The Network has nothing to do with it. What it has everything to do with is filling the show with wrestling and even worse than that matches that don't matter and have no storyline attatched to them. All it is is matches and matches and with the ratings last night, rightfully so many have tuned out again.

They also don't do the credibility of the matches any justice. Can you imagine a casual fan watching Raw or a non wrestling fan tuning in for the first time? 10 minutes of moves that look devastating only for the match to end in a roll up? Right away you've lost everyone who isn't a die hard wrestling fan. It's just not believable. Throwing someone around in the air, tossing them around and they kick out, false finish, false finish but you pin them with a roll up? Just bad.

I'm looking forward to the big matches at Mania but after Mania when several of those performers go back home and stay home and it's business as usual, i really don't think WWE is gonna fare well for the rest of the year. Maybe they'll wake up and realise that 15 minute wrestling matches do nothing for the show and character building and storylines do everything. This is a bitter pill many of the IWC have had to swallow. For years and years they wanted to do away with entertainment and soap opera, now they got it, hours and hours of nothing but wrestling matches with the same people over and over and less people than ever are watching wrestling. More and more are tuning out because wrestling does not draw, wrestling matches never draw, the only thing that ever draws is characters and performers, the history of the business shows this to be a fact, the most successful acts in wrestling, the biggest earners in wrestling were those wrestlers who played a character, they were actors, they were acting on TV, it was an act, the wrestling was secondary. That's what people want to watch, certainly large numbers do and i'd guess thats what Sky Sports want and USA Network, I'm ASSUMING they want lots of people watching the shows.

Wrestling will always draw a niche audience. Many people have no right to complain about WWE or any other wrestling company because many of the people that sit and complain online now are the same ones that for years and years complained about there not being enough wrestling, now the show is nothing wrestling, wrestling and talking and more wrestling and more talking and the same thing over and over and over. They've no right to complain. And they're NXT and indie stars don't draw either. Another bitter pill to swallow. Watch Raw. Never mind the wrestling, take a good look at that crowd, look at what they're doing, nothing, sitting on their hands all night. You know why? Cause it's boring that's why. People might buy tickets to a pro wrestling show but they certainly dont want to sit through 3 hours of it, wrestling should be about characters and stunts and over the top entertainment. That's the real truth.

Oh Hazy. You always have a kernel of truth to your posts, which makes the silly bits harder to bare. The issue isn't just wrestling. It's lack of characters, pushes, stories or consistency. There's always room for good matches on TV. But WWE has let its audience down on so many levels for such a long time that it's hardly any surprise that they sit on their hands. A good company would be able to tell stories through the wrestling itself as well as with promos and angles etc. But it is harder to get crowds excited about matches now because so much of what actually happens within them is inconsequential. There is little to no long term selling, everything is go-go-go and wins and loses mean nothing.

However, saying that wrestling doesn't draw is stupid. Wrestling is characters and personalities telling stories in the ring through the environment of simulated competition. Different approaches have drawn more at different times but the wrestling match itself has always been the end goal. Without it, you're usually just left with bad writing and bad acting. AKA, Vince Russo shows.

I feel like I could write a book about the problems with modern wrestling, but I'll stop here for now...

There's almost certainly a correlation between the decline in logical storytelling and the introduction of the WWE Network. Although it could be just a coincidence.

There has been a lot of questionable booking throughout what I call the WWE Universe Era (aka 2008 onwards), but a lot of that fell at the feet of putting Cena and legends over at the expense of nearly everybody and unashamedly half arsed recycling of past feuds and stories. In addition to some completely inane childish segments.

The booking of the big feuds has left a lot to be desired since 2014. It started with Rollins heel turn, which didn't gel at all with The Shield's match against Evolution the night before. The Authority being so easily brought back after being forced off-screen. Triple H vs. Sting forced and unnecessary. The Undertaker's 'heel turn'. Ambrose fallout with Jericho being dropped. Wyatt Family breaking up and then getting back together...to do the same old s**t. Cena beating Rollins several times, only to lose to a weak kick from the strange MexAmerica. McMahon power struggle Part VI leaves a lot to be desired. God knows what Reigns vs. Triple H is actually all about!

Sandow edited out of a segment in Edge and Christian show:

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/6880...-wwe-cameraman

I think it'll be Lesnar/Ambrose. I can see Ambrose given the win since the match has a hardcore element. They'll use that to protect Lesnar's credibility. That's another thing that's annoyed me about WWE over the years. Overprotecting their biggest stars and not enough protection for those lower down on the roster.

The Divas triple threat and HIAC matches could also be the show stealer. No doubt that they'll be good to watch. The Divas match should be a very good, hard-worked match. I'd say it depends on if they're given a good amount of time for their match. It also depends on if Taker and Shane are allowed to go that extra mile in their HIAC match. In some Cell matches (certainly in recent years), the Cell may not even have been there.

Smackdown spoilers...oh some are very

My hunch is there will be a large number of Network cancellations after mania. I imagine a lot of people right now are thinking they may as well hang on for mania, then cancel.

dont be deluded. raw has gone from 3 min matches to 20 min matches. no wonder ratings have fallen.

2 advert breaks in KO vs AJ lmao, fast fwded through all that rubbish

Not worried at all. I don't think it will be the main event, but much like Rock/Hogan at 18, it should be.

Taker's career is on the line, the match has been billed as a main event, there is a high probability of some crazy stunts given Shane's involvement, and then there's the trump card - WWE don't want to end the show with Roman Reigns being booed out of the building.

I still think HHH and Reigns will end the show but there'll be involvement from either Cena or Rollins.

