The Rock/Cena vs Wyatts

[The Legend]

Maybe they wouldn't have loved to see the Rock get beat up by the Wyatts and maybe the Wyatts wouldn't get them to tune in the next night, but that doesn't mean you can't put the Rock in a situation with someone that would attract their attention by beating the crap out of the Rock. Instead of the Wyatts interrupting the Rock, why not have Kevin Owens come out, pissed off that he lost his championship? Why not have him cut a promo about how he's still going to turn it into KO-Mania and he's going to use the Rock to make a name for himself, and then actually have him break through with it? Are you telling me there's not a chance to turn Kevin Owens into a somebody that they would turn in for by showing him in a cool segment with the Rock? Cause, all anybody that only watches Mania saw Owens do was lose the IC title in a clusterfuck of a ladder match.

Are you telling me Kevin Owens couldn't have benefited from having a positive interaction with the Rock for himself?

You're really putting words in my mouth here How did me not believing Owens wouldn't have benefited suddenly come into this equation?

You said that it would "defeat the purpose" to have someone the casual fans were unfamiliar with beat down the Rock. I was saying it would actually serve a greater purpose to have someone casual fans were unfamiliar with, but they could see every week if they started tuning into RAW shine in a big way against a guy that won't be back in WWE for 12 months.

Why? It shows those fans that the guy that beat up the Rock is a big fucking deal. That he's a big talent and a big star and that maybe they should stick around to watch him while the Rock goes back to Hollywood. That doesn't sound to me like it defeats the purpose at all. Sounds really productive to me.

The purpose of bringing him out is nothing more than to give a break between a couple big matches, do some fan service and make the crowd happy. It'd be different if The Rock was going to stick around and work a program with someone. Then he absolutely should be putting people over. But for a one-off appearance, casual fans want to tune in and see The Rock do his shtick. That's the purpose.

The Andre Battle Royal was more than enough of a break between the HIAC and the main event. Also, fan service should be something that brings the fans in and makes them want to see your product more often. That's the greatest fan service you can do. Shining a light on a once a year talent is the opposite of meaningful fan service.

[Hanley!]

The entire conceit of my post was that the majority of fans want to see the Rock at Mania, and they want to see him kick some ass, and in no way does this harm the product. It's on the WWE to make sure the entire other 700 hours of the show actually make these casuals want to turn in on a regular basis, and not rely on a few nostalgic moments, which absolutely should happen at Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania is the most fitting place in the entire WWE schedule for fan service.

But during those other 700 hours, we need to put over Lesnar and Austin and Jericho for fan service for those casual fans too. Where does it end? Ultimately it all leads to the people that the casual fans know being treated as stars and the current day stars being treated as geeks.

It's not just about the quality of matches or even the quality of storylines in WWE - nothing attracts fans more than big stars. We're seeing that right now in UFC. But if the big MMA stars of the 90s completely embarrassed the current stars on one show every year, nobody would take Conor McGregor seriously the rest of the year.

On Raw this week, WWE kicked off a feud between the League of Nations and the Wyatts. Who were both belittled and embarrassed by wrestlers who all hit their peaks 15-20 years ago the night previously. You don't think the drawing power of that feud is hurt by what happened at Wrestlemania? You think any casual fan who tuned into Raw the night after Wrestlemania is dying to see that feud now? I seriously doubt it.

[The Legend]

Beyond all that we've talked about already, I have a serious question. Why should WWE be so worried about paying service to fans that only watch their product one day a year? Shouldn't they be more worried about doing right by the fans that watch their product every week and doing everything they can to strengthen the product for every day fans of the product at the expense of the casual viewer if they have to choose between the two?

I mean doing things that will please customers they won't see again for a year with talent they won't use again for a year at the expense of the talent and fans that will be a part of the product every day for the next year seems an awful lot like the tail wagging the dog to me.

[Everlong]

But during those other 700 hours, we need to put over Lesnar and Austin and Jericho for fan service for those casual fans too. Where does it end? Ultimately it all leads to the people that the casual fans know being treated as stars and the current day stars being treated as geeks.

I'll repeat it AGAIN...

The entire rest of the show is dedicated to putting over new stars, which is meant to keep casuals tuning back in after the fan service segments where the older fan favorites go over.

[SortaCreative]

But during those other 700 hours, we need to put over Lesnar and Austin and Jericho for fan service for those casual fans too. Where does it end? Ultimately it all leads to the people that the casual fans know being treated as stars and the current day stars being treated as geeks.

I'll repeat it AGAIN...

The entire rest of the show is dedicated to putting over new stars

But they weren't. In a vacuum maybe Rock's segment wasn't the worst thing but after 7 hours of weird booking with the majority of older guys going over it's just the shit icing on a shit cake.

Oddly enough the only time they should have legit put an attitude era star over the younger one they didn't.

[Everlong]

^Well I meant in an ideal world, not what it actually was.