Raw Draws Lowest Rating in 15 Years

[Mustang Sally]

It's not even 3 hour Raw, it's just that I'm bored. THere is good wrestling, and good stories going on, but I'm just bored. Burnt out, would be another way of putting it.

Yes, because there's too damn much WWE wrestling presented in prime time. The company has taken the concept that if the public likes what they're giving us, they'll give us more and more. It's called market over-saturation.

In 1993, at the time Tiny Tim was calling Jerry Lawler the "Dairy Queen" on Monday Night Raw from the Manhattan Center, the show was only an hour long, and it was the only original weekly programming offered by WWE. (There were a couple of re-cap shows during the week, with no storylines).

With the success of the one-hour Raw, the company figured we'd like 2 hours of it.....so we got it.

Then, if we liked 2 hours of Raw, they figured we'd love 2 hours of Smackdown....so we got it.

Then we got ECW.....then NxT.....then Main Event......plus other stuff I'm forgetting.

And there you have it. It's tough enough (Oh, yeah! I forgot about "Tough Enough!") to come up with innovations and new storylines for a form of entertainment in which pretty much everything has already been done, so the last thing they should do is drown us in product.

When they do, we get bored and burnt out.....we stop tuning in.....and the rating drops.

 

[klunderbunker]

Yep, especially when you consider Cena is a guy that on his own is interesting to watch. He can talk, he has a good look, and he's a freak of nature with his strength. But hey, clearly throwing away all those t-shirt sales he brings in is a good move right?

 

[Martin Gabriel]

For me, it's a combination of a few things.

1. WAY too much content. Back in the Attitude Era, the alleged golden era of wrestling, you had about four to six hours a week of TV, and that's counting the shows like Metal and Jakked (those shows were lower than Superstars is now). Now, you have that by Wednesday. You're asking writers to figure out stories and action for over eight hours (Raw - 3, NXT - 1, Main Event - 1, Superstars - 1, Smackdown - 2, Saturday Morning Slam - 1/2) of TV a week, which is ignoring PPVs. There's just WAY too much going on and people get tired of trying to keep up with it all.

2. No one is elevated strong anymore. Before Ryback, who was the last guy who got a rocket strapped to his back and was launched to the main event? Del Rio I guess. before him? Not quite sure. Anymore, this is what you get:

WWE wants to push let's say Kofi. Kofi pins Miz and gets pushed. Well now Miz needs to get his heat back so let's have him beat Brodus. Brodus looks weak now so have him get a fluke win over Del Rio. Del Rio is angry so he destroys Kofi.

Now we're say two weeks later, everyone is 1-1 and no one is any stronger than they were when the whole cycle started. Then the cycle starts all over again and there's no one to get behind because they're all the same and no one of the four looks ready to move up because they're the same as everyone else. Then Cena gets hurt and you get lucky that there's one guy you haven't jobbed out yet and the fans are getting behind. If Ryback wasn't there, who in the world were they going to throw at Punk? Orton? Maybe? They need to fix this FAST so there are people to get behind. Stop worrying that these people are going to get hot and leave and enjoy them while you've got them there.

3. General Managers. It's been done. I mean it's been done for the last fifteen years. They've tried ever since to capture the lightning in a bottle they had with Vince vs. Austin and NOTHING HAS EVER COME CLOSE, but they keep at it anyway. Think about it: we're on what, the third GM of the year on Raw? Why am I supposed to care about Vickie more than Ace or AJ? Just let it go, have ONE boss (or zero preferably but since wrestling fans are apparently so stupid that they ahve to have someone walk them through everything that's not going to happen), and that's it. Make it Vince, make it the Board, make it a GM, and THAT'S IT.

Think about this: the Board is apparently in charge of everythign, Vince is the Chairman of the Board but has no authority over them except for occasionally when he feels like it, the GM no longer exists but has to answer to the board and Vince and now there's a managing supervisor which is somehow different than the GM. Let me sum this up for you:

WHO CARES? This brings me to my next point.

4. Who is the audience for this show? The line you always hear is the audience is kids. When I was a kid, I loved Power Rangers, Super Nintendo, TMNT, Hulk Hogan, Disney Movies and Sting. You know what I wasn't interested in?

Lawsuits over finishing moves
Corporate power struggles
Fraternizing
Business dinners
Managing supervisors
Boards of Directors
Stephanie's charity cause of the week

Actually, who is interested in ANY of those things? This brings up the most important point.

