-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
A New Wrestling War Begins: AEW Dynamite BEATS WWE Raw in the Ratings for the First Time in the in the 18-49 Demo (one of the most important metrics)
- Thread starter Anth0ny
- Start date
I find those moving goalpost pretty stupid, but we also need to be aware that this is *just* the beggining. I have no doubts that AEW will keep moving foward, but this is the beggining of when the bigger headlines will come: beating them in overall ratings, for several weeks. And fuck RAW, the goal needs to be the A-Show which is Smackdown nowadays. And I'm pretty sure that's the current long term goal for AEW, since beating Raw is at rock-throwing distance
In any case, AEW going up like this is the best possible thing. Either WWE steps up or bites the dust, both outcomes are good in one way or the other for Wrestling.
I just hope WWE continues to pursue their dream of signing NFL rejects and make a sports entertainment show while AEW does their thing.
I want a good wrestling company in the US that attracts the best wrestlers and uses them instead of a monopoly that hires everyone and misuses them or doesn't use them at all.
I want a good wrestling company in the US that attracts the best wrestlers and uses them instead of a monopoly that hires everyone and misuses them or doesn't use them at all.
Demo wins are the only wins ad execs care about and are of paramount importance in the only conversation that matters (ad revenue and lucrative television broadcast deals).
Incidentally, The Simpsons was the #3 top-rated sitcom in the 18-49 demo in its 32nd season... only behind Young Sheldon and The Neighborhood. Just a friendly reminder.
Well they've already beaten Smackdown in the key demo (and total viewers actually!) so RAW was the only one they hadn't beaten yet.
Because Smackdown got pre-empted and bumped to FS1, still it wasn't expected that AEW would beat them even with the pre-emption.
You mean, why doesn't Vince want superstars to entertain? And there's the problem.
I was at All Out, which was just an incredible wrestling show top to bottom. Wife and I were at a bar the day after for a drink after dinner and they had Raw on. I saw something called Moist TV, a guy getting shot with a squirt gun mid match, some kind of incoherent tag tournament match that they seemed to just forget about halfway through and move on, and a talking doll. It was the first I've seen of Raw in maybe 5 years and boy, was I not prepared for how bad it was. I truly can't believe they still get the numbers they do.
WWE is lucky that a lot of WWE fans are creatures of habit. It is crazy that such aggressively bad TV still can get 1.8-2 million total viewers.
WWE having no real competition for 20 years has just been terrible top to bottom for pro wrestling.
WWE will never truly go away. But my hope is that the perception of what they present as the go-to default standard will eventually whittle away. And I think that is something we're already seeing. As is, the people supporting that product are mainly those who grew up with it and they're outside the main demo. Fox News also gets shit tons of old viewers too.
There is enough room out there for their brand of sports entertainment to exist and thrive and they will be around for a long time. The problem is that they've been the defacto top dawg in 'pro wrestling' for so long which has been good for their business but not the long-term health of the industry/business/artform.
Competition and diversity is a great thing.
There is enough room out there for their brand of sports entertainment to exist and thrive and they will be around for a long time. The problem is that they've been the defacto top dawg in 'pro wrestling' for so long which has been good for their business but not the long-term health of the industry/business/artform.
Competition and diversity is a great thing.
Yup. All of this. So true that the product started to become stale in 2003-2004, when most of that stacked roster they had from 2001-2002 started to leave and Cena and Orton started coming up. Not only that, but the format and product itself started to become stale, clean, bland and, predictable. I slowly stopped following it during that era and just watched occasionally and read some dirt sheets. Worth noting, does anyone else feel that WWE from 2004/5 - 2014ish just blends in together? When I was growing up, I was able to distinctly tell the difference in WWF 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, and so on. It's astonishing how many chances WWF took from 96 - 98.
96, in particular, was extra weird when you compare the roster from the first half of the year from January to June to the second half from June to December. The company was slowly becoming edgier and edgier starting from Diesel's tweener character at the start of the year. By June, Diesel, Razor, Kid, Bret, Piper, Tatanka, Bigelow, etc have all left. Mero, Sid, Foley, Gordy, The Rock, Jake Roberts, Ron Simmons, and, Pillman all showed up in the second half with a Warrior return sandwiched in between. What a crazy ass year and probably one of my favorites.
I love how Punk weaponised WWE isn't wrestling it's Sports Entertainment.
It's been such a nonsense statement for years and I don't care if you make your money with networks, merchandise or Saudi Princes - if your end product is a wrestling show and the talent are wrestlers - you are wrestling.
It puts the WWE apologists like the ones in this thread in a really tricky spot. You just have to deny it - no one in the world wants to lame enough to utter the phrase "I'm a sports entertainment fan"
It's been such a nonsense statement for years and I don't care if you make your money with networks, merchandise or Saudi Princes - if your end product is a wrestling show and the talent are wrestlers - you are wrestling.
It puts the WWE apologists like the ones in this thread in a really tricky spot. You just have to deny it - no one in the world wants to lame enough to utter the phrase "I'm a sports entertainment fan"
I'm to the point where I actively seek out AEW clips, highlights, and blogs each week. For someone that steadily got to a place where they ignored wrestling completely, that's pretty big. Might actually start tuning in more regularly, especially if guys like Owens and Bray join Punk & co.
Or once Pillman Jr. moves away from the "Hollywood Blondes" phase and embraces Pillman 9MM Glock.
Or once Pillman Jr. moves away from the "Hollywood Blondes" phase and embraces Pillman 9MM Glock.
Don't forget Rampage tonight. Brian and Cole talk and Andrade vs PAC is supposed to be one of the best matches of the year
OP
OP
aaaaand there we go:
the upcoming PPVs main event has been moved to this monday's raw.
That's not getting viewers to tune in, especially with it now being Monday Night Football season.
Also have to appreciate the lack of logic. There is no buildup to a title match. Adding to that you have one half of the tag team champions facing Lashley who is also partners with MVP who are the #1 contenders for the Raw tag titles despite losing to Orton and Riddle like a week or two ago.
Not only is it pathetic to be watching WWE from an entertainment standpoint, but let's not forget the awful shit that they don't get called out for nearly enough.
Also have to appreciate the lack of logic. There is no buildup to a title match. Adding to that you have one half of the tag team champions facing Lashley who is also partners with MVP who are the #1 contenders for the Raw tag titles despite losing to Orton and Riddle like a week or two ago.
Not only is it pathetic to be watching WWE from an entertainment standpoint, but let's not forget the awful shit that they don't get called out for nearly enough.
i mostly keep up with wrestling news thanks to jim cornette and jim ross's podcast and i'm glad someone is finally making wwe pay for their shitty management. hopefully they keep losing audience and vince finally pulls the trigger and sells the wwe to somebody that can actually run it well.
It's gonna be a bloodbath when Raw is prempted to scyfi for a couple of weeks soon. Understandable of course but gonna be fun to see those numbers.