Where did everything go wrong and why?

It's not about ratings anymore. WWE has posted record high revenue.

Everything to do with creative, nothing to do with HHH and Cena.

>>2664678
Lie

>ratings shoot up in 1998
>Bret Hart left the company by the end of 1997

Really gets the noggin jogging

That chart only goes to 2015, the ratings are even worse now.

>>2664678
Profit is far from record high though.

>>2664678
>WWE shills

record high revenue is a meme because it doesn't account for what their profit was. ratings not mattering is also a meme because WWE's primary revenue source is their TV deal.

That chart is actually incorrect.

The absolute peak RAW rating was in May 10, 1999 and it drew an 8.1 -- the chart has the peak being in 2000 and I'm unsure if the y-axis is rating or viewership in the millions.

Still, it's incorrect.

>>2664715
That's became THE GAME was THE GUY in 2000-uh

>>2664709
It's flippy shit-loving indiefag smarks who don't to accept responsibility

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>>2664715

it's using averages. it'd be pretty hard to make a graph that size and show the change week to week, for 52 weeks for 20 years.

>>2664728
Fair enough with it averaging, but I still find it hard to believe that 2000 would've had a higher average than the year that had the peak rating of all-time.

The chart you posted seems more accurate in that regard.

wrestling stopped being cool you fag now go somewhere

>>2664671
Owen Hart breaking Stone Cold's neck

>>2664671
benoit murders + elimination of roids + pg rating + small indie guys + bad creative

>>2664678
>E drones in charge of knowing basic accounting

>>2664678
"....because of the TV deal they signed n 2014." is the end of that sentence.

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Triple H and anyone saying otherwise is probably hunter using multiple id's

>>2664671
When did they start the effort to go PG? I see an article where they actually got the PG designation in 2008, I guess, but how long were they "toning it down"?

>>2664678
I wonder what the chart would look like with an overlay of annual profit, since the company went public. Apparently, the XFL burned through all the Attitude Era profits.

>>2664858
>make huge profits from the most successful period of your pro wrestling company
>use profits to start a football league to compete with the fucking NFL

WTF Vince

>>2664671
What happened mid 2006? And 2000?

>>2664868
If I had to guess, Batista cooled off and WWE was obviously pushing Cena as the guy.

>>2664868
2006 was a huge boom of new wrestling fans. They started bringing back outlandish gimmicks like boogeyman hornswoggle king booker paul burchill etc.
this in addition to the explosion of cena, batista, edge, and orton all at the same time led to a very small but very profitable boom period with slightly more eyes on the changing product

>>2664868

2000 was the peak in "average ratings", but in july they started right to censor and then in september of 2000, they moved to TNN which eventually became Spike TV.

2001 more RTC, they acquired WCW, and tried to turn Austin heel.

2002 brand split, name change from WWF to WWE, "get the F out" ads, Triple H reign of terror begins

2002-2005: Triple H's reign of terror

Nov 2003-June 2005: John Cena mega babyface

July 2005-May 2006: John Cena is the top face but the crowd still cheers his opponents

June 2006-2015ish?: Cena is the literal face of the company and the entire show feels like it revolves around him but a good chunk of the crowd fucking hates him. Earliest examples of him being outright booed are against RVD at ONS and Edge at Unforgiven.

>>2664868
In 2006 the product became very palatable to kids and pre-teens. It was like a fad, really. By mid-07 they moved on to the next fad.

why are indie and gook faggots SEETHING so badly lately?

>>2664671
When WCW was no longer a credible threat. It reached the point of no return during the Invasion storyline. The decline wasn't as drastic during the beginning of the brand split when the top WCW talent actually came and the new talent was good

Big Ratings Russo left and everyone forgot that they were supposed to be making an actual TV show with entertainment value - hence today's three segment fake matches and vanilla midgets galore.

2000 only sustained viewership after Russo left because Nitro had its third hour cut and Raw was unopposed for the second half of its broadcast every week.

