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WWE Raw drops to lowest TV rating in 18 years

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A

AGreatDave

Banned
Chopper said:
That's not the case at all. He lost against a veteran heel thanks to heel shenanigans. It's exactly how he should be losing. And Zayn's whole schtick is being an unbelievably capable underdog. It makes his wins even more valuable. All the time he's getting decent time and matches, he's doing well, and if people don't give a shit about his matches, they're not paying attention.

And Owens is allowed to lose in the main event of an international Raw against an established face, who has stood toe-to-toe with HHH in the last couple of months, without looking bad. The match was competitive, both men looked good, and if he'd won it might have made his match with Zayn at Payback look less credible.

Both men are borderline main eventers. No-one's getting buried here.
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The only main eventers in WWE are Reigns, Cena, Taker and Lesnar. Guess what; they don't lose random matches on TV.

Again, this isn't about if they're buried or not. There is middle ground. Years and years of wwe making guys seem unimportant and average should teach them that having guys lose does matter. Fuck, they know it does because when they want to get someone over they never lose.

Chopper said:
People put too much emphasis the champ's influence on ratings imo. On a three hour show, there's alot more going on than what the champ's up to.

But on a week where Raw is pretaped and the results are given away hours in advance on Twitter, and all major storyline progression happens within the first hour or two amyway, low ratings aren't surprising.
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If the fact it was pretaped mattered it wouldn't have opened nearly identical to last week. Issue was low quality show.

And when Rollins was champion he was all over the show. Constantly. No wrestler deserved the blame for poor ratings more than him
 
C

Chopper

Member
AGreatDave said:
The only main eventers in WWE are Reigns, Cena, Taker and Lesnar. Guess what; they don't lose random matches on TV.

Again, this isn't about if they're buried or not. There is middle ground. Years and years of wwe making guys seem unimportant and average should teach them that having guys lose does matter. Fuck, they know it does because when they want to get someone over they never lose.
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So just Reigns then? My definition of main eventer differs from yours. Mine is anyone who could realistically compete for the title. Since mania, KO, Zayn, Styles and Ambrose have all been elevated, and they are wrestlers the fans want to see. They're all capable of putting on great matches, and can afford the odd context sensitive loss. I don't see a problem with how any of them have been treated. Have you lost interest in them? Does Owens feel unimportant to you?


AGreatDave said:
If the fact it was pretaped mattered it wouldn't have opened nearly identical to last week. Issue was low quality show.

And when Rollins was champion he was all over the show. Constantly. No wrestler deserved the blame for poor ratings more than him
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Well, the UK Raws are traditionally phoned in. I'd argue that it was a pretty good show from that point of view. The wrestling was good, but the main event was low-stakes, so viewership lost interest. That coupled with the results leaking, it's no surprise.

And Rollins was the shining diamond amongst some desperately poor storylines during that period. I would argue that poor ratings were more due to the fact that he was surrounded by the likes of the Authority at its worst, Kane, Big Show and a horribly stale Orton. The product was lame as hell.
 
A

AGreatDave

Banned
Chopper said:
So just Reigns then? My definition of main eventer differs from yours. Mine is anyone who could realistically compete for the title. Since mania, KO, Zayn, Styles and Ambrose have all been elevated, and they are wrestlers the fans want to see. They're all capable of putting on great matches, and can afford the odd context sensitive loss. I don't see a problem with how any of them have been treated. Have you lost interest in them? Does Owens feel unimportant to you?



Well, the UK Raws are traditionally phoned in. I'd argue that it was a pretty good show from that point of view. The wrestling was good, but the main event was low-stakes, so viewership lost interest. That coupled with the results leaking, it's no surprise.

And Rollins was the shining diamond amongst some desperately poor storylines during that period. I would argue that poor ratings were more due to the fact that he was surrounded by the likes of the Authority at its worst, Kane, Big Show and a horribly stale Orton. The product was lame as hell.
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Rollins is a terrible promo. Good wrestler, terrible promo. Ineffective heel. His title reign did nothing to help anyone.

A main eventer to me is someone you can realistic put in a number of ppv main events against various guys. Being in one main event doesn't make you a main eventer. Benoit wasn't a main eventer in 2000.

Also the idea Ambrose has been elevated at all is laughable to me. He's the definition of awful wwe booking killing momentum. Owens lost his belt to a literal jobber and Zayn is just losing matches because they think Bryan got over because he lost, not in spite of it.

The way WWE books is terrible. It doesn't work. It's proven not to work because they've not made a genuine draw since Cena and the guys they've had who have come close (Punk/Bryan) they did nothing with for years and years. Their popularity dwindles because they are not booking people in a way that gets them over as larger than life stars.
 
