How can WWE get the 5.0 ratings?

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

Ratings/viewership. Those 2 terms are 2 of the most discussed ones every week about Raw/Smackdown. I'll get straight to the point:

Ratings apparently depict how good a show is. Is there any chance that WWE can go back to those 5.0+ ratings? Personally, I don't.

Bring back the Attitude Era, get rid of the PG rating, somehow bring back Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, Lesnar etc etc etc full time. Still, I believe that it will never draw as much as back in 2000. Wrestling is just not cool anymore. The internet just spoils a lot of stuff, to the point the people are not interested in just watching and enjoying the show, but instead they try to get and understand the work behind the scenes, the scenarios that the creative team makes up and so on. Professional wrestling isn't about the entertainment that it offers. It is just internet marks vs casual fans. It is Cm Punk vs Cena. Daniel Bryan vs Orton. It is not "sit down and enjoy the show". Personally, before I watch any episode, I just think to myself "hey, let's sit down, enjoy the show, and comment on it later", instead of "ughhh, we are gonna have HHH hogging the spotlight again and Cena getting another title shot".

I might not agree/ enjoy some of the product that is put on, but I'm still entertained by the main angles and top-level feuds. Most people don't, though, and that's the problem. People just don't care about the entertainment it offers. That's why we won't ever have those ratings back.
It's not because of an "indy troll" Daniel Bryan, or the backstage politics master Cena, or the druggie Orton or Cm Punk. Lesnar came back, ratings, didn't explode. Rock came back, ratings didn't explode. Taker comes back, same. I bet you that even if Austin comes back, somehow, full time, it will still be the same. Because people won't care about getting entertained, but more about bitching why Cena gets another title shot or why Bryan is back in the mid card again.

I know that, to some extent, ratings can increase. Drop the childish audience target, the 3 hour Raw thing, all the dancing and stupid angles and put on a real show, without backstage politics, and WWE APP promoting all the time. This will definitely increase the ratings. But here is the burning question. Will they go back to 5.0?

NO. They will break the 3.0 barrier, they will go to 3.5, heck, they might even pull off a great show and get a 4.0! But it will never, ever, go back to 5.0. Because wrestling isn't cool anymore. It isn't entertainment. It is just a war between the fans. We want this guy on top and you want the other guy. Granted, we enjoy different Superstars, that's a personal taste, they product is still there to be enjoyed though.

I'm wondering why any article writer on this site hasn't made an Editorial to write and express their opinion on this matter. It would make a great read to read a "professional" opinion on this.

I'd like to read your comments on this.

 

[Slash-LN]

Not that I know this for sure but I'd be willing to bet Vince doesn't care about television ratings as long as he's making money.
If sponsors are paying to advertise on his show, people are buying merchandise and people are buying pay per views then nothing is going to change.

Are things where they were during the attitude era? Definitely not. But the same thing has been repeated over and over. You don't have to make too much of an effort when you have no competition.

PG really has very little to do with it. Good writers shouldn't have to rely on a crutch of sex, cussing and blood to write good stories. Just like the wrestlers shouldn't have to rely on things like blood and weapons to put on good matches.

Wrestling is in a down period just like it was in the mid '90s. I'm sure at some point it will boom again.

Tivo, DVR and the internet are a bigger hinder to ratings than PG is.

 

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

Not that I know this for sure but I'd be willing to bet Vince doesn't care about television ratings as long as he's making money.
If sponsors are paying to advertise on his show, people are buying merchandise and people are buying pay per views then nothing is going to change.

Are things where they were during the attitude era? Definitely not. But the same thing has been repeated over and over. You don't have to make too much of an effort when you have no competition.

PG really has very little to do with it. Good writers shouldn't have to rely on a crutch of sex, cussing and blood to write good stories. Just like the wrestlers shouldn't have to rely on things like blood and weapons to put on good matches.

Wrestling is in a down period just like it was in the mid '90s. I'm sure at some point it will boom again.

Tivo, DVR and the internet are a bigger hinder to ratings than PG is.

