Raw Rating...2.5???

[Da Vinci's Nightmare]

Now I am not Cena's biggest fan, but he is not the reason for RAW's recent decline, purley because he is still loved soo much by woman, little children and a percentage of wrestling fans. Whilst he has still got these in his corner, he will not cause rating to drop. He is a marketing machine

 

[a7xoff]

Honestly I don't think it has anything to do with Cena or any of the other guys for that matter. I think the thing is that WWE Creative was literally put into a coma after the Benoit thing. Since then each Raw has been flat out horrible. (with the exception of loast nights, but that was just ok) I think one reason is that WWE feels they are on VERY thin ice right now with the media pretty much watching everything they do now, so they need to be very, very careful as to what kind of storylines they use

 

[Mr. TM]

I say the best thing that can happen right now in the WWE is have hornswoggle come to the WWE in an open invitation elimination chamber against Cena, Candice, Cade, Murdock, and Umaga, for all the belts, and win. Who wouldnt watch that?

 

[JoshK1985]

Raws rating falling is a combo of three things the first being whe whole Benoit situation. The second being lack of talent and good storylines due to injury and the thrid being John Cena holding the belt for 318 days! Now somone holding the belt for 318 days is not interesting at all. I mean people like change and were not getting any. I used to love when The Rock, Austin and Foley were changing the belt back a fourth every month or so. That was interesting, that had people tuning in everyweek. Cena doesnt. I'm sorry but Cena doesn't equal ratings. The WWE needs to put the strap on somone else plain and simple.

 

[Southwind]

I think its a combination of injuries the benoit thing and predictability cough cough john cena cough cough this is a very tough time in the wwe vince was rumored to have the pressure really getting to him which apparently usually does not happen if Undertaker edge triple H Rey Mysterio Bobby lashley now Shawn Michaels the list keeps growing
this is the biggest toll in my opinion its not The Benoit thing all sports or entertainment has there problems baseball steroids basketball The whole referee thing and the whole thug image the Nba has so I do not beleive it is much of the Benoit thing but come on this has something to do with the

WWE champion being John Cena for such a long time people want things changed up after a while Cena at first when he won the title was loved and ever since hes been booed more and more as his title reign progressed until raw is doing worse than smackdown to fix this for god sakes he has to now give Orton the title at summerslam and send Cena on a paid vacation and let Orton and Triple H feud

 

[Southwind]

I know thats what most people said but its obvious isnt it but its what most fans have been saying for so long vince would never probably get the title off cena if the ratings were amazing now.........hes gonna have to do it because he realizes his current product is not working

 

[justincage]

raw this week was horrible and im not shocked with the rating at all. the storylines, etc have been awful since Wm 23 and they only thing that will help with the ratings is the return of HHH.

 

[No Count Pup]

WWE needs to assess how the ratings got this low. Sure, the Benoit tragedy might have had something to do with it. Parents might not want their kids to watch Raw after all of the negative press that WWE got. And yes, Benoit's murder-suicide can be quite traumatic for fans of all ages. But there's definitely more to the drop in ratings. After all, Smackdown's ratings have not changed much since late June.

What every business does at times of great success or failure is look to the top. And if we are to look to the talent roster, we need look no higher than John Cena. Cena has done his best with what he has. But fans don't want him to be champion. At least not for a while. Overall, this rating is an indictment of John Cena's title reign, Bobby Lashley's lack of charisma, Carlito's lack of motivation, Mr. Kennedy's lack of direction, and Raw's inability to excite the fans. Now I don't know if Triple H can fix this, but he'll help. I also have to wonder if WWE might be best advised to put the Undertaker on Raw. If Raw needs a spark in late fall, the Undertaker could be that spark. Raw needs him more than Smackdown.

 

[LadyFranchise]

I'm one of the people you guys can blame for the ratings because I did not watch RAW at all on Monday and neither did my two brothers (which really says something.). RAW is just flat out boring now a days. First off, it's highly predictable. Second, no good storylines. And Third, John Cena. The creative team better wake up because if this isn't a wake up call, then I don't know what is. As long as I have my WWE 24/7 OnDemand (the good stuff), I could care less about what is happening on RAW especially if John Cena is still the champ.

