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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?

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.

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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