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WWE Raw drops to lowest TV rating in 18 years
- Thread starter RBH
- Start date
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Sibersk Esto
Banned
It's bananas to think that RAW once got 8 million people watching
That background image :lol
FeenixRising
Banned
Crazier to think that RAWs highest rated anything didn't even come from a wrestling match, but a 20 minute segment featuring the Rock berating people from his past.
That's a myth the real highest rated segment is Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker which did a 9.5 in 1999.
July 31 2012 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: said:
I was actually at that show. It may have been fun on tv, but it was excrutiating live. While you're seeing backstage stuff, they're setting up in ring. It was 20minutes on tv, but was like 45 minutes in person
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
They should get Donald Trump on again.
That segment actually got a lot of hate when it happened live.
That segment actually got a lot of hate when it happened live.
Mind blown. Always went along with the This is Your Life 'fact'. Always confused me how that of all segments apparently held the record, it was dreadful.
FeenixRising
Banned
Mind = blown.
I don't understand why they would try to push that angle of skits > matches. A 9.5 is fuckin crazy and I would've been pushing that fact to the moon, especially when it dealt with your #1 star.
I wonder if it was the highest rated 18-49 segment, thus they marketed it that way to appeal to advertisers.
But they already got Zeb Colter.
Violence Jack
Member
God that match brings back so many good memories. I had no idea it pulled in those kinds of ratings.
Sectorseven
Member
I don't remember that match being so slow and clunky looking.
Viewership is definitely unlikely to get any kind of big jump, bar some kind of miracle.
Sibersk Esto
Banned
The only significant bump they would get would be if they managed to make absolutely must see tv that people are dying to see, and I don't think that's possible anymore.
Not in the immediate future. They've dug themselves a pit of endless boring.
Monday was a good show, but as you mentioned in the Wrasslin' thread, WWE has a real habit of blowing their storylines in one show, and then doing nothing of importance for the rest of the month until the next PPV.
The product has the potential to get a lot better right now. If WWE runs with it for once, you'll see viewership creep back after a while. But, if I was a betting man, they'll probably just go back to old shitty booking.
I have to they they probably messed up this week's chance of getting the ratings up since the main event was predictable. I do see they have addressed one of the issues so far in that most of the matches had a purpose. We'll have to see what they do next week now that the contender has been decided.
Liquidsnake
Banned
Ill be interested to see how they hold up over the next month.
Killing_Joke
Member
I think it's because it was an overrun, therefore a little tainted. Still mind boggling number. Most sport championship games don't even get that high.
Evening Musuko
Black Korea
Did it help that there was a PPV on Sunday and people wanted to tune in on Monday to see what would happen? I get the feeling if it wasn't for HIAC the numbers would have been lower.
Coolio McAwesome
Member
It's obviously not a fair comparison, but SNME used to get ratings in the 10s in the 1980s. The Main Event February 5, 1988 (which featured a WrestleMania III rematch between Hogan and Andre) drew a 15.2 rating and 33 million viewers. I doubt wrestling will ever get that big again.
UberTag
Member
Well, of course it can't. That was back in the era of no Internet and where 30-50 channels was considered a lot.
For some perspective, The Walking Dead is currently the #1 show on television and it does an audience of roughly 12 to 15 million each week.
Autumn Wind
Member
Hell in a Cell proved to me what WWE can do with a little effort. I expected only the main event to be decent and was pleasantly surprised by the other matches as well.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
#1 show on cable. The number 1 show on TV is consistently NCIS with 17 million viewers for this week's episode, followed by Big Bang Theory at around 15 million viewers.
Goddamn, this makes me miss wrestling.
Leona Lewis
Banned
By viewership, sure, but TV ratings are mostly measured by demo/share, and TWD is still tops there because of its 18-49 clout.
Viewership alone isn't very helpful if the majority of viewers are senior citizens who don't buy the products in the commercials that keep the networks on the air (ahem NCIS a-choo). Television is an unusual beast.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
That's true.
Though I still don't understand why Adult swim ads are the typical midnight super cheap ads when Family Guy reruns are almost tied with Raw in 18-49 viewership.
