Bob-O wrote: ↑Mar 19th, '19, 07:49
Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Mar 18th, '19, 21:55
But if someone is only subscribing for the Ronda/Becky match and the idea that Ronda might start shooting, then why would they keep their subscription after Mania?
How many people are seriously going to sign up because they think Rhonda Rousey is going to start shoot fighting? How many people are going to sit through a WWE show that's how long these days, 5 hours? How many people are signing up for their free month of WWE Network, sit through ALL of that (especially if they do indeed go last), because they honestly think Rhonda Rousey is going to start throwing potatoes? IF those people exist... and I'll admit that they probably do... they weren't going to sign up anyway, but now that they have, there's no sense in keeping them around.
That's been my point all along! Hence they shouldn't have done this and it was a f*cking stupid idea from day one.
Bob-O wrote: ↑Mar 19th, '19, 07:49
But let's say, through the course of the show, they find something... ANYTHING... else to make it worth their time - it's not so far fetched that they'd be willing to spend their money on it next time. Whether it's next month, or they pay for Summerslam, it's a win.
Again, it's not about free Wrestlemania, it's about how many people can they get to pay for Backlash. If Wrestlemania is good, and I think the show will be, that $0 they earned will turn into actual dollars. Even for Shooty McMMAfan... if they call up Rhonda's Horsewomen at Wrestlemania or the Raw after, there's a good chance he's sticking around.
Once that type of person sees that Ronda's match at Mania is a work, he/she isn't going to give WWE another chance. If he/she cared about MMA fighters doing fake pro wrestling matches he/she would have signed up to the Network when they signed Ronda. Bringing the other Horsewomen up (though only Baszler is ready) isn't going to do anything for that person just like a whole year of Ronda having fake pro wrestling matches hasn't done anything for that person.
Ever since Austin/Tyson, WWE has had this obsession with trying to use celebrities to try to draw in people who are 99% un-gettable. I am personally very skeptic that these people who will follow their favored celebrity and watch anything they are involved in, to the point of sitting through an entire wrestling show when they don't like wrestling actually exist (aside from special documented cases like ICP).
Wrestling has a stigma about it. It's bullsh*t, but it's the truth. The result of this is that the only people who "get" wrestling are wrestling fans/lapsed fans, artists of various stripes (who understand the characters and presentation for what they are), and MMA/boxing fighters/promoters, who understand what the promotional aspect of it is trying to do. That means that the only way to get new viewers (be they lapsed fans or people tuning in for the first time) interested is by putting on a fun and compelling show; not a show filled with dumb comedy, short, dull matches, and bad promos, and horrible cult-language announcing. Filling the show with celebrities inevitably results in WWE doing stupid comedy instead of putting on a good wrestling product, so when a first-time viewer comes in and he/she sees cornball bullsh*t, it's just going to confirm their previous assumptions about pro wrestling being stupid cornball crap for eight-year-olds.
Similarly, trying to fool people into thinking that one aspect of the show (the Ronda stuff) is real similarly plays into a misconception that the general public has about pro wrestling that they are trying to fool you into thinking things are real when they're clearly not. And in the case of an MMA fan who might be tuning in to see Ronda shoot, he/she is going to very quickly realizes that the match is worked and cancel his/her subscription.
Factor in the number of actual fans who are annoyed by this sort of thing, and doing this turns off more fans than it is ever going to bring in.
Bob-O wrote: ↑Mar 19th, '19, 07:49
Big Red Machine wrote: ↑Mar 18th, '19, 21:55
Lance wants them to make money by putting on a product that is good enough that it compels people to sign up for the WWE Network to see the big payoff matches on PPV.
As fans, that's what WE ALL want! Our passion for the technicalities of the sport cloud our vision. Realistically though, good story telling and great matches only get you so far. 2005 ROH wasn't selling out 175k seat stadium shows. Cody and The Bucks were praised for selling 10,000 seats last year, they sold them quick, and they could have sold more... but how many more? Double? Triple? WWE is doing almost 20 TIMES that! It's not to take away from what Cody and the Bucks did, but I don't think people understand that WWE is after a completely different market. You NEED those people that are willing to sign up for The Network because Rhonda Rousey is on Twitter with her volume turned up to 11... those 2 million people that watched and rewatched Rhonda's "Carny" promo on YouTube. You don't do WWE's level of business without those people.
I'm not saying I like it. I'm saying I get it.
I've always contended that if you put 2005 ROH on TV on an accessible channel in a decent time slot and gave them money to upgrade their production values, they'd probably have done pretty f*cking well.
The problem with your theory- like with a lot of stuff based on social media numbers- is that there is zero evidence that these people actually turn into paying customers. If there was some sort of spike in Network numbers because of this, they'd be bragging about it Total viewership didn't go up. Mania was already sold out. If WWE wants to up their numbers then they are going after the wrong part of the market. They should be trying to win back the people who have left over the years by putting on a better product. Ronda telling everyone it's fake doesn't do that.
