Raw rating lowest since July 2012
 

Well it was a pretty boring show.

Damn that's like the same amount of viewers for the last CHW ppv

That's 3.333 viewers. Chairman Jose gave a 1/3rd of his attention to scope the competition.

Not surprised. Even with the dirtsheets teasing Vince and the WWE were in panic mode, RAW felt the same as its been for weeks in terms of lack of meaningful stuff.

Too many potential great things have been squandered (ex. Divas Revolution, Ceasro), too many feuds are just dragging on (ex. Rusev-Zig, Wyatts-Shield Bros, Comic Book feud), and too much focus on the same old stuff every week (ex. constant rematches, Authority promos, Rollins promos, Cena promos).

A rumor floating on Neogaf's wrestling thread for a bit was about the WWE holding off on doing a big "reboot" until after Mania since all they care about right now is legit breaking Mania's attendance record and older stars as the key to it.

Divas kill ratings

Bring back GTV and have them tape the divas locker room. I know Jazzy Foot will agree, honk honk!

No doubt Daniel Bryan is to blame for these ratings.

My decision to not view RAW live was to better my Monday nights, not to spite WWE. I know damn well I'm not the targeted demographic anymore and looking back I understand and feel fine. NXT was cool until it became an alternative. I'll eventually appreciate wrestling again down the road, but the lack of extreme violence I yearn for isn't there.


At least we have Macho Man and Attitude Era to relive

Maybe if they turned Natty into a crazy cat lady that would=ratings? Let the catitude era begin

Ratings might be down but how are Cena's merch sales doing? That's what matters.

Man, I can't believe this. I thought RAW was great:

* Cena's US Challenge being back is best for business. It was good to see him build his match with Seth Rollins at Madison Square Garden, which will give him a chance to beat Rollins three times in a row and cement the US Title as the most prestigious in sports entertainment. Rollins can handle it, because he's a bad guy, and the money is in his super-built match with Triple H.

* The New Day were fantastic. I worry that they might be relying on them too much, as they do the same entertaining shtick every week, but Xavier Woods was by far the best choice to face Cena in the singles match, given that he's had the most success as a singles competitor.

* The six-man tag was really good. I do wish Cena and The Dudleyz got the win, since beating the champions would have helped them, but you can't hit all the nails on the head.

* Bringing in an HR consultant to deal with the impending issues between Kane and Seth Rollins is a unique and fresh build-up to their tertiary main event for the World Title at Hell in a Cell.

* Sexual tension sells, so Ambrose and Orton fighting over Reigns' approval will keep the young girls interested. It will be like Memphis in the old days. Ambrose vs. Orton with Reigns as Special Guest Referee will be great -- especially if Reigns refs it shirtless. :naughty:

* Big Show vs. Mark Henry was fun. The only problem I can think of is how they will promote Show vs. Henry the next time they want to run The Biggest vs. The Strongest. I guess Mark Henry can always come back for revenge. Maybe he can beat Cesaro next week? See, Cesaro is a young cat, so the story is in him working his way up the ranks and eventually beating Big Show, then Mark Henry, once Henry beats Big Show.

* Charlotte and Becky being on Miz TV was a great throwback to their segment on the show last time. Paige joining Charlotte and Becky is actually really great storytelling, because we all know girls can't make up their minds. The Bellas beating them made sense too, because Paige is going to turn heel again soon, and she needs to beat Charlotte so that she can get her automatic rematch.

* I liked the segment with Kane giving Seth Rollins the head, because it had Ashley in it. I'm glad they are introducing new female characters to this show.

* The Wyatt Family need wins so they can take the titles off The Dudleyz down the line. They'll beat Orton and Ambrose first though. It's a shame The Prime Time Players had to do the job though. I would have liked to have seen them get more in on Strowman, so they could come out of this match looking stronger.

* Stardust vs. Neville has got great build. I like the way they keep beating each other. King Barrett coming back will lead to a Triple Threat at Hell in a Cell, which works, because they're probably going to do a Fatal 4-Way between Owens, Rusev, Ziggler & Ryback and a multi-woman match, so it creates a theme for the PPV, which I think it desperately needs. I hope Barrett gets his own tag team to fight The Lucha Dragons and The Ascension. Maybe The Crown Princes of Puerto Rico, in Epico y Primo?

* I love the build to Kane vs. Rollins. It might seem silly, but I think having two different Kane allows for them to create two different action figures. Maybe they can even have Kane wrestle on the show twice? Not everything has to be so serious folks, and I think this will really help their World Title match stand above previous serious affairs for the title. Rollins tricking Kane into the Pedigree was clever, and I liked Ashley saying Rollins was the one that was difficult to work with -- I think that will get people to boo him. The Demon coming out of the ambulance was a great spot, and it highlighted how magic Kane is.

* Randy Orton beating Bo Dallas was good. Bo is pretty young, so he should be losing to everybody. His serious re-invention was too professional wrestling, but Bo's got a big future in sports entertainment with his current gimmick. I just wish this did go longer, because these two could have really worked a really good story as to who has the better chinlock.

* I talked about the Fatal 4-Way earlier. It's a shame we didn't get any progression in the Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev story, but the two fighting over the IC Title with Ryback and Owens is just what that story needed. Maybe Summer Rae could end up siding with Ryback and his giant muscles? :naughty:

* Paul Heyman talks too much, but I appreciate what they were trying to do here. I think Big Show should have knocked him out or ate him, so that Brock Lesnar has a reason to be scared at Madison Square Garden.