 

[jawn87]

for some reason, i think this week, it seemed like they tried to make it like the 90's as they had planned, or they pulled that entire show out of their asses. i dont know, it just seemed, old school a little bit. maybe because of all the interviews, i dunno.

 

[OCTheEagle]

I notice when watching RAW, I'm getting less interested in what is going on. I mean seriously, when was the last time you ended watching RAW saying 'omg, I wonder what's going to happen next'?. The last time I had that feeling was when Evolution was breaking apart. Each RAW I was watching, hoping that Batista would turn on HHH. RAW kept me interested, it looked like Batista was turning on HHH, only to look like it would happen the next raw.

Back to 2007, since Wrestlemania there hasn't been a single storyline which kept me interested. The only thing I noticed was Cena winning every possible match there was. All the current storylines are stories I don't care about.
- Santino helping Maria winning every match...... she isn't a wrestler so why should he help her?
- Umaga squashing everyone while holding the IC title. Last year Jeff Hardy, Nitro and Benjamin were in the IC title race which were exciting matches to watch. Umaga with the belt hasn't got any competition now.
- Cade en Murdoch tag team champs? There is a tag team division but they aren't challenging anyone.
- Orton with Dusty Rhodes feud.. There is no way a 60 year old can beat a 30 year old guy (unless you're called Hulk Hogan) thus making it clear that Orton would win.

Another reason the stories are not exciting is because of the amount of PPV's. The buildup for an average PPV has been reduced to 3 weeks (=3 shows).

 

[Southwind]

I agree with fan of wrestling this it is a clear fact John Cena being the champ is now lowering ratings they build up main events only for what to happen Cena to win maybe people that dont even read these sites dont watch raw cuz its so damn predictable with cena as champ they dont build up much other matches except for the main event and when that dissapoints I mean geez michaels could not even save Cena nobody wants to watch they portray him as unbeatable and guess what we dont like it

 

[Mexican Geek]

Were there something else major on that the WWE was competing against?

Perhaps WWE is like a Phoenix, It needs to burn to be reborn. think about it, slump before the attitude era, maybe were seeing the makings of a new attitude era?

sorry Davinci, but do you think that after Benoit "incidents", WWE really wants to return to a 'not-so-familiar' oriented product?? I agree Benoits murders affected a lot, but i dont think returning to an "attitude era" would be the solution.
Besides, who'll carry the entire process? Cena?He is a pussy, Khali?Cant talk, Kennedy shall you say? he is NOT ready...
They need to focus on WRESTLING, people are not that stupid anymore, kids are cheering for Umaga these days, for christ sake!! they need to make RAW the wrestling show, because people WANTS to see more wrestling these days, people are sick and tired of seeing Vince hiding under Lilian's skirt, or listening to some stupid guy talking shit about the refs, while he score with the hot chick everybody wants to see single... Smackdown is the wrestling show right now (well, not quite accurate definition here...) and even ECW gives better matches than RAW sometimes!
RAW needs to show their strengths, they have LonDrick, the WGTT and they dont use it! and im NOT saying that Shelton Benjamin is the answers to your prayings, hell no! but those two teams could HELP a lot with the wrestling aspect.
They waste Booker T in some ridiculous promos, and they book him against Jerry Lawler?? damn it!! Nothing against Lawlr, but he (booker)should be feuding Booby Lashley right now! thus Lashley could improve a shitload his skills, and Booker could show the world he still got it.
Cena?? God damn it, he is a good entertainer, but even putting Jonny fucking Carson, people will get tired of it!! People needs to tune RAW to see if the title is in Cena's waist, or maybe on Randy's waist, or Triple H's, etc...we dont need the same bullshit E-V-E-R-Y single week, over, and over again!!
People wants to see Cade and Murdoch as the real tag champs, not fucking jobing on Heat!! People wants to see Divas acton, why cant they turn Mickie James heel and Beth Phoenix face and switch again in two or tree months??
Im not lying when i say this, but i rather see Val Venis wrestling than Snitsky saying that he loves to hurt people.
WWE: Keep the damn belt on Cena forever, i dont fucking care! but do something for the rest of the show damn it! Why dont you give the young ones ONE match per night??, that's another reason why wrestlers "jumps" ship, or some jewels are buried forever.
You want "cheap" ratings to rise?? Bring Stone Cold and put him to drink some beers, thats all, but in the end, he will be gone, so will be the ratings.

