Raw Ratings SUCK And I’m Not A Bit Surprised
http://411mania.com/wrestling/wwe-raw-rating-tanks-to-new-low/
This is a combination of more than one thing.First and foremost, the NFL is killing WWE. I don’t think that’s a bit secret at this point.
Second, the fans seem tired of the same matches over and over. Last night’s main event was Rusev vs. Reigns. That was a cool showdown in the battle royal last year but now, who in the world thinks Rusev is going to beat him? It’s a boring match that is just set up as part of a much longer story. In other words, don’t bother watching now because it’s going to be at least January before something interesting happens.
Third, the fans have gotten so used to having no one to cheer for that seeing ANOTHER heel champion is burning them out. Reigns held the title for five minutes. Unless you count Brock, who was still officially a heel, we haven’t had a face champion since Summerslam 2014. That’s getting into TNA territory. At some point, you have to give the people something to celebrate or they’re going to give up.
Fourth, the injuries are taking a big toll. All those people being gone leaves a BIG chunk of the show needing to be filled in and it’s really hurting things. Without Cena, Orton and Rollins (not to mention the part timers), there’s a lot of time to be filled. Last night we had the New Day doing a (funny) segment that went nowhere and Ryback beating up Heath Slater in another “country music is stupid” segment. Couple that with a nothing Mark Henry vs. Neville match and some midcard tag matches and there was nothing interesting to watch.
Finally, Sheamus is the World Champion. Now Sheamus is a cool guy and capable of doing some good stuff in the ring (see the Big Show matches which gave Big Show his best performances in years), but coming into the title win, he had won one singles match since September. I know WWE disagrees, but fans remember that. They see a guy who stole the title and is likely holding it for a long time. So we have a loser fighting a choker for the title while the Authority sits back and laughs. How is that supposed to be entertaining?
At the end of the day, WWE needs to freshen things up a bit. Aside from major changes like the show running long etc., they need something fresh. I don’t mean giving the Authority new toys to play with. I mean a new idea. The Divas closing the show last week drew the best ratings in weeks. Now the show shouldn’t be about the Divas, but the key thing as that felt fresh. It wasn’t another tag match or another two upper midcard guys fighting on Monday night Maggle.
Freshen things up, get rid of Sheamus, stop having champions lose and BUILD UP SOMETHING FOR NEXT WEEK! That still drives me nuts. Why in the world can they never have a match built up for the following week unless it’s a tournament? “Next week, Dean Ambrose gets his shot at the Intercontinental Title! Ambrose beat Owens at Survivor Series and now he wants the gold! Tune in next Monday!” Maybe that can open the show instead of Stephanie strutting down to the ring and then yelling at someone for fifteen minutes. I don’t know about you, but nothing gets me fired up more than TALKING!
But yeah, these numbers aren’t surprising given how little effort they’re putting in right now.
Step One: win lottery
Step Two: start competently-booked rival wrestling promotion
Step Three: profit!
A vast oversimplification, obviously, but the next time the powerball jackpot gets over 300m I’ll buy a ticket, just in case…
Mick foley put out a post that basically says “what reason do I have to watch he show if everyone I’ve grown to like is constantly portrayed as never going to be good enough no matter how awesome they end up being?” He also said he thinks a large portion of people are baited into watching because they always give a slight glimmer of hope that their favourite might actually do something, and that the drop off of people watching could be people not putting up with it anymore. Got any thoughts on that?
In the last 10 years there’s been two instances of people who’ve managed to break through: Jeff hardy and Daniel Bryan. Imagine if they were never allowed to succeed, eventually the fans would accept it for what it is, but the negatives of shutting the fans down GREATLY outweigh the positives. Extend that to all the people the fans have wanted to have just a little more success than what they were told would be their definitive ceiling over that same time period and you’ll get what’s actually wrong with the product and the reason so many people don’t want to watch anymore.
In 2000, WWE had a face commissioner in Mick Foley. Foley helped the faces and punished heels. The amazing thing about that was, it was fun. I think that is something WWE has forgotten about. The story does not always have to be a face chasing heels and getting one second of glory only for the heels to regain the upperhand.