* The main event was excellent, and man did that crowd make it. I could watch these two guys go at it every week from now until the end of time. This is the future, folks, and it reminds me of the days when Austin and Rock used to wrestle every week. See, this is good storytelling, because there wasn't a finish to the match, because we are building to the finish LATER. It's called BUILD, people!

Great show, and I'm genuinely enthused about the hot young stars of WWE. Especially Cesaro and Summer Rae.

Noids sarcastic review of Raw sounds better than Raw from what I hear.

Oh, I wasn't being sarcast. CyNick has converted me. I'm reading between the lines now, because I "get it."

I'm thinking maybe Noid should lay down for a bit.

<font color=goldenrod>I have Raw on as background noise most of the time, and when the show ends I still find myself feeling like I'd wasted my time.</font>

After all these years, Cynick was the one who made Noid snap and become a badass machine

That Noid post was absolutely amazing.

<font color=goldenrod>Noid vs. CyNick verbal debate on the next TPWW podcast</font>

Seems like an odd match to build to, but I owe something to CyNick for taking most of the heat in those six-mans at the start of our careers as young boys in Japan.

Always funny to me when people blame creative for everything. They give two guys a chance to carry the ball, and the viewing audience rejects it. This is why Cena continues to have the ball and deserves to.

That said, I think you have to expect some drop off at this time of year. Its like the time before Mania storylines start to heat up, and football is back. Its a tough time for ratings. And yet, I bet RAW was still one of the most watched things on cable on Monday.

The drop-off for football is usually in the 300,000 mark. That's not enough to account for record lows. I think a stale product, a stale format, too long a show, shitty booking and the method of how television is being watched these days all have their part in it.

Here's another way to look at the ratings - RAW was the SECOND MOST watched show on all of cable on Monday

quick - everyone panic!!!

Its amateur journalism to report on TV numbers without understanding the landscape of how people consumer entertainment. But that is par for the course in the industry.

Plus Vince had explosive diarrhea which he spread to kevin Dunn, thus explaining any blips in the programming. This not being reported presents further shoddy journalism.

Expect this to continue with football. Football is life.

comedy attempt?

What you refer to as a comedy attempt, I call fair and balanced pro wrestling reporting.

Ratings will pick up when it is revealed that Summer Rae is addicted to having abortions.

Who will play Stan the Man?

Looking forward to the Rad Russian and El Pollo Loco myself.

What else is even on cable on Monday nights other than MNF?

A bunch of shows. WWE dummies them all, except football. Oh and they've been doing it for more than 10 years. But lets continue to be negative about it.

Love & Hip Hop Atlanta?

Barely know anything about that show except for it beating RAW in ratings almost every week pre-MNF and probably still is with MNF back.

But Cynick says Raw is still DUMMYING every other show. Is HE lying or are YOU lying???

Cynick knows all. Meatball is lying. Vince owns the world.

A decrease in ratings is still a decrease in ratings. I mean, RAW could be #2, but it's not where it once was. This is like the Dixie Carter "Well, Vince Russo didn't write that segment" response to "Fire Russo!" chants in TNA. Somehow you still have to explain to shareholders why your business is declining.

Although reports are that Vince is panicking, the ultimate goal is to probably have everything on the WWE Network as traditional television platforms collapse. I imagine ratings will decrease even more over the next few years, as WWE gets more and more air-time.

What will be hard to explain is why there isn't significant WWE Network subscription growth as ratings decline, if the idea is to move people from one medium to another. The explanation will be "Football" and at least the WWE will get on enough devices in India, Japan and maybe even China to at least perpetuate the idea that it is a growing enterprise.

Creatively, the WWE violates a lot of rules of television writing. The amount of redundant segments and even characters is insane. The lack of continuity in an era that has presented us television such as Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead doesn't help. People like gritty and things making sense. Cartoony and soft with the presentation of a soap opera might not be the best way to go in 2015 if you want people to take you seriously.

I enjoying videotaping divas and taping naked divas to the wall or bed. I prefer them doing it to me though.

I dont know who this meatball is, but he's not great with math.

Last week RAW had 3.5 million viewers and that hip hop show had 2.5 million. As I said - dummying. Maybe in some universe, the one this meatball lives in, 3.5 is less than 2.4

For the record, Sportscenter was the only show to get close to RAW's viewership numbers. And of course football, which dominated everything.

Thats the thing though, business is NOT declining. RAW ratings might be slightly down, but RAW ratings go up and down all the time. A smart investor would look at the overall prospects of the business. RAW has been a steady driver of viewers for OVER A DECADE. Very few shows on all of TV can lay the same claim. Thats why WWE will continue to be a very profitable entity. As an investor, I would be more concerned about how does WWE elevate the perception of their audience, so that networks like USA can charge for ads, and in turn, WWE can generate more revenue in TV rights fees. Thats not going to be accomplished by pushing Cesaro to the moon.

Why would a ratings decline lead to more network subs. Sorry, not sure I'm following your logic there. I do agree that WWE is poised to see massive international growth in the network. Which is yet another reason why the long term future of the company is very strong.