WWE Ratings Going "Down, Down, Down"

[Ambiguous Turd]

This week's Raw rating dropped from a 3.7 to a 3.4. This is about the average Rating WWE did before heading into Wrestlemania, where they drew a 4.1 on the Raw where Orton punted McMahon. What this means is that after the Mania bump they received, that their current programming did not keep the interests of some additional viewers that were gained because of it being Mania time.

3.4 is considered average by today's standards for wrestling for Raw, but dropping .3 points is pretty significant from one week to another.



What is even worse, however, is that Smackdown suffered an even larger drop from one week to the next. They dropped from a 2.0 the prior week, to a record low 1.6 last week.



ECW, dropped from its stagnant 1.3 for several weeks, to a 1.1 this week. At this rate, Smackdown is going to be drawing ECW-like ratings soon.



Superstars hasn't even drew a 1.0 rating as of yet. They drew a .9 the first week, a .88 last week, and we will be awaiting tonight's rating tomorrow or Monday. Soon, ECW will be doing the ratings that this show currently does.



I said a few months ago that surprisingly enough, it won't be a surprise to see TNA compete with WWE's #2 rated program, and it looks like that is actually a real possibility, as they are within reach. TNA has been drawing 1.3's for the past several weeks. They already beat Superstars AND now they beat ECW. Whereas TNA did dip very slightly to a 1.2 last week, they are within .40 points of matching Smackdown, at this rate. Sad.



So to all of the defenders of the current WWE product who do their best to shout down others on how today's wrestling is sooooo much better than the Attitude Era .... hats off to your opinions, but more importantly Vince McMahon, for putting wrestling in the rut it is today. Because no matter how much some of you bash that product, and also bash the Post Attitude Era, ratings were still higher back then, as compared to today's product. There is not a single shred of evidence you have that supports the notion that MORE fans enjoy today's product even over the Post Attitude Era. Because they don't.



This is what a lack of serious competition, and a lack of a variety of wrestling products offered (such as during the Monday Night Wars) did to wrestling in this day and age. This is also attributed to Vince's narrow, tunnel-vision-like view in that he could be doing so much more with essentially having a monopoly over the business, yet he continues to be stuck in tunnel-vision with only offering the one, universal product.

He thinks the solution is to beef up Raw, yet when he does so after the Draft, the ratings still go down. Vince is in a state I would say is very similar to the in-between period he suffered in between The New Generation and The Attitude Era. He doesn't know where to go with his product. And nor does he seem to be willing to listen to anyone, either, as a result of his stubborness.

Who wants to bet he'll be going on a rampage after these latest ratings ... especially Smackdown? Michael Hayes will likely bear the brunt of McMahon's furor. After Hayes offering suggestions to improve the product last time, only to have Vince berate him in front of everyone, I hope Vince has egg on his face about what his Creative decisions have done to his product.


I do confess that I hope the ratings continue to drop, and drop, and drop ... to show this miserable experiment with the PG Rating, as many people predicted from the get-go (including WZ's own Kevin Kelly), has been nothing more than a miserable failure. Without offering product alternatives, like a WCW type product, or an original ECW type product, Vince only offering one universal PG product has done more harm to this business than anything else in the past 2 decades.

 

[Chris in SC]

One thing I'm waiting for is the quarterly report on May 7. I wonder how income/profit is looking. That's what Vince looks at.

If ratings continue to go down (which I forsee) or even hold steady at their current low levels, it will take a quarter or two for the rate at which they can sell advertising to go down. The bottom line will really feel it towards the second half of this year. That's when Vince will start being open to new ideas. Vince wants 1 thing. To be number one. When WCW became #1, we suddenly got some of the best WWE programming ever.

WWE has always been at it's best when there was competition (duh.) Crockett's NWA and the AWA in the 80s (and some other still viable territories) and good WCW in the mid-late 90s.

Hopefully TNA can become a threat. Only competition is going to force innovation.

The idea that so many here have proposed of letting Raw be TV-14 (or whatever is after PG) and let Smackdown be PG is a good one. WWE can then serve both ends of the spectrum.