The problem with new stories is that there are no more new stories to tell. You have to go back to old ones and remake them, and many people have already seen them and they aren't as intriguing anymore. Same as movies, most american-ish movies are the same. Guns, cops and the good guys prevailing in the end. It isn't that fun anymore.

Also, I think Vince cares about ratings a little, although money is his main concern. But, if he didn't care about ratings, he would push the guys that he thinks can't spike them. Guys like Bryan, Ziggler etc.

Too much to be told, waiting for more responses.

 

[Tna1]

Number 1 show on the number 1 cable network. Without them USA falls out the top 3.

Number 1 show on the number 10 network despite being on Friday, number 1-3 cable show every Friday on syfy, and the network would fall out the top 25 much like spike did without them.

Number 1 show on ion, since its inception, Main Event has helped ion beat out My TV in viewership. The show averages more weekly viewers than Impact does for spike, which is their highest rated show.

Number 1 première season for E, and number 2 show on their network aside from the Kardashian show

Saturday Morning Slam was also the highest rated show in the Vortex block by Saban and the CW. They just weren't renewed as said because they met goals by being that highly rated that meant a higher license fee





Perspective. They don't get the raw numbers they used to, but no show on cable does with the advent of so many stations, dvr, and on demand? The catch is WWE is an essential part of every network they have joined, and that is why they are and will get paid

 

[Marshyishere]

Number 1 show on the number 1 cable network. Without them USA falls out the top 3.

Number 1 show on the number 10 network despite being on Friday, number 1-3 cable show every Friday on syfy, and the network would fall out the top 25 much like spike did without them.

Number 1 show on ion, since its inception, Main Event has helped ion beat out My TV in viewership. The show averages more weekly viewers than Impact does for spike, which is their highest rated show.

Number 1 première season for E, and number 2 show on their network aside from the Kardashian show

Saturday Morning Slam was also the highest rated show in the Vortex block by Saban and the CW. They just weren't renewed as said because they met goals by being that highly rated that meant a higher license fee





Perspective. They don't get the raw numbers they used to, but no show on cable does with the advent of so many stations, dvr, and on demand? The catch is WWE is an essential part of every network they have joined, and that is why they are and will get paid

Couldn't have said it better myself. The only thing missing is PIRACY. Rather than watch the episodes on TV each week, a huge percent of watchers download the episodes to watch either without ads or at a later time - this eats into the TV ratings a lot.

I think some people look at the TV ratings and seem to think that wrestling isn't "cool" anymore. Wrong.

Have a look at all the top sports stars begging for WWE belts at the moment...how about all the actors, bodybuilders and athletes switching over to wrestling?

The 00s were a downturn for WWE, and at one stage they seriously looked in trouble, however the past few years have seen an upturn and I lend some of the credit to the McMahons making drastic changes such as the PG era (Attracting a new, much larger crowd) and adapting to the use of social media.

Yes, WWE will never be popular with the mass majority of adults again and yes the internet trolls will whinge forever about how the company and show is run, but the fact is that WWE is the biggest sports entertainment company today, is making a hell of a profit & will do for a while, tv ratings or no tv ratings.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

I'll explain everything.



WWE will probably never get those 5 ratings ever again.

They don't know how to build stars anymore, they don't have good storylines, they aren't consistent, they don't know how to build long feuds anymore.

Let's look at the long feuds this year: Punk vs Heyman and Bryan vs The Authority.

After Lesnar left, the punk-heyman feud sucked badly.
The Bryan-Authority feud was an absolute flop.



WWE needs to SPLIT THE BRANDS AGAIN, it's giving more exposure to young talents.

We are sick of seeing the same talents on RAW and on SmackDown.

WWE did a GREAT job by building Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes in the summer, their feud on SD was really entertaining especially when Rhodes threw the briefcase in the sea and Sandow went to get it.
Then what happens? WWE have them appear on a meaningless match on RAW, completely ruins the whole feud.

SWITCH BACK RAW TO 2 HOURS, 3 hours is too much wrestling.
You can't have many meaningless matches and expect viewers to keep tuning, it happens to me a lot of times, I tune out on some Ziggler vs Fandango match then I tune in again after a couple of times, I see a Los Matadores vs 3MB, then I tune out then tune in again then I see Khali or something like that then I tune out and never tune in again and who are the ones that's going to get blamed for the bad ratings? The wrestlers who are in the main event (Example: daniel bryan).

