Raw Rating comes in with bad number.

[Guest Eugene`]

In what has to be a scary sign for the company leading into this weekend’s PPV, last night's edition of Raw did a 3.2 cable rating, with a 5 share, off of hours of 3.1 and 3.2. That is the lowest non-major holiday rating for the show since November 11, 2002 (which was Veterans Day). It’s the lowest non-holiday number since February 23, 1998, when the show did a 3.2. The number is so low part of me wonders if there was an error at Nielsen Media Research.

 

In other ratings news, Heat did a 0.9 cable rating, with a 1.8 share.

 

The WWE Experience did a 0.4 cable rating, with a 1.3 share.

 

Velocity also did a 0.4 cable rating, but with a 1.0 share.

 

There is no other way to say it other than these numbers are not pretty, especially leading into the company's biggest PPV of the summer.

 

Credit: pwinsider.com

 

 

All I have to say is, OUCH!

[algrim 0]

That Diva crap is starting to wear thin.

[Exslade ZX 0]

It also doesn't help, that didn't the football preseason start showing Monday? I'm not a big football follower so I'm not sure..but I think so..?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I think the B and C show numbers are scarier.

 

Lemme put it this way...

 

ECW on TNN's WORST rating was higher than Velocitys and Experiences.

 

ECW. On Friday Night. Between Roller Jam and RocknBowl. In a deathslot. With no advertisement.

 

There is a serious problem here and the WWE is just ignoring it when it comes to their B and C shows. They need major retooling. The time, money and effort they are putting into the DIVA search could have been put into Velocity, Heat and Experience, which would have yielded MUCH better results all around for the company.

 

It's a very scary situation. It's probably in the top 3 of their biggest problems which needs immediate fixing. And they are just completely ignoring it and hopes that it'll go away (the problem, that is. Of course, in reality, the show will be the one that's going).

[iliketurtles 0]

Maybe the fact that the product is stale and shoving down shit I could care less about (half of the Summerslam card) might have something to do it?

[razazteca 0]

Well if the theory of the ratings only matter a week or 2 later than this have to prove without a shadow of a doubt that the fans HATE THE DIVA SEARCH AND HATE THE KANE, LITA, MATT LOVE TRIANGLE!

 

Either that or that the fans like preseason football more than wrestling.

[Promoter 0]

I'm not surprised to be honest. The wwe deserves this kind of feedback.

[razazteca 0]

How many matches was on the show? The womens match, Edge vs Jericho, Benoit vs Evolution? If the dodge ball game does not end the Diva Search than I will be surprised.

[justcoz 0]

They aren't smart enough to end the Diva search the way they should. Just have the WWE divas physically whoop their asses with Trish on the mic telling them that none of them are wanted. Vince announces that the winner of the Diva competition will be determined by which ladies are daring enough to come back on WWE television after being abused and threatened by the WWE divas. None of them appear on the next Raw and the competition ends. Behind the scenes, they give each of the girls some kind of cash settlement and a few of them are given tv time whenever a bimbo appearance is called for.

 

The women's division get over with the fans for speaking the truth and calling an end to what everyone, smark or casual, consider bad WWE television.

[Promoter 0]

They are too wrapped up in telling the contractors to wear suits outside the arena to bother with these pathetic ratings. Many thought the ironman killed ratings, well this kills that idea in the bud. Maybe the Diva nonsense brought down the rating. From another website it seemed like last week's ratings were high for the Regal/HHH match, but as soon as the Diva stuff appeared following it dropped the rating for the quarter hour.

[Promoter 0]

They are too wrapped up in telling the contractors to wear suits outside the arena to bother with these pathetic ratings. Many thought the ironman killed ratings, well this kills that idea in the bud. Maybe the Diva nonsense brought down the rating. From another website it seemed like last week's ratings were high for the Regal/HHH match, but as soon as the Diva stuff appeared following it dropped the rating for the quarter hour.

[Fro 0]

It was a hard sell show with only 4 matches. They also had the Diva Search Segments, the Hard Sell segments, the Kane/Hardy contract signing (wrestlecrap), the Smackdown Rebound segment, more hard selling, a squash match with two OVW wrestlers involved. The women's match was pretty subpar and was just thrown out there, and involved several green workers.

 

Not to mention MNF started.

 

This was a good show with a fast-forward button, but there were only about 3 segments of value on the entire program.

[Vyce 0]

It also doesn't help, that didn't the football preseason start showing Monday? I'm not a big football follower so I'm not sure..but I think so..?