To take that a step further, now that ECW is moving to 10pm again, let them go old-school ECDub for the really crazy stuff.

 

[codebreaker212p]

I have to admit that I have been pissed off at wwe for a while now. Backlash was a good ppv and they put the belts on deserving champions, but I can tell that the tone is down more then what it used to be when a heel won the title. wwe is doing this to themselves and I have defended them for a long time, (even when they turned PG). But no more will I. I am a passionate fan and often times I will give more critisisim to them in hopes they will improve but it hasnt worked. As much as I hate tna, they may be the only key for wwe to drop this ******ed rating they have. I mean 2-3 years ago did we see drawfs dancing around with kids? Did we even see so many freakin kids in a arena? No. I am fed up with it. Im not gonna say that I want wwe ratings to drop, but you know what? the hell with it? If they want to go PG and pander to only kids, then fine because you will see ratings drop more if this continues. Not only are some of the wrestlers going soft, but the announcers on Raw sound stupid. It sounds like Vince is telling them what to say pretty much all the time. I miss the days when you had a heel and a face announcer fighting, it was real entertaining. King just sounds almost as bad as Cole now being a suck-up to Cena all the time. I think wwe can change but Vince is too out of touch right now. All we can do is hope that HHH or Shane change this around when they take charge, because by this time next year, it could be worse.

 

[bighomie]

The rating are dropping for because they're going head to head with the N.B.A playoffs and the N.B.A has a record increase in ratings this season...its not because of the pg rating...also Wrestlemania's poor booking turned a lot of fans off...

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

The rating are dropping for because they're going head to head with the N.B.A playoffs and the N.B.A has a record increase in ratings this season...its not because of the pg rating...also Wrestlemania's poor booking turned a lot of fans off...

I don't think it's just the NBA as the WWE rating of 3.4 is the norm for Raw, outside of Mania. My prediction is that Raw's norm will be around a 3.3 and 3.4 even after the NBA Playoffs, based on its average performance, anyway.

As far as Smackdown, and the rest of the shows, I know the first round NBA schedule wraps up on May 3rd, so it will be interesting to study the month of May. But I am willing to stake money on the ratings staying pretty much the same. I think Smackdown's "new" ratings norm is going to be less than a 2.0 going forward, and I expect it to settle at a 1.7 or 1.8. Time will tell, though.

I also think ECW's ratings norm is going to go down to a 1.1 average. It certainly isn't going to help with them going back to their original time slot at 10PM, and not as many people are going to want to stay up that late to see the type of product ECW is currently putting out.

Superstars, is not going to go up any time soon. My prediction is that this show levels off between a .7 and a .8 weekly.


What is also hurting WWE, like I have harped on for quite a while now, is that they aren't offering choices, like what they had during the Monday Night Wars. So the majority of the total potential audience has no interest in tuning in to see 6 hours of the same, universal WWE product offers weekly.

But if WCW were still around, WWE were still around, and ECW were still around, with each offering 3 different products ... I would stake money that the total wrestling fanbase would be larger than it is now. Because choices were available. A Y14 product. A PG product. And a very Hardcore product from ECW for the niche market.

But the problem lies in that when Vince eliminated all his competition, he never bothered replacing those choices that his competition offered ... and thought everyone would be satisfied with just one, universal product from WWE. Wrong. And I think that is as clear as day, now.

So when fans complain about Vince eliminating all his competition and cite that as being when the business started going downhill ... they are right on the money. However, in elaborating further, it is Vince not replacing the programming choices that his competitors offered that really did it, in my opinion.

I have to admit that I have been pissed off at wwe for a while now. Backlash was a good ppv and they put the belts on deserving champions, but I can tell that the tone is down more then what it used to be when a heel won the title. wwe is doing this to themselves and I have defended them for a long time, (even when they turned PG). But no more will I. I am a passionate fan and often times I will give more critisisim to them in hopes they will improve but it hasnt worked.

I find nothing more aggravating than interacting with diehard WWE fans that defend the company, for no other reason than they feel they have to. Those days have long past for me, and I am glad to see they have ended for you, as well.

