Jeff Polar, Leesville, Wrestling discussed on The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast

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On this. Actually i think one but it's the same guy twice Jeff polar from leesville louisiana said with all the changes coming to annexed. What is triple h is Something now that he's lost political power. Do you see him trying to make the best of it or is it conceivable. He could even leave. Wwe and then he added with changes coming ten x t that caused you say to drop the show from its lineup considering the falling ratings and if so would end up on peacock so i mean i do wanna push back on falling ratings because the last two weeks were Were just from scifi when they got preempted to a smaller network up against the olympic. So we'll see how they recover starting this week. And and if there's not major changes between now and takeover we'll have a chance to see what the rebound is like. I said their ratings. They went up for a two four weeks. Had a pretty solid increase on tuesdays with aws not as competition and now. They settled very close to where they were the last month and a half to where they were the month and a half before moving so they just sort of have their core audience. they weren't growing. They fell from the peak at the pre pandemic when they were doing better numbers. But it's one factually speaking. It's not like there was some some nosedive in viewership. The last ten weeks that would that would explain this. You know vincent in fairly didn't get the big bump when they moved into. It wasn't like everyone who is watching bull shows. It wasn't like even three quarters of those people decided. Okay now. we're gonna wash annex t. I think they would get a better than they did when they moved. It's pretty remarkable The the jump that w dot they did six hundred eight thousand viewers there last wednesday night and then they jumped to one point two million the next week i mean gained five hundred thousand viewers and an x. T if i take the lowest number loath recent number of just under six hundred thousand back on march seventeenth. The high point then on april twentieth was eight forty one so they gained about two hundred forty thousand viewers compared to a much bigger increase for aws aws had the advantage of being on wednesday night. Still and i think a lot of people tuned in for annexed that first week and then it dropped under nine hundred thousand two of the next four weeks after that so aws. Bigger bump and exte- did not. And i just think it shows a degree. I think we're seeing wrestling fans have only so much time to watch wrestling. And they're picking their favourite and we talked about this With josh last night. The onsite correspondent that it appears that even a wwe crowds. There aren't a lot of w t shirts and that surprised me at target center week and half ago. I thought there's going to be people who liked both and they're gonna want to go to debbie show and show off their awa shirt that they're you know you know i i'm here but i've got a favorite or you know. There's this other brand that that you should pay attention to whatever reason people would do that. There's wasn't much of it from what i saw. I was paying. Attention are picking their show and some are watching. You know five shows including impact or our waitress japan but most people kind of pick in one or two that other favorites and and it's splintering the audience a bit and just didn't grab awa fans and convince them to add a second night hour an additional night of their schedule and part of that falls on annex t and doing more comedy stuff with robert stone. Andy hartwell and dexter. Loomis just became kind of sketch comedy. Show a little bit more than it had been off before. And i don't think they had enough serious stuff. That was over to make up for it. And i think karen cross was kind of weak as kind of a centerpiece at getting pushed. I don't think awa fans were particularly excited about him. So i do think some of that falls on on the decisions that tribulation and shawn michaels and company mate. Who for sure. yeah. I mean kushida guy. Hasn't been anything annex t the people they've brought over from the uk mine. Large grizzled young veterans imperium very dry. There's just they're just not clicking the way they want stick and it's there's some really talented people there that i just mentioned but i and they have their fans but i just don't think they've done anything with these people to really make people feel like they have to see them and there's those types all over the show right now roderick strike this whole diamond mine angling. Forget that they got rid of Tyler ross d away from the start. Yeah i think in fairness again. If i'm kind of thinking what would push pushback would people in half to our conversation. So far and one of the things they would say is we're stuck at capitol wrestling center which worked well in the pandemic and they had fans before anyone else did when those in those plexiglass pods. And i applaud them for having you know the mask. Having everyone wear masks still you know with everything. Going on florida But nevertheless it was sort of an advantage but not a big one especially when you look at daly's place and what. Aws able to do with that. Venue that outdoor venue and having an increasing number of fans spread out there But you know it was different than than it wasn't as big in terms of the scale and scope of being bigger arena but it felt intimate any actual organic crisp response. That said they're still there. They didn't get the from getting back into the life fans but even more so it's just hard to create stars when you're not in a big arena full of people reacting to them. I think back jason to the tna trip to the uk and how much bigger everybody felt when they would be in that building and your masters of fans reacting to them. It made me look differently at the roster. At that time i was like wow the it makes such a difference performing at a larger venue with that many fans and annex t takeovers also. Just were like whoa this way moreover than this hidden. You know this. This hidden gem on wb network. That's a niche. When you have ten thousand people in a major arena or more going crazy for the product and the wrestlers. It ever seen like big stars and annexed wrestlers haven't had that benefit of of in especially in contrast now with aws taking away a lot of their niche. So if you're hunter you're saying wait a second tour when we had momentum and build on that we could have had a whole new crop stars ready for you but it's hard to create stars like it's hard for veterans to seem like big stars when we've seen only one hundred forty people reacting to them any given week well and keep having them basically do the same. Mike's chick every single week even executives into really a talker. So yeah it's but you're right. I mean being in that venue is part of the problem for them but again it's is it because he didn't give them enough money to really make it financially solvent go on the road and i'm guessing now because i i would think that if usa had given them a big chunk of change they'd be asking. Why don't you going on the road. Yeah yeah so. Do you expect. I know the reports are you know. Let's lean on wrestlers under thirty and who are bigger..

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