All Reasons Why WWE Ratings are down right now discussed
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| Source: wwe.com |
The question is why. A lot of 'experts' have suggested serveral reasons why the ratings are down. But even the chairman himself had some words to say on this.
What is the main reason for ratings being down and is WWE able to recover?
Assumed Reasons WWE ratings are down:
- WWE is lacking starpower because of injuries (Source: Vince McMahon)
Let's have a quick look at the current stars out with an injury:
1. Akam (one half of AOP): Knee Injury, about to return.
Yes it hurt the Tag Team Division a little bit, but AOP was not booked strong, people did not care about AOP when Akam got injured. Keyword: Pee-Angle. The already weak Tag Division didn't suffer much because of AOP's absence.
2. Fandango (one half of Breenzango): Shoulder Injury, about to return.
When Breenzango has to split because of Fandango's injury it was sad moment for fans, but WWE had already lost faith in the extremely talented duo. The landscape has changed since Fandango was out. I do not see people really turning of because of an act that wasn't featured much anyway.
3. Nia Jax (one of half of a team with Tamina): Double Knee Injury
The new female Tag Team Divison was booked weak from the start. Jax and Snuka are missing as strong heels to fuel the division. Might have hurt the ratings slightly because WWE has it harder to generate interest for the division, but not much.
4. Ronda Rousey Hand Injury + Currently not in the plans to compete:
Yes this hurts the ratings, no doubt. But WWE is also unable to capatlize on the buzz around Becky Lynch in her feud with Lynch. Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch are the only big female stars the company has. Now they have they have chosen the build up one star (Lacey Evans) in a title feud as her first storyline on the main roster. We all know how these things end usually. The Women's Division is on a horrible state, because WWE did not focus on building other talent, knowing Rousey and Becky/Charlotte are unable to feud forever.
5. Big E (part of The New Day) Knee Injury:
The New Day is a draw, Big E's injury hurts, not only him but everyone. We all wanna see Big E back. But his injury is recent and ratings have been down before.
6. Jeff Hardy (on half of the Hardy Boyz): Knee Injury
See Big E.
7. Sin Cara: Knee Injury
Wether injured or not, Sin Cara is not featured on tv anyway
8. Daniel Bryan: Undisclosed Injury, cleared for competition
Bryan was abscent from WrestleMania on until now. This probably hurt SmackDown's ratings, but ratings were down before.
8 injured talents when McMahon made his statement. Most are not even big ones. It just does not make any sense and let's not forget: This is the greatest roster of all time. It's not like there are not several stars waiting for an opportunity. Why does it make more sense just to wait until talent returns then just give others a chance?
WWE is lacking major starpower, but not because of injuries.
- Too Much Wrestling (General Fan comments on Social Media)
RAW and SmackDown make up 5 hours per week of free-tv wrestling in the USA.
I disagree that this is too much, as there is enough talent to fill these hours. Wrestling is fun, there should never be enough. But WWE's managing, especially of the three hours of RAW (which must not be easy), is not well. Always the same matches, the same faces, the same, stupid or no storylines. This all adds up. There is too much of the same wrestling. Not too much wrestling in general.
- Ratings are going down in general (past comments of several wrestlers and WWE personell)
This is true. But WWE's ratings are shocklingy bad. When there is an alternative, like for the example the NFL, people are tuning in massively for that. Of course WWE's ratings go down then. But WWE's ratings are always bad and have been for a few years now, always going down more and more.
So this reason is true, but not completley. It does not mean you should not try to get out of the rating swamp.
- Storylines and Consistency are a massive problem (General Fan comments on Social Media)
Yes. This is probably the main reason in my eyes. WWE gave the fans Kofi Kingston, Becky Lynch and Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder as champions. All massive fan favourites. But what happened since then? Not much (good) stuff. Atleast it does not feel this way.
Probably the best example to put forward is Mojo Rawley here.
Mojo is not injured. Mojo is hungry. Mojo is good. Mojo is everything WWE want from a star.
Yet, he hasn't made it past vignettes for several months now.
His vignettes get dropped again the next week, only to return a month later.
How are we supposed to invest in something? When WWE are actively making us not care and tske it away, before anything could unfold? Mojo is just an example of many. The end result: Nonsense Tag Team Matches as main events every week.
In addition to that WWE is is focusing on punishing talent for whatever reasons, forgetting about how they would be an asset to them. The Revival are forced to shave their back on TV for a segment that would have been outdated in 2005. I do not know anyone that liked this segment. Usos vs. Revival could be the peak of Tag Team Wrestling in WWE right now. But WWE has chosen differently. I guess it is the talents' fault, because they could not make it work....
Then there is the case of Luke Harper. In my eyes the most talented big man WWE has hired in years. He is a modern day Bruiser Brody. He is unhappy for not being used, as are many stars, all wanting to leave (Sasha Banks is another), WWE apparently is punishing him for making his unhappiness public and in addition because McMahon apparently does not 'get him'.
Well, a lot of viewers do not 'get' your product at the moment, sir.
It's the day and age of complex storytelling on television. WWE is not offering that, instead delevering a repetitive boring show each week.
- Better Alternatives
AEW has not aired a show yet, but hardcore fans found new love in New Japan Pro Wrestling and several indie-show across the world. Also WWE's own NXT, 205live and NXTUK are all have a better show quality than RAW and SmackDown. But none of these shows have a major TV deal in the USA, so you just can not compare ratings really.
It is a fact however, that the current WWE product is not interesting for most hardcore fans.
- Last Minute Changes (as reported several times by the likes of the WON)
WWE is taking action currently by hiring new backstage personel and releasing others. But the products stays the same. Why? Because, as former WWE writer Road Dogg said, everything you come up with gets changed anyway by McMahon, hours or even minutes before the show.
The constant last minute changes hurt the consistency of the product. In turn the audience ist not interested. Because: Why invest in something that gets changed on the spot anyway?
WWE seems to have a behavior when it comes to the weekly product that has not changed in decades. The audience however has changed.
Another Vince McMahon promo on TV, promosing changes, won'tchange the people's opinion.
We will see how long WWE is able to go this route. As a fan of WWE, this is sad.
It seems like WWE is so deep in the rating swamp, they can not return from it anyway.
When SmackDown moves to FOX, we will see that FOX is going to say about that. Because we all now when it comes to react to ratings, FOX is rather quick and rather resolute. I hope WWE realise that.
Do you have more ideas on why WWE's main roster ratings are down?
Tell me @Walu2go on Twitter.