3 hours of wrestling is just too d@mn long, switch it back to 2 hours.
Seperate the brands and NEVER let a smackdown guy appear on RAW and vice versa.

That's how you created big money making blockbuster matches, matches like Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels (WM21), Batista vs John Cena (SummerSlam 2008)...
That's what made those matches important because they were first time ever matches, nowadays everyone faces everyone because of the many programming you have, it's just a stupid idea.


They're obviously getting more money by the brand extension (live events for example) so why have one roster on two shows, two rosters on two shows is better and a draft every 2-3 years.


If you look at Battleground for example, the two biggest matches in terms of star power are Bryan-Orton and Ryback-Punk and Del Rio- RVD, that's weak considering 3 years ago, Punk wasn't a top star, Ryback, ADR and Bryan weren't even in WWE.

Then compare that to WrestleMania, Rock-Cena, Taker-Punk and Brock-Hunter.

There isn't any comparaison.

WWE needs to know how to use their part timers right.
One time: you have Rock, Brock, HHH and Taker and in another time you have 0 part timers.

WrestleMania represents about 1/4 of the annual PPV buyrates and a huge part of WWE's revenue, they want to have the best PPV buyrate of WM as they possibly can.

But why not bring the same stars at other PPVs? Why not give a bigger importance to SummerSlam? Bring back The Rock for example to SummerSlam, or even have Rock vs Brock II at SummerSlam.
Bring back Taker to Survivor Series, have Triple H wrestle at some B-level PPV.


WWE are putting profit over people. They don't care about their fans anymore. The WWE isn't a "growing" business, they're just happy where they are, getting money from sponsors and by selling their stocks.


Here is a list of what I think WWE should do to bring ratings up:
-Switch back to 2 hour RAW
-Make the product more edgy (targeting an audience of 14-50 years old is better than an audience of 4-12 years old in terms of profit)
-Give more importance to B-level PPVs.
-No part timer vs part timer, have part timers work with the current roster (Rock-Orton, Taker-Sheamus, Lesnar-Big E, HHH-Bryan, Batista-Reigns...)
-Stop filler matches
-Give more PPV quality matches with a stipulation on RAW
-Bring celebrities to PPVs (not only WrestleMania and pair them up with current stars like Hogan-Mr T and Austin-Tyson, and stars who could draw a lot of viewers not unknown jobbers)
-Stop being tyrans and give WWE Creative more freedom in creating storylines, gimmicks... (http://www.cagesideseats.com/2011/4/27/2137216/top-ten-horror-stories-from-wwe-creative)
-Have new refreshing storylines not the same cr@p over and over again.


And the last one and most important one:
-Pay money to get money
( Just like Vince can pay Floyd Mayweather 20 millions for only appearing at WrestleMania and on a bunch of RAWs, if he was able to sign that TV licensing deal with NBC (around 500 million dollars a year) he should bring back many stars, fuckk he should go all in and sign The Rock and Brock Lesnar to full-time WWE contracts, Rock gets 40 millions in Hwood, pay him a bit more and bring him back, sign the Fcking beast to a full time contract, if he gets 5 millions a year per 24 appearances, then a 50-60 appearance and more PPV matches would be around 10-15 millions a year)


OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH YEAAAAAAAAAAAH DIGGGGG IIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!

I really hope WWE sign with NBC Universal.
Imagine WWE getting 500-800 millions a year instead of their annual 140 million dollar.
NBC Universal signed with Nascar to a 10 year 4.5 billion dollars contract.
This contract will really play a MAJOR role in WWE's future.


CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE ROCK AND BROCK LESNAR FULL-TIME AGAIN, THIS WILL BE AWESOME!!!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't think it's possible at this point in time, no matter what happens.

