Do you think the WWE listen to us, the fans? (Must Read)?

[Ti]

Now, I know the obvious answer that I expect here would be 'No', usually judged from decision that the WWE have made that we have disliked or disagreed with personally, or like for example our cry out's for certain members to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame that continuously get ignored, or things like Stone Cold not being there last night (My bet is that they probably reached out to Stone Cold anyway & he said no for whatever reason) however I do think that the WWE do listen to the fans to a degree.

They do the polls, which although I question the legitimacy of these polls (it's impossible to tally up & count thousands of hash tags on Twitter, Facebook posts, put them together & get a percentage SO fast as they do on the show) but they already know a rough idea on what the results will be (For example last night with PunkVsRock, if WWE had their choice they'd say Cena but knew the fans wouldn't want that again), they also being back a lot of old school things, which is probably the MOST cried out for stuff with the WWE (Everyone wants elements from previous era's to return from belt styles, to characters, to storylines, to PG to ice cream bars, nostalgia in the wrestling world is HUGE).

So withouth answering this so quickly as to say no, do you feel saying no would be a fair justification or do you think WWE listen to us in some way shape or form, as a business they need to cause if they don't we will eventually invest less in the product but on a whole how much do you feel the WWE listen to the fans really when push comes to shove?

I'd be interested to hear some good replies on this one.
Yes, I hear you Kelly, this is what I feel also, I think part of the Tout etc.. is to keep fans interested (they have to fill up 3 hours now so they need interaction to keep fans watching), but yeah, like my original post says, I think the easy thing is to say no they don't listen, however personally I think they do more than we realise, but they still could listen a little more sometimes.

I guess it's hard to listen to individuals for them though, which is where it slightly conflicts.

[Kelly]

I agree with you about the hall of fame BUT

Why would WWE even have Tout, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and clips that you can't see on TV just for us?!? On tout they may be able to put YOUR video LIVE ON TV!

WWE DOES Listen to the fans but if the raw manager was John L then it wouldn't make sense for a heel to listen to the fans and you know sometimes WWE just has to match storylines to storylines so WWE can't listen to the fans 24/7 But i think AJ is a face so WWE might listen to the fans more next week.

Also it is scripted so would it make sense to take your own time and script something then people say "Change this, change that?" That's also one of the reasons but sometimes WWE does change the script and listens to the fans.

[The Dragon]

This is a problem when your consumers number in the millions and are located all over the world; you can't tailor your product to satisfy any particular group, you have to satisfy as much of your consumer base as you can all the time. The WWE (and all large companies) don't "listen" to individuals or small groups, or even large groups, really. They "listen" to their entire fan base and try to do what the "WWE universe" (as a whole) wants them to do. And the vast majority of the "WWE universe" are what's called "casual fans", which are people who just watch the TV shows then move on to the next thing. They don't jump on the internet during and after a WWE TV show and dissect it. They just watch the TV show, be entertained by the silly shenanigans of the outrageous characters, then they move on to something else. The IWC (that's us, folks; the "hardcore" fans who dissect the WWE under the internet microscope) number in the few thousands. A drop in the bucket compared to the worldwide "WWE universe".

Unfortunately, the IWC seems to feel that because we go that "extra mile" (jump on the internet and dissect the show, second-guess and complain) we're entitled to be "listened to" more than the other nearly 5 million viewers who DON'T do what we do. That ain't how it works. If the WWE listened to US, and did everything WE want, the WWE would not even come close to resembling what it is now, the company that gets 5 million viewers every week consistently.

The WWE doesn't produce shows for US (the IWC), it produces shows for the 5 million "casual" viewers it gets every week. To get and maintain a consistent 5 million viewership every week the WWE is obviously doing a lot of things "right", even if WE (the "smarter" fans in the IWC) don't think so. The WWE knows of our complaints but ignores them because they know, complaints or not, we'll be there every single week watching RAW and Smackdown no matter what they put on the shows, no matter how much we complain and say we're through with the WWE. We bellow but we don't follow through on our threats to abandon the WWE. The 5 million "casual" viewers aren't nearly as invested in the product as we, the IWC, are. If they get bored with the shows they'll just find something else to watch and ratings will go down, and thus profits will go down. The WWE can afford to piss off the internet fans, they're a miniscule fraction of the WWE viewership. The WWE can't afford to alienate the "casual" fans; they keep ratings up, merchandise sales up, and profits up.

The WWE doesn't "listen" to us, the IWC, as far as complaints go. But they do take ideas from us, some we intend to help the WWE (as we see it), and some they do to make fun of us. Despite our beliefs to the contrary the WWE does acknowledge the IWC (they do make subtle, and not so subtle, references to us on-air) and they are aware of what we discuss. Vince (and the other officers in the WWE) have a low opinion of the IWC; he just thinks we're a bunch of "dirt sheet" reading complaining know-it-alls who will never be satisfied. So he pokes fun at us. The "Cena sucks" angle, for example. The IWC thought that FINALLY the WWE was listening to them and that it meant the WWE would FINALLY fire that "no talent hack" John Cena. In reality it was just the WWE making fun of the ridiculous Cena-hate and Cena remained the number one star. The Michael Cole "heel turn" last year is another example. Vince had Cole acting and talking on-camera the way Vince believes the average internet fan does.

Bottom line is, the WWE does monitor what we talk about and they do take ideas we discuss and incorporate them into the shows here and there, but they do NOT produce shows for us, the IWC. They "listen" to the "casual" fans in the seats at the live shows around the country and in other countries as representatives of the "WWE Universe" as a whole. Their cheers and boos tell the WWE what's working and what isn't, not the IWC's complaints.

[Crazy Babe]

Yes, I'm sure they have a team who is on that, but they don't always do what fans want!