WOS Wrestling Ratings

Wrestling isn't fake, it's as real as Santa and the easter bunny

I used to know someone who was into WWE and the interest in it seems to be because it’s storyline-driven with various made up rivalries between the wrestlers. I guess it’s a bit like ‘scripted reality’ programmes in that respect. It’s not my thing but it’s not passing itself off as anything other than what they call ‘sports entertainment’. It does seem like a distinctly American thing though, I can’t imagine our version would have the necessary OTT-ness that American TV does so well.

Tbh I never knew ITV would make this into a huge series since ITV Daytime show always seem to make me cringe when they interview wrestlers. For exanple on This Morning when Philip was given the WWE Belt and thought the W stood for winner. IT DOESN'T, IT STAND FOR WWE. They alway seem to love to kill storylines wheb they come on ITV when asked the question "Is Wrestling Fake" or something becuase they're called Sports Entertainment. The word ENTERTAINMENT is key in that sentence.

I'm sorry but it really annoying how ITV always seem to make me hate wrestlers on british tv more.

Actually, that logo is two stacked Ws. So it would stand for World Wrestling (The E stands for Entertainment).

I'll just inform the 80,000 people from around the world who attended Wrestlemania live this year of that. And the 2 million subscribers to the WWE Network streaming service.

Totally agree that cityprod is being ridiculous suggesting 400,000 is somehow an impressive rating for ITV but to suggest 'nobody cares about wrestling' is equally as ridicuous.

Going off ratings for a bit, I do have to say any British TV interviews with wrestlers are particularly toe-curling and seem to always follow the same formula.
-The interviewer mentioning Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks
-The interviewer asking about wrestling being fake (as if this is somehow news to the wrestler and as if the same is not true of actors in a film/soap)
-The interviewer then reading out something about wrestling with all the confidence of Ortis Deley presenting live sport

The wrestler has to grin their way through it and by the end of the interview ripping out your ears seems a welcome alternative to hearing any more of the interview.

I loved WWE growing up, mainly for the storylines rather than the actual fights. Or more to the point, the fights that left the ring where the wrestlers would use anything lying around as a weapon. They were always fun.

Isn't Wrestling like Country music in the UK? Does well commercially as a niche product, but not viable enough for broadcasting on a large scale.

It had been kinda like that since the late 80s, when ITV previously stopped airing British pro-wrestling. Prior to that, it was hugely popular, with one famous bout between Jackie Pallo & Mick McManus being watched by over 20 million viewers.

Now the popularity of British pro-wrestling is growing and WOS is the first real attempt in 30 years to solidify its place as mainstream entertainment.

I said that 400,000 was impressive for British pro-wrestling. Previous attempts at U.K. based wrestling shows on digital TV would struggle in the low tens of thousands at best. ITV have had way better ratings for other shows but that was never the point. The point was that getting 400,000 to watch British pro-wrestling on a mainstream channel, was impressive for British pro-wrestling.

Is this maybe a case where the show should have gone to ITV4 instead, certainly at least to start with? In the same way as you wouldn't put Love Island on the main ITV channel.

It strikes me that for most people their impression of wrestling is one of two things: a) WWE or b) Big Daddy. There's a mentality to chip away at there before people realise UK wrestling is quite a big thing these days. A bit like trying to chip away at preconceptions of Eurovision, as discussed in another thread.

I doubt ITV4 is budgeted at the level required to commission WOS Wrestling.

It looks as if it runs at a far lower 'per hour' tariff than ITV and ITV2 in original commissions.

You could well be right. It does show a lot of sport I wouldn't expect it to have the money for, but at least in those instances all ITV needs to provide is a commentary team.