(BP) Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 I miss when USA was all schlock: Silk Stockings, Weird Science, and especially Up All Night. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Library Dude Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 All this talk of who they could sign to pad out the roster and no mention of Chris Masters yet? For shame DVDVR. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 That new show "Queen Of The South" which is the American version of La Reina Del Sur looks promising for USA. For the brand split to really work, they need to be independent of each other but we know that won't happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 50 minutes ago, Library Dude said: All this talk of who they could sign to pad out the roster and no mention of Chris Masters yet? For shame DVDVR. IT'S A MASTER LOCK OF A PLAN!!! (crickets) I'll show myself out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Yeah - considering they could have signed Masters anytime over like the last 5 years including after he ripped a tree out of the god damn ground, I think most of us realized that that shipped has sailed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 If they signed Masters, I hope they'd sign the tree too. It'd be like a Zayn/Owens scenario. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Z Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Whatever happened to those rumors from a few months ago that Rey Mysterio was headed back to WWE? Have we ever learned anything new about that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Wasn't that just Konnan shooting his mouth off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 6 hours ago, ChrisM said: I thought Meltzer said a while back that Cena was coming back as a special attraction, much like Brock? He's going to be the special weekly guest on Smackdown! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 48 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said: He's going to be the special weekly guest on Smackdown! Remember when John Cena was supposed to be fired after not helping Wade Barrett win the WWE Championship? He still showed up every week! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph2112 Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 5 hours ago, Smelly McUgly said: OK, so was USA significantly better off ratings-wise in 2014? I'm wondering how Vince McMahon wasn't able to wring more money out of that last TV agreement if, just two years later, they're basically the only significant product on the whole USA network when it comes to ratings. Ratings or not, what I remember is basically USA was the only "real" network that wanted big time wrestling, so it was more of a supply/demand situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Vince tried shopping the shows to other networks thinking he was going to get NASCAR money and everyone laughed at him, so he had to resign with Viacom and they had him by the balls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyLaw Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 7 hours ago, Vader does my taxes! said: A couple of years ago - probably in the same time frame they started negotiating the new TV contract - USA decided to change their philosophy for original programming and get away from procedurals and action shows and branch out into serious dramas, comedies, etc. The first wave of those shows seems to have largely flopped. The comedies have largely gone unwatched (Donnie, Playing House, the paramedics comedy whose title escapes me right now), and the dramas have floundered except for Mr. Robot (season 2 of Satisfaction got burned off late Friday nights with virtually no promotion). The last of USA's established hits are getting near the end - Royal Pains ends its run this summer - and Variety said they were struggling to get new shows in production. Basically, Hollywood doesn't think they have a lot in the pipleline, so to speak. Two+ years ago, they probably had a lot more faith in their original programming. Benched was funny, but got cancelled due to this shift in tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 11 hours ago, RIPPA said: - They will need to overcome stigma that Smackdown is a "B" Show (Dave mentions how when they did this the last time the Smackdown shows didn't draw and as soon as the removed the labels and they were just called WWE shows - the former Smackdown shows went up) Sorry, but, when was this? Legitimately no recollection of this at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 2 hours ago, BL88 said: Sorry, but, when was this? Legitimately no recollection of this at all. I think like when JBL was champion. I seem to remember Smackdown house shows being branded as Smackdown shows drawing horrible including a MSG show that barely had 4,000 people. So this would have been 2005 or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norwegian Rudo Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 12 hours ago, Vader does my taxes! said: A couple of years ago - probably in the same time frame they started negotiating the new TV contract - USA decided to change their philosophy for original programming and get away from procedurals and action shows and branch out into serious dramas, comedies, etc. The first wave of those shows seems to have largely flopped. The comedies have largely gone unwatched (Donnie, Playing House, the paramedics comedy whose title escapes me right now), and the dramas have floundered except for Mr. Robot (season 2 of Satisfaction got burned off late Friday nights with virtually no promotion). The last of USA's established hits are getting near the end - Royal Pains ends