I think the football is part of it......the preseason game that played here locally was the Redskins vs. Denver, featuring the return of Washingotn's once and future Messiah, Joe Gibbs. Washington being a top 5 market, I can see where it may have put a dent in the rating.

 

But others are right - the general quality of the product right now is hurting more than anything. If it was better, people wouldn't think about turning to the game, until the commercial break.

[BHK 0]

Well, obviously, any low rating is bad news.

 

I honestly don't know how the WWE reacts to their ratings, however, if they do it on a week to week basis, that needs to go out the window.

 

Raw scoring a 3.2 is bad, however, it could jsut as well be up to 3.8 next week. Now, if Raw averaged 3.2 over a moth, or maybe to, THEN alarms would be going off in my head.

 

If they're reacting and changing the product based on weekly ratings, this is wrong. They have to look at things in the long term, they have to. It's the only way the product will thrive, short term fixes NEVER EVER EVER WOORK.

 

Now, conversely, if Vince & Co. actually ARE looking at the show's ratings long term, then disreagrd everything I said above and kudos to them.

 

I also wish that the IWC at large would keep this in mind when reading and reacting to ratings.

 

It's hard when you have the reporters badmouthing it in the actual news item, but that negativity should be disregarded, especially when their opinions are based on a weekly rating, not a long term one.

 

 

It's not chance that 2000 was the best business and best WRESTLING period for the company in a long time. In theory, if you put on a good consistent product over a long period of time, the people will come.

 

 

In theory...

 

EDIT: As far as the football argument goes, instead of blaming MNF for low ratings, how about WWE tries to put on a good product so people want to watch that instead of football? Stunning concept, I know.

Edited August 11, 2004 by BHK

[JustJoe2k5 0]

I know I was watching Preseason Football, which is sad considering I'm not even a fan of the Broncos or the Redskins. Last night, the Diva Search stuff was bad, the Kane/Lita/Matt Hardy stuff was bad, the Divas tag match was bad, and everything else other than Chris Jericho vs. Edge I didn't even bother watching. This is still bad news considering once REAL Monday Night Football starts the numbers will probably drop under the 3.0s. I know I'll be watching Packers vs. Panthers over RAW whenever that game is.

[Guest El Satanico]

The game wouldn't have made that much of a difference. It started at 8, so by 9 mostly second stringers were playing. Outside of some die hards who are willing to watch a pointless game to see how the second and third stringers look, I can't see many choosing to watch the game IF they wanted to see Raw.

 

Viewers having the desire to watch Raw is the problem, not Preseason football.

[Guest fanofcoils]

I don't think people care about Regal, Eugene, or Benoit now. People would like to see Orton as champ. That woman's match was a bad idea to have since there was no purpose of it.

[Promoter 0]

It's true that the wwe should be more concerned about long term ratings, but the problem I really see is this. The wwe just DOESN'T listen for the most part. If you really look at things from 1999 until now I see a few things that are constant.

 

The wwe should realize that nonsense like Kane/Matt/Lita is not what people watch wrestling for. I even heard Matt Hardy on Starphone(the same line "Joltin" Joe does his line) state that he doesn't understand why some the hardcore fans are so negative toward the entertainment aspect of his storyline with Kane. They don't get that not only are the hardcores not liking it, but so are the casuals. They think it's the fans' fault for not liking what they think is entertaining. I also remember Vince saying in 2002-3 that the fans haven't really rallied behind Triple H as champion. It seems like they think its the fans who aren't getting it. Smarks and whatnot are just more vocal through the net becaue this group of fans watch anyways. Other fans just turn the crap off. How many damn times are they going to book Kane in these stupid storylines that don't entertain or bring in the money? They keep booking him in this crapola and why?

 

Then as hardcore fans tell them that Eugene will wear thing very quickly they don't hear. They push these flavour of the month characters and within the next half year look for something else to pop the ratings. Thankfully, they have cut down on the ridiculous storylines that were around in late 2000, 2001, and 2002(Jericho undisputed lap dog and Rock dying come to mind). The fanbase is not only dwindling because of lack of heat and talent, but the wwe just push things that override the good in the product. They screw themselves anytime they run an angle in the media that gets them attention such as the BillyChuck stuff(which led nowhere after all the hype which gives people no reason to emotionally invest in the storylines as well). Another thing to tie into 2000 with Kane/Lita/Matt Hardy storyline is the love triangle with Trips/Angle/Steph that led nowhere. The net doesn't seem to be too much into this Randy Orton #1 contender and the casuals don't seem to be either. There are just so many things that they are doing that don't make people stick with the product. I'm a junkie, so I'm out of the equation, but I do know why people tune in and out. Sometimes it's just insulting to watch and they test the patience of the audience. Look how anytime they do something that seems like it will turn the tide the ratings are up and then soon after it drops(the latest incident was the draft lottery).

