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My recollection of WCW houseshows during their peak in 98 was weeks of advertisements in my local newspaper/radio hyping big matches. You then show up and maybe one or two of the advertised matches occurred and most of the advertised roster wasnt even there. It was a joke.

 

WWF was a completely different story. When WWF came to town for houseshows, the wrestlers were doing signings at the big auto body shops (like a Firestone), McDonalds and it felt like they were taking over the town. Then they had Austin every night in the main event. 

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My recollection of WCW houseshows during their peak in 98 was weeks of advertisements in my local newspaper/radio hyping big matches. You then show up and maybe one or two of the advertised matches occurred and most of the advertised roster wasnt even there. It was a joke.

 

WWF was a completely different story. When WWF came to town for houseshows, the wrestlers were doing signings at the big auto body shops (like a Firestone), McDonalds and it felt like they were taking over the town. Then they had Austin every night in the main event. 

 

This is really the truth. Granted, Unforgiven '98 was a PPV and not a house show, but it totally had that feel that WWF had taken over Greensboro - Sunny & LOD 2000 were signing at a video store, Shamrock/Blackman/Faarooq were signing at a Wendy's down the road from the Coliseum, Rock was somewhere too and all the signings were packed.

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What is the largest ever televised audience for a wrestling match?. I read that in Japan there was a 50.1 rating for The Destroyer vs Toyonobori in 1964. Andre vs Hulk from SNME had 33 million viewers and I'm assuming still holds the record for the most watched match in the US. 

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What is the largest ever televised audience for a wrestling match?. I read that in Japan there was a 50.1 rating for The Destroyer vs Toyonobori in 1964. Andre vs Hulk from SNME had 33 million viewers and I'm assuming still holds the record for the most watched match in the US. 

 

Meltzer did a story recently about Rikidozan and brought up a Riki/Destroyer match that did a 67 rating in Japan, or roughly 60 million viewers. That may be hard to top.

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Not the all time record holder, but wasn't the Stooges vs. Mean Street Posse match the most watched match/segment of the entire the Monday Night War/Attitude era?

 

It was the highest rated match of the highest rated RAW episode, I believe.

 

The most watched match of the Attitude era was Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker from 6/28/99.  It aired mostly as the over-run which did a 9.5.

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This is Your Life Rock did a 8.5.   The Mean Street Posse / Stooges match did an 8.6.  I think Rock gets more credit because it sounds a lot better for the highest rated segment to involve Rock over Pete Gas.

 

Doing a little research and because I'm bored at work, the highest rated RAW matches ever were:

 

Austin/Undertaker (6/28/99) did a 9.5

Austin/Rock/Vince vs. HHH/Taker/Shane (5/10/99) did a 9.2

Rock/Shane (5/1/00) did a 9.1

HHH/Benoit vs. Rock/Jericho (4/24/00) did a 8.6

 

All of those were main-event over-runs.

 

FWIW, it's established that The Main Event was the highest rated wrestling program in the US (15.2).  The next three are:

 

The Main Event III (Hogan/Savage with Buster Douglas ref) 12.6

The Main Event II (MegaPowers vs. Twin Towers) 11.6

Saturday Night's Main Event 1/90 (Hogan/Warrior vs. Perfect/Genius) 11.1

 

All courtesy thehistoryofwwe.com.

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Does Bret Hart's claim to have never injured anybody in the ring stand up?

 

(as far as it's possible to know, I guess)

 

In his own book, he recalls injuring Randy Savage's heel. 

 

On another Randy Savage note, how does he hold up as a draw? I remember that he is credited for having a good run on top vs. DiBiase around the country in 88-89, and that he gets credit for turning WCW house show business around with Ric Flair. In the pantheon of draws, he's obviously not Hogan/Austin/Rock level, but is he in the tier right below that? Who would some of his peers as a draw be, historically speaking?

 

CM Punk?

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I would be interested in viewer numbers that correspond to those ratings if you have them

 

It would be mostly educated guessing. The Main Event had 33 million viewers with a 15.2.  Every year the cable audience and population grows so a 15.2 in 1988 looks nothing like a 15.2 now.  

 

But an 11 network rating in 1989 is WAY more than a 9 cable rating in 1999.  Not even close.

 

Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant is THE most watched US wrestling match by far.

 

Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage with ref Buster Douglas had an estimated audience of 20.9 million viewers with a 12.6 rating. (from WrestlingObserver)

 

The MegaPowers/Twin Towers show had an 11.6 rating which was considered a huge disappointment.  No official numbers, but I would guess most likely 18-19 million viewers.

 

Ratings late at night are less impressive since more people are asleep.  An 11 for an SNME in 1990 is most likely at best in the 9-10 million range.

 

But the NBC shows were far and away the most watched.

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Does Bret Hart's claim to have never injured anybody in the ring stand up?

(as far as it's possible to know, I guess)

In his own book, he recalls injuring Randy Savage's heel.

On another Randy Savage note, how does he hold up as a draw? I remember that he is credited for having a good run on top vs. DiBiase around the country in 88-89, and that he gets credit for turning WCW house show business around with Ric Flair. In the pantheon of draws, he's obviously not Hogan/Austin/Rock level, but is he in the tier right below that? Who would some of his peers as a draw be, historically speaking?

