![]() ![]() The initial popularity of the original WrestleMania, along with the superstardom of Hulk Hogan propelled the company forward, and with it came the new additions to the roster. Just three years down the line and the landscape of the WWF had changed quite dramatically. Andre the Giant and Big John Studd also clashed on the first Mania event, and JYD and Greg Valentine contested the Intercontinental title bout.Ĭyndi Lauper had brought mainstream eyes to the WWF due to her involvement with babyfaces Wendi Richter and Captian Lou Albano, and it was Richter who defeated Leilani Kai (who was managed by The Fabulous Moolah) to win the WWF Women’s Championship. One year later he was headlining the first WrestleMania alongside Mr T and cornerman Jimmy Snuka to take on the evil duo of Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff and their cornerman Cowboy Bob Orton. Hulk Hogan defeated the Iron Sheik in January 1984 to win his first of many WWF titles. Still with me? Hope so! RESULTS: 1985 and the birth of Hulkamania and WrestleMania era. I also interestingly worked out the average crossover per event which created some quite interesting and eerily similar results. Once I collected my totals for the four shows every four years, I also worked out the total average superstar crossover percentage for that four-year comparison which left me with eight sets of numbers to draw my conclusions. Between those four events, I worked out the average number of superstars who appeared at the same event four years prior. I then picked the big four events in those years as a good snapshot of the rosters at that time: Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Summerslam and Survivor Series. So from 1988 onwards, I stopped every four years, which seemed to fit in nicely with the different eras. I wanted to focus on eras, or generations: Hulkamania, New Generation, Attitude Era, Ruthless Aggression etc., but it had to be consistent. So where better to start than WrestleMania 1 in 1985, and I wanted the results to run right up to the end of 2019. I wanted to broaden my search as far back as I could with a year range that offered structured and easy to follow results. I then thought to myself, wouldn’t it be interesting if someone could pick out certain years and compare them to see if, in fact, this decade has been filled with the same WWE superstars having the same matches and feuds? Or, is my opinion on the current staleness just me getting old, grumpy (as my wife likes to point out) and me turning into one of those people looking to moan about something wrestling related? I hope it’s not, so let’s go have a look, shall we?Īs I was writing this article it appeared that I was almost writing a scientific paper: I had a title, an introduction, hypothesis, method for collecting my data, results section and a discussion on the conclusion of my results. Compare that to anywhere between the late 80s and the mid-2000s and I would immediately be able to pinpoint not only the year of the bout but more than likely the month and the storyline involved with it. It seems like you could drop a pin on any Raw or Smackdown between 20 and find yourself in the middle of a Sheamus, Roman Reigns, Miz, Kofi Kingston, Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler, Bray Wyatt or Big Show match and I for one would have a really hard time working out the year it is taking place. And ultimately it came down to my opinion that for the last decade the product has become quite stale. So as my train of thought continued I asked why the weekly catch-up that once was a staple of my week was not always on my immediate to-do list any more. Outside influences like full-time employment and life changes such as fatherhood could be the reason, but if you are a fan you should be able to make time to watch your favourite shows right? The once ritual of waking up on a Tuesday and Friday or Saturday morning to catch the show from the night before (UK resident) is now not a guaranteed weekly occurrence. We should be focussing on the positives, and don’t worry – I do talk about positives later on.īut as I saw the facts about the WWE’s shrinking audience I looked at myself as an example of a fan and realised that I, in fact, have stopped religiously watching Raw and Smackdown every week. I’m not going to use this platform to discuss lots of negatives about today’s wrestling, that is becoming tiresome. We all have our personal preferences: we know what we like and what we don’t. ![]() Now many conclusions could be drawn from this and many excuses can be made, but the fact is that figures are showing that more than half of WWE’s audience is not watching any more. Television audiences for the decade have fallen roughly 67% from ~5.5million on the first Raw of the decade (Bret Hart returning) to ~1.8million on 23rd December 2019. As 2019 drew to a close, WWE’s television ratings had sunk to their lowest in years.
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