Low Ratings for RAW - Is it Panic Time?

[Hdog684]

I love the Cena haters, you guys just never give up do you? You get concrete proof that he's the best draw they have and you still come up with excuses. News flash, this isn't the first time Raw went up against MNF and the playoffs. They've been going up against MNF for weeks now, and they go up against MLB every October. Guess what happened last October? Raw's ratings went UP from September. Guess what happened in October 2005? Raw's ratings went UP from September. Seeing a trend?

We're supposed to believe that, for the first time ever, the competition hurt Raw's ratings, and this just happened to occur on the same week that the guy they've built their company around for two and a half years got hurt and wouldn't be there and the same week the guy you mark for like nobody's business became WWE champ. Yeah, that seems realistic. Not.

The fact of the matter is, people need to pull their heads out of their butts and realize that Cena was carrying the company for a reason. Yeah, WWE was stupid for building their company around one guy. Show me a wrestling company that has ever not had one guy be the face of it and I'll show you a wrestling company that sucks. That's how the industry works. You have one star carrying you. Rock, Austin, HBK, Hart, Hogan, Backlund, Sammartino...you find one guy that draws fans the best and build your show around them.

I get that you're homophobic and closet homosexuals, you can't handle your sexual attraction to Cena, and you turn that into hate and anger towards both him and his fans. I get it. But at some point I would think that reality has to kick in.

Cena draws. Orton doesn't. I know, because I was one of those people that decided not to watch Raw. And it wasn't because of MNF or the MLB playoffs. And it wasn't just Cena not being there, it was the fact that they decided to give a guy who sucks on the mic and in the ring and is a pile of shit sorry excuse for a human being the title.

 

[EPN17]

I think WWE should be worried. No offense, but how many fan favorites do they have on Raw now? HHH, Ortan, Jeff Hardy, Kennedy, Carlito, Shawn Michaels again, and pretty soon y2J, and yet the ratings are still dropping.

I think the Yankees game did have something to do with it and coupled with Monday night football that probably did draw alot of viewers away from Raw.

Still, If TNA has shown the world anything, it's that signing fan favorites (Nash, Sting, Cage, Angle) doesn't mean you're ratings are going to go up, and WWE has to learn that. Personally that's why both companies are in trouble. They figure they can just cram a bunch of famous wrestlers on one show and they'll pull 4's every week. WWE needs some original writing to help the superstars keep the fans attention, otherwise the ratings aren't gonna change.

 

[Dfloresg]

One bad thing happens in WWE and every wrestling internet site blows it up. Correct me if I'm wrong.....but it seems like everything the internet sites concentrate now and days is all the negative WWE does. No one talks about all the positives. Believe me....this isn't the first time ratings went down and wont be the last. Get a grip negative people. You cant win every week.

 

[wmxix]

I agree with Dfloresg to a degree; no, you can't win every week, but I guarantee that if there's one group of people "blowing up" more than the denizens of the WrestleZone forums, it's Vince McMahon and the WWE Raw creative team. Vince has to be pissed about the 2.8. First of all, he's Vince McMahon and his ego is bigger than the MLB playoffs and MNF combined. Second, he has to be considering murdering whatever creative head suggested bringing HBK back without so much as a WWE.com teaser. If everyone knew HBK was coming back, there would've been no way for Raw to only pull off a 2.8.

That said, I could care less about the rating. The surprise was awesome--vintage WWE, even. (It reminded me of HBK's return to Raw a few weeks before the Triple H vs. Rock Iron Man Match at Judgment Day 2000.) I think it sends a few people into panic mode for the time being, but hopefully Vince keeps his pants on and waits to see how this pans out. I'm guessing the rating goes up big time next week.

And for the record, I watched MNF and Yanks-Indians simultaneously (big TV, little TV, respectively) and still had time out here on the West Coast to catch the second hour of Raw. So football and baseball couldn't have been entirely to blame.