Being that I come down on WWE regularly for today's product, doesn't make me any less of a fan of the wrestling business. On the contrary, I am a very passionate wrestling fan. However, I am not a fan that is going to be spoon fed by Vince and his loyalist fans who feel the need to defend him no matter what ... on what type of programming I should and should not be finding enjoyable.

The bottom line is that if you don't like the programming as much as it used to, people need to speak their mind about it. What good does it do to lie to yourself?

If someone wants to laugh at me for liking Attitude Era style or Post Attitude Era-style programming better than today's product (which a lot of those fans seem to congregate on wrestling forums), then to them in return, I cite larger ratings, larger crowds, and larger PPV buyrates during those times ... while telling them to take their opinion and shove it up their ass. The bottom line is that all WWE market research points to the type of programming that I enjoyed as being more popular than the programming a lot of current fans enjoy. So they have no leg to stand on, as far as I'm concerned, IF they want to scoff at older WWE fans who enjoyed that programming style over today's.

 

[RendarSelin]

The WWE-PG era...this may be the very thing that can save WWE...hear me out.

SmackDown! and ECW's ratings are going lower, while TNA's ratings are going up (who still caters to the proper demograph, the 18-34 male). Before long, it is possible TNA can exceed WWE's SmackDown! and ECW both in ratings. If TNA begins to beat SmackDown! and ECW in the ratings, this would force McMahon to realize he needs to change something and seriously compete with the new threat. Although to be fair to WWE, we really need to wait until after the NBA Finals to really see the ratings and differences between WWE and TNA.

Although I'm not defending WWE, it's their jobs to put on a good product to keep the fans' attention. I decided RAW sucks so bad lately I won't even watch it on my DVR anymore...I'd rather leave the room for the NBA playoff games...and I'm not a huge basketball fan!

 

[Ovaltine]

TNA has the talent, but they need to find their own path. Originally they were the wrestling alternative, but for years now they have been aaanother sports entertainment company. Now that more people are watching, they should go back to what they use to be. If they did it would be an alternative and the rating would probably rise even more. It's obvious that people are looking for an alternative to the WWE- TNA should jump on this and TRULY become the alternative. They should do it NOW! They still have the star power and if enough people accept AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, MCMG, Beer Money and the rest of the great workers TNA has- they won't have to worry about when people like Sting, Angle, Steiner and Booker T leave and or retire. Now is the time to do this! Not next week- not next month do it now! Do what you are here to do and become the alternative!

Velvet Sky is the most amazingly hot woman on the planet!

 

[Big Daddy Fool]

I really wouldn't look too much into the Superstars rating being that low. I know in my area that not too many households get WGN. Cablevision and Time Warner in my area don't have it on their standard cable package (Cablevision just took away SciFi also). Also on DirectTv WGn on such an obscure channel it took me awhile too find it. So maybe thats a reason why Superstars isn't pulling a number over 1.0

For Raw and Smackdown i cant think of an excuse thats pretty bad especially Smackdown.

 

[The Todd]

I don't think it is time to panic yet. Raw usually has a higher rating in the second hour than the first. This week I read the first hour did better. Reason? Big Show vs Batista in the Main Event. It will turn off people from watching. This will then directly affect the other shows as RAW is the A show, if people hate that they won't watch the rest.

As for superstars, the initial buzz has already worn off. It was always going to end up like a sunday night heat, tv time for those stuck on RAW, like this weeks Ted vs Carlito match.

If the ratings continue to plummet in the next few weeks THEN WWE need to start panicking. Just don't read too much into this week yet. After all, it was the worst main event in a long time RAW put on.

 

[Suneeboy]

Its not because the product is PG that ratings are going down. You don't need foul language and blood to be entertained by a wrestling product. Ratings are down because the characters and storylines are repetitive and stale. There is nothing "new" from week to week, and the whole show from start to finish is for the most part....predictable.

Pro Wrestling is about story telling, the wrestling is just a throw in to show their athleticism. It is all about the characters, the gimmicks, the storylines, the announcers, the managers, etc. WWE somewhere along the line forgot the formula that works. They focused on a restaurant, and movies, and excessive tours, and dvds, and all this other bullshit they do that no one gives a fuck about when they watch RAW or Smackdown!