There've been various episodes of Raw in the past in which guys like The Rock, Stone Cold, HBK, The Undertaker and a few other top level Attitude Stars have been featured prominently on Raw. They've been made a central focus of what's going on, they've been involved on top level, major storylines but WWE hasn't come close to reaching 5.0 in the ratings. Going back to Attitude Era style programming that puts an emphasis on the shock & awe factor of Crash TV that was dominant in the late 90s won't work because television and society as a whole have gone through dramatic changes since then. For instance, remember the fuss that Zeb Coulter & Jack Swagger's anti-immigration characters caused around this time last year? Everyone from fans to politicians to political commentators took to television, radio and social media accusing WWE of promoting racism. What about the sense of criticism from various fans & dirtsheet writers who blasted WWE over the angle where CM Punk & Paul Heyman "mocked" Jerry Lawler's heart attack? People were going on as if WWE had purposely singled out members of their own families who'd died of heart attacks and were making light of a serious situation. Jerry Lawler himself stated multiple times that he'd personally approved the angle weeks earlier and thought it was a great idea. Or, how about CM Punk "disrespecting" the memory of Paul Bearer by interrupting Taker's tribute to him? Or, the time in which Punk attacked Taker and poured "Bearer's ashes" over a prone & beaten Taker? Everyone from some fans to dirtsheet writers who've complained time after time that they'd wish WWE would adopt more edgier storylines were going on & on about how disgusted they were at these tactics.

When it comes to edgy or controversial situations, there's some sort of unspoken double standard when it comes to pro wrestling. Or, at least pro wrestling that's on the media level of WWE. Characters like Colter & Swagger or incidents in which people who're mocked for suffering illness or losing a loved one wouldn't be given a second thought on regular television programming. It might even be praised when you consider the sort of controversial content you'd see on certain programming like Sons of Anarchy, that HBK comedy Girls, Breaking Bad, etc. The FX show American Horror Story has been lauded with praise, but if WWE did an angle inspired by the show, they'd be accused of promoting unchristian, occult activities. WWE could have gone the route of doing something controversial in regards to Darren Young coming out and openly admitting he's gay. You know, gone the route of doing something similar to the Chuck & Billy angle of the early 2000s. Can you imagine the backlash in this day & age WWE would endure from organizations like GLAAD, the ACLU, any number of human rights organizations and ordinary people, gay or straight, who'd be offended? Or, what about if WWE decided to go back to the strategy of portraying the Divas as brain dead sex objects that engaged in "striptease" segments in which they wore nothing but the skimpiest g-strings and pasties covering their nipples? Although, maybe WWE should take some pride in the knowledge that even in 2014 there are people who still don't know that pro wrestling is as scripted as any other show on television. Either that or people just feel like bitching just for the sake of it. Considering the general stupidity frequently exemplified on social media day in & day out, I'd have no problem believing either one.

The Attitude Era was a fad. It was something different that showcased pro wrestling in a way that'd never been done before. WWE's ratings began falling the moment that the Monday Night Wars came to an end, which was 7 years before they officially went back to a PG rating. Strong examples of fads right now include shows like Duck Dynasty and The Walking Dead. If they're still on the air in the next 3 or 4 years, let's see if new episodes are drawing 9 million+ viewers, and that's without factoring in DVR viewership, on average; even if they feature fresh ideas, the same lovable and/or interesting characters and stories.

Pro wrestling just isn't as popular as it once was, that's simply how it is and I'm not sure that anything can be done to change that. All the talk of WWE not knowing how to build stars or come up with interesting storylines is more of the same IWC hater bullshit that's been spewed time and time again since the ending of the Attitude Era. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that it's the truth; what's TNA's problem? Why hasn't TNA been able to come along and swoop up viewers with edgier content, more controversial angles, using & building young stars? What's ROH's excuse? Even though they're in syndication, how come they're not able to woo more and more viewers to watch their product? Why aren't they able to attract newer viewers or steal them away from WWE altogether? Or, is it that both TNA & ROH have no idea what they're doing at all either? If those old crutches aren't enough to get by on, how about dragging out another old chestnut like...oooohhh..I dunno...like maybe enough people don't know about TNA or ROH despite that both have been around for more than a decade and have as much access to the internet in hyping their product as WWE does? How about New Japan or All Japan? How about AAA or CMLL? Why don't they try to make a run at trying to get their stuff onto TV here in the United States? I can't help but wonder how long it'd be, if any or all of those companies managed to earn TV deals to broadcast their stuff here in the United States, before the IWC haters pop up with the old "New Japan doesn't know how to build stars" or "AAA is only for little kids" or "All Japan's storylines suck".

