USA Network: The Savior of WWE?

[OYDK]

Ratings have been plummeting, fans are fed up, and no matter what some die-hards may try to sell you, the WWE is in the worst position it's been in since before the MNW's. A couple weeks ago, as everybody knows, Raw failed to reach the 3 million viewer mark for the first time in almost 20 years. Vince and Co. have finally seemed to take notice of this and are JUST NOW (think about that) asking the fans what they think the problems are... usually that's the first thing an entertainment company does even if they're not struggling. While this may seem like a hatchet job on the WWE, it's hard to argue with the facts, and the facts state that WWE is having major problems attracting eyes to their product.

But I think we overlook the fact that WWE is not the only interested party when it comes to Raw's ratings. The USA Network has supposedly become more demanding of the WWE, and it is rumored that they are pushing them towards a more "edgy" product as the ratings continue to fall. Vince Russo has mentioned that the WWE, as a publicly traded company, is much too worried about being PC, whereas USA "doesn't care about that". It's also worth noting that Smackdown will be moving to USA in 2016 and the network is supposedly extremely unhappy with SD's numbers.

It's been a while since we've heard of TV Networks directly involving themselves in the future direction of WWE. That should just prove how bad things have gotten. The WWE, like every other television show, must please their network and if they don't, than the network has the right to get involved.

Which leads me to the question; can USA ultimately be the reason for a change in the creative direction of WWE? If they decide that they want WWE to start pushing out edgier shows, can WWE really resist for long?

Basically, can the USA Network bring an unlikely end to the "Reality" or PG Era?

 

[Wald]

I don't think USA will bring about the change tbh because the main reason for the 'PG Era' is that you're able to market your product to advertisers better. That doesn't change any time soon (look at how movies like the Justice League will be shot to go for the PG-13 cert despite the content obviously being naturally R Rated).

Plus, and I bring this up a lot around here in threads like this, people need to realise that Vince's WWF/E vision has always been PG Rated. It was back in the days of Rock n' Wrestling with Hogan on top and it was during Bret Hart's New Generation too. He only changed it after years of being slaughtered by WCW and after almost having to drastically scale back the company. Keep that in mind, Vince didn't just switch to the Attitude Era because he had some brainwave, he was dragged kicking and screaming to that era by his talent who kept telling him he was never going to beat Bischoff otherwise. You can about that in Mick Foley's first book for a good example. Pay attention to Foley saying that Steve Austin had an idea for an ice cold killer character called Stone Cold Steve Austin but that when he took the idea to creative they drew up character designs that more resembled Mr. Freeze from the DC Universe. Triple H and HBK have talked at length about how much effort they went to to persuade Vince to allow them be more edgy as well. And what did Vince do as soon as WCW was gone and the shine was coming off Attitude? He waited for a guy like John Cena to come along so he could switch it directly back to PG and a product more in line with the New Generation era. That's Vince's vision for the company, not Attitude, and unless his business is being drastically threatened than he won't change it. WWE isn't being drastically threatened right now, the ratings are down but it's nothing he won't think he can fix whilst staying PG.

 

[Navi]

I doubt it will happen, that they will bring an end to the PG era. If you go to a WWE show, and I've been to many, a large portion of the audience there are knee high to a grasshopper. The kids bring in the money these days by bringing Mom and Dad, and more importantly their wallets.

If the WWE goes too far, they risk losing the largest part of their audience. Not to say mind you that the kids would care, it's more the parents. Kids have probably heard worse on the schoolyard, by Mom's don't want to know about. After working for the Board of Education for over 13 years, I speak from first hand experience.

The WWE are walking a fine line here. It's not the fact that the product isn't edgy enough, it's the fact that the product isn't delivering what the fans want, so they are showing their displeasure by not tuning in.

Let's face it RAW is kind of boring now. We all know what will happen, there are no real surprises, and injuries aside, the story lines are well, not that interesting. I don't know what the answer is, but sometimes swinging too far one way, isn't the best thing to do. Not surprised at the response from the USA network though.

 

[Gotahn]

I honestly don’t think PG is the problem here. My children watch WWE and I wouldn’t want them seeing some of the stuff that happened in the Attitude Era; however, I think the problem is with the storytelling. How many times did we have to see The New Day face The Dudley’s? How many Main events were we going to see Kane vs. Roman Reigns? How about the same people doing the same thing over and over again. How about those lame recaps they seem to show every 15 minutes like people at home haven’t been watching. These are some of the problems with WWE. I get it, it is a tough job making a entertaining show; however, it is their job to do it and they get paid to do it so I really don’t care how hard it is. If I sucked at my job, my boss doesn’t want to hear how tough it is, he could find a more competent person to do it. There are so many people on the WWE roster, yet we only see so few on TV. They are getting paid to do nothing. I remember Daniel Bryan doing an interview saying some superstars would hide in the back just so they didn’t have work a match! Maybe if creative had a better storyline for these people, then maybe they wouldn’t hide. Or maybe they should be fires if they don’t have a passion to be a WWE Superstar. Something needs to change; however making it “edgier” won’t solve all the problems if the storylines are still crappy. All you would get is the same matches just with blood and more curse words. IT IS STILL THE SAME THING!