 

[Kennedy_keeroy]

there is no way that its panic time for raw i mean come on theyve got a new champ sure its only that paper champion randy orton but theyve got HHH back Theyve just brought back HBK the showstopper~(about time) and on top of that were supposedly bringing back Y2J at cyber sunday nah theres nowt to worry about in my honest opinion

 

[Snake]

I'm not American and thus don't know anything about the size of this Baseball game - But what I do know is that this Raw was one of the nest in a while, on the back of what was a very good PPV. One of the few moments I remember my body tingling during WWE - HBK returning and watching my sisters face light up when he super kicked Randy Orton. Raw should be fine, TNA has no real firepower to tackle WWE, despite it having a few good wrestlers, although a lot are WWE rejects or ones who werent too good for it.

I think we need a new faction war or something along those lines - The DX + Hardy + Kendrick and London would be good - Although HHH did pedigree the feck out of them. A problem with HHH is that he is pretty arrogant, no matter how much I like him. Umaga, Kennedy/Carlito, Cade, Murdoch, Orton and Vince would be the other faction of course.

I also want to see more championship storylines, for me, the ones I am seeing are very weak, especially this one with the Highlanders, truly awful. HBK coming back is a great move and should bring a lot of that charisma he has to WWE.

As much as I hate to say it, Santino Marella has given me a lot of laughs - 10x more than Hornswoggle. Ron Simmons & Marella mini feud was pretty funny for me, I dont mind funny storylines, but only for those who can pull it off, not Coach/Regal chasing Hornswoggle mindlessly like they cant catch him. Regal alsoannoys me with his stupid stereotypical accent, none of us Englishmen speak like that...

 

[psykohurricane]

It's been like this for awhile now. the ratings have been going down since the begenning of september when HHH came back and the orton/cena really started so i'm guessing that even if the wasn't any baseball on tv, the rating would have been the same. The normal fans don'T that watch Raw don'T want to be bored every week and that's what we got right now. Hornswoogle is didn'T do anything for the ratings either but since he's not a big part of the show anymore i think we could safely say that the fans don'T want to see HHH and RAndy ORton all over the show every week. LEt's hope that HBK can save the sinking ship but i doubt it.

 

[skibbiez]

I remember a time where no one cared about ratings. We just tuned in every week to be entertained. Then the wcw vs wwf monday night war started and websites began posting the ratings like there was something we really needed to care about. I'm not going to lie. I read the ratings just about every week and this week I was shocked that it was so low, but why? Why do we care that it's just a 2.8 or if it goes back up? We do not work for wwe so unless you got a stock in the company you shouldnt care. In all actuallity people should be glad for the low ratings because it should mean for the wwe to try and improve their product!

 

[ACTAFOOL]

i am glad when WWE gets low ratings, cuz then i know they're gonna shake things up, though the problem this time is that WWE did shake things up... a lot.. and it went DOWN.. thats not good at all...

i dont think WWE will panic yet either, they'll wait a few more weeks, if it stays like this, or goes down even more, then bye bye randy...

though its hard to belive this has to do with cena, sure some of it does but not this much, the ratings were already going down a lot even with cena champ, and not only on RAW, as i mentioned b4.. it seems since the benoit tragedy wrestling has really taken a hit...

 

[TheOriginalDrFill]

The ratings are falling because the show is terrible. And it's actually two steps up from ECW and SmackDown, which are unwatchable!

Cena was the last draw Raw had. And he quit doing promos that were any good. I'm not watching Raw for HHH. I've pretty much stopped watching Wrestling, because the shows are bad. The ratings won't get any better either. It will be a LONG TIME before they do 4's again.

They need to drop ECW, if they won't do it right, and if CMPunk is all you can do as a Champion, and they need to invest their talent into the two main shows, and creative needs to get off their a$$, and stop giving USA the idea that they can write a better show. Because they can! I can!

How Estrada and Guerrero are GMs is unforgivable. Both are horrible GMs, and have terrible on-screen personnas. Stephanie and Shane need to get in front of the mike, and help rebuild these shows, until they have someone worth watching. The McMahons are their best assets right now, and they need toget to work.

If I see Khali against Mysterio one more time........

The problems with WWE right now are limitless!

