nate Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Why would anyone look forward to Raw getting cancelled? If WWE dies, pro wrestling in the US dies with it. Ba-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ... heh ... heh ... *whew* ... ahem ... Naaaaaah .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 There has to be a trickle down effect from WWE's popularity at any given time to the indies. There is an argument (and it's difficult to prove either way) that losing the major primetime wrestling show would reduce the visibility of pro wrestling, which would cause a decline in people attending indy shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 The indies only exist as run off from WWE. If WWE were to die, the bigger indies like ROH or PWG would keep plugging along for a bit, but the industry as a whole would shrink dramatically, and people wouldn't be entering the business when there is no prospect of a higher goal/wage. WWE getting cancelled would show every network that wrestling isn't viable, which kills the industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Decline, c'est ne pas "die." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 If WWE died where goes the vitriol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 American/North American wrestling wouldn't outright die, but it would become even more of a niche product should WWE leave traditional TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 It would be a niche product and that would also in the killing off a lot of the indies. Your average indy isn't PWG or ROH, it's the small town indies that primarily draw non-internet fans that would suffer most. WWE losing TV in the near future would be terrible for American wrestling. I do anticipate WWE Network being the eventual home of RAW and SmackDown but we are easily a good 5 years away from that being a viable business model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 It's a simple question: In this hypothetical, did WWE because people stopped liking wrestling, or did it die because people were no longer interested in what WWE was offering? If it's the latter, then something else will fill the void. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 World of Sport was cancelled in 1988. Even so, there has never not been Pro-Wrestling in the UK... it hit a major doldrum right before the attitude era re-ignited interest, but it still existed. And it's stronger now, without having really been on telly in over 25 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 To a lot of people, WWE is pro wrestling. People here tend to forget that the general public doesn't know that non-WWE pro wrestling even exists. Anything that happens to WWE reflects on the entirety of the North American pro wrestling scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 One thing to remember... TNA as SHITTY as it has been, is still somehow on TV. I'm not sure there's any way WWE wouldn't be offered a TV deal by some network no matter how bad they got. The only way WWE dies is if they completely fuck up the business side and wait now that I'm thinking about it.. even in '96 were they ever really close to dying? I thought they'd maybe downsize but die? I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 WWE competely dying is pretty far fetched. Their business is diversified enough that the on-screen product could totally tank and they'd have enough revenue streams to easily stay afloat. Vince would almost have to pull a Rob Feinstein in order for WWE to die and even then, Vince would just sell the company to Disney or somebody else. WWE losing TV would be pretty bad in the short term but I don't see it killing WWE. You're right though, they'd land somewhere eventually. Probably Spike TV or Destination America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 To a lot of people, WWE is pro wrestling. Yeah, and to a lot of people, it wasn't. They liked the wrestling THEY grew up with and didn't care for the roided up cartoon characters that made up 1980s WWF. The business has changed before, and it'll change again, regardless of whether WWE makes that change or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 To a lot of people, WWE is pro wrestling. Yeah, and to a lot of people, it wasn't. They liked the wrestling THEY grew up with and didn't care for the roided up cartoon characters that made up 1980s WWF. The business has changed before, and it'll change again, regardless of whether WWE makes that change or not. I think you're underestimating the effect of brand genericization. It's been 15 years since WWE has had a competitor on the national scale and people in their late 20s - early 30s were teenagers when the WWF bought WCW. The people you're referring to in your example, who presumably weren't kids at the time because the WWF had that marketed cornered, are in their 50s now. It's been 32 years since Hogan dropped the leg on the Iron Sheik. The WWF has been in the mainstream conscious for over 30 years at this point. There are adults in their 40s now who grew up idolizing Hulk Hogan. There is a large segment of the population who mutually associates WWE with pro wrestling. WWE is now a publicly traded corporation with a large media presence, major merchandising deals, and relationships within the media that have quite frankly cemented their spot in popular culture. The only way to eliminate WWE would be if someone like Disney or some other media conglomerate started a wrestling company, poured a ton of money into it and hired the right people. As bad as things were for the WWF in the late 80s - early 90s, it still took Ted Turner, his billions of dollars and Eric Bischoff's willingness to spend it to knock WWF off that perch. WWE now is a lot more secure than the WWF post-Rock and Wrestling Connection. To the average Joe, WWE is pro wrestling. You go up to the average person in the street and say "wrestling" and they automatically think of WWE. As a fan I prefer the non-WWF stuff from the 80s but I post on a wrestling message board and I know that my viewpoints are the minority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I think you're overestimating the effects of brand genericization, and if toy don't believe me, think about how many brands of Kleenex the supermarket sells. The WWE is