 

[MyndZero]

This isn't on topic, but can OP remove his cole pictures, they're so disturbing to look at.

On topic: It will be very interesting to see what happens when smackdown debuts on USA. Honestly speaking, I think it would be the perfect time to announce RAW is going back to 2 hours & the brand split is coming back.

If they do a brand split though, they SERIOUSLY need to have different writers for each show. They have SO much talent, that guys get delegated to jobbers & then just disappear, I think with a split they would be forced to do use the other talents more, and could lead better storylines and less 'jobbers' but also less of the SAME matches happening all the time.

Edit: Hell, give Smackdown's direction to Triple H. His done amazing things with NXT, and vince is grooming him to take over RAW, so smackdown would be the next step above NXT, and the step before RAW.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Here's the problem with edgier content: look at how many people get offended so easily by damn near anything these days.

Whether it's something that's meant to generate some controversy or an edgy buzz, whether it be Zeb Colter & Jack Swagger's "Real American" characters, CM Punk & Paul Heyman "mocking" Jerry Lawler's heart attack or "disrespecting" the memory of Paul Bearer by scattering his "ashes" over Undertaker's prone body or the most recent example of Paige bringing up Charlotte's brother Reid, WWE catches all kinds of hell and there's no way to win. A lot of the fans and dirt sheet writers who've complained about WWE being too family friendly bitched like nobody's business at the mere mention of what happened. Yet, many of these same writers and fans have said that the feuds need to have more fire, that they need to have more of a personal, visceral feel to them; it's a complete catch 22 because someone's delicate sensibilities get ruffled.

The entertainment industry as a whole generally moves away from more edgier content these days. For instance, have you noticed the distinct lack of R rated films released in theaters this year? Most films that generate tons of money are usually in the PG to PG-13 range because there's more of a family appeal. There isn't nearly as much graphic violence, adult language, nudity or sexual content, hence there's potential that lack of stronger adult content will attract movie goers of all ages.

In WWE's case, being PG is more attractive to sponsors because sponsors generally prefer safer, more family oriented stuff. You also have to consider that there's something of a double standard that's applied to WWE and edgier content; if one character in a more traditional television program mockingly brought up the death of a beloved family member in the middle of a heated argument that resulted in a physical confrontation, nobody would bat an eye; there'd be no uproar on social media, people wouldn't take to forums to gripe about how tasteless and tacky it was because it's all make believe. Well, so is WWE Raw, yet people tend for forget or ignore that just because the show happens to be taking place live in front of a live crowd in a not so traditional setting for a television program.

IF top honchos from USA contacted Vince and said that they insisted on something edgier, that it did become something more akin to the Attitude Era, there's a possibility Vince would comply because USA is paying WWE hundreds of millions of dollars a year; that's a damn significant investment and if they feel they're not getting their money's worth in terms of TV viewership, then content changes might have to be made if Vince wants to keep his TV deal. However, I doubt that it'll come to that because WWE has been too good of a "friend" to USA and NBC Universal for too long. Even though WWE did go to Spike for a few years, they did eventually come back to USA and even though ratings are down significantly, Raw does bring in significant viewership on a weekly basis for a program on cable.

 

[Wald]

Even if Raw is reduced to two hours (I don't think it will be because of advertising revenue) than I don't see the roster as being strong enough to have a brand extension.

Lets say they did have one and went for a draft again. Things are subjective but I would say the top 20 draft picks would be: Cena, Orton, Rollins, Reigns, Ambrose, Wyatt, New Day, Del Rio, Owens, Sheamus, Cesaro, Big Show, Kane, the Dudleys, Neville, Ryback, Rusev, the Usos, Lucha Dragons and Ziggler. I may have forgotten someone there (Brock I'll leave as a wild card and Bryan is out injured, maybe forever) but that's the depth of the current roster. After that you're in to Swagger, Stardust, Harper, Bo Dallas and the rest. The women I left out as well.

Compare that with the original draft when the top twenty was the Rock, Undertaker, Angle, nWo, Benoit, Kane, Hogan, RVD, Booker T, Billy & Chuck, Edge, Big Show, Brock, the Dudleys, Regal, Rikishi, Mark Henry, Maven and Lita. I mean big name talent like Jericho, the Hardys, Bradshaw, DDP, Raven, Christian, Mr. Perfect, Tazz and Trish didn't even make the cut.