 

[Da Vinci's Nightmare]

I think its unfair for people to point the blame at cena for the rating drop. yea, hes had to for a few millenniums now(joke!) but that won't be the only cause of the ratings drop, and sure as hell isn't the reason for the major drop in this weeks rating.

I for one think that it is a processing error, i just can't get my head around the fact that over 1 million people suddenly decided, on the same night that they wouldn't watch raw

 

[nHobull]

That's why I love T.I.V.O I've been a wrestling fan for 15 years, and this is the first time like since 1994 that I'm not looking forward to Monday's anymore, I TIVO it, and probably watch 10 min totall of RAW fast forward thru all the crap, Cena BORING, carlito BORING, Randy Orton BORING, king booker BORING, even MR.Kennedy who is from Green bay, I'm from Wisconsin is starting to get really Boring too, there's just nothing there, no storylines, there's trying to make cena be The Old Rock of the 90's never gonna happen just sucks

 

[ACTAFOOL]

i see this as a very good thing, FINALLY raw gets the rating its been deserving, i watch every WWE show, raw, SD!, and ecw, never miss one, and every1 is noticing how boring WWE is getting, since last year IMO WWE has just gone downhill and i never understood why it still did 4.0s ratings or something like that

maybe now vince will wake up, stop with this half ass job and go back to wrestling in the attitude era, i remember when there were ladder and cage matches much more often on raw and SD!, and for some reason there were much less injuries than now =/

stop with the banned moves, let the ppl do moves they want (if they can pull it off) go back to exciting matches and stroylines, make cena lose the belt on Raw, go back to being crazy, WWE is so stale nowadays, i watch it because i always have hopes of it getting better again but it never does

stale storylines, horrible feuds they have no build up at all, VERY weak PPVs, WM and SS are the only decent ones left, the rest suck so much, TNA hasnt had a bad PPV in 5 years, i give them A or B in all of their PPVs, while i havnt seen a A PPV from WWE in a long time, even WM this year was very pathetic, B at most...

simply WWE should take these ratings and step their game up, go back to being what it was, wake up vince, WWE nowadays sucks, its a miracle how its been doing so well in ratings these last 2 years IMO

hopefully with this drop TNAs ratings go way up, i think this doesnt have that much to do with benoit, and yes wrestling, ppl are starting to give up on WWE, hope they go to TNA then

 

[Shocky]

The main problem with the WWE the last several years is that the main storyline hasn't involved the champion on Raw. The giant centralized Story of 2006 was Triple H and Michaels in the horrible reversion of DX against the McMahons. It started at the end of 2005 with Michaels vs. McMahon, and DX became the main story of the year, dragging many people into it.

What did this do? It screwed any of the younger talent from moving ahead because it kept the focus on two older guys that should have been grooming the next group of guys to come up. Instead, Triple H keeps the spotlight on himself when he doesn't have the belt, and this is what you get.

Even this year, there has been one centralized story, the McMahon going crazy angle. It started with Trump, and ended with the horrendous Death of Mr. McMahon. The good thing is, if you can call it good, this horrible storyline was scrapped, and it has left the WWE "creative" team stuck with their heads in the sand.

The WWE banks too much on one story to get them through the rough times. Ratings are at a stand still, so they saw no need to further advance any young guys. Now all of a sudden, the bottom falls out and people begin to realize how stale the product is.

We have a ton of green guys on the roster right now that are simply not able to carry a company, thanks in part to the veterans holding onto their spots. Don't blame John Cena, blame the WWE for not being pro-active with his title reign. They do the safe thing by keeping the title on him, instead of trying to be imaginative with his title reign. The Superman routine doesn't work, sorry. People want to see heroes with flaws, because it makes them more Human.

I still wouldn't blame Cena, I would blame the Vets that didn't put the younger guys over, and kept the spotlight on themselves, istead of on the title.

 

[Whoelse]

The following is an interview with your friendly neightbor the amazing SPIDERMAN

#1 SPIDEY, WHAT WAS THE ABSOLUTE 100% REASON THAT RAW'S RATING IS 2.5?