L

luchadork

Member
AGreatDave said:
Rollins is a terrible promo.
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go
 
C

Chopper

Member
AGreatDave said:
Rollins is a terrible promo. Good wrestler, terrible promo. Ineffective heel. His title reign did nothing to help anyone.

A main eventer to me is someone you can realistic put in a number of ppv main events against various guys. Being in one main event doesn't make you a main eventer. Benoit wasn't a main eventer in 2000.

Also the idea Ambrose has been elevated at all is laughable to me. He's the definition of awful wwe booking killing momentum. Owens lost his belt to a literal jobber and Zayn is just losing matches because they think Bryan got over because he lost, not in spite of it.

The way WWE books is terrible. It doesn't work. It's proven not to work because they've not made a genuine draw since Cena and the guys they've had who have come close (Punk/Bryan) they did nothing with for years and years. Their popularity dwindles because they are not booking people in a way that gets them over as larger than life stars.
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Your opinion on Rollins is just that. And I disagree. The guy's fantastic, and when he returns he'll be stepping straight back into the main event. The only ineffectiveness he has as a heel is his moveset. The crowd are begging to cheer a guy who wrestles like that.

And I agree about your definition of main eventer. I disagree about Benoit, and stand by my point that KO and co. are heading that way comfortably.

As far as Ambrose is concerned, in the last two months he has stood toe to toe with HHH and Lesnar, he just beat Owens in the main event on Raw and is due to fight Y2J at Payback. I'm willing to bet he wins that match too. Either way, it's an elevation from the mid-card, and the crowd are white hot for him whenever he's been involved in the title scene, which is more than once.

And Zayn is losing matches because he literally doesn't need to win in order to look good. He can put over his opponents and not lose a jot of momentum because he's so frickin good. It's been his thing since NXT. He has natural charisma that will carry him miles. Just like Bryan. Though I don't think that anyone thinks that Bryan got over because he lost alot. The Sheamus match was a game-changer, sure, but not the be-all.

I'm looking at this from Raw-after-mania. The past year was a pretty desperate state of affairs. The build to mania was awful, and the show itself was distinctly mediocre. But nothing since then suggests they are continuing on the same path. Shane has illustrated how self-aware the company is, and it is clear movements are being made to rectify alot of the problems. I'm not seeing any reasons to be anything but optimistic.
 
L

Liu Kang Baking A Pie

Member
Sanjuro said:
I feel like it's close. Best thing Seth had going for him was his whiny heel character who needed to get his way.
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We don't know what face Seth is like, but he's certainly proved himself in main event matches. People forget Roman had only two main event singles matches before his Wrestlemania main event with Lesnar. He was never a proven leader.
 
A

Anth0ny

Member
Ferulci said:
I thought Reigns was supposed to bring in a new audience. Werent Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan called ratings kiler for that type of numbers ?
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no you see the ratings are down because ratings are down in general and youtube hits are up and social media is up

everything is fine. reigns is fine. reigns is THE GUY.




also lol at rollins coming back as a face. guaranteed heel. they're going to continue where they left off between him and reigns. he's going to come back bitching about the title he never lost.
 
S

Sanjuro

Member
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
We don't know what face Seth is like, but he's certainly proved himself in main event matches. People forget Roman had only two main event singles matches before his Wrestlemania main event with Lesnar. He was never a proven leader.
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I'm going by his mic skills mostly. I'll have to see it.

Almost liked him more than the Miz.
 
D

DMczaf

Member
Seth got better on the mic as the year went on.

To the point that they trusted him to do those dumb ass 15 minute opening monologues that Triple H and Steph loved to do.
 
shaowebb

shaowebb

Member
Honestly Seth isn't that bad but he wasn't the right choice to try and carry the company IMO. A big problem I have with him is just the simple fact that he doesn't protect his partner. Dude injured a shit ton of wrestlers. He's just all energy out there sometimes and I've worked guys like that in the ring. Its a fucking nightmare. Even when they take bumps they tend to explode on impact and you never know if you'll get hit with a flopped knuckle or tucked elbow or knee or some shit. You always ended up with a shitload of odd bruises and you just hoped they didn't try to rush through their spots too badly and drop you going for that fast impactful shit.

Seth could use some time chasing the uppercard in longer feuds with veterans IMO. Put him with the right couple of guys in a row for a year and I could see him mellowing out, getting safer and being a big thing people like. I just dont think he was ready to go over the whole roster with the crowds and they resented him for it. He's far better than Reigns IMO.
 