Yes, post-PPV Raw's normally do the best ratings.
JesseEwiak
Member
It's not just how old the person watching is - it's the type of person watching it. For example, The West Wing, when it was on, got lower 18-49 ratings than many shows. But, advertisers such as Lexus wanted to advertise on TWW because they knew the audience was more educated and affluent than say, the people watching ER.
Same thing with cable shows. Family Guy reruns may get big ratings, but advertisers know demographically it's largely dudes in their 20's with lower than average income, so why advertise there when you can target a more affluent audience watching say, Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
DeaconKnowledge
Member
Haha you guys believe WWE bullshit heights.
But it is getting the People's Elbow.
Glorified G
Member
Ninja Scooter
Member
Get ready for more appearances from Ric Flair or Shawn Michaels or some other old wrestlers nobody under 30 gives a shit about.
Christopher
Member
Raw seems so clean cut now and three hours is too long for me...I think the 90s were great but my favorite time was 2002-2004.
The star power, all divisions were strong, I loved the two distinct brands and how they would essentially compete to be he better one. Loved it.
The star power, all divisions were strong, I loved the two distinct brands and how they would essentially compete to be he better one. Loved it.
Plinko
Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
petethepanda
Member
I've watched a bit of wrestling over the last few months, pretty much the first time since I was exposed to a lot of it through a friend in the 90s. I still understand the appeal and there are a few particular people that are really entertaining, but god, at least 80% of any given show is boring as hell, filled with characters that are boring as hell. The fact that so much time is spent focusing on the same people I knew from back then doesn't help. It seems like something that could still be fun but is in need of a major change in direction.
Get rid of the Authority, that means both Hunter and Steph. Each tend to put themselves over at the expense of others, Steph appears to be the worse on this lately.
Have Seth be a credible champion. The guy is so capable that watching what happens to him was terrible.
Kane, yeah see, he should not be near the main event.
Get the mid card up and running, so many people are wasted.
WINS DO MATTER. No one cared about Brock until he started winning and beat the Undertaker due to him losing before. He was made to look like a beast, now he's the most over guy.
Roman isn't going to carry the organization, try to force it through no matter what and the WWE will get what it deserves. See Kevin Nash as champ while Diesel so many years ago.
I could say more but the reason I tuned out is, really whats the damn point of watching anymore. It doesn't seem like the WWE is even trying any more except to put over the brand with buzzwards and handing out belts to sports teams better than making their people shine.
Didn't help they seemed to bury or push down those that did get over with fans.
Have Seth be a credible champion. The guy is so capable that watching what happens to him was terrible.
Kane, yeah see, he should not be near the main event.
Get the mid card up and running, so many people are wasted.
WINS DO MATTER. No one cared about Brock until he started winning and beat the Undertaker due to him losing before. He was made to look like a beast, now he's the most over guy.
Roman isn't going to carry the organization, try to force it through no matter what and the WWE will get what it deserves. See Kevin Nash as champ while Diesel so many years ago.
I could say more but the reason I tuned out is, really whats the damn point of watching anymore. It doesn't seem like the WWE is even trying any more except to put over the brand with buzzwards and handing out belts to sports teams better than making their people shine.
Didn't help they seemed to bury or push down those that did get over with fans.
CreeperBlocks
Banned
Don't worry you guys Kevin Nash said he had one more run in him
Ninja Scooter
Member
You can't pin this on Rollins or Reigns. At this point bringing back Cena, or even propping up internet faves like KO or Cesaro, won't make a damn bit of difference. The entire product just needs a complete overhaul from top to bottom. It needs to become something completely different. What is there now is boring, stale, and predictable. They really are just doing the same basic story premises as they did 15-20 years ago. You expect teenagers or young adults to find this shit interesting?
A complete overhaul won't make a difference if their product is still utter shit. People like to compare wrestling to a soap opera, but that's really damn offensive to even the worst soap opera.
Every time I think about watching wrestling I realize that I cannot bring myself to give a shit about anything, because no one in the company gives a shit.
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