All they need to do is get back to telling a goddam story and stop having HHH/Batista/Cena/Edge in every fucking main event all fucking year long, which has been going on for the past 2 fucking years. We are bored out of our fucking brains with these guys. They are great yes..but I want to see Hardy, MVP, etc. in the main event now. Not so much because they are "good" or "ready", but because I just want to see something different for fucking once....I'm just using them as an example.

 

[Gabbo]

Another reason ratings are going down is because the product is now aimed at children, how many children have control over the TV on a monday night? Until.. what 10/11pm?

Very few. Far more teenagers, young adults and older fans would have control and bring in higher ratings.

PG = money.
TV14 = ratings.

Pick one, Vince.

Also the argument about NBA playoffs is null, that's just admitting the WWE is poor and people only watch it when there's nothing else on. The WWE should be so good you actually want to watch it.

 

[mdc2575]

Ratings mean nothing. Back in the day when they were getting 5.0 ratings there were less channels to choose from. Now with more people using satalite, and even more cable channels, there are more options to choose from. Ratings will never be the same as they were in the past. (That is why even network shows cant touch ratings from the 60's-80's.) Also the NBA playoffs have something to do with it. Also Im sure if you go city to city teams that had NHL playoff teams you will find the same thing. As far as Friday night smackdown, it is the same thing that happens every spring/summer. BASEBALL. I know in the NY/CT/Boston area people are watching baseball, and most nights Smackdown gets preempted. As far as superstars, only half of the cable companies in CT get WGN. And to get it on Dish network you need a middle teir package. So it is not available to probably 1/2 the country.
And also if you look at the USA today from Wednesday it states that it was the number 1 watched cable program, and almost beat out what ever was on NBC at the 9:00 hour. So it doesnt matter if the rating is 1.0 or 10.0 if it is the number one program watched on cable for the week that is all that matters.
Hey I still watch it, but if Giants are on Monday night Football this fall, that takes precedence. So I will wait until fall when everyone says that the ratings are falling again for that subject.

Have a Nice Day
Cookster out

 

[bulldog76]

Ratings mean nothing. Back in the day when they were getting 5.0 ratings there were less channels to choose from. Now with more people using satalite, and even more cable channels, there are more options to choose from. Ratings will never be the same as they were in the past. (That is why even network shows cant touch ratings from the 60's-80's.) Also the NBA playoffs have something to do with it. Also Im sure if you go city to city teams that had NHL playoff teams you will find the same thing. As far as Friday night smackdown, it is the same thing that happens every spring/summer. BASEBALL. I know in the NY/CT/Boston area people are watching baseball, and most nights Smackdown gets preempted. As far as superstars, only half of the cable companies in CT get WGN. And to get it on Dish network you need a middle teir package. So it is not available to probably 1/2 the country.
And also if you look at the USA today from Wednesday it states that it was the number 1 watched cable program, and almost beat out what ever was on NBC at the 9:00 hour. So it doesnt matter if the rating is 1.0 or 10.0 if it is the number one program watched on cable for the week that is all that matters.
Hey I still watch it, but if Giants are on Monday night Football this fall, that takes precedence. So I will wait until fall when everyone says that the ratings are falling again for that subject.

Have a Nice Day
Cookster out

Man I was ready to rip this post. Then I read it all. It makes sense. You are still doing well against competition. The numbers might be lower but you have more competition. Plus what is the gate pulling in?

To address this past week's RAW, I was looking foward to it. No Triple H. Even as a huge Triple H fan, I wanted to see who would step up. Who was being lined up after Batista (as we all saw Batista coming)? They trot out MVP. A guy I love. I knew what his weaknesses were but they became a lot more glaring under the big light. His mic skills seemed off and his match lost me quickly. Plus, the crowd seemed dead for most of if not all of the night. (May had something to do with the main-event.) If your crowd at the event is dead, what is everyone at home who didn't pay $35 and have other channel options doing?