5. The shows are boring. We just got off Sheamus vs. Del Rio which was Del Rio whining every month because he didn't get ANOTHER match. Now we're on to Cena saying that he hasn't been allowed to beat Punk. What does that even mean? He's had two matches with him in the last few months. He lost one in a triple threat and he tied in another. How is that not letting him win? Punk talking about how many days he's been champion while demanding respect isn't interesting. Vickie CERTAINLY isn't interesting. Ziggler was hot for awhile so they jobbed him 15 times over the last few months. What is going on that's interesting? HELL NO is interesting, so let's have them wrestle in singles matches, not do the funny skits that made people like them, and have them lose to guys like Ziggler and Big Show because those guys have to beat SOMEONE so we'll think they're threats, and who better than champions?

Most importantly though, get Raw back to two hours and things will get better. Oh and stop the stupid GM nonsense. Things will get better fast.

KB I like all of that, with the exception of that last thing about Hell No. Why are you going to take them out of their role as tag champs doing funny shit that made people like them, only to have them lose in singles matches? I can guarantee that we can think of a lot more people that would be potential threats than the tag champs, not to mention that idea would get people bitching about the tag division again.

 

[Thriller Ant]

KB I like all of that, with the exception of that last thing about Hell No. Why are you going to take them out of their role as tag champs doing funny shit that made people like them, only to have them lose in singles matches? I can guarantee that we can think of a lot more people that would be potential threats than the tag champs, not to mention that idea would get people bitching about the tag division again.

What KB said.




























Your head.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I love the excuses all the little WWE apologists and McMahon nuthuggers keep making everytime the ratings take a nosedive. It's always something. It's sports, it's politics, it's the holidays, DVRs, streaming, rejiggering the ratings system. Always excuses. As I recall back in he Attitude Era WCW and WWE faced sports, political debates, and holidays and they still held their own just fine.

But nooooo, It can't possibly be that people just don't like the product WWE is putting out these days. It has nothing to do with how we've seen the same old faces wrestling the same stale matches week in week out. Ignore the crappy recycled overplayed corporate power struggle storylines they've been doing for the past 15 years. WWE is sacrosanct. They're never wrong. Keep on drinkin' the Kool-Aid.

It's not drinking Kool-Aid when you are 100% wrong. They aren't really losing any of their audience, not in noticeable numbers anyway. They went up against MEGA programming on Monday night. Those three shows drew huge numbers. I doubt they face that kind of competition again this year.

The show sucks right now, but that doesn't automatically mean that's the sole reason for losing a share of the viewership. Stop being goofy and pay attention. When you skim over and only wait for your turn to post, you learn less.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

raw was against Game 7 of the NLCS, MNF, & the presidential debate fair enough.

but what about a couple weeks ago when this wasn't the case?

Raw was getting about a 5 in 2000 when Monday Night Football, World Series between Mets and Yankees, and election stuff were happening.


This has far less to do with what alternative programs are doing and much more to do with the product itself. Being competitive with these programs is not going to happen...especially when MNF is getting consistently close to 15s. And that shouldn't even be the point: what can you do to make people want to watch your show? Raw isn't destination TV for the masses anymore, largely because the product isn't enthralling, doesn't ever end with an instant reason to watch next week, and isn't relevant to culture at large.

 

[braveh]

Yep, especially when you consider Cena is a guy that on his own is interesting to watch. He can talk, he has a good look, and he's a freak of nature with his strength. But hey, clearly throwing away all those t-shirt sales he brings in is a good move right?

I don't think anyone in the WWE gives a crap about the revenue from merch sales unless it's you know the rise and fall of WCW dvd.

They look at it as an indicator of who is hot.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

It's not drinking Kool-Aid when you are 100% wrong. They aren't really losing any of their audience, not in noticeable numbers anyway. They went up against MEGA programming on Monday night. Those three shows drew huge numbers. I doubt they face that kind of competition again this year.

The show sucks right now, but that doesn't automatically mean that's the sole reason for losing a share of the viewership. Stop being goofy and pay attention. When you skim over and only wait for your turn to post, you learn less.

It's been going up against mega programming for years, though, Nick. And mega-programming on Monday night is not going to slow down, either. If WWE wants to maximize its time slot, it needs to not use the "we were up against so much other programming" excuse.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Better things to watch and the show as a whole isn't that great right now. I will watch MNF over Raw 99 times out of 100. Raw is still enjoyable from time to time, its just not must see anymore.