 

[Mustang Sally]

When we read about Vince McMahon's rages, they usually have to do with his employees performances and how badly they mess up on live TV. Honestly, I don't know whether his purple-faced anger encompasses worrying about TV ratings, because of one factor that many wrestling fans aren't aware of:

When it comes to pleasing WWE stockholders, ratings aren't the important factor: profitability is. While many fans presume that if ratings drop to a certain point, WWE will go out of business. It's not true, you know. As long as the company can control expenses so that they're making money, stockholders will generally be satisfied, even if TV ratings stink.

Now, USA network is another thing. They want ratings to be high....and the lower they get, the less WWE can dictate policy ......and USA can begin throwing their weight around to force the company to change their programming. The fact that USA will now also be broadcasting Smackdown will serve only to increase their influence.

I'd love to see a return to edgier programming; that was the main factor that made the Attitude Era such compelling TV. If Vince McMahon and USA are concerned about ratings.....there will be changes, and we'll probably like them.

Of course, the other major problem that's hurting the company is that there's too much WWE programming. Shorten Raw and Smackdown by an hour and leave the fans hungering for more.

 

[MERPER]

The only way the product goes back to "edgy" is if they sign a deal with a cable production network like HBO or Showtime. (Maybe move Smackdown there?) Then they can do pretty much anything they want with any matches, say whatever they want, etc. and while people might still care and get mad they have an excuse. Granted, that would be bad for the live audience full of children.

 

[Slyfox696]

I'd love to see a return to edgier programming; that was the main factor that made the Attitude Era such compelling TV. If Vince McMahon and USA are concerned about ratings.....there will be changes, and we'll probably like them.

I disagree. What made the Attitude Era compelling was the abundance of great talent with charisma. Being "edgy" doesn't really mean anything if you don't have talent who can get over (see TNA's attempts to be edgy). And the WWE has a serious problem with talent being able to get over.

Of course, the other major problem that's hurting the company is that there's too much WWE programming. Shorten Raw and Smackdown by an hour and leave the fans hungering for more.

Not even leave them hungering for more...have them hungering for something. Big shows sell when you have a match high in fan interest...but when you have your talent wrestling each other 4 or 5 times a year, the incentive to watch a match goes down. There are so few matchups we haven't seen, so a 15th Cena vs. Del Rio match just isn't very interesting.

 

[kadroan]

I don't think being edgy will save WWE. It's just added edginess. That doesn't change the fact that fans would still boo chosen ones etc.

 

[whoopin' ass]

I doubt it. My guess is more that USA Network is buying a show from wwe that wwe controls instead of producing a show for thier network - since wwe produces it, USA Network has no real say over the product as long as it doesn't go way over the edge or something. Think of it like sports - the network can't demand baseball to cut an inning so the game is not as long even though they are showing the game. Doesn't mean USA can't ask but my guess is wwe controls the product for the most part. It is odd now though that they have wwe since it is not the type of product people associate with cable networks now. You look at their shows and wwe is definitely an odd choice to have as it really doesn't have any kind of edge anymore.

 

[Straightfromthehart]

Not sure about usa network demands, but if they are looking for an edgier product, they'd be rite. The wwe constantly go on about competing with all entertainment, it's just they don't seem to have noticed that entertainment hasnt stuck with a pg rating. We are in a kind of "box set/video on demand" era of entertainment, BUT the most popular shows are not pg....game of thrones, breaking bad, dexter, Mr robot, narcos....the list goes on, these are all for a more mature audience...it's the way entertainment I'd going, gritty dark stories. Now wwe has followed suit with the network, on that point it would be interesting to see the percentage of shoes watched on their from the pg13 era...I'd guess it would be in the majority. They need to move with the times and their approach to pg is killing the product. If usa has asked for more edge...go with it. Problem is the current booking staff I doubt are up to making relevant (entertaining) change.

 

[BillAlfonsos_Whistle]

A lot of people advocating for PG are missing a main point.
It's not about blood, or nudity, or gratuitous violence....it's about the WRESTLING PRESENTATION. With the way it is now each match is so highly "sterile" that they're all boring. Being a "vicious heel" at this point means MAYBE putting someone through the big old softened up announce table. It's absurd.

You need to be able to "stomp a hole in his chest" or other nasty tactics if you want TRUE heel work. And through true heel work you get the organic rise of FACES! Wow...what a concept. It cannot be done with the way things are now.

Sure they could probably achieve it in a PG setting but it'd be next to impossible AKA no chance whatsoever the lame duck creative staff could do it.