[Stardust]

The WWE can hype up any regular TV or PPV event to make it seem like Wrestlemania, The Royal Rumble, Survivor Series and SummerSlam are all rolled in to one.......

The WWE is probably the most popular it has ever been, BUT the on-air talent/characters are nowhere close to what they used to be. As with any type of 'sport', Characters make pro wrestling. And IMO, the on-air talent/characters are lacking.

Not even close to being at it's peak. In the 80's during the Hulkamania era, the buy-rates were above today's era with the exception of Wrestlemania and Summer-Slam. The all-time highs for PPV buy-rates was during the peak of the Attitude era in the 90's. During this same period, you saw WWE drawing 7.0's in television ratings, which is over 11 million viewers. At the same time, WCW was pulling in 6's, which was another 10 million viewers - ALL ON THE SAME MONDAY NIGHT. Today, the WWE is getting 3's consistently, or 4-5 million viewers. Since the attitude era died, 16 million viewers have tuned their sets to other choices.

Though I'd agree with you that characters make wrestling, good booking and more importantly - Competition does to. The issue with the WWE today, is the interest to the casual viewer is just not there. In the 90's, the pure wrestling fan was there, just like they are today. But the casual wrestling fan is who made up that 16 Million viewers. They heard the hype of two wrestling companies battling against each other, slandering each other, and the average Joe was intrigued. The NWO going against Stone Cold, The Rock and DX make for great television.

Though I have no way to prove this, I do contend that the television ratings for the WWE during the Attitude Era, with the greatest set of charecters the WWE ever had, would have been slightly better than they are today if WCW had not been around to give them competition.