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

I don't think it's possible at this point in time, no matter what happens.

If WWE brought The Rock / Brock Lesnar full-time, I'm 100% sure that ratings will go up.

WWE just needs to sign that NBC universal contract.

 

[Blade]

Let's make one thing perfectly clear: How to get a 5.0 and how to improve the product are two completely different questions with two completely different answers.

Getting Raw to a 5.0? Abolish the internet and DVR. That would help.

The fact is, there are hundreds of thousands of people who don't watch Raw live for whatever reason, whether they're working while it's on, or other family members are watching something instead, or there's simply something better on. It doesn't mean they don't want to watch Raw, it just means they have to find other methods than watching it live.

On the Pirate Bay alone, Raw gets tens of thousands of downloads, and the numbers get higher and higher with every torrent site you take into account. And then there's people who stream shows and people who DVR them for later. And then there's spoilers, which let people know in advance if they want to watch Raw or not.

Obviously, if you take away the internet people and DVR people, it wouldn't add up to a 5.0. But it would certainly add a big number to the ratings, close in on a 4.0. Torrent viewers are making up a bigger and bigger portion of the audience every day. That's why a show can have a huge internet following, like Community or It's Always Sunny, but not get great TV ratings.

Then there's the target market. A lot of channels want to hit that 18-35 male demographic, because that's the "cool" demographic. That's the demographic that fuels the economy. Apparently. It's a demographic that the Rock n' Wrestling era appealed to, and it's a demographic that the Attitude Era appealed to. 18-35 year olds are a strange bunch, they don't want something that's family friendly, cause it stops them from feeling like men when they enjoy it, I guess. It's why they hate Cena. It doesn't feel manly to like Cena. So they tune out.

But WWE is currently targeting a younger audience. Kids don't have their own money, they have to ask for pocket money. They also have to ask if they can watch something on TV. In reality, the parents become the audience, and the parents don't care.

So yeah, if they try to go for that key demographic that cool channels appeal to, they might raise their ratings. It doesn't have to be another attitude era, it just has to be more immature (ironically). It doesn't mean the current product is bad, more that 18-35 year old casual fans don't know what good wrestling is.

 

[GOOZEKING]

There are 3 ways I see that they can get 5.0 rating

1. (using current roster) tna invades and they revive the best story line in wwe history with cena turning back on wwe and joining tna.

2. Bring back stone cold, rock, lesnar, Kurt angle, trish, lita, taker, and stephanie mcmahon from 10 years wearing cleavage outfits. You also make heyman and dusty Rhodes head of creative.

3. Splitting brands with actual good people on each

 

[gooseholla]

I used to think that the rise of internet streaming sites was a problem. I'm sure it is. But then I tuned into a couple of RAWs.

I used to watch wrestling from 2001-2004 and really enjoyed it. Lost interest mid-2004, but still followed on websites. would I tune in and waste 3 hours now? No. I have other things to be doing. When I tuned in, I was like "who are these people?" and you immediately compare them to what you know - Rock, Austin, Taker, Kane, et al. and you're disappointed as they are not these people.

Then you have to sit through rubbish like social media, adverts every 5 minutes now - I kid you not, one episode they had a backstage segment, 3 minutes of adverts, then another segment of 2 - 3 minutes and it was adverts again!

So there is 3 hours with about an hours worth of programming in it. Of that, 15-20 minutes might be interesting to you - so you go on youtube to watch it, or record it, or stream it and skip to the bits you like.

Therefore, from my perspective, whilst the internet and multiple ways to watch WWE might hurt ratings a bit, it is the fact that this is no longer 1999-2001, and it just isn't quality, must see TV anymore. WWE has run out of ideas for long term fans, so I believe is going after new fans who haven't seen it all before. In essence then nothing is going to get them back up to 5.0s. Mid 3s is about all they should expect in this day and age, with this audience.

