[Jordan]

Originally Posted by James Steele WWE is more profitable than ever, but the business just isn’t that hot. I have been a loyal viewing fan since I was friggin’ 4 years old, and I’ve never had this little interest in the business. If it wasn’t for the podcasts keeping me interested in the archives and being able to watch Raw & SD! On Hulu with no commercials, I don’t know if I’d even keep up with the current product. The fact I rarely post on this forum anymore shows a lot considering how active I used to be. AEW does have me excited, but they have a lot of shit that makes me rolls my eyes before the main event stuff that concerns me, but I want them to succeed so bad. TNA turned me off completely when Hogan and Bischoff came in and ruined it alongside Dixie. I have never been able to get into Indy or Japanese stuff simply because there isn’t much story and it’s not all that accessible. I don’t believe I’m outgrowing it because people of all ages have loved wrestling for decades. If you aren’t a super hardcore fan, what is there to hook you currently? Everything is geared toward super smarks (AEW, Indies, etc.) or is completely shitty storytelling that insults your intelligence and burns you when you become invested in a character because they fuck them up and never cash in on when they are over...even if they are able to overcome it and get hot for a 2nd or 3rd time. (WWE) I still watch because I still get that feeling every once awhile thay this could be another awesome story, superstar, moment, etc. that hooked me when I was a kid. They build somebody up or they get over organically on their own and you fall in love with that wrestler and the potential of that grandiose moment that cements them as a bonafide star. WWE has fucked that up so many times just in the past 5 years it’s insane (let alone last 10-15 years). AEW does give me hope because they aren’t as sanitized but I’m tired of rolling my eyes at shit for the first half of the show. They have done more in 3 shows than TNA did in almost 20 years and how many ever damn TV deals. There is a lot of hope and excitement, and hopefully they can push WWE out of their comfort zone.

This is a good post and I don't really have a response but something to add instead.

I have gotten my gf who used to play an old Smackdown game with her brother when she was young and went to a few WWE house shows in White Plains and the Garden randomly with her family. She hated watching wrestling with me until the first Royal Rumble with women and she started actually watching the show, well parts of it.

I like to use her as a barometer because she's way to smart enjoy wrestling but like most people we enjoy mindless TV, reality shows are interesting in a way that scripted shows are not.

Watching an episode of Raw with her is tough, there have only been a few that I'd say she actually paid attention to the majority of the show. What's interesting to me is that she like all of the good stuff. When the drama was there between Taker, Drew, Shane and Roman at Extreme rules she was like "oh my god this is great". And it's true it was. But the rest of the show just went downhill, nothing topped that emotion.

Essentially she really likes Roman, Drew, Kevin Owens, Charlotte, Becky, Braun, Richochet and Johnny Gargano. There are so many wrestlers she can't keep up with them all and often wonders "where is that person we saw last week" let's say it's Kallistico, who is fucking amazing but you never see him featured until they want to put someone over.

Raw at 3 hours is way too long to maintain a casual viewer who isn't invested in the product. The only way to maintain a viewer like that I think would be to have a story thread going throughout the show beginning to end. Like WWE used to do. My favorite example of this is in February of 97... Bret Hart and Sid Vicious are scheduled to kick off Raw with a WWF Championship match, what?!? That's never happened before! Awesome. Well Austin ended up interfering and getting the match tossed out. This ended up happening two more times throughout the night! It was such a good thread for a 2 hour episode. I believe that led to "Final Four" In Your House.

I certainly have seen more threads of storytelling since Heyman took over and I have faith that it could get much better.

WWE is only having this incredibly successful period because of their tv deals, that's it. Everything else is down. If those deals weren't there we'd be seeing them fight for what they have. Honestly I'd prefer to see them fight again. These mega TV deals are a huge huge comfort to them sure, but if they don't bring the ratings the deals won't last.

Personally I'd prefer WWE was just on their own network, kind of like NJPW.