The roster may have been better in 2000 and they didn’t have to fill 3 hours, but this still holds true. I can’t even imagine watching Raw without DVR-ing it. It’s too long and just not fun. I still like parts of it but those parts are becoming more and more rare.
Oh and STOP HAVING REIGNS DO LONG PROMOS. Have him literally just show up and kickass. Keep him simple.
I’ll write something long, but I’d rather link to an excellent blog by a a much more experienced wrestling fan and reviewer than me (sorry KB I’m plugging someone else’s blog on your site, but what this gentlemen says and the way he articulates it is SPOT-ON). Request you to read it.
http://prowrestling.net/article.php?Pruett-s-Pause-WWE-Raw—On-criticism-fandom-and-professional-wrestling-Roman-Reigns-gets-his-cheers-Sheamus-forms-a-European-Union-and-Charlotte-and-Paige-get-another-chance-44938
To summarize it:
1. There’s not an art-form in the world that treats its most ardent supporters with as much mockery as professional wrestling.
2. The even-steven booking of everybody not named Roman Reigns in the past 3 years is FINALLY coming to plague them. Face it, this is the roster that’s gonna be competing when Cena and Orton are no longer viable, so in essence this is the kind of show we’ll get if the horrendous booking doesn’t improve.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL The Sheamus Era has begun!
I probably shouldn’t laugh. We beg for something new, we sort of get it, but the ratings now tank. So this means Vince will probably go back to Cena and Orton again and we fans really can’t blame him. We want something new, they give it to us sort of(reluctantly due to injuries) and yet fans don’t watch. Those fans better not complain when Cena is on top again come January.
At least Vince isn’t blaming the ratings on us “not getting it” like Russo did…yet.
Seriously, that’s my biggest pet peeve. Soemone blaming the failure of their project on the fans being stupid.
I’ll write a longer analysis later, but the short version is that the program absolutely SUCKS since Mania 30. No high points, nothing fresh, booking against the fans, characters caged in their position and presentation.
Just look at the forum: how many vocal fans of two years ago wrote that they don’t follow the program or at least watch RAW anymore, if they haven’t left silently? Some bad months are tolerable, but in the last 18 months WWE has alienated a good chunk of its core.
Survivor Series post-show viewers:
2014: 4.15M
2015: 2.96M
WWE has lost two out of seven viewers within a year. That’s abysmal.
2014 was actually 4.25M, so more than 30%.
You’re very right about the lack of anything since XXX. Lesnar won the title and since then it’s been all heels save for five minutes. You can’t do that.
Some additional numbers to drive the point home:
SS post-PPV viewership since 3h-RAW:
2012: 3.92M
2013: 4.14M, +5.6%
2014: 4.25M, +2.7%
2015: 2.96M, -30.4%
Football is every year and linear TV becoming less important is a gradual decline. These aren’t the answers, even though I know last years’ numbers were especially strong.
There are multiple other factors too.
WWE.com doing it’s own live coverage for one thing. Why watch a show when you can read a page per segment?
The Network helps too. If I wanted to, I could watch all the Raw’s leading up to a pay per view just a month later. It’s WAY easier for the fans that way and for really cheap too. A lot of people just can’t sit down and watch Raw every Monday, especially for three hours and fifteen minutes.
Of course that’s in addition to the product being ice cold and very little WWE does making it any better.
Along with The Network there is Hulu as well. Personally I didn’t think RAW this week was that bad although not one of the better ones in recent weeks but it had its moments. Ratings still matter but with the way TV is so different now a days with Online stuff and DVR I don’t think there as important either.
Honestly, Survivor Series bored me so much that I skipped RAW for the first time in 2 years. I knew exactly how the show would open, and the thought of seeing The Authority (again), and a champ Sheamus (ugh) open the show did nothing for me. I’ll keep reading your reviews and Reddit, but until something changes, I’ll be watching MNF.