 

[fizzdaboi]

I also believe they need competition, coz they had WCW pressuring them to do better, then they got the big stages, all that pyro, big stars being made and all sorts and it had viewers turn in to each show to see what was going on the next episode. TNA is available but it's not competition.. it's just an alternative, they put no pressure of WWE to do better, so I don't think they'll see those 5.0 ratings anytime soon for a very long time.

 

[zomigosh]

I don't know why people pay so much attention to ratings to the point where they'll say a certain year was better than another because it had higher ratings when year after year cable television viewership as a whole goes down in mass quantities. Every show is losing Viewership on their respective networks. Not because every show is worse than it used to be, but because the concept of Cable Television is old fashioned and is currently dying because of it.

There's Youtube. There's Netflix. There's Hulu. This is the future, streamed digital media. This is why the WWE is producing the WWE Network (which has been confirmed to be the WWE version of Netflix), because they know Cable Television and PPV's are slowly dying.

Above all that, wrestling is just not as popular anymore, and it definitely won't be anymore popular with added blood and sexual innuendos. The world has changed entirely, and "edginess" is somewhat looked down upon. Look at Miley Cyrus, for example. That's tame compared to what someone like Madonna used to do. And Justin Bieber. What he's doing currently was a regular accepted thing done by most musicians back 20 years ago, to the point where it's considered "rock culture". Now it's frowned upon because it isn't politically correct (not to say I agree with it, which I don't). If wrestling went back to the crass violence and sex it once used to be, it'd be looked down upon more than it already is today.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The Attitude Era was a fad. It was something different that showcased pro wrestling in a way that'd never been done before.

Exactly. Somehow, WWE caught lightning in a bottle back then and managed to convince people that watching pro wrestling was the "in" thing to do. It was probably the same principle that made so many people buy "pet rocks" and "beanie babies" back when they were temporary sensations that everyone had to have.

People watched pro wrestling more for the spectacle, the chance to identify with an approved mass movement. You'd better believe Vince McMahon is still looking for a way to bring that marketing concept back to his product.

Still, the only way to achieve 5.0 ratings would probably entail the NFL going out of business......and having nice weather abolished during the time it'/s traditionally here, so they could keep people inside their homes, watching wrestling. Abolishing video games might help, too.

All that might push 'em over 5.0. Otherwise.....no.

 

[shafe_41]

It can't. Simple really. In the world of the internet, downloading, streaming, DVRs, nobody NEEDS to be parked in front of their TV on Monday nights to watch an entire episode of Raw like they did back in the heydays of the Monday Night Wars.

Also, you're asking for the WWE to somehow put programming together that rivals THE BEST PROGRAMMING THEY EVER CREATED. Also... not going to happen. Nothing is going to rival the Austin/Rock era. Nothing. The Attitude Era was a "right place/right time" situation. People that didn't even like wrestling would watch Austin because he was such a huge pop icon at the time. WWE caught lightning in a bottle with Austin and The Rock. I don't forsee that happening again anytime soon.. if at all.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

If WWE brought The Rock / Brock Lesnar full-time, I'm 100% sure that ratings will go up.

WWE just needs to sign that NBC universal contract.

They wouldn't go up much or for very long. No matter how good the product is.

People forget that it was WCW that made wrestling cool again. Without them there is no Attitude Era. Meanwhile Austin took the world by storm followed by The Rock. All the pieces fell perfectly in place for the WWE at that time.

People need to quit comparing ratings from today to the biggest eras.

 

[Slyfox696]

How to get Raw up to a 5.0 rating? That's easy.

1. Get rid of the Internet. The Internet is full of piracy streaming, piracy downloads, and live coverage/reviews. Get rid of it.

2. Get rid of DVR. DVR allows people to record a show to watch later, and for a long time (may still be true) did not count in the ratings.

3. Get rid of 1000 channels. Back in the day, there were about 100 channels to choose from, so television viewers had much fewer options.

4. Get rid of Netflix, Hulu, etc. Streaming video services have cut into the ratings/profits of regular cable/satellite/over the air broadcasts. The whole "convenience for the viewer" thing is getting out of hand.

