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WWE Rumors: ‘SmackDown’ Gets Highest Ratings Ever, Is This Bad News For ‘Raw’?

By Bernadette Giacomazzo
Published on: 03:52 PST, Mar 23, 2017

There was some bad news coming out of the WWE camp yesterday: Monday Night Raw had its lowest ratings ever this week.

But on the other end of the spectrum, the latest WWE rumors suggest that SmackDown Live had their best ratings ever, which is great news for fans of the blue brand!

So, what’s the deal? How come SmackDown Live, which has historically low ratings, suddenly got the huge jump? Could this bode well for the potential trade of such wrestlers as Roman Reigns to the so-called blue brand?

There are a few different theories behind why SmackDown is becoming such a success as of late.

According to the latest WWE rumors from WhatCulture, even though SmackDown has yet to break the 3 million mark in viewers as of yet, Raw’s ratings continue to plummet into record lows. And this is shocking, considering that right before WrestleMania, the viewership tends to be at its highest. Even Raw’s main event featuring Roman Reigns wasn’t enough to bring the ratings up — which is, in part, because the viewers aren’t liking the storyline between Reigns and Braun Strowman.

Meanwhile, according to the latest WWE rumors from Philly.com, it’s the drama on SmackDown that’s bringing people in. Whether it’s the drama between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon or the Bellas and the Divas, it’s what’s bringing people in.

Simply put: The storylines on SmackDown are fresh and relevant. In other words, they’re not tired and played out like the storylines on Raw.

“Smackdown Live is not the best two hours of WWE television every week, but when it is hitting on all or most cylinders, it is hard to beat. That was the case this past Tuesday night when WWE presented a very entertaining edition of Smackdown Live that was highlighted by a fantastic match, a couple of hilarious spoofs and a pretty good brawl at the end of the show.”

According to the latest WWE rumors from Forbes, if things don’t change quickly, the red brand could find themselves cancelled.

More importantly, the double-header of both Raw and SmackDown is taking away viewers from the WWE Network. People are thinking, perhaps logically, that they don’t want to pay for something that they can get for free on network television.

If they keep “giving away” the good matches, according to the outlet, they won’t have people buying subscriptions to the network. For example, the match between AJ Styles and Randy Orton drew almost 3 million viewers alone, making it one of the best-rated matches in SmackDown history. This would have drawn more people to the WWE Network had it appeared there.

And, more to the point, the WWE needs as much revenue as it can get, especially with Raw’s viewership dropping so quickly.

“Especially over the last year, WWE has done a poor job of giving fans a reason to buy the WWE Network, and it’s due mostly to the company’s insistence on giving away major and/or first-time-ever matches on TV with little build and hardly any backstory behind them. And it hasn’t really paid off, either.”

Wrestling fans, now it’s your turn: What do you think of this latest round of WWE rumors? Do you think that Monday Night Raw will be canceled or moved to the WWE Network?

Leave your thoughts about the latest WWE rumors in the comments below.

[Featured Image by WWE]

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