[Tawren 0]

It's all that damn Benoit's fault. We need more HHH.

[razazteca 0]

It's all that damn Orton's fault. We need more Regal.

Edited by The TRUTH.Com

 

Welcome to Bizarro World.

[Der Kommissar 0]

I know I haven't watched Raw for the past 3 weeks. My major problem with it is that it pretty much came off like I was the exact same thing each Monday. It seems like every Raw is basically the following:

 

- interview segment: either 20 minute opening interview, 20 minute closing interview, or Highlight reel.

 

- something involving Kane, Matt, and Lita.

 

- token women's match featuring 2 to 6 of the following(Molly Holly, Jazz, Gail Kim, Victoria, Stacy Keibler, Trish Stratus, or Nidia) Sometimes they're feuding over something, sometimes just go out there and fight for no reason.

 

- Overly long Diva Search segment

 

- fairly pointless match involving either La Resistance, Tajiri, Rhyno, Hurricane, Rosey, Val Venis, or Tyson Tomko.

 

- the first hour main event, usually feature random member(s) of Evoltion or Kane facing off against a random face(s)

 

- the Smackdown Rebound

 

- Second main event which is either an interview or a match where 1 to 4 members of Evolution faces off against 1 to 4 random faces.

 

I may have forgot one or two things in there, but basically that seems to be the whole show. It's too bad, really, since, after Benjamin, Tajiri, etc., came over from Smackdown, I was really enjoying the shows. Unfortunately, injuries seems to have decimated the roster. The only credible heels they have are Evolution and Kane. After that, then who? La Resistance? The Coach? Tyson Tomko? It bores me to think that whenever a face gets hot it will mean either feuding with Kane or joining the other random faces trying to beat Evolution. Same feuds, different random face.

 

Hopefully, things will start look up post-Diva search. I kind of miss how enjoyable Raw used to be a scant few months ago

[razazteca 0]

Raw needs to remove:

 

1) Diva Search

2) Smackdown Rebound

3) Todd Grishom the announcer

4) Coach as an announcer, if he has to be on tv make him the heel manager

[Guest Tjhe CyNick]

Its one number, its one bad number, but ultimately its just one number.

 

Just using myself, I'm a huge football fan, but 9/10 times I will watch wrestling. But over the last the year or so I found myself checking out more and more of the football. I know I swicthed the channel a few times to watch the preseason game, and I thought that was kinda sad.

 

I'm also a huge fan of 24, which is moving to Monday nights in January. Guess what? I wont be watching any wrestling when that comes on. But if the WWE was producing compelling TV I might have a tough decision to make.

 

The point is, if they make good TV people will watch, if they make average or bad TV people will find other things to watch.

[Promoter 0]

Raw needs to remove:

 

1) Diva Search

2) Smackdown Rebound

3) Todd Grishom the announcer

4) Coach as an announcer, if he has to be on tv make him the heel manager

So, smackdown's suck is infiltrating raw Don't blame Orton. Blame jbl!

[razazteca 0]

If I wanted to watch the Experience I would wake up early on Sunday....I don't need to see its segments on Raw.

[geniusMoment 0]

The problem is much deeper than most of you think, and is a problem I have been talking about for months, going into a couple of years.,

The characters that are over with the wrestling audience and get pops, even draw ratings every once in a while are not the type of characters that the general audience will like.

I would never tell my friends lets watch this inspirational retard on Monday, it would be embarassing. I would not want to say, "Look at evolution, they are so bad that they are cool." because they are not, they are just generic wrestlers.

Everyone wrestles the same boring style, there are not high spots or garbage wrestling, people like the something for everyone atmosphere.

No one is cool anymore. WWE seems to favor giving people dorky gimmicks that elicit pops out of the weird fan base. (see Eugene, Hurricane, Rosey, Coach, La Res, Tajiri, Molly and her wig, Victorias dancing, Jericho even though he plays the dork well etc...)

If they are not dorks then they are bumbling fools or bland hosses. (see Tomko, Cade, Batista, Heidenreich as boring hosses, while Bischoff, Lawler, Christian have all played this role of bumbling fools.

Why would the general public watch a show full of dorks, idiots and hosses? No one is cool anymore, except perhaps the semi dull orton.