 

[braveh]

Better things to watch and the show as a whole isn't that great right now. I will watch MNF over Raw 99 times out of 100. Raw is still enjoyable from time to time, its just not must see anymore.

Oh you mean that long collection of commercials with a few breaks for football highlights?

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Oh you mean that long collection of commercials with a few breaks for football highlights?

Yep, that's the one.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

It's been going up against mega programming for years, though, Nick. And mega-programming on Monday night is not going to slow down, either. If WWE wants to maximize its time slot, it needs to not use the "we were up against so much other programming" excuse.

This was a major exception. Presidential Debate, NLCS Game 7, Monday Night Football. WWE, in 2012, can't compete. Raw is pretty lame right now, but I don't think that has much to do with the rating. It would have been just as low had something interesting been going on.

 

[D-Man]

As I said on the main page:



I love the lack of perspective in these comments.

59.2 million Americans watched the Debate.
10.7 million Americans watched Monday Night Football
8.1 million Americans watched the NLCS Game 7

In case some of you didn't catch it, that's a pretty strong Monday night lineup, especially in the 18-49 demographic. What this update conveniently left out (shame on you Killam) is that WWE Raw was the next highest rated cable TV show, after the debate coverage and MNF. So, basically, this rating was probably more the result of other things on TV.

Just some perspective. You kiddos may now feel free to continue on about how this is all Linda/PG's fault and the third hour.

As much as I sit around, just WAITING for Sly to be wrong on something involving television ratings, it just doesn't fucking happen. FUCK YOU, Sly.

PS - That also means I couldn't agree with him more.

Read what Sly said and feel dumb.

Yup.

But we're getting mat classics with Dolph and Daniel, Paul Heyman is prominently back, we didn't have to suffer through Super Cena, they've built up the tag division, and Punk was in his rightful place in the main event.

What could be wrong? Has all the masterbating from the IWC made the IWC go blind and therefore unable to watch the show?




Note: masterbating does not make you go blind but it does kill angels.

Yeah, this might possibly be the funniest thing I've read on the forums in the past year. Hands down.



One thing I want to add is that even though that monstrous evening of programming is undoubtedly the cause for such a low rating, some of the other posters are right about one thing: Back in 1998-2001, instead of drawing a 2.48, WWE probably would've drawn a 3.3 or something. Granted, they were consistently doing mid to high 4's back then so the decline would still be relative.

What's to blame? First of all, as much as many of you are in denial, television is COMPLETELY different than what it used to be. Back then, we were lucky if we had 70 total channels to choose from on television. Now we have over 1500. Do you really expect people to keep switching to Raw every week when dogshit (yet strangely addictive) programs like Honey, Boo Boo are grabbing insanely high ratings? It doesn't have as much to do with WWE's writers and storylines as all of you may think.

I'm not going to sit here and say the product is good. Matter of fact, it's not "doing it for me" nearly as much as it used to. I find myself watching Raw, Smackdown, Main Event and other programming for the same reason. That reason is...

I don't want to miss anything good.

But this statement has taken on two completely different meanings for me now.

Meaning #1. In the past, there was so much great content that I couldn't turn the show off and had to see every single damn second because I was constantly entertained.

Meaning #2. Nowadays, I have to sit through hours and hours of fluff. But I know that once I turn the program off or switch the channel, another "Nexus" angle is going to happen and I'm going to miss it. So I'll keep tuning in so I don't miss it.

Isn't it crazy how it's come to this? I really miss the days when I watched because every second of the program was awesome. Now I only watch so I don't miss that one, memorable moment that seems to happen every few months or so.

 

[Uncle Sam]

But we're getting mat classics with Dolph and Daniel, Paul Heyman is prominently back, we didn't have to suffer through Super Cena, they've built up the tag division, and Punk was in his rightful place in the main event.

What could be wrong? Has all the masterbating from the IWC made the IWC go blind and therefore unable to watch the show?

I'm unsure if the misspelling of *********ing makes this post better or worse.

For the record - and there must be somebody keeping a record of these things - I've actually been very happy with all the above things, with the the exception of Cena being absent. Unfortunately, A) I don't have a Nielsen box, B) I don't live in the United States, C) I spend my Monday nights drinking vodka and singing sea shanties, watching Raw the morning after.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I'm unsure if the misspelling of *********ing makes this post better or worse.

