Tha Audience Is Listening

"Giving it to the audience is probably the easiest thing. Finding out what they truly want is probably the most difficult."

This is a quote from Vince McMahon himself. I actually laughed when I read it. As I watch the shows WWE puts out ("Raw" "SmackDown!", and ECW) Inotice that the fans are very quick to tell you what they want. No, it's not always right to give us, the fans, what we want. Like a goofy ass child we don't always want what's good for us. Especially nowadays where fans want it "now now now!"

One of the best ways to find out what the audience wants is to go to a message board. Yeah, they're full of a lot of ignorant folks. Like, a lot. But sometimes you come across a poster that makes so much damned sense its not even funny. When someone says "They should put D'Lo, Ron Killings, and Mark Henry with Farooq and make a new Nation!" I just sigh. But whoever thought to make the Legacy is brilliant.

"The worst sound in our business is silence. That means they don't care."

I guess he's been dealing with a lot of feelings of knowing people don't care. There have been quite a few times in recent months where the crowd is close to dead silent. Its hard enough to get a crowd quiet for a ten bell salute, let alone a match with two "entertainers" going at it.

Sometimes its as if they are trying to make me bored. What if they took away some things? Have you ever been to a live match? Years ago they had a show on Hollywood & Highland. It was an outdoor event on the actual street (I have pictures as proof if anyone doesn't believe it). It was hot as hell. Crowded. Nothing but standing room. When The Hurricane's music hit the crowd went nuts. I went nuts. I don't like The Hurricane. I got caught up in the moment. All of the excitement. They need to bring
that feeling to the televised shows.

Rick Rubin once told Metallica that they needed to do the exact thing for their records and it worked. WWE needs to remove the pyro. Remove the super long entrances. Wrestle in smaller arenas. Make the fans feel like they're a part of the show. Its sad when you see people on their cell phones or little kids in the front row yawning or not cheering at all. Less is really more sometimes.

"We do have our finger on the pulse of the marketplace, if for no other reasons than having all these live events and listening to our audience all the time."

By "all the time" maybe he means just at live shows. Because if television ratings are the closest form of listening then he must be ignoring everyone. The people aren't happy. As Casur and many others point out, ECW is probably the best show and they use a simple method. ECW has one hour. They had four matches. One of which involved using enhancement talent.

I love enhancement talent. "Raw" has two hours. They had only six matches. What about this makes sense? Its because they fill in the rest of the time with skits, long ass interviews, and matches that go longer than they need to. ECW, as crazy as it sounds for as much as everyone shit on it a year ago, is the blueprint for how "Raw" and "SmackDown!" should run their shows.

What do you all think? Do you really believe that Vince McMahon listens to the people? Do you feel that he's doing fine and it's the fans that have grown up that are the problem? Or do you think that we should just ride this all out until we're all good again?

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