I really really really believe it was Steriod Lashley. I actually skipped Lashley's matches and actually enjoyed the Mid-Card matches. I believe Lahsley has the WORST and BORINGEST(word?) speeches EVER. Khali's speeches entertain me more. His in ring abilities, well, nothing special. If you are like me and watched The British Bulldogs matches, you will see that about 90% of Lashley's moves are COPIED from him. Also, Lashley copied Goldberg AND Lesnar. British Bulldog+Goldberg+Lesnar+Steriods-Charisma=Lashley.

#2 IS IT THE INJURIES?

Well maybe it was because of the injuries. nO! I LOVED the Injured people LEAVING. I mean Shawn Micheals should retire or something. Hes like Ric Flair, his matches consisted of the same old moves and it is really predictable.

#3 IS IT THE MATCHES AND CURRENT WRESTLERS?

Yeah and they [wwe] should push the right people not pushing John Cena's title reign. John Cena have had that Title since the word Title was invented. I mean i dont care if he can beat a 7'4 Punjabi Giant or he can beat Umaga. I want classic matches like The Rock vs. HHH or Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle or Stone Cold vs. Macmahon and never forget Edge and Christian vs. Hardys vs. Dudley Boys vs Ric Flair and My Grandpa.

#4 IS IT KING BOOKER'S LACK OF RULING ABILITIES OVER HIS KINGDOM?

NO. Its King Booker himself. Why do they allow a King Gimmick anyways. Kings are from the prehistoric era and it is OLD(OLD[old{old}]). (His gimmick is so old, it made John Cena's title reign look young) Give him the Booker T, Can you dig it sukka!, gimmick. It is the best. It gives RAW that R rating not its current G rating. Seriously.

#5 CAN IT BE BENOIT'S VIOLENTLY MURDERING HIS FAMILY GIVING PARENTS A FORENOTICE ON THERE CHILDREN'S POTENTIAL FUTURE?

Yes. it can be, but this is unlikely the reason. Raw's ratings dropped. I mean if this is TRUE, then why isn't TNA's ratings dropping or why isn't Smackdown's ratings dropping. Benoit isn't assosiated with RAW for years now.

#6 HARDY'S ABSENCE?
Nothing to do with Hardy's absence. Well maybe some. But mainly because of RAW's current use of its wrestlers. WHY ARE THEY PUSHING SANTINO MARELLA? Ric Flair perform more moves than the guy and all Ric Flair does is 3 to 4 different moves, but its because Ric Flair IS 58 years old.

Thank you SPIDEY for an amazing interview.

 

[thefallofwwe]

I strongly believe that they should let Booker T become the champion because he is very entertaining. And stop hating on Lashley he is a great in ring performer and 20 times better than John Cena who only has 5 moves. The only thing lashley needs to improve on is his mic skills and there is always room for improvement.

 

[volvic]

this is kind of no suprise to me the ratings do sum up the show to me tbh.
one thing IMO which has contributed to the fallen ratings is poor draft wrestlers like Bobby Lashley common this guy is AWEFUL, no mic skills, hardly any wrestling skills, and im glad for one he is injured, because when he wasnt his timeslot on RAW was for to much for my likings. also with the fact with Cena winning every PPV every month is just predicatable and boring, he goes in to every PPV has against the odds then you get "the champ is here" on raw the next day, this shows the predicatability for raw to me.
to fix this raw needs to get a new champion and i do think Orton is the only candiate at the moment, he's a hell of a wrestler, and for one he stills gets his cheers for a top heel. also raw need to bring back triple H instead of promoting him just to improve the ppv buys

 

[tap-out]

First off great topic. Secondly I think alot of you have hit it on the head already.

1. WWE got gready and added more ppvs, which led to less and less time for build up between ppvs leading to crappier ppvs. Remember the days back in the late 90's and even early 2000 when the ppv hypes were huge. You had the Rumble, Mania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, KOTR all of which had major build ups and classic matches and "events" happening behind the scenes. It was great back in the day when Undertaker cut the graveyard promos or casket making promos for his survivor series matches.

