Things need to improve, and fast. The RAW ratings haven't been this low since like 1996, and that's when there was competition. And an even bigger kick in the nuts is that there's no Monday Night Football. Seriously, what are they competing with? Baseball? I doubt they target the same demographic as them anyway. This is going to be hard to swallow.
Now, what I'm going to try to do know...is break this down into what I think is causing people to just forget about RAW. This may break some hearts of some marks, and it may put a smile on some of your faces. No doubt this can/will be challenged, but hey, most of you won't even bother to read this. OK. I'm going to break this down as simply as I can.
The fact of the matter with RAW is, they just don't have anybody with enough star power to keep you watching every week. I'm sorry, but the majority of WWE fans don't tune into RAW to watch John Cena. Even if they do, he's so damn predictable. The end of the match is different, but the outcome remains the same. It doesn't matter who he's facing. If John Cena defends the WWE Title at a PPV, he's going over. Face it, if you want to defend Cena, defend him. But I swear, the ending of RAW's and PPV's are the same thing ALL THE TIME.
I don't want to only bash on Cena though. There are countless of other things, and or people to be held accounted for a 2.5 rating. One could be the writers. It's true, that Cena lost his first match on RAW in months last week, and I will say that that was one of the better RAW's I've seen all year. Why? Because it was unpredictable.
Let me ask you all a question. When was the last time that you sat and watched RAW and actually didn't see something coming? Edge winning the Title was at a PPV, so that doesn't count. You've got to go pretty damn far in your mind to remember the last time where you didn't see something coming on RAW. That's what I blame. I also blame the feuds. They have what? 3 weeks between every PPV? Either you're going to have an half-assed Title feud or a cheap feud thrown together at the last second. That's not only going to equal low ratings, but poor buyrates as well.
I also have to blame the low ratings due to the injuries. Whether you like them or hate them, Shawn Michaels and Triple H bring in at least a small portion of the ratings. When you lose not only them, but now Bobby Lashley and Jeff Hardy, you're losing some star power. I don't understand why Triple H isn't returning on RAW, which is in dire need of something exciting, but opting instead to just flatout make his return at SummerSlam. The reasons for these injuries? The same reasons why most wrestlers use steriods. They're simply overworked.
Also, where are the stars now? Are you only tuning to RAW to see Cena? No. What happened to the days where you'd tune into RAW to see Austin, Rock, 'Taker, Trips, Angle, Jericho, and others? How can you seriously expect Cena to carry RAW on his own? He can't. Plain and simple. He's not as big a name as The Rock, and it doesn't help that he's being pushed to high hell. Believe it or not, a large part of the WWE doesn't only rely on children, but on the 18-39 demographic, and that certainly took a hit this week, scoring only a 1.9. The lowest I've seen in years.
Could the writers be to blame? Are lame storylines like the Vince McMahon dying angle to blame? I don't know. I wouldn't be able to you, but I believe that as stupid as that storyline was, it was effective while it was going because at that time RAW was bringing in 4.0's. However, I do think that the McMahon death angle was tasteless, not to mention that it foreshadowed things to come.
This and more, all bring me to my conclusion. Again, this is my opinion, and I could be wrong but....I place the blame soley on the Chris Benoit situation. Not only is the WWE looking horribly bad in front of the media, but Congress is now asking for all the drug test results for WWE. You can say that it won't prove anything, but judging by the ratings, it certainly is taking its toll.
Look at it this way. The three weeks after the Benoit incident, their ratings fell to 3.4, pretty off their usual rating. Now, it's fallen to a 2.5. I could be wrong, but parents may be telling their children to turn off RAW and do something else.
Apparently though, McMahon doesn't feel that way, and it's a shame too. He blames it on the writers, for crappy storylines. What you've got to notice, is the group of writers the WWE has are the same group of writers that were fired from sitcom television shows. Pro Wrestling is a much, much, different thing than regular television. Every match on RAW seems the same. They really don't switch it up. The face comes in charging, then the heel gets his heat. Then the face comes back and wins. It's so typical that it's driving me, and apparently other fans, sick.
Could this be a mistake by the boys at Nielsen? Or did people just stop watching this week? I don't know. But I will tell you this, USA Network used to praise RAW as being their highest rated show. Now that the ratings are falling, expect USA Network execs to get on Vince's ass about bringing back Jericho, and possibly The Rock for a few appearances, because they really are slumping now worse than ever before.
Also, could this be the start of a new type of Era in WWE? I understand that the old WWF slumped in 95, 96, and 1997, and then had a 3 year Attitude Era. Could this slump be the time to start fresh for WWE? Who knows? What I do know, is that if Vince McMahon was irate about a 3.4, heads will be rolling when he finds about a 2.5.