>>2664671
Do you have one for the average ratings in the whole year rather than just the first few months?

>>2664868
These are just the ratings for the "Road to Wrestlemania" each year.

2000, Rock was on the rise and Haitch v Foley feud was hot. No Austin though which is interesting.

2006 has the Trish v Mickie James fued.

>>2665029
DX came back

>>2665036
That was after Mania.

>>2665023
2000 was way more entertaining than 99.

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>>2664671
Main event scene went to shit around 2005-2007
>Blandy Boreton
>Serious Jericho
>Bootista
>Crippled Undertaker
>Crippled Khali
>Triple Fat H
>A John Cena Who Does Not Rap
>Record-Low Smiles HBK
>Mr. says his own name Kennedy

WWE became like that squad you had in school then the biggest draw in your group left and the rest of the people floundered because that guy was the glue.

That guy was Austin.

>Where did everything go wrong and why?
They got rid of JR
He drew more dimes than anyone.

Based haitch killing the company as usual

>>2665051
HBK stopped it from tanking even more, HBK jobbing at Wrestlemania drew big (seriously)

>>2664740
Because the chart is just showing the average rating from New Years to Wrestlemania, not the entirety of that year. It's really just to show how hot were the angles leading into Mania each year.

This is what happens when you let a lower-midcard bag carrier take creative control and pick the direction of the business.

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>>2664865
the absolute state of Vince

>>2665160
HBK is the reason the ratings were so low pre-attitude era faggot

>>2664720
>being this mad

>>2665051
Austin left in 2002 and retired in 2003 you underage turdbox

>>2664715
>>2664740
learn math

>>2664671
1. pg era
2. the number of people who actually have cable is pretty low now, everything is going digital
3. >3 hour shows

if you think about it WWE's success pretty much correlates with Austin's career.

1997: Rise
1998-2000: Prominence
2001: Heel turn
2002: Part timer
2003: Retired

>>2664671
If Vince didn't have such an ego those ratings would have been much better after the 2000's even if it was still going to decline.

Because he perma buried WCW and to a lesser extent ECW it made a lot of those fans tune out for good. Why get invested in WWE when they are only going to make your favorite wrestlers that you watched always look shit next to their guys?

The only guys who got spared for the most part were those who jumped before the buyout.

>>2664671
its been shit since like late 2008, ever since they shoved Cena-Orton down our throats they have bad chemistry and should not have interacted after they realized the first feud sucked, they should not have gone PG, Wrestling is for teens and adults, edgy content is fine, and they also have a shitty writing team who write inconsistent and nonsensical story lines its sad really, I remember actually enjoying wrestling

>>2666483
No shit.

>>2664671
The internet. People don't sit in the living room watching with mom and dad anymore. They stream it or just watch clips on youtube. Bet theres no show running through that time frame that gets the same ratings as it did in the 90's

>>2664715
Chart is about Wrestlemania ratings, not RAW

>>2664715
>May 10
>Average Raw TV ratings form Jan to Wrestelmina
Welp the graph is only refusing to average the other 8 fucking months.

WWE is still the most watched thing on cable two days a week, 45+ weeks a year. TV viewership is down across the board, and WWE has been hit hard, but unless something bigger comes to USA, or Monday nights in general, they will stilil be handed money hand over fist from USA. Whats their next biggest thing even, Mr. Robot can't even draw a million viewers, it might unironically be the gay Nashville show.

>>2665773
So he wasn't. He had no one to work off of.

That whole era was full of shit tier midcarders and charisma vacuums like the Undertaker.

>>2666483
Who rode the wave of ideas and relevance of WCW/nWo, so it's no surprise once WWE couldnt steal anymore focus and ideas from WCW, they had nothing left for Austin to do, and he took his ball and went home without building up the next generation.

>>2664671
Notice the steady decrease after CM punk arrived

>>2664796
Hey Phil.

>>2666483
except that austin spent half of the year 2000 out. it was all rock and triple h.

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>>2667684
HEY PAUL