I completely agree. As Austin Aries and many others have pointed out, you don't actually have to do much physically in a match to make it entertaining. Many of the most successful, profitable matches of all time have been physically very limited.

That isn't the same as saying matches can be bad. You must not botch. What you do must look convincing. It must make sense. Ideally, the important moves in the match should look physically devastating. But you don't have to do too many moves or go on too long. You don't need to be doing flips of the top rope and stuff unless that's actually part of the story of the match. If anything, too many flippy antics, and especially no-selling, actually make matches *less* entertaining.

IMO wrestling is going in exactly the wrong direction. No stories, no characters, just lots of very long, very physically demanding matches with little or no consequence. So everybody gets injured, and the audience gets bored. The exact opposite of how it should be done.

EDIT: Oh yeah, it is *impossible* to make five hours of interesting, relevant wrestling TV every week. So WWE need to stop trying before they damage their brand beyond repair.

On the Undertaker getting fired bit if Shane wins and takes over can't he just rehire him.

on weekly shows all that matters is the finish, so whats benefit of holding finish off by 20 mins of tv time?

it would be like a film having a fight scene thats lasts for 15 mins instead of 2, would completely ruin flow of the film and also be boring.

That is what happens in most films with fight scenes.

?? i am not talking about avengers or something.

i mean like a normal film, when 2 people fight at the end it does not go on forever and day because audience would get bored eventually. they have seen build up and now want to see who wins.

go back to 3 min matches and even with poor storylines and characters i bet people would enjoy show more.

For that, they'd need to go back to 2 hours. I don't think they even have the roster for that many short matches to fill the show. The old Nitro format where they had mostly short matches and a couple of featured ones that got about 10-12 minutes would be a good way to go in that case.

I'm just not sure that it's long matches specifically that's the biggest problem right now.

2 hours is ideal but more than enough people on roster to fill 3 hours with fast paced segments.

wwe do not try anymore. they are phoning it in creatively every week.

I think you can have a 20 minute fight scene in a movie, as long as the fight is eventful enough, and has enough twists and turns, to hold attention for 20 minutes. I think exactly the same judgement should apply to pro wrestling.

By all means have occasional 20 minute matches, but such a long match should normally be your main event, with extensive backstory and scene setting. And you'd better have 20 minutes worth of fight-story to tell. At present this is barely ever the case.

I'd very much like to see a change of the in ring style in WWE because I think crowds will get burned out, if they aren't already, on the back and forth move trading with no selling whatsoever. That gets a cheap short term pop but eventually it kills they audience cause they figure out that the moves are all meaningless.

But that's a side point compared to the creatively moribund, controlling and stifling company philosophy that is set up to prevent anyone from actually becoming a star. Wrestling draws money when it has stars, hot angles and anticipated matches. WWE is set up to prevent these things from happening.

nxt stars also killed once in wwe so no light there either lol

Exactly. Like, Bayley could genuinely draw money and appeal to a new demographic of younger girls with her character but there's absolutely no way she'll not just be ruined if and when they bring her up.

They're still stuck in the 80s mindset of who can and can't be a star.

TBH they cannot improve upon the current womens build up. 2 stars on co-commentary and then thats the segment over with..........

Oh the intrigue. I can't wait to see what happens next! Maybe Charlotte will cut a promo!

I don't think 3 minute matches are the way to go at all. Whilst I agree that WWE don't know how to properly fill the amount of television time they have available to them and their answer seems to have been longer matches on RAW and Smackdown, that are often rematches, leading to a sense of permanent deja vu, matches that only go three minutes are not the answer either.

Wrestling at it's very basic level is a storyline conflict between two or more performers that reaches a point whereby the only way to settle things is in a physical confrontation. If that physical confrontation lasts only 180 seconds then it falls completely flat. What was the point? If a feud has been built properly then fans should be excited to see these guys or girls finally get their hands on each other and if you only give them 3 minutes, that's a disappointment.

At the same time, matches need to be given a reason to happen. An audience needs a reason as to why these people are in conflict and why they should care about who wins. That's the other half of wrestling. You cannot have successful wrestling as an entertainment product without devoting proper time to both these components. It just doesn't work.

WWE's problem is that they have more time than they know what to do with or that their creative team and talent roster can handle and the whole product is overexposed and increasingly bland. Adding to this problem is the advent of the WWE network which means they now feel they don't have to try as hard to sell ppv buys.

TV ratings go up and down it seems but the network figures have steadily risen and by all accounts, WWE are going to have a fairly full stadium come April 3rd in Dallas so imagine you're looking at that through WWE's eyes. They're seeing people subscribing to their network and buying tickets to their big show. They're seeing themselves as doing a good job. Regardless of what we all may feel about WWE, they are still very successful and that's what matters to them, not what we all write about their product on the internet.

There are still flashes of brilliance in WWE, and I still hold out hope that Triple H will breath some much needed life into WWE when he does take over, though that happening seems to just get further and further away.

But back to the original point, I don't think the return of shorter matches would make any difference to the overall product if they still have this amount of air time to fill. What else are they going to show instead?

Plus with Vince now threatening the Undertaker it would make more sense like you say, for Taker to just lay down and have Shane win. Shane then takes control of Raw and employs Taker lol.

Shane has already said he respects Taker ect, yet Vince is being a arse to him. So in a non kayfabe world he would just lose on purpose to screw Vince and help Shane.

Oh well lol

I basically agree with you! In the sense that every match being 3 minutes would be as bad as every match being 20 minutes. Matches should be exactly as long as the amount of story they have to tell.