This past Monday, two things became evident: 1) there aren't as many people ready for the big-time as the IWC would like to think. 2) I will probably end up missing a lot of RAWs. I wondered after the draft if I would like RAW or not, and I don't. SmackDown for me.

 

[mdc2575]

Man I was ready to rip this post. Then I read it all. It makes sense. You are still doing well against competition. The numbers might be lower but you have more competition. Plus what is the gate pulling in?


Thanks man. On the note of people shelling out money and ratings. The reason PPV buys are down and have been for the last few years is a very simple one. 2000 PPV were 19.99-24.99 and now they are 39.99-54.99. That $20 is more of a reason than the product. Look it up even in the poor years PPV buys were higher. This has gone for boxing and any other PPV. Lower the prices and I GURANDAMNTE that the numbers will go up.
Thanks Have a nice day.
COOKSTER OUT

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

Ratings mean nothing. Back in the day when they were getting 5.0 ratings there were less channels to choose from. Now with more people using satalite, and even more cable channels, there are more options to choose from.

Do you think that is an acceptable answer to a CEO or Chairman on why his product can't appeal to people? I don't. And I doubt that is an acceptable answer to shareholders, either.

The bottom line is that the current wrestling product has problems evidently in keeping its viewers interested. That is not an opinion, but rather is a fact. That is evidenced by the fact that WWE got its usual Mania boost in ratings, yet failed to keep those additional viewers interested enough in the product after Backlash .... so they bolted.

Hell, WWE couldn't even keep its viewers interested enough leading up to Wrestlemania, as the rating actually decreased in the weeks leading up to it, as opposed to gradually increasing in the weeks leading up to it.

 

[Zepp73285]

Let's face it the product of today is nothing in comparison to what it used to be during the attitude era. Its not necessarily the talent in the wrestlers (well somewhat is but I'll explain later) it's what is being created in the overall product. Take a look at the past product the WWE created during attitude and compare it today's. Between the PG rating, too many shows, shortened matches, too many commercials, predictability, and poor character development the WWE is taking a one way train ride to Crapville.

The PG rating system has killed all emotion and "realness" of wrestling. I mean if we really want to get into a match it has to have some kind of passion behind it. Look at when you were a kid in school and if a fight broke out everyone was passionate about it and talked about it all day because it was something different. What do we see in today's product nothing but cut and dry wrestling...you don't really see anyone really get just plain wailed on at all anymore to build up the suspense. Plus too, all of the faces have really become a bunch of wusses (I'd say minus HBK). Remember Stone Cold coming down that ramp to rock someone's world for no real big reason...ya don't have that anymore...or even the lovable Mick Foley when he switched over from Mankind to Cactus Jack right before he retired, you really believed he was going to just destroy HHH. Now was do we have...Cena? Don't get me wrong I think he is great (sure he has the 5 moves of doom, but the man can take a bump and make something look like it hurts...unlike Batista...) but his character is just sooooooo lame and repetitive. I know the WWE is trying to appeal to the younger crowd but lets face it when kids were young during the attitude era you still cheered your butt off for Stone Cold and The Rock even if they weren't "ruler followers".

Next, too many shows. I remember when it was JUST RAW, and Monday was the best night of the week. There was a lot more to plan, there were more stars you wanted to see. Honestly, I was so excited when Smackdown first came out, but when I look back that was the beginning of the end of the attitude era. The quality of the show sunk, and even though there was more wrestling during the week, the product became more stale and stretched out. If they just stuck to RAW and only RAW and kept their best superstars and maybe made RAW a 3 hour long show I think rating would increase because it would be a combination of all the best things/wrestlers on one program.

Anyone ever notice how short matches are now? Your lucky to get a 10 minuet uninterrupted (no DQ) match. Besides the fact that they are shorter, they think placing a commercial in the middle of the match is a good idea...yes, i understand it's a money thing, but come on lets build something up and up to only lose the attention span of the whole TV audience by the time the show starts back up again. The matches no long tell stories anymore and it's sad. There is a lack of emotion in the matches and has become boring to watch. Your are lucky if you see one GOOD match on RAW every week.

