Poll: Do television ratings and pay-per-view buyrates matters?

There’s no such thing as a stigma that can’t be exorcized through public popularity and a hefty portion of green. Since those at the top of the industry has been dedicating the last 10 years of their lives to insure wrestling never regains the former, there is no chance of the ladder being attained, and thus, no chance of the stigma being exorcized.

I will again disagree. Pro wrestling, since its inception, has long been seen as a lower form of entertainment. This view is ingrained in the public perception of pro wrestling, just as ballet is inherently seen as a higher form of choreographed art. The very idea that a few years of hot wrestling shows making money can change this perception is disproven in a number of eras – early ’80s NWA, mid ’80s WWF, ’96 WCW, late ’90s/early ’00s WWF.

Those eras were artistically and financially successful in a number of ways, and yet that did not move the needle on pro wrestling being accepted into the mainstream in any major way. Nor does gaining such acceptance guarantee quality – the Attitude Era, for instance, featured arguably the lowest quality TV matches in any era of wrestling before or since.

People who are concerned about wear and tear on their bodies don’t become athletes. If WWE was an inspiring vocation for the athletes of the world, they’d take it up regardless. Back in 2000, wrestling was so hot they convinced an Olympic Gold Medalist to enter the vocation. If wrestling was as hot nowadays as it was back in 1987, 1997, or 2000, people like Georges St. Pierre and Quinton Jackson would’ve become professional wrestlers instead of MMA fighters.

Again untrue. In fact, numerous people (such as now former-MMA fighter) Brock Lesnar have commented on the difference between the two. Athletes often want to make as much money as possible, and athletes often want to be seen as “legitimate.” That makes MMA a much more attractive business to go into. Furthermore, great athletes don’t have to deal with stop-start booking, etc. If they win, they make money and move up the card.

When a pro wrestling great like The Undertaker has affirmed on more than one occasion that he would have tried to go into MMA had it been around when he was choosing his career and when pro wrestlers who have done both comment on how much they appreciate the lesser toll that MMA takes on their bodies, I think we begin to see just how important this factor is to many athletes.

The idea that a guy like Quinton Jackson might have gone into wrestling isn’t particularly off – he loves Jerry Lawler and grew up on Memphis wrestling, which as we all know is incredibly awesome. But there isn’t much proof that St. Pierre would have become pro wrestlers – and honestly, a guy like Jackson is uniquely suited to pro wrestling. Lots of MMA fighters don’t necessarily fit that bill.

Ratings only went up because there was absolutely no star power on Smackdown until this year, ratings for Smackdown were still terrible compared to any previous year. Not to mention that the buyrates for the PPV’s Henry headlined were some of the worst in company history.

This makes no sense. Ratings went up because people wanted to see Mark Henry. Randy Orton is the number two guy behind Mark Henry and Henry was out-drawing him. Pretty impressive.

Smackdown ratings are definitely worse than in past years. Smackdown isn’t on free TV and it’s on Friday instead of Thursdays, when more people who might watch are out. That has nothing to do with Mark Henry. However, more people made sure to stick around and watch the show with Henry as champ. That is undeniable.

PPV business has been down, but Henry was champ during the time that there were three PPVs in about 45 days – of course those numbers will be low. You also forget that Punk, Cena, and Del Rio were positioned to headline those PPVs, so your focus should be on them. However, I wouldn’t blame it on them either because the fact is that people pirate those shows and I would guess that, along with PPV overkill, is the real culprit. However, when pirating is taken out of the equation, Henry moved the needle in a real and postiive manner.

Your personal dislike of Mark Henry gets in the way of your ability to reason through the positive reception his push and subsequent reign received from the majority of fans.

but I like the argument and I enjoy refuting some of his more scurrilous claims. It’s fun. Plus people can read the conversation and make up their minds as to who is more correct. :)