.90 when they pushed Reigns as the face of the brand.

It seems that the 2013 to early 2014 period may have been the closest thing to a last hurrah for wrestling getting consistent ratings of above 2.90.

It's even more frustrating when you try to think how guys like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe would have fared before the decline, Styles had momentum when he won his first WWE world title after matches he had with Cena but then that DAMN sub-feud he had with James Ellsworth basically sucked all the excitement out of his first reign.

 

[The Elemental O]

Pro-wrestling was way down in Japan and it charged back. I think a lot of people think Antonio Inoki came close to killing to the business and that it charged back after NJPW got rid of him.

God! I remember that era, I used to be a big Inoki mark at the time before I realized the backstage politics and how he was killing the business because he wanted that MMA/PRIDE appeal by pushing guys who didn't connect with the crowd just because they won some real fights, while the popular ones flopped in MMA bouts like poor Nagata who was thrown to the wolves in Crocop and freaking Fedor in his prime. The one exception was Shinsuke Nakamura who did alright and he was popular with the New Japan crowd.

 

[D.R.H.]

I suppose you're right, though I would argue the decline to below 3.0 started after Brock won the Undisputed championship in 2014 after he beat the streak, it started out high with the post PPV RAW getting around 4.0 when Brock first won but then he would spend around a month not defending the title or even appear on TV and when people complained WWE (to be more exact Vince in an interview) responded to the criticism by saying the title was a prop for Brock like how Damien the Snake was a prop for Jake Roberts. I think from there is when the damage was done and became permanent and the highest they could get was around a 2.90 when they pushed Reigns as the face of the brand.

It seems that the 2013 to early 2014 period may have been the closest thing to a last hurrah for wrestling getting consistent ratings of above 2.90.

It's even more frustrating when you try to think how guys like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe would have fared before the decline, Styles had momentum when he won his first WWE world title after matches he had with Cena but then that DAMN sub-feud he had with James Ellsworth basically sucked all the excitement out of his first reign.

We can second guess the exact moment of the decline all day depending on how far back you want to go...I'd say the super later half of the Super Cena era started the fall from grace...but...you could place reverse leap frog all day trying to put the blame somewhere.

It's a shame that AJ and Joe came over when the bloom was off the rose. AJ is at worst one of the 3 best guys they have at actual matches...and Joe is one of the few people they have who can talk and actually make you believe he's a legit badass who wants to kill his opponents. Them's the breaks though...

 

[The Elemental O]

We can second guess the exact moment of the decline all day depending on how far back you want to go...I'd say the super later half of the Super Cena era started the fall from grace...but...you could place reverse leap frog all day trying to put the blame somewhere.

It's a shame that AJ and Joe came over when the bloom was off the rose. AJ is at worst one of the 3 best guys they have at actual matches...and Joe is one of the few people they have who can talk and actually make you believe he's a legit badass who wants to kill his opponents. Them's the breaks though...

Yeah, I guess you can add Super Cena to the list too along with other factors. The bottom line is sadly the industry is in really bad shape. AEW was seen as this spark of shining hope and it isn't doing much better either while the ROH/NJPW show outselling MSG was a big deal for a non-WWE wrestling event, it seems the effects were temporary.

Maybe the industry will recover like how it did in Japan as Kforcer pointed out but I expect the decline to last for quite a while.

 

[D.R.H.]

Yeah, I guess you can add Super Cena to the list too along with other factors. The bottom line is sadly the industry is in really bad shape. AEW was seen as this spark of shining hope and it isn't doing much better either while the ROH/NJPW show outselling MSG was a big deal for a non-WWE wrestling event, it seems the effects were temporary.

Maybe the industry will recover like how it did in Japan as Kforcer pointed out but I expect the decline to last for quite a while.

It needs a real superstar...someone than can be the larger than life standard bearer...and you can't make one of those...people either have it or they don't...and even then you have to strap the rocket on at the right time or you'll miss the moment. There's a whole lot of good rasslers out there, but good isn't good enough.

 

[Batjester]

Here's the problem with that though...the ratings were already shit. IMHO there are only two types of fans left watching WWE. Performance fans...and leftover suspension of disbelief fans. Performance fans are the ones who don't need to buy into what they're watching. They're the ones who want to see stuff that looks neat and don't car if the 4th wall is broken because it's just a show. They're also the ones most likely to be part of those social media numbers WWE like to post after ad breaks on their shows, and I think that's why so many of the people in WWE are the type of person who appeals to them. Their also a niche market...they like things that don't usually resonate with the larger part of society. The second type...the suspension of disbelief type...are a dying breed. Their the fans that don't want the 4th wall broken during the show...they don't care as much about things looking neat as things making sense. The want to believe the guy on their screen is the baddest motherfucker walking even if they know he's not. They're also a niche market just by the fact they like rasslin...but they stuff they like has a better chance of getting over with the larger audience...the mainstream if you will. Unfortunately...and this is just my opinion...they're not the type to be as active on social media about the product...and thus their opinions don't matter so much. Even when WWE tries to go back towards what this type of fan wants...they screw ti up because they're too concerned with what the other group wants. So you get a product that no one is happy with and the ratings stink, house show sellouts are a distant memory, and you a second promotion in a "war" that gets less hype than the average eurotrash dork with a videogame channel. It's a sad state of affairs all around...and again...imho...taking social media interactions as the standard for fan opinions has hurt rasslin to a point it will never recover from.

TLDR





Fuck the Young Bucks.

 

[Francis Rossi]

It needs a real superstar...someone than can be the larger than life standard bearer...and you can't make one of those...people either have it or they don't...and even then you have to strap the rocket on at the right time or you'll miss the moment. There's a whole lot of good rasslers out there, but good isn't good enough.

Then there's the ones who are over with the crowds, but the TV audiences don't care for them. AEW and NXT are probably more in danger of that than Smackdown or Raw.

 

[Kforcer]

The one exception was Shinsuke Nakamura who did alright and he was popular with the New Japan crowd.

Yeah, Shinsuke was good. He was a Combat Wrestling champion as well, back when that was a big deal, though I don't know that he was a national champion. But I know he won some CW tournaments. Rickson Gracie wanted to train him and thought he had tons of promise, but I guess Rickson's wife didn't want it to happen, or at least that's what Nakamura surmises.

Really, there wasn't a shortage in Japan of guys who could work and shoot and so I think a symbiotic relationship could have borne success, if not for Inoki's single-minded booking and his desire to push successful MMA guys as nigh-unbeatable and squash wrestlers who lost in MMA or who he didn't think could shoot.

 

[D.R.H.]

Then there's the ones who are over with the crowds, but the TV audiences don't care for them. AEW and NXT are probably more in danger of that than Smackdown or Raw.

At this stage, I'd say they are pretty much all stuck at that point.

 

[Gambit MMA]

i havent watched TNA in ages, but its not good for the company at all if you have a chick holding the title. its not believable at all. although the promotions now dont really care and are just watering everything down.

she should have the womens belt, and if you want to showcase her do an angle or match where she pairs up with another dude vs another guy and girl team. it totally buries all the talent tho if some midget girl has the world title.