Too many commercials slow down the impact of the product...it needs to stop now!

The WWE is way too predictable these days. You don't have to be a hardcore wrestling fan to be able to predict what is going to happen every week on RAW. I had one of my friends over to watch Wrestlemania this year , she never watches wrestling, doesn't care about it, and was still able to predict mostly what was going to happen. Vince needs to give us something new. Do I know what that is...? No, but yet again, I'm not the head of a major corporation. Give us some real stories with characters we can relate to on many different ways to spice things up, or have more twists and turns with stories. There are endless possibilities with this kind of product, it just needs to be explored.

Lastly, the WWE has no idea how to develop their wrestlers personalties. There is no new character gimmicks. Sure if you think about it the Deadman, Kane, Mankind, etc. gimmicks were totally out of this world, but at the same time the people love them! Lately its who can be the coolest and stuff, and it just seems like every character is pretty much the same. Even if its a totally fantasy gimmick who cares, use some imagination already. Wrestling is supposed to be fun, entertaining, and totally out there why not play to that idea rather than trying to make it "cool". Wrestling was cool when the wrestlers had the dumbest gimmicks because it was different and out of this world. People want to watch a product that takes them away from their lives and puts them in another world, not something where every person is the same exact way and is "realistic" because let's face it wrestling is essentially fake, but it's entertaining...entertain us Vince! One last thing too is there is no more mic development anymore. Back in attitude so many wrestlers could work the mic. It didn't matter if they were in the European Belt branch those people could all talk! Today, you have Cena, HHH, HBK, Taker, Orton, Edge, Kennedy ad if you think about it most of those good ones are from the attitude era. No one makes you laugh anymore (Rock vs. Foley feud = the best feud of all time!) or mad...its just blah blah blah...Honestly, HHH is one of their best and I have always though he was awful, "I'm the Game, blah blah blah, I got nothing else to say besides I'm the King of Kings and the Game...blah blah blah." There needs to be more development...a lot more!

Sorry this was so long!

 

[Ryanhitman316]

You know let me tell you something. I attended the Smackdown/ECW taping this past Tuesday @ MSG. And the show was good but I hated the fans. There were too many damn kids in attendances. There is nothing wrong with the kids but I just dislike when they only cheer for the good guys. And especially today in my opinion all of the heels are better wrestlers than the faces. (Jericho, Edge, Orton, Shelton, etc).

I bought a sign which reads "Bret Is Still The Best" And I had pics of Boreista, Cena, Hogan, HHH, Flair and I put a big X on them. When the kids look at it, you can see the face expression saying who is Bret? While the teenagers and adults are telling me good job, your damn right, and all of the positive remarks.

I had a better time at a TNA event than the WWE events. I don't know if it is the PG rating or what. But I know I am not going to attend an WWE event in a long time. I really do hope TNA increase with there popularity.

 

[Chill]

Well in fariness this is usually the time of year when ratings go down...WWE seem to go into a high leading up to 'Mania before they begin their ratings slump...it's been like that a long time. As some have said it could be the PG rating (not that it bothers me that much) as not a lot of kids have control over the TV that late on a Monday night...plus it's a week night and not all the kiddies will be allowed to stay up...but on the whole it's prob a comination of the new rating and people getting fed up with the product, but it's weird that RAW lost ratings in the second hour...perhaps the Big Show/Batista main event? Also, for example a match which featured in the seceond hour was the Colons v Chavo and Noble...the problem there is that all four of those guys do not have the sort of creative backing needed to make them appear interesting on the TV screen..granted each can wrestle but to the casual fan it takes more than that....I would say if those guys were properly over then their match would have a lot more appeal, but because WWE don't really care about them, then it's harsh to expect the fans to....a match with four guys who aren't really over is not going to hold the casual audience's attention imo...Although, overall it is hard to place a finger on what causes these slumps.

 

[Jordan adams]

The ratting are down because there is only so many times you can show vince getting kicked in the head before it gets boring. But i think if the triple h turn heel at judgement day that would help the rattings . That is not what i necessarly want to see but they need to do somthing because raw is starting to get boring this may have not been the case if orton would have wm like they problay should of had happen.