H

hamchan

Member
Seth is amazing in the ring. I could watch him wrestle all day he's so good.

And while only being above average on the mic in the company, compared to Reigns he's goddamn amazing at that too.
 
shaowebb

shaowebb

Member
JesseEwiak said:
That's more of an indictment of the modern wrestler than anything positive about Rollins. Rollins is only a good promo if you think Triple H is a good promo. Which is also untrue.
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I think this is a pretty fair way of summing it up. Right now the best talkers they got are New Day, Enzo, and Ambrose. Kinda sad considering that if you can't wrestle you need to be able to talk and they are only just now starting to load up on real performers that can make anyone look good out there. Real talk...Enzo will be there a LONG time IMO. Guy is golden. He could put over anything and if him and Cass aren't pushed forever as some eternal super tag team he will one day go top card for his promos alone...so long as he doesn't get lazy and go broken record on catch phrasing and content.
 
R

RBH

Member
Monday’s Raw scored a 2.32 rating, falling from a 2.50 rating last week and 2.93 rating two weeks ago after WrestleMania.

It was the lowest TV rating of the year, falling below a 2.36 rating for the episode against the college football title game in January.

Raw also fell to year-lows in the key demographics of males 18-34 and males 18-49. Adults 18-49 dipped from last week, but remained out of year-low territory.

The drop-off from post-Mania Raw to this week’s Raw included:

Overall Rating: 2.93 to 2.50 to 2.32 (-21%)
Males 18-49: 2.05 to 1.62 to 1.51 (-23%)
Males 18-34: 1.99 to 1.40 to 1.27 (-36%)
Adults 18-49: 1.55 to 1.24 to 1.19 (-26%)


Raw’s three hours averaged 3.335 million viewers, down 5.5 percent (about 200,000 viewers) from last week.

After some encouraging news seeing the second hour increase, there was a significant drop-off in the third hour…

First Hour: 3.486 million viewers
Second Hour: 3.541 million viewers
Third Hour: 2.980 million viewers

It was the first time this year an hour has drawn fewer than three million viewers. The hour-to-hour decline of 15.8 percent was the second-biggest drop-off this year; the post-Fast Lane show with Shane McMahon’s big return dropped off 16.3 percent from the second to third hour.
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http://www.pwtorch.com/site/2016/04/19/april18rawratings/
 
G

Glorified G

Member
luchadork said:
https://youtu.be/Ak07B43JvF8?t=111
https://youtu.be/ogtNLCJxDUg?t=220

the guy can cut a promo better than 90% of the roster
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Take one person out of that 90% & book them to open Raw or Smackdown every week with a heel promo prioritized by the top writers in the company, they would look as good as Seth with enough time.

He shouldn't get all the blame but Raw was getting record low ratings while Seth was getting the biggest push. A large part of that was his ineffective booking but some of it does have to do with his promo skills, which was pretty poor.
 
T

twinturbo2

butthurt Heat fan
Everybody is going to tune in on Monday to see how they acknowledge Chyna's death.

Hell will freeze over if she gets a ten bell salute.
 
R

RBH

Member
Monday’s Raw fell to a 2.20 rating the week after falling to a 2.32 rating for a taped international show.

It was the lowest rating of the year and lowest since a 2.15 rating in December. If not for the Dec. 7 episode, this would have been the lowest-rated regular-week Raw TV rating in about 20 years.

April 4 post-WM: 2.93 rating
April 11: 2.50 rating
April 18: 2.32 rating (U.K.)
April 25: 2.20 rating (25% decline since WM32)

– Raw was especially hit hard among 18-49 viewers. General adults 18-49 fell one-tenth of a rating to easily the lowest a18-49 rating of the year. Also, males 18-49 fell eight percent to easily the lowest m18-49 rating of the year.

The only demographic that improved was males 18-34, which hit an extreme low-point last week and inched up from the basement level this week.

– Raw’s three hours averaged 3.128 million viewers, down six percent from last week’s audience of 3.335 million viewers.

It was by far the fewest viewers of the year and also the fewest since Dec. 7, 2015.

Hourly Break Down:

First Hour: 3.263 million viewers (down about 200k from last week)
Second Hour: 3.184 million viewers (down about 350k from last week)
Third Hour: 2.938 million viewers (down 40k from last week)
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http://www.pwtorch.com/site/2016/04/26/17593/#F4aBBuhdOGk1HV16.99[
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Well, the NBA playoffs are happening, but it's still the round of 16.

I wonder if the ratings competition gets easier as teams get eliminated, or harder as games become more important.
 
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