TheOriginalDrFill

 

[Tomm2x]

We'll have to see ratings go down to virtually 0.0 before Vince accepts the idea he has lost touch with the fans and his ideas no longer work. For the past several years, we've seen the WWE's product nosedive in quality, and with the recent Benoit fiasco and steroid investigation turning off many casual fans. Now, Vince puts the belt on his pet project, Randy Orton, and sees his ratings plummet. Blame it on baseball or football, but I think in this age of DVR recorders and even VCR's, if someone really wants to watch RAW, they will. But don't tell this to Vince. He seems to think success in the 80's and 90's make him the dictator of professional wrestling. If people really have a problem with the WWE's product, do what I do... don't watch it. Don't check out WWE.com, either. The WWE will not change as long as Vince is in charge, and frankly, I'd love to see it tank further to see who or what Vince blames next, when we all know it's his own fault, from the storylines and wrestlers he pushes to the employees (creative and otherwise) he hires.

 

[KingofPortonia]

Well yeah, now the women and children lost their hero. so yeah now they won't watch raw no more until he returns. if only we can clone another John Cena, maybe that would work. and teach the clone 5 to 8 wrestling moves.

I think it's only a glitch but I bet the 'kids and women' angle will be what the execs look at if it continues and if that ha[[ens you can bet it'll be Rey to Raw... JOY!

 

[hurrafreak]

In my eyes there are a lot of factors that are going into the low ratings deal. I DO think that the WWE is picking stuff up and making things a little bit more interesting. Someone up there said that they should maybe add more matches. Hmmm, I think what they are doing is percfect right now. I don't think they should add more matches as much as they should make the matches that they are having, more interesting. I think the TV shows are here to build storylines, to make us want to order those PPV's. I do also think that there should only be one PPV a month though because that would give them more time to push storylines, and I think that would make the ratings go higher.

 

[Kliq]

I think WWE should be worried. No offense, but how many fan favorites do they have on Raw now? HHH, Ortan, Jeff Hardy, Kennedy, Carlito, Shawn Michaels again, and pretty soon y2J, and yet the ratings are still dropping.

I think the Yankees game did have something to do with it and coupled with Monday night football that probably did draw alot of viewers away from Raw.

Still, If TNA has shown the world anything, it's that signing fan favorites (Nash, Sting, Cage, Angle) doesn't mean you're ratings are going to go up, and WWE has to learn that. Personally that's why both companies are in trouble. They figure they can just cram a bunch of famous wrestlers on one show and they'll pull 4's every week. WWE needs some original writing to help the superstars keep the fans attention, otherwise the ratings aren't gonna change.

Keeping the fans attention isn't the problem, the problem is retrieving the millions of old fans from the 90's and getting in new fans. TNA not doing well after bringing in legends doesn't mean anything. They don't have the marketing power WWE has. TNA's ratings are climbing, not dropping, and it will only be a matter of time before they are on par with WWE.

As I said before, the only way to get new fans, is to bring back people with NAMES and advertise the shit out of them.

 

[BRandonkin]

Keeping the fans attention isn't the problem, the problem is retrieving the millions of old fans from the 90's and getting in new fans. TNA not doing well after bringing in legends doesn't mean anything. They don't have the marketing power WWE has. TNA's ratings are climbing, not dropping, and it will only be a matter of time before they are on par with WWE.

As I said before, the only way to get new fans, is to bring back people with NAMES and advertise the shit out of them.

No there are not. They are pretty much the same. They had a few 1.2 fell to a 1.1 due to it being a 1.05, and they even had a .9. The two hour show did a 1.1 nothing spectualar for the much hype 2 hout debut. Wrestling is tanking right now. I hear TNA fans saying that TNA is become WWEish and if so, and this is the ratings, they will fall. Let hope they do better

 

[ABS]

I was very curiouse to find out what Raw's rating was goign to be and I wanst surprised. Panic time..NO...next week Raw rating will go sky high since HBK and things are getting more intresting. But Neverthe less the Creative TEams Suks Balls I dont know how they got hired. Dont panic people , WWE is playing ball with TNA. Theyre waitng for TNA to get bigger then BANG WWE gets back to its best and puts TNA outta business. Im pretty sure theyre keeping the good stuff for the future when TNA becomes a bigger Company.