I feel like a great chef that has cooked his whole life and loves cooking but can't spell the word 'saute'.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Yes, because there's too damn much WWE wrestling presented in prime time.

I don't disagree, I was just saying that a 3-hour Raw isn't the whole reason it's bothering me. I don't find Raw to be that long, and I actually enjoy the length of it because there's a lot of great progression with the under-to-mid card. It's just, if I wasn't working for WZ, I could get away with only seeing Raw and Impact every week. 5 hours? Pretty manageable. Add Superstars, NXT, Main Event, Saturday Morning Slam and every single pay-per-view, not to mention ROH when it's on. You're looking at anywhere between 11 and 17 hours of wrestling every week.

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

Ratings are down because wrestling isn't a fad anymore. Old HUGE stars like Lesnar, Rocky, and SCSA aren't around anymore for the nostalgia. Go up to a random person on the street, and they have no idea who CM Punk is. John Cena just gave up the main event spot to someone whose name the common wrestling fan barely knows, add in the fact that Raw went up against shows/sports/whatever that drew HUUUUGE ratings, and you have yourself a recipe for inevitable failure.

I'm not saying the programming is bad right now. I'm more excited for Ryback than I've been for anyone else in a long, long time. The storylines will be solid gold once they get rid of the A.J. soap opera shit, and there's a lot more to watch.

I think the WWE needs to find out what their fans give a shit about, and focus on that for more of the show. If they need to make a business decision to get rid of the Divas (or what have you) for example. because not one single fan of theirs gives a shit about them, then so be it.

 

[Slash-LN]

I didn't think this episode was great but it wasn't terrible.
The thing is in the past when WWE had to go up against baseball/football/debates they were putting out great programing still. They made you want to ignore the other options and watch Raw instead.
I had baseball on my tv and football and wrestling on my computer. I found myself paying more attention to baseball and football than wrestling this week. I felt like the AJ/Vince/Paul/Vickie segment went too long and got really boring.

Wrestling just isn't interesting enough right now to take away from the programs they were up against. Nothing on the show was interesting enough to me that I would have watched it instead of football or baseball. (Especially since I'm a Cardinals fan. The baseball game was more important to me.)

 

[Mr Mikey Mike]

-As noted before, the October 22nd episode of WWE RAW drew a 2.48 cable rating with 3.55 million viewers -just very bad numbers for WWE all around. In the segment breakdown, Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow opened with a 2.46 quarter rating, which is a very weak opener. Kofi Kingston vs. Michael McGillicutty lost 41,000 viewers while John Cena's promo and an appearance by CM Punk and Paul Heyman gained 530,000 viewers. Justin Gabriel vs. Antonio Cesaro in the rematch from a week earlier lost 372,000 viewers. The high point of this week's RAW came in the segment with Vince McMahon, AJ Lee, Paul Heyman and Vickie Guerrero. That segment gained 529,000 viewers for a 2.91 quarter rating. This beat out the Cena segment that gained 530,000 viewers. The Miz vs. Ryback and the backstage brawl with Layla, Eve Torres and Kaitlyn lost 613,000 viewers -not a good sign for Ryback right now. Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler lost 253,000 viewers. That match was one of the most talked about in recent weeks and finished with a 2.31 quarter rating -the lowest for a non-holiday RAW segment in 15 years, although this record was broken later in the night. The game show segment with Team Hell No and Kane vs. Big Show gained 62,000 viewers in the 10pm timeslot. John Cena confronting Vince McMahon and Zack Ryder vs. Alberto Del
Rio gained 26,000 viewers. The lowest quarter-rating going back 15 years then happened as the Dolph Ziggler segment, a Ryback video and the Lumberjacks entrances lost 319,000 viewers for a 2.15 quarter. The Lumberjacks main event with CM Punk vs. Sheamus gained
1,058,000 viewers for a 2.89 quarterrating.

Not a good sign so far for Ryback.

 

[IHW]

WWE shouldn't be focusing on finding the next "John Cena." They should be focusing on finding the next "John Cena's."

Think back to the Attitude Era. Rock, Hogan, Austin, etc. were all HUGE stars. Now the only HUGE star is John Cena. We need more than one HUGE star. People will get tired of that one guy. Plus, the HUGE stars can work off each other like Austin and Rock or Rock and Hogan. Even guys like Lesnar and Goldberg were more popular in their day than nearly any guy on the roster now. Guys like Batista, Orton, Punk, and others have never reached the level that the stars back in the day reached. Cena is the only one with the star power even close to these guys. Why is there only one of him?