5. Make the rest of the television world less edgy. With shows like Breaking Bad and Dexter, how can the WWE ever compete in terms of edgy programming?


With these five steps, the WWE would be well on their way to getting closer to those 5.0 ratings. I really don't see why the WWE is being so stubborn and not doing these things.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

The 1/28/13 edition of RAW got a 3.68 rating. While it was not "5.0", it was still higher than what RAW usually gets nowadays (below 3.0). This was the RAW after the Royal Rumble 2013 (Rock's first RAW as WWE Champion). Highest rated RAW since 2011 other than RAW 1000 which got a 3.86 rating. This means there are many fans who refuse to watch other than when Attitude era stars make an appearance.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Sly doesn't have a clue. He completely ignores that Vince could overthrow the American government, trash our Constitution and replace it with a mandate that everyone watches Raw live every Monday. The army, marines, navy, air force, and coast guard could be brought back to make sure all Americans are being law abiding. I think despite the massive number of people who would rip their own eyes and ears out before they watched Raw, they could still pull a 5.3.

WWE would have to sacrifice a lot to increase ratings. I doubt it's worth it or possible, otherwise they would probably be doing these things:

1. Don't have Superstars kill their wife, child, and themselves.
2. Push more storylines with cliffhangers and promote, promote, promote$$$.
3. Make the APP a necessity and only valuable under live programming.
4. Have Raw1000 52 weeks a year.

 

[Cereal Killer]

The common theme in answers here seems to be that it's just not that interesting anymore. What you should know is that the WWE is making more money than ever before, mainly because of the PG product which has gained them a lot of advertisers and sponsors since 2008.

Whenever us fans do call the product interesting, the ratings still remain around the 3.0 circle. I'm sure a lot of people here enjoyed the "Summer of Punk" and enjoy the "Road to Wrestlemania." Ratings in the summer of 2011 were still around 3.0 and ratings in the Wrestlemania season remain the same. What I've picked up is that the only reason the ratings seem so low is because of the internet. Nothing to do with spoilers or anything as such, but because we now have the opportunity to watch wrestling online. Wether it is on Youtube, Hulu Plus or WWE.com, people watch the product online as well. I'm sure if the internet was as popular as it is now in 1998, a lot of people would have watched it online and the ratings would have been a lot lower. Online viewership isn't taken into account but let's say it was, I reckon the ratings would appear a lot higher.

If the ratings were a major problem, Vince would be panicking. He's not, that relates to the fact that they're PG. If he was concerned he would attempt an obvious change to the product. The crowd attendance for Wrestlemania 17 was 67,000, while the attendance for Wrestlemania 27 was 71,000. I enjoyed Wrestlemania 17 a lot more than 27 but because of their growth as a company, the latter which was a poor event might I add had the larger numbers. Financially the WWE is in a good position and despite the ratings at a 3.0, they still get a lot of advertisers.

 

[Pedigree1]

It is impossible in this day and age to get a 5.0.. I dont care how good the show is,that is not gonna happen.. The IWC and various people have complained that over the years,we demand more controversial,more edgier television.. The whole Coulter and Swagger angle was brilliant.. Well done in this PG era,but too many people got all upset over that and WWE had to basically drop the angle all together.. I liked the little show they did on youtube as i thought it was funny but i dont think its still around anymore at least i havent heard anything.

Remember the Punk angle where he mocked Jerry Lawler having a heart attack? Lawler himself,gave his okay for that angle,you would have thought,people were personally insulted.. JH brings up great points,they could have played off Darren Young coming out ,like an angle ala Billy and Chuck. But with corporate sponsors today no way in hell that would fly.. GLADD and ACLU,various human rights organizations would have been in a huge uproar!!

DVR and Internet are a blessing.. Almost everyone DVR's Smackdown cause alot of young people,go out and party on fridays.. I DVR both shows due to my work schedule.. DVR and Internet hurt but are not really the problem..

Being in a PG era is not the problem either,when you have no competition you have nothing to worry about.. As soon as the Monday night wars ended,ratings did drop. Part of it to me at least,is Pro Wrestling is no longer cool to watch. People always do whats cool and if pro wrestling isnt as cool as it once was,then people will turn off to watch what is cool..