 

[TheUltimate1.Epic]

for de ppl who think itz gr8 to hav cena gone now.... i totally disagree.. cena wuz mr mondai nite..datz y i watched raw.. i wuz gunna turn awaii frm raw.. buh whn i saw hbk cum bk .. i think m stiking!!

I suggest some grammar lessons while on strike. Anyways, wrestling has been going down for awhile now and i don't think its ready to hit rock bottom either. I think Cena getting hurt and not letting Orton beat him legit is not good for the product and for Ortons credibility as a champion because he never beat Cena. Maybe HBK will do something for the rating, but unless their is something drastically changed i think its going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

 

[will5825]

I've been reading and reading..no body has mentioned ECW? Regardless of if you like the talent a lot, it has hurt the company. Spreading the roster out to three shows will lower your ratings, combined with poor storylines. If Burke,Punk and etc. where on Raw or Smackdown more ppl would tune in to see the entire show. the problem is that you have so much filler crap in between decent matches by the time you get to the main event, you don't give a damn.

 

[Kliq]

The only 'hype' I ever heard of their 2-hour debut was in TNA programming and an occasional commercial. The fact that they even achieved a 1.0+ for their first two hour show is astounding in itself.

Sure TNA's ratings have been leveling off as of late, but then again they aren't pushing the true legends they have/had at their disposal, besides Sting, which I am greatly pleased with. They are in the same boat as WWE currently, in my opinion, of needing to attract new fans. I could only imagine where they would be if Randy Savage and DDP hadn't left. With the rumors of Scott Hall returning and Kevin Nash being brought up to in-ring action, things will be better for them.

However, with Sting saying this will be his last year in professional wrestling, Kevin Nash stating that he has '1' more good run, and many other legends simply aging away, WWE and TNA need to take advantage of them now before its too late.

 

[tap-out]

wwe problem is simple.

1. too many rosters with too few people. I have no problem with having ECW but what i would like to see is ECW act like a seperate entity instead of having it being apart of the other two brands. Then You have two Companies. ECW and WWE. Take the WWE tag titles and move them along with the United States Title over to ECW. Add more people to the ECW roster and boom. You have another WCW. Then take Raw and Smackdown and due what worked for you in the day when Smackdown first started. Stop with the brand crap. You have already thinned out the roster by adding more to the ECW roster so what u do is have everyone at Raw and SD and go back to building feuds with excitement of surprises on who will come out and what not.

When you have brands you only have two hours a week to try and put everyone over. You can't do it. With going back to the old days(not meaning you have to go back to attitude era) you keep things fresh in peoples minds and something for them to look forward to in a couple of days on SD. Now people just lose interest because they don't have proper time to push the feuds the way they did and people don't care or just forget to tune in a whole week later. The excitement dies off.

Again these are my views and just a thought of what i think could work.

ECW WWE
ECW Champ WWE World Champ
US Champ Intercontinental Champ
ECW Tag Champs World Tag Champs
Womens
European
Vinny Mac can stilll make his money off of the so called brands and probably would make more money due to the fact he has put on a watchable program again

 

[ACTAFOOL]

4get it, the solution isnt old legends, its about building ur own new talent into future legends, u cant keep depending on the past

WWE built cena, even though many of us IWC fans hated or disliked him he was a big superstar, kinda like a austin or rock from the attitude era for the kids, wether u like it or not he was a major draw and a major headliner

if WWE can make cena this big, they can still make many new superstars just as big, it depends on how they build them up, the problem is WWE wants to make mid carders into WM main eventers in 1 month, they need to have a proper build up, a good gimmick, or at least interesting and decent feuds, cuz honestly i didnt think of orton as a main eventer until he beat trips at no mercy...

the problem is that the storyline is the belt, the just throw 2 ppl in the ring against each other for the belt, even though thats what wrestling is about what brings in more ratings is a more interesting storyline and more depths to the wrestlers

WWE needs to 4get about the past and move on to the future, how long do u think WWE or TNA or any other wrestling company can depend on big names?