its run this summer - and Variety said they were struggling to get new shows in production. Basically, Hollywood doesn't think they have a lot in the pipleline, so to speak. Two+ years ago, they probably had a lot more faith in their original programming. You've got the time frames a little mixed up. Basically all their old hits were ending, then the "new" shows you mention here flopped and then the new management (Kevin Reilly, the old boss at Fox took over) decided to go all in on the new tone. It remains to be seen how they do. Mr. Robot and Colony are good shows, but they weren't huge hits or anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonidas Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Don't have time to read the whole thread, so hope it hasn't been mentioned already. Anyone see Cena and Roman being split up to run each brand as the man? Then they can lead to the eventual galactico main event as wrestlemania. I'd like them to let the tag titles be defended across both rosters along with the women's title. There is enough depth for a women's tag championship as well, could even dip down to NXT to defend them there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Meltzer says the current plan is Roman to headline Raw and Cena to headline Smackdown. Re: USA Network. Mr. Robot's ratings weren't outstanding, but it's generated a lot of buzz and critical praise, so I would say it's more of a success than Colony. Apologies if I got the timeline a bit off. When the current tv contract was negotiated, was anyone else a serious player? I'm under the impression that Vince intended to shop the shows around and create a bidding war but there weren't any other realistic offers. Certainly, he's probably undermined his bargaining position by shopping Smackdown around over the years and not finding a lot of interest. The kind of money he (Vince) talked about in advance of the new contract probably wasn't realistic given how soft ratings have been the past few years. Vince may have known that. I wouldn't be too surprised if he threw out inflated numbers as a negotiating tactic to make it seem he expected more than he really did. Though you risk disappointing investors' expectations and damaging your stock price if you do that. The company's biggest bargaining chip is taking their television to the Network, but that's only a realistic threat if you can live without the tv revenue or generate the same revenue through added subscriptions or advertising. I doubt they could get enough new subscribers to offset what USA pays, and the business model that makes streaming games exclusively on your own site as profitable is years off. There's a reason pro sports leagues still contract with tv networks and the like instead of streaming everything themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Another random note to follow up on Lesnar His dates are worked out so far in advance - that is why it makes sense that he is on RAW (at least to start) Obviously - they could work with him to change that but most likely he will be RAW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brysynner Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Why limit Lesnar to a roster. Just make him a mercenary who can go between shows when needed. Make a weird rule that states anyone who was in the company from 2002 or prior can be on either show which gives Lesnar an excuse to jump between shows and also Taker, Kane, Big Show, Goldust, R-Truth, Jericho, Dudleyz all the excuse to jump shows. Okay I didn't realize that many people were still with the company that wrestled for WWE in 2002 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 "Brock Lesnar can be on either show because we're afraid to tell him otherwise" 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyJ Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Smackdown was on Syfy on Friday nights. Ratings werent great because the show was on when no one was home. Smackdown was moved to Thursdays on Syfy. That didn't work because the show was on a Sci-Fi network. Smackdown was moved to USA on Thursday nights. That didn't work because.... It feels like WWE and USA execs got in a room to try to figure out why Smackdown wasn't working and the most obvious problem (there is too much WWE tv) was off the table and we somehow got to here. The big question for me is where does NXT fit into all of this? WWE has already shown that it has no problem snatching half the NXT roster in one swoop with no plan for most of the talents. It will probably get worse with the brand split. On one hand NXT is wwe developmental. On the other hand, it is its own brand and is arguably the flagship of the Network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyLaw Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 If they're serious about making Smackdown important, they could do worse than making it the exclusive home to Cena, Lesnar, and the NXT All Stars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StretchMediatedHypertrophy Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 I'm hoping The Drifter doesn't get drafted, and just shows up on all shows to get the shit beaten out of him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YouHaveUntil5 Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 14 minutes ago, CHIKARA MARK~! said: I'm hoping The Drifter doesn't get drafted, and just shows up on all shows to get the shit beaten out of him. Well he IS a drifter - it wouldn't make sense for him to stay in one place. It also doesn't make sense that he has an announced hometown, but that's besides the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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