People do not give a shit about womens wrestling, unless it is T&A, they do not want stupid contests like the diva search, as that would actually appeal more to women then men. Even when WWE has T&A now they feel the need to make it "funny" where the guy gets it in the end, and the women wear less skimpy clothes then they wrestle in, also the women need to act like they want to do the T&A thing, by acting like they are forced into it, it comes off lame.

WWE needs to cut off the uber patriotic, voting, politically correct thing they have going on. It makes their company come off as dorky. There is a reason there average viewer is now 37.

[King Cucaracha 0]

It's all Orton's fault. He's too green to be on Raw. Benoit should be wrestling Jushin Liger every night! INSTANT RATINGS!

 

If they are not dorks then they are bumbling fools or bland hosses. (see Tomko, Cade, Batista

 

Batista's boring? He gets more face pops than 3/4 of the face roster, which I think says something.

 

Even when WWE has T&A now they feel the need to make it "funny" where the guy gets it in the end, and the women wear less skimpy clothes then they wrestle in, also the women need to act like they want to do the T&A thing, by acting like they are forced into it, it comes off lame.

 

Yes, the women should ACT like 14 year old's spanking material. Sure works for Torrie Wilson, eh? Go download some porn. The reason women's wrestling isn't seen as interesting to most fans is because most of the women's 'wrestlers' can't wrestle. Outside of maybe Molly and Vicky, maybe Trish when she's carried and Jazz for the high impact stuff, none of the divas can wrestle to global promotion standards or even 20 fans a night indie fed standards.

[justcoz 0]

The product just needs a complete and total make over. Despite Raw still being a "live" show, there is no excitement over that concept anymore. When you used to watch a live Nitro or Raw there was a general feeling that ANYTHING could happen at ANY TIME. You could be shocked at any moment. Nothing ever happens anymore with the exception of the same boring build towards the pay per view storyline. They've been running the same paint by numbers show formatting for about five years now. The show still looks like it did in the Attitude era with the exception that there are no Rock, Mick Foley and Stone Cold.

 

The announce team needs to change. Get rid of Lawler. His act serves no purpose any more and he brings nothing to the product as a color guy. His squeaky voice is enough to ruin even a good product. You wanna shake things up a bit? Bring in Stone Cold on color. Lawler can go be the commissioner on TNA and reunite with the Jarretts for all I care.

 

The backstage skits need to go. It's just ridiculous and suspends any belief whatsoever in the product. Why are these people acting like they don't know a camera is near? Why are they telling secrets and building plans for later in the show on live television? It's a stupid Russo/Crash TV era product of the wrestling biz that needs to be forgotten. Put Mean Gene back there with a microphone interviewing people instead. I say Mean Gene because he is good at that, unlike Todd Grisham.

 

Ditto for the 20 minute in ring promo. These things were only cool when it was Bischoff and the NWO gloating on Nitro or Austin, Rock and DX being entertaining. Either let them be interviewed backstage or cut brief in ring promos prior to their matches.

 

Realize that the audience they do have DOES NOT want to see the Diva competition or the Kane/Hardy storyline. Not one of those women even seem to have Diva potential, they are horrible on the mic, their personalities take away from any attaction they may have, they can't say their lines with a straight face and they are just an embarrassment to the show. Much of that applies to Lita also. Just terrible porn star quality acting.

 

Beyond creative, the product has shown no growth in addition to it's overall lack of direction and that is what ultimately turns off people. The company is full of Yes men who don't stand up to Vince or Stephanie and seek to amuse themselves with the content they produce rather than their audience. For instance, the first week into the Diva competition, when fans were very directly booing and chanting over their presence, action should have been taken immediately to end the competition. Instead they get more tv time, start off the shows, etc.

[iliketurtles 0]

Just want to add in that the WWE sucks. I can't stand watching the show...and don't say "Well, don't watch it" because 1. I haven't been lately and it's not a priority anymore like it used to be and 2. I'm a wrestling fan and I'm going to bitch when wrestling sucks and not just say how great things are.

 

Seriously...Angle/Guerrero is the ONLY match I care about at Summerslam. Everything else is stuff I just don't care about. Orton and JBL as World Champs? No thanks.

 

2004 was watchable up until Wrestlemania 20...then it seems like everyone stopped caring, as did I.

[geniusMoment 0]

King my point was guys like Batista get pops from the wrestling fans left, but he does nothing to draw in new fans. That is why ratings are down, not because of Batista specifically, but because the new characters have no depth. Batista is just basically a big guy with no discernable personality.

Let me put it this way. I am not going to tell my friends, who used to be wrestling fans during the Russo era, to watch raw to see this great new guy named Batista. How he his booked is wrong, he has no drawing power right now.