nowhere near dying, I know, but in this hypothetical scenario, (say the ratings tank, Network subs start to drop off, and WWE's overextended and Vince decides to light it on fire rather than sell,) there's zero reason to think there's no room for someone else to move in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I think you're overestimating the effects of brand genericization, and if toy don't believe me, think about how many brands of Kleenex the supermarket sells. The WWE is nowhere near dying, I know, but in this hypothetical scenario, (say the ratings tank, Network subs start to drop off, and WWE's overextended and Vince decides to light it on fire rather than sell,) there's zero reason to think there's no room for someone else to move in There would certainly have to be a mitigating factor that would cause WWE to die and whatever that mitigating factor is would certainly affect the ability of the North American wrestling scene to recover from the blow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Maaan ... and all I ever said was something about Raw getting cancelled. We really *do* tend to take a ball & run with it around here, sometimes. We are a country where a large portion of citizens are salivating with glee at the idea of a Trump/Palin presidential ticket; we're only so far from replacing Raw with "Ow! My Balls" anyway. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 There would certainly have to be a mitigating factor that would cause WWE to die and whatever that mitigating factor is would certainly affect the ability of the North American wrestling scene to recover from the blow. But whatever that mitigating factor might be, it isn't going to alter the basic law of supply and demand. As long as there's a demand for wrestling, (and I see no reason to think there won't be anytime soon,) and people willing and able to supply it, (and again I see no reason to think there won't be anytime soon,) there will be wrestling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 There would certainly have to be a mitigating factor that would cause WWE to die and whatever that mitigating factor is would certainly affect the ability of the North American wrestling scene to recover from the blow. But whatever that mitigating factor might be, it isn't going to alter the basic law of supply and demand. As long as there's a demand for wrestling, (and I see no reason to think there won't be anytime soon,) and people willing and able to supply it, (and again I see no reason to think there won't be anytime soon,) there will be wrestling. To be fair, as someone mentioned earlier, WWE RAW being canceled might cause respectable TV networks to shy away from wrestling and that would substantially alter the market for pro wrestling. You'd be able to get on the POP and Destination Americas of the world though. Maybe good ratings there would cause the TV execs to see that a market still exists. There's also the possibility that some people shrug their shoulders and move onto watching something else on TV if RAW isn't on any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man Known as Dan Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Maaan ... and all I ever said was something about Raw getting cancelled. We really *do* tend to take a ball & run with it around here, sometimes. We are a country where a large portion of citizens are salivating with glee at the idea of a Trump/Palin presidential ticket; we're only so far from replacing Raw with "Ow! My Balls" anyway. It's been kinda obvious to anyone paying attention to anything in the world that Idiocracy only failed as a predictor by giving us too much credit. No way we invent cryo freezing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 That art sucks. And that dude's friend is a fucking douchebag. Who did that thing, Kevin Smith? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THEmanWITHnoNAME Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 That art sucks. And that dude's friend is a fucking douchebag. Who did that thing, Kevin Smith? You've seriously never heard of xkcd? Are you still using AOL as well? But your bashing of Kevin Smith is so clever and original...really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Sting/HHH only makes sense if you make TNA storylines WWE canon. I'm not ready to do that. Also fuck whoever made Sting lose. Shit I'm sorta pissed at Sting for not playing hardball and refusing. One thing to remember... TNA as SHITTY as it has been, is still somehow on TV. I'm not sure there's any way WWE wouldn't be offered a TV deal by some network no matter how bad they got. The only way WWE dies is if they completely fuck up the business side and wait now that I'm thinking about it.. even in '96 were they ever really close to dying? I thought they'd maybe downsize but die? I don't think so. They had money coming in from house shows by late 97. I know Bret Hart on one of those old round table shows found the idea of Vince ever being close to broke as ludicrous.I can't really imagine WWE ever closing up shop. 93 to 97 is a good look at what would happen. They would run smaller venues and cheaper talent. At this point the Network could probably support a stripped down WWE. But I'm just a simple lardo on a message board. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 If RAW got cancelled, and somehow no national network decided to pick it up, the first thing you'd see was local networks scrambling to get it. The second thing you'd see was a temporary upward spike in Network subscriptions and house show attendance, for all the people who were willing to watch for free but weren't willing to pay, now realising they have to pay. If somehow they never got decent TV in the USA again, then the main thing would be, they'd have to change the direction of the company. Vince's whole ethos with the presentation and the commentary constantly recapping what happened last week with these guys is to make a show that someone watching for the first time can understand. If you aren't in that big shop window any more, and the only people watching are the committed long-term fans, you have to change your product to make it appeal more to them. Which might mean better matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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