Raw Ratings fall again. I try to help.
Well the Raw ratings have come in, and they are records again…. Just not in the way Vince McMahon would like for them to.  They are a record low for a non-football season, coming in at 3.37.  The previous was the June 29th, 2015 edition of Raw. With a ratings break down of the 8pm hour coming in at 3.59, 9pm at 3.46 (down .13 from the previous hour) and the 10pm hour down to a 3.09 (down .37 from the previous hour, down .5 from the first hour).  This has been a constant since the beginning of the 3 hour Raws in July of 2012.  What can be done to fix it?  Many wrestling journalists, fans, and podcast hosts have discussed this painfully frustrating subject.  So I, being a 8 year referee and a podcast host, figured I should give my idea for helping the issue of ratings, along with what to do while there are so many injuries {Writers note: To date there are currently seven main roster and two developmental injuries known at this time in the men’s divisions.} to be dealt with in the main event portion of the shows, along with profiting from the network with hooks. Â
The problem isn’t really the .37 drop from hour two to hour three, but the whole show drop from hour one to hour three.  When you lose that many viewers you got to ask yourself what is wrong.  In this case it might just be the lack in depth of the roster, to fix this you may have to expedite calling up some of the guys from NXT that you have been waiting to pull the trigger.  Sami Zayn, Apollo Cruz, Finn Bálor, Samoa Joe,  Zack Ryder [Writer’s note: He DOES work on the main roster ,however he is more prominently shown on NXT in the Hype Bros tag team.], Alex Riley among others, who most in the Internet Wrestling Fan Base would consider their darlings who are currently out with injury.  Some who are not quite ready to go could potentially be fast tracked to the main roster, without final polishing and may fall out of favor with the main roster’s creative team and end up on a similar list that some talent find themselves in, “Creative has nothing for you”. Some of these guys can be quick fix band-aids until the Cenas, Rollins’, and Ortons of the world can come back from what pains them.  Also if they get over well enough you can always keep the pieces that do up on the main roster and those who don’t can go back with the notes that they have either taken, in the figurative sense or have had taken on them by agents and creative given to Hunter and have them work on their weaknesses and hone their strengths to that fine edge that is starting to be required on the main roster. That way those who are not exactly ready for the rigors of the road can at least get gauged on where they are.
Now to tackle the monster that is the dreaded third hour of Raw.  Boy has this thing been a thorn in the side of fans and most likely creative alike.  Could it be profitable?  Of course, if done properly, the matches anymore seem very front loaded in the first couple hours.  Granted you have to kind of make the first hour, first segment or two pop the rating a little bit, but from there you need to maintain and that seems to be the issue from hour one to hour three.  The question is how do you keep the third hour AND keep advertising revenue?  The answer may already lie in WWE’s hands in the network.  Yes, the network a wonderful concept that WWE came up with that was released to the public almost two years ago, at least here in America.  Here’s what they should do.  Have the build of the weekly story line start it as normal with the trite promos and what not. Have your upper tier guys, what ones there currently are be on the third hour, against each other or possibly mid-card talent on their way up to the upper parts of the card.  Hours one and two can be for lower and mid card guys to toil and work their way up the card, you know like it use to be when the majority of us were kids watching the product.  Maybe use some of that time to do profiles on either talent coming up from NXT, or returning talent from injury, new signees from other places that are not going to NXT. WWE seriously needs to do something to shake things up to draw up the ratings, or things could go from bad to possibly a whole lot worse.
 James Knight is a wrestling fan of 27 years, and a referee on the independent circuit for the last 8 years, working with current and former world champions, hall of famers, current and former WWE, NWA, WCW, and TNA stars. He is also a co-host to the podcast Shomo & The Ref.
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