Ratings have been dipping for years. You want rating to go up? Elevate more HUGE stars. You've done it before, do it again. Punk is at the peak of his career. From the summer of 2011 till now, Punk has been a nearly huge star. Guess what, you wasted it by putting him with guys like Big Show, Del Rio, Ziggler, Bryan, etc. Yeah these guys are stars and may be over in todays world, but they would hardly even be mid card guys back in the prime of wrestling. Punk, or whoever is champion, needs to be facing HUGE stars to rise rating. Rise interest. Rise sales. Make Bryan a HUGE star. Make Ziggler a HUGE star. I may not know how, but this is what you are paying the developmental tame and the creative team for. Elevate the future today.

When Punk and Cena, the champ and the HUGE star, were going at it back in late 2011, rating were good. PPV buys for MitB were good. The matches were phenomenal. The feud was interesting. Now they are trying to have these two go at it again. Do they really think Cena vs. Punk, again, will cause the rating to increase? Why didn't they build more HUGE stars? If they had, we would have to have repeat feuds, or any of the glorified mid card feuds we have been forced to endure. That's what we have gotten with the exception of Punk v. Jericho and Punk v. Cena I. Glorified mid card feuds.

What I am getting at here is the lack of star powers. That's whats causing the rating to decrease. The potential is there. Ziggler, Bryan, Rhodes, Sandow, Ryback, Dibiasi, Kingston, Miz, Barret and tons of other guys not even on the main roster have potential. Hell, given the right build and the right creative direction guys like Hawkins, Otunga, McIntyre, and Cersaro could be great stars. Whats the hold back?

Wheres the edge? Wheres the gore? The intensity? The passion? The stars? Wheres all these things that once made pro wrestling the iconic entertainment industry it is today? Brodus Clay dancing with 6 year olds isn't entertainment. Cesaro speaking 5 languages isn't entertainment. The cobra isn't entertainment. 10+ matches a week featuring a mid card guy destroying a jobber isn't entertainment. Ryder getting beat up isn't entertainment. Ryback squashes are no longer entertainment. SuperCena isn't as entertaining as he once was. Sheamus constantly beating people week end and week out is not entertaining. Miz, Show, Del Rio, Barret? Whats making these guys any different or any better than the other? Overdone promos and squash matches? What makes them entertaining? Its almost to the point that the tag division is more entertain than the main event.

I have been watching WWE for 7+ years now. Not as much as some people, but enough to know what I want to see. Enough to know what could help. Back 4 or 5 years ago, I wouldn't miss a wrestling show for the world. Raw, Smackdown, Impact or anything on. About 3 years ago I got DVR so I wouldn't miss wrestling. I would watch everything. Sometimes I would even watch Raw twice. It was entertaining. It was interesting. Fast forward to todays product, and I catch myself doing just that, fast forwarding. I still try and catch every Raw, Impact, and SD!. But, I fast forward through half the show because it simply begins to suck. Last week I fell asleep during Smackdown. I haven't even watched a full Sheamus match for a good 3 months. Its the same stuff, over and over again.

Rant nearly over, I just want to say if they would build more mega stars, add more intensity and value entertainment to the product, and more variety in the story lines, I think the ratings will rise.

I didn't write this with anger; I wrote this with hope.

 

[BaconBits]

I blame it on Taco Bell. People eat Taco Bell on Sundays, then they have to spend all Monday night sitting on the can in agony.

On the real, wrestling is in a down period right now. It'll rebound to semi pop culture status again soon, because the stuff people currently watch on Monday nights will become boring to them and they'll look for other options and a bunch of them will happen across wrasslin'. Then errbody around here will be all like "OMG the product is fucking AWESOME right now", when, in fact, it'll be pretty much the same as it has always been. Oiled up bros play fighting and talking shit, with the occasional hot babes doing stuff.

People get all worked up about the numbers. Don't. It's still on television so the networks are okay with it. The product could be the best shit on television right now and the ratings would still be lame. Wrestling's popularity has always been cyclical and it boggles my mind how few people have learned to roll with the proverbial punches.

 

[klunderbunker]

Not a good sign so far for Ryback.

Well what did they expect to see? Ryback has squashed everyone he's fought and he's squashed Miz before. This match was no different at all.

 

[Shocky]

Not a good sign so far for Ryback.

Wouldn't have anything to do with Ryback being pure awfulness?