I was thinking about a few things with all that has been going on with the ratings decline:
- At what point does USA say, "That's It" and WWE gets moved to another Comcast owned network. To tell you the truth with everything that is on with the USA network, WWE does not fit in anymore. I keep thinking in my head its only a matter of time before the move to G4. Personally I am not surprised that is where Smackdown ended up when CW ended the show.
- With above in mind and the WWE Network starting (lets just say it does) when does WWE pull their stuff from USA and go all WWE Net.
- When the WWE Network goes on and lets say WWE Raw and Smackdown are on, what does WWE Network do? The NFL Network, does not show programming when NFL games are on, would they be stupid enough to show a late 90s Raw against its own product. Could it be possible a 90s Raw or Nitro rerun get better ratings against the current product.
Gmail reformatted your list so that every question is now equally important. That wacky Google.
Anyway:
1. The trumpeting of RAW and Smackdown's longevity does conveniently ignore that both shows have been cancelled multiple times, and could be again. The whole idea of the Network is to provide a safety net against that happening, especially if USA turns into a Jamie Kellner situation where WWE is suddenly an outcast and gets turfed. Seems fairly unlikely, but then so did cancelling Nitro and Thunder in 2001. You'd have to think it'll be a long time before USA gets tired of WWE, though, given their addition of a third hour at USA's request, because it certainly wasn't WWE's idea.
1. When they get kicked off regular cable kicking and screaming like Jericho in 2005. The WWE Network is a gigantic hail mary pass attempt, make no mistake, and you have to know that even Vince isn't crazy enough to move all his programming there unless he's forced at gunpoint.
1. I don't see anything on that network getting a better rating than anything, just because it's going to have zero clearance when it launches. If it ever actually comes to pass, we'll get hours of old Mid-Atlantic tapes and Divas Road Trip or whatever the fuck stupid show they come up with, and maybe the pre-produced YouTube videos formatted into a half-hour show that costs nothing. It'll just be another version of Classics On Demand, except not on Demand, and I can't possibly foresee anything of interest on that channel to anyone but hardcore nerds like me who would sit up all day watching old Mid-Atlantic tapes. But since it's never launching in the first place, I doubt we'll ever have to deal with that problem anyway.