Nobody in Titan Towers is celebrating this week’s WWE Monday Night RAW ratings. The numbers are out and they aren’t pretty. To put it bluntly, the October 1 edition of RAW was the lowest rated non-holiday RAW episode in 15 years!
The rating averaged out to a 2.5 for RAW this past Monday. The show grabbed 3.50 million viewers. The hourly breakdown in order was 3.44, 3.6, and 3.47 million with the peak coming in the second hour. Is this is just a case of a bad week or is it a big wakeup call for Vince McMahon and the WWE Universe?
[adinserter block=”2″]Let’s get the obvious out of the way. The show was going up against a Chicago Bears vs. Dallas Cowboys ESPN Monday Night Football. That is tough competition to beat. But let’s not forget that the WWE has had to put RAW up against bigger NFL MNF games in the past. Not since 1997 has the WWE been beaten this badly on a Monday night.
There was also no John Cena. Cena was not on the show nor advertised. However, is John Cena really that big of a difference maker? Maybe he is after all? Cena’s overruns in the final segment generally do pretty well. That overrun could have made a big difference in the final number. But did fans tune in not expecting to see Cena? Even if Cena wasn’t advertised, did the average fan tuning in late not think Cena would eventually show up? He always does so I have a little bit of a tough time putting the bad number completely on Cena’s absence.
I think the big story here is that the WWE has no superstar power. I know there are a lot of people that read this blog that love CM Punk but I think it has been proven since his big push started in June 2011 that the guy is not a superstar draw. He has done nothing for pay per view numbers and has failed to move the ratings meter. As a matter of a fact his segments without John Cena don’t do the numbers that someone with his push should generate. For whatever reason he doesn’t resonate with casual fans. The hardcore fans love him but they are watching anyway. Casual fans just don’t care and that is a bad thing.
Quite frankly I have been real surprised at the patience Vince McMahon has had with Punk. Punk has received the biggest push of any new star in years. Vince would generally pull the plug on this kind of push by now if it isn’t moving numbers. Unfortunately for Vince, he has not pushed anyone close to Punk in the last year outside of Cena and Sheamus. Right now he’s stuck but I have to wonder if Vince or anyone else in charge are having second thoughts about a The Rock vs. Punk Royal Rumble 2013 match.
[adinserter block=”1″]The three hours are a big killer no matter how much you slice it. A three-hour RAW is very easy to tune in and out of and there aren’t many fans that I know who are watching start to finish on a weekly basis. The WWE is receiving guaranteed money for the extra hour so don’t expect the hour to go away anytime soon. Yet looking at the big picture you have to wonder if the money is worth losing fans that have gone from loyal viewers to casual viewers, who may now go to part-time fan?
There are a lot of factors and people at fault for the dwindling ratings. No matter how you slice it there are no easy fixes. The worst in ratings may be yet to come.
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there's also the point that fall tv season premiered in the past 2 weeks. Like the commenter up there said he watches The Voice, maybe there are other households that tune in to say How I Met Your Mother or the like..
which brings me to another subject regarding comedies. Comedies like Community and Oarks & Rec get super low ratings yet they are beloved by millions of people, and most happen to watch it online or DVR causing the low ratings. Maybe the same thing is happening here and a lot of fans just record the show to fast forward the "boring" parts or watch the highlights in FanNation or something
Seriously though, WWE may get a break there, but I think I agree with Eric that WWE has no big stars for people to tune in besides Cena, and Orton..and Sheamus if you consider him "big." Let's face it. Rey is on his last legs. Taker is a special attraction. HHH has pretty much gone corporate and is semi retired. Jericho is on another hiatus, and who knows when or if he will return. Every other star left or retired. Of course, while these people were still around Vince would not use them to help build up new people for the future. Chickens are coming home to roost it looks like. Vince's absolute refusal to push Christian until it was absolutely necessary is another issue I have.
As for Punk, I think he is very talent man. I enjoy his mic work, and he is an awesome wrestler. However, I just thought maybe the Pipebombs, and going "inside" and all that, maybe that wasn't going to be a huge draw for casual fans. Perhaps fans are used to the short title switches.
First, great job. Now, it is a given that the competition being the Cowboys and the Bears was going to hurt. Next week NFL Game is between the Jets and the Texans I believe. People may tune in to see the Jets totally crash against the Texans. LOL
Do you think part of the problem is competition? WWE has no real competition in sports entertainment. They are the biggest and baddest wrestling program out. So they got lazy lol. For me, its a lack of excitement. There isnt a real reason for me to watch. I have taken to dvr’ing raw and watching “the voice” with my wife on mondays. I normally fast forward thru it when i watch it. The kane and daniel bryan thing is cool…… but thats almost it. I love punk, but everyone knows they wont let him beat cena clean. If he did, it would be a shock. It seems to me that his push isnt a real push
Im sure that has a ton to do it. But on the other hand you could look at NFL MNF as competition in a ratings sense.
But how do the ratings for MNF compare to what they were before? I would think the ratings for everything that sticks around for awhile eventually drop. Look at American Idol, it doesn't get the same ratings it did as when it first started, but it is still number one each week. I think people just have so many choices now a days that the days of sitting down in front of the TV all night and watching the same thing are over for most of us. Unless it is a new show that catches our attention for a little while. Even thought the WWE numbers are down, how do they still compare with the other programs in its time slot? I think that is the better gauge of where they are.
Ratings are up for MNF actually.
Well then……..never mind LOL
LOL 🙂