 

[WWEIsLife]

You know who really cares what the damn TV Rating is I mean really. I guess most of you seem to forget the WWF/E was PG in 1996/1997 during the Monday Night War and still drew solid Ratings. So what if one of Vince's main targets is the Younger audience,its smart I think. Ive been watching WWF/E for 20 years and I still enjoy it as much today as I did then. PG or not Backlash had a Hardcore Moment when Cena was thrown threw a Spotlight,yeah no Blood but you don't need Blood to make a Show. So either watch it or get out.

 

[codebreaker212p]

wweislife, you seem to forget that when wwe was PG during that time, that is when wcw closed in and beat them 84 weeks in a row until wwe changed it and then went into the attitude era. Then that is when wwe beat wcw and they didn't let up, and practically saved their own comapny from being bought. So you see if you are PG and you have legitimate competition chances are you are gonna get beat. Its not like ratings have been going up in the time that wwe changed the rating, so in all probability chances are they would do better if they went back to TV 14.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The bottom line is that the current wrestling product has problems evidently in keeping its viewers interested.

The biggest problem with wrestling is that there is too much of it. Let's keep in mind that when Monday Night RAW was created, it was a one-hour show and I found that enough to keep me interested week after week.

Then RAW went to two hours. Then they added a two-hour production of Smackdown. Then they added ECW. And now they've just added something else. (Superstars or whatever the hell it is)

We're the audience and we want to be entertained but it's difficult for the company to keep coming up with enough new material to fill all those hours. In my opinion, they do a magnificent job given what they have to work with.

Also, you can't discount the other sports airing at the same time as WWE. You've got basketball and hockey at playoff time and a new season of baseball. They are competing for the same audience as the wrestlers and are bound to have a negative effect on WWE ratings.

At any rate, the ratings aren't going down that much. If you want to compare them to the Attitude Era, that's one thing...... but that era is long gone and the ratings stemmed only from people who weren't wrestling fans attending events and watching wrestling because it was the "in" thing to do. Today, the ratings seemed to have settled in the 3.5 range the last few years. They briefly exceeded 4.0 as Wrestlemania XXV was getting near and have dropped since to the level they've been at for quite a long time. Things are going okay.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

The biggest problem with wrestling is that there is too much of it. Let's keep in mind that when Monday Night RAW was created, it was a one-hour show and I found that enough to keep me interested week after week.

Then RAW went to two hours. Then they added a two-hour production of Smackdown. Then they added ECW. And now they've just added something else. (Superstars or whatever the hell it is)

We're the audience and we want to be entertained but it's difficult for the company to keep coming up with enough new material to fill all those hours. In my opinion, they do a magnificent job given what they have to work with.

Also, you can't discount the other sports airing at the same time as WWE. You've got basketball and hockey at playoff time and a new season of baseball. They are competing for the same audience as the wrestlers and are bound to have a negative effect on WWE ratings.

At any rate, the ratings aren't going down that much. If you want to compare them to the Attitude Era, that's one thing...... but that era is long gone and the ratings stemmed only from people who weren't wrestling fans attending events and watching wrestling because it was the "in" thing to do. Today, the ratings seemed to have settled in the 3.5 range the last few years. They briefly exceeded 4.0 as Wrestlemania XXV was getting near and have dropped since to the level they've been at for quite a long time. Things are going okay.

I feel there is too much of one, universal wrestling product in this day and age. And that this is the problem. One could argue that there are too many shows, and there are. But the bigger problem is that there is too much of the same product on at this day and age.

And one can argue that there are different stars on different shows, and that "should make the shows different". But that is insignificant in the big picture. The problem is that overall, it is still the same, basic product, on the same 4 shows, that all have the same look and feel to them.

Keep in mind that ratings have gone down consistently since WWE closed down all of its competition. That is the real cause for the decline in the wrestling business, in my opinion ... coupled with the departures of The Rock and Steve Austin, without having someone that can fill their shoes. And the answer at this point, doesn't appear to be John Cena as having the capability of filling their shoes.