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How are ratings going to be measured for the WWE Network? Is it the same as basic cable stations like USA or some other way? Or just the standard Nielsen ratings method?
They will be measure by Nielsen, which is the industry standard. Something to consider however is the penetration of the network. If it is only available in 1/3 of the homes that USA is, a 1.0 rating for a WWE Network show will draw 1/3 of the viewers for a USA show that also does a 1.0.
Were you surprised that WWE allowed Randy Orton to talk about his past drug issues on his DVD? Even on the commercials for the DVD on Raw they had clips of Randy talking about how he almost died. Considering the bad press they get with wrestlers and drugs I was surprised.
I get what you are saying there but I think they felt it was important to tell the whole story with Randy, and also sell the redemptive nature of him dealing with the problem. I commend them for how they handled it on the DVD and Orton himself for how he has grown as a man in real life.
Do you think piracy has something to do with WWE pay per views falling viewership or does it have more to do with bad booking?
I think it's a mix of both. There are some people that would pay if the product was better but will watch it if they don't have to pay. Then again, there are people who would only watch it if they could steal it even if the booking was great. Since it largely hasn't been however, that isn't really an issue right now. Something that is however is the price of the shows. With a lackluster product from a booking standpoint, and a bad economy, the PPVs are just too expensive for many people. Put all of those things together and that is why WWE is seriously considering moving their lower-bought shows to the new WWE Network.
When it comes to pure drawing power (where Hogan, Austin, and Rock would be the top three), how big of a star to do you rank Brock Lesnar, both before he went to MMA and after.
Hmmm, that is a tough call. Hogan has been on top longer, and drew well for his run in the mid-80s and as PART of the nWo in the 90s, but the flip side is he lost steam in the WWF as time went on and wasn't a huge draw for WCW until the Outsiders came in and he joined it after the fact. Rock and Austin are so intertwined though that it's hard to say who was drawing what. Was it Rock? Was it Austin? Was it both? So I will go with Hogan, I guess (as long as you don't count his run in TNA because he hasn't jacked their numbers up at all) . Lesnar was behind all of them in WWE and honestly I don't know enough about UFC to say what kind of draw he is now.
On the 12/7 Q&A, someone asked about Ryder's YouTube show appearing on WWE's network and there was a doubt, in part, because of the standard 22 minute format. How about if it ran in a format closer to Robot Chicken where it'd be about half that time? They can fill the other minutes up for whatever that timeslot is with Raw and SmackDown video packages. The expense would be a lot lower than some of the other crap they have planned since Ryder and his posse would likely be filming it themselves and they can use recaps as filler. Speaking of the crap they have planned - are they completely missing the point of why the average wrestling fan would invest money in a network like that? I'm sure most fans who pay for it would rather see something like a Clash of the Champions marathon than see some pseudo reality show involving Divas they already don't care about.
To answer question number one, I think that they could make Ryder's segment part of a show that has other similar segments in it. That could work. As for the network and what it will do, there are 24 hours in a day and that is a lot of time to fill. There is no reason they can't do both things you mentioned. And honestly, if they run old Clashes the ratings that they draw will be very low. With a new reality show, they have a chance (not I said chance) of getting a semi-hit and that is what the network will need to grow.
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