2. Type of talent: Simply put, todays talent doesn't come close to equalling the talent of yesteryear. There are no Hogans, Austins or Rocks. WWE has continued to try and put young talent in these renewed rolls, but they don't have the right stuff. Ask yourself this....Lesnar or Lashley? Rock or Cena? Austin or Kennedy?

3. Not a "Whole" product: Remember when wrestling included all championships and storylines were written around all belt holders. There were classic tag team memories with the New Age Outlaws or Hardys or Edge and Christian. Or how about the awesome hardcore matches between Al Snow and Hardcore Holly that were fought all over the arena and outdoors and everywhere. Heck i remember the European championship even had good build up. Today it is hard enough for the writers to put on a good story for one of the world titles. All of the other belts just get somebody or some team thrown at them to call a feud.

4. Change is good: remember the days when the wwe title would be lost on smackdown or raw and it was like a total shock....not talking about stupid battle royals to claim a new champion because the old champ is hurt. Heck, when was the last time a world title was defended on SD! or Raw? Great memories of the attitude era when austin, rock, foley, taker all kept losing the belt to each other within months. Now i think you all are right by saying cenas current title run is hurting the company. Lets start to mix things up.

Well here is a start, there is more that is wrong including the injury factor, but like other sports and stuff, you gotta keep moving on, no one is going to feel sorry for ya.

 

[seinfeld83]

I still wouldn't blame Cena, I would blame the Vets that didn't put the younger guys over, and kept the spotlight on themselves, istead of on the title.-the shockmaster

How can you say this when every on ein the world has jobed for cena-hhh, hbk, edge-so I would not say they do not put over the younger talent. The fact is people like hhh and hbk are the reason I watch wrestling and even if they are not champions I want to seem them in some type of main storyline. I agree however, that the champion normally needs to be in the main story and should but I do not think having some of the most popular wrestlers in the wwe in the main storylines would cause people not to watch. I do see the problem now that they are hurt but if they were not hurt I do not even believe this would be a discussion. I think raw overall is getting a little predictable but that is because of the writers and not the talent. they are given a script and do what they are told. I think wrestlers like kennedy and orton will be tremendous in the near future, bring back triple h in a month to fued with booker, and then hbk on a few more months and the ratings will be back up. the ratings have droped before and they may drop again, but they will do something to bring people back and when peoples favorite wrestlers come back they will be more interested as well. so I personally think Raw will be fine, this hit they are taking may last a little while for a combination of reasons that everyone has given, but they have proven veterans that the fans love and tremendous talent in some of the younger stars, so whenever they can get the roster back to full strength and definelty by the time they start heading towards survivor series and the rumble they will be fine.

 

[Whoelse]

I strongly believe that they should let Booker T become the champion because he is very entertaining. And stop hating on Lashley he is a great in ring performer and 20 times better than John Cena who only has 5 moves. The only thing lashley needs to improve on is his mic skills and there is always room for improvement.

Lashley? NO! NO! NO!(maybe yes if he uses more steriods)

20 moves? only 1 of the moves are his( sweating insanely )
And dont get me wrong, Cena isn't any better. 5 moves, true, but they are ORIGINAL, unlike some wrestler i know, not to mention Lashley.
And mic skills are not for improving, i never seen anyone that can improve their mic skills, everyone have their own presetted style that goes along with there gimmick. The greatest mic guy i know is Gold Dust and/or Edge

 

[killcenanow]

Never saw anyone that improved there mic skills? Bret Hart and Edge are two shinning examples bret hart sucked so bad he'd have neidhart do them for him granted he didnt become the best on the mic but he improved alot over the yearsso much so that in 97 he was probably the best on the mic next to austin. Edge one of your favorites wasn't anything special the first few years out in time people can be improve however on your side of things Lashley wont likely be the guy to make the necessary improvements nor will jeff hardy or shelton benjamin but the guy you should pay attention to is Matt Hardy hes not doing to good now he was doing terrible when he started out but hes going the way of bret hart and in a few years you wont be able to turn away when he starts talking

 

[Whoelse]

Mic skills cant improve, like your IQ. My theory of mic skill is that people have a predetermined mic skill ability. Maybe a gimmick change will give Bobby an opportunity to change his style and maybe entertain more. SO the bottom line is, its style that change, not mic skill improve.

By the way, Lashley's mic skil is so bad, Even Khali beat him