From: Lopen | #323
If you create good storylines everyone in the company gets bigger reactions just because the fans are more into it. It's why in the attitude era random midcard guys like Val Venis were getting bigger reactions than like 85% of the roster gets now.
While I can agree with this statement in a vacuum, the industry isn't built on reactions. It's built on draws. No one, not even during the Attitude Era, was buying a ticket or ordering a PPV to see Val Venis.
The amount of people who just want "a compelling product" is actually fairly small. History has shown that the biggest up periods for wrestling are when the biggest stars are around to draw people in. SmackDown in 2002, Raw in 2004, SmackDown in 2009, even Raw of the Summer of 2011--all of these were by any creative measure "compelling products." Yet they pale in comparison to objectively inferior products such as 1999 WWF when it comes to true bottom line success.
--
Thank you, Eddie Guerrero.
http://bryandanielson.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/photo3.jpg