SOA and Mad Men shows like that,can get away with more edgier programming! SOA for being on FX,is a very violent show,racism,rape,and people say its genius writing.. WWE cant pull stuff like that,for one thing there on a family tv station,and two kids watch their product.. Also the demographic era,back then it was 18-35 or something..

Men by their very nature,love violence the more sex and violent the more we want.. WWE had some of that back in the attitude era,we all used to look forward to Monday night Raw,Raw is War!! Now with the WWE being in a different direction more kid friendly i happen to say their demographic era is like 5-15 or something in that era..

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

If WWE brought The Rock / Brock Lesnar full-time, I'm 100% sure that ratings will go up.

WWE just needs to sign that NBC universal contract.

WWE couldn't afford the Rock on a full-time basis, and why would the Rock even consider it when he's past his prime now? He can just continue to make multi-million dollar paydays doing movies, and just generally making money off of his brand and trademarks.

Lesnar has no interest in wrestling a full-time schedule, and why would he when he's getting paid over a million bucks to work select dates a year. Lesnar is a big-time farmer, and also is business partners in a few MMA gyms. Not really two things you can just walk away from and go work a full-time 250-300 day road schedule, especially the farming since Brock is hands on with it.

So no, it's not just a "WWE needs to sign this contract and all is fixed." That's what we call being delusional. The biggest possible feud they could get out of Lesnar and Rock would be Lesnar vs. Rock, the re-match, which would only be hugely marketable at Summerslam or Mania... They don't need to sign those two to full time contracts to get that match out of them.

 

[CaptainZaltan]

Listen to the fans they do have, show them something they want to see rather than what the WWE has decided to make them like. Then maybe those fans will actually publicly admit to being wrestling fans and discuss wrestling in a positive context with non-fans, who in turn may decide to give it a shot. As opposed to now, when many of those still watching have few positive things to say about the WWE or its direction, watch only out of habit, and are too embarassed by the product to admit ever viewing it. Shows still build an audience largely by word of mouth and positive feedback. Ive become a fan of plenty of shows through friends recommendations, and vice versa. I wouldnt even think of recommending WWE to anyone, because I can barely watch it myself. Not that there isnt still good stuff happening, but its just not enough to outweigh the mountain of advertising, idiocy, and pettiness that characterizes so much of the show. Particularly for new fans who havent been conditioned to tolerate it.

 

[GOOZEKING]

Guys it is simple... People use internet, DVR, and all that because they have better things to do and it probably isn't that important to them. So what you do is you make storyline, character that make people think omg I got to watch this screw my other stuff it is going to be in my head and I can't do anything else. You got to make people think that they can't live their life without knowing what is happening.

 

[Wald]

Doubt it and I think I'm personally a good example of why not.

I've watched the WWF/E & WCW in my time, started with the Mega Powers exploding before Wrestlemania 5 and up until the year 2001 I wouldn't miss a show, whether it was the WCW Saturday show, Raw, Superstars, Nitro or whatever.

Growing up obviously leaves you with less time to focus on wrestling but I honestly haven't sat down to watch a full Raw, Smackdown or Impact in I don't know long, years even. What I do is read the results Tuesday morning and decide if there is anything worth checking out on streams on Youtube, Dailymotion or wherever. You'd be surprised how often there isn't and I don't watch wrestling at all in a given week if it weren't for NXT, which is the only show I'd check out from start to finish.

Two hour TV shows are just too hard to find time to watch fully on a weekly basis, I don't want to be watching TV from Monday to Friday and I have work, life, gym or whatever to fit in, not to mention watching shows like Boardwalk Empire or catching some football. Three hour Raw shows are just ridiculous and very off putting.

Honestly, and I don't think this would work really, the only thing I can think of to try get past 5.0 again is to trim the roster, cut Smackdown entirely from the schedule and focus on a two hour Raw show alongside NXT and Main Event. Might make Raw a must watch show by simple fact of cutting three hours of programming off the schedule and bringing back those who just don't have the time for WWE at present.

Couple that with an elite roster with proper creative storylines behind each feud and you could see the meter slowly creeping up past 4.0