 

[Skullz Crack'Em]

RAW got a 2.8 rating and it doesn't surprise me at all. A lot of elements mixed together caused this to eventually happen: RAW lost it's top star John Cena, even though I could care less, but he did draw lots of attention from the fans. Vince made a pathetic joke out of his illegitimate son storyline making Hornswoggle his son which nobody seems to care about. If Kennedy was really the son, it should have been revealed by now, but they probably will hold that off for 5 years, you know, WWE style. If you blink, you might miss a RAW match since they tend to be very short because they need to save up as much time possible for RAW's Main Attraction, not Cena, but Mr. McMahon! At the start of every damn RAW we hear Vince's theme music which leads to, you guessed it, a 20+ minute promo from our beloved Chairman of WWE, Mr. McMahon. We then get the privilege to watch multiple backstage skits of Vince throughout the two hours of RAW, yippee. Vince can bring back Shawn Michaels, he can bring back Y2J, but even those two big names will not increase the ratings by a huge amount. Until some BIG changes happens to the RAW layout, they will never recover their fanbase to what it once was. If they are not going to do anything about it, then rename the show from Monday Night RAW to Monday Night McMahon, kinda has a nice ring to it, doesn't anybody agree?

 

[Kliq]

4get it, the solution isnt old legends, its about building ur own new talent into future legends, u cant keep depending on the past

WWE built cena, even though many of us IWC fans hated or disliked him he was a big superstar, kinda like a austin or rock from the attitude era for the kids, wether u like it or not he was a major draw and a major headliner

if WWE can make cena this big, they can still make many new superstars just as big, it depends on how they build them up, the problem is WWE wants to make mid carders into WM main eventers in 1 month, they need to have a proper build up, a good gimmick, or at least interesting and decent feuds, cuz honestly i didnt think of orton as a main eventer until he beat trips at no mercy...

the problem is that the storyline is the belt, the just throw 2 ppl in the ring against each other for the belt, even though thats what wrestling is about what brings in more ratings is a more interesting storyline and more depths to the wrestlers

WWE needs to 4get about the past and move on to the future, how long do u think WWE or TNA or any other wrestling company can depend on big names?

You are partially correct. The way to build the young talent is to put them with or against the old talent. Putting Randy Orton with HHH and Ric Flair attributed to his success, and you can't deny that. When Goldberg Debuted in WCW, it was his feud with the NWO that created a fan favorite.

Part of the problem in what you said, is that you are talking too much about developing the wrestlers, and not solving the problem of attaining new fans.

Personally my reason for tuning into the WWE for the first time was when they brought back the NWO. My interest only peaked when Shawn Michaels returned to in-ring action, and my attention stayed when Kevin Nash came back to fued with HHH.

I hope I am not alone in thinking that big names bringing in fans to take notice to the younger stars is the way to go. Honestly I would rather see the legends then the immature personalities of today, but if that same thing can help increase ratings, what's the harm?

 

[Wrestlingfan83]

Panic? No. Oppurtunity? Yes.

The dip in ratings is a combination of two things Football & Poor Product.
Some will say no because the WWE has always been on @ the same time as MNF. It's just NOW it's either watch Monday Night Raw for Wack product or watch a entertaining football game. Things are too predictable. You know who's gonna win when the match is announced. Maybe that's just cuz Im getting older.......who knows.

This time could be better used as a oppurtunity to boost ECW. Think about it. There's NO football on tuesdays.

 

[jpfizzle]

Things are too predictable. You know who's gonna win when the match is announced. Maybe that's just cuz Im getting older.......who knows.

QUOTE]

I agree, although there are certain things, for example the hbk return, so much of the wwe has become predictable, the storylines are weaker than 5 - 10 years ago.

i think that the reason for this is the current lack of factions in the wwe, it would explain why the tag team division has been weaker than before, and in terms of storylines it would provide depth by covering things like the importance of friendships and betrayl.