Savage went for about a year headlining the B Tour for WWF, the peak of which was his run around the horn with Steamboat prior to WM3, which according to accounts drew on par with Hogan's tour.

He consistently headlined the B tour after losing the world title as well, and nobody is going to be put in that spot long-term if they're NOT drawing.

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Meltzer did a story recently about Rikidozan and brought up a Riki/Destroyer match that did a 67 rating in Japan, or roughly 60 million viewers. That may be hard to top.

 

OK, thanks. From doing a bit of research, I found it was a 2 out of 3 falls match on 12/2/63. Also found this on the NHK website, which was the network which aired Rikidozan's matches

 

People who watched the earliest sports broadcasts on TV in the 1950's remember the successes of pro-wrestler Rikidozan against foreign opponents, contests that did so much to promote the popularity of TV. NHK's TV broadcast of the first international pro-wrestling match, Rikidozan and Kimura Masahiko vs. the Sharp Brothers, in February 1954, triggered a pro-wrestling boom.

 

Was the 1981 FA Cup final day match between Giant Haystacks against Big Daddy match a legit 18 million viewers?, as that is apparently the most watched British pro-wrestling match. I think when comparing ratings & such you need to factor in a number of variables and things such as wrestling's popularity, available viewership, number of other TV networks, other forms of media etc. For example if we use Haystacks vs Big Daddy as an example, there was only 3 UK network stations then (BBC1, BBC2 & ITV). It was also the lead-in, if I'm correct, to the FA Cup Final on ITV, so that would be something that could have benefited from being before the final match which traditionally had a huge televised audience. I think the BBC also aired the final, so there could have been wrestling fans & football (soccer) fans who tuned in to watch both.

 

Going back to Rikidozan, as he helped popularize pro-wrestling in Japan and drew 60 million for his match against The Destroyer and other big ratings for his other matches, how would he compare against the likes of Hogan, Austin, Rock et al in terms of drawing power?. I was also wondering if it's been documented what type of TV ratings did Gorgeous George do on the DuMont Television Network and how would they compare with the ratings that Hulk did back in the 80's and Rikidozan did in Japan?. Also was there any televised pro-wrestling match which predates July 10, 1946 which was on Channel 4 WBKB?. 

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As mentioned above, Meltzer just did a write up on Rikidozan in a recent Observer and basically, he was a much bigger star than Hogan/Austin/Rock. He was more along the lines of Michael Jordan/Babe Ruth in America.

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The common number cited on Japanese sites for Rikidozan/Destroyer is 64.0. It's the 4th highest rating in Japanese TV history (It stayed at 3rd for thirty years until the 2002 World Cup Japan/Russia match). In 1st place is the 1963 Red and White Songfest at a whopping 81.4. (Even today the annual show gets somewhere in the neighborhood of a 40). The Toyonobori/Destroyer match is the only other wrestling match in the all-time top fifty.

Video Research Co (All-Time Top 50)

Top Fifty Sports Programs

 

By 1963, five of the six main TV networks in Japan were active (NHK, TBS, TV Asahi, Fuji TV, NTV).

 

Oh, and the highest World Pro Wrestling (NJPW's flagship show) rating was - according to them anyway - Inoki versus Wim Ruska in 1976 with a 36.5

 

Edited to add: Almost all TV ratings that are reported in the media in Japan are for the Kanto area - as goes Tokyo, so goes the rest of the country.

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Savage went for about a year headlining the B Tour for WWF, the peak of which was his run around the horn with Steamboat prior to WM3, which according to accounts drew on par with Hogan's tour.

He consistently headlined the B tour after losing the world title as well, and nobody is going to be put in that spot long-term if they're NOT drawing.

 

 

Considering how the company has turned them to shit, it's mind blowing to look back on how the IC and tag belts used to mean so much that WWF could rely on them to headline the B and C tours.  They kept those belts meaningful because they needed them as draws.

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The downfall of the IC and tag titles was when they stopped running multiple house shows and therefore they became mid-card titles. Then when they started running split crews again, they needed to create a second world title which just diluted everything. Stick the IC title on Cena or Orton and make it a big deal again.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Back in 1987, the WWF brought back Mr. T as an "enforcer" official for matches.  But from what I've researched, his time didn't last long -- he worked five TV tapings and 10 house shows from June-August 1987 before departing.

 

Did the WWF have any long-term plans for Mr. T in 1987 (feud with a wrestler, leading to a match at the first Survivor Series, WM IV or SNME), or was this just a summer gimmick designed to boost ratings and house show attendance?  I've heard of a possibility of a Mr. T-Danny Davis feud (a few of the house show appearances had T slugging Davis), but T threw a fit over how he was being handled and left the company.

 

 

JD

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I can't verify the second half but T was brought in to boost house shows and according to the 87 Observers from that time, most of his appearances bombed.  My guess would be that they didn't think he was worth the money and quietly dropped him.  Seemed like the seeds were being planted for a Mr T-Davis feud (I think T hit Davis during that Stallions upset over the Hart Foundation.)

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