Vince McMahon isn’t happy with the recent ratings WWE Raw is getting. In a recent report by WrestleZone.com and Bryan Alvarez, McMahon is quoted as “freaking out” over the results of WWE’s flagship program. Like it notes, when the ratings dip around football time, McMahon will usually shake things up with something huge.
Brock Lesnar’s “Go to Hell” tour is that big shakeup by McMahon. Before this was announced, the WWE was going to save Lesnar and Undertaker for WrestleMania 32 . Since the ratings are bad right now, they needed to do something to excite the WWE Universe. Full disclosure: WWE fans who aren’t in a “mark city” don’t seem ecstatic about WWE programming.
Lesnar, Paul Heyman, and the Undertaker will bring a lot of fresh content for the fall season. While both WWE legends are getting ready for their third match, they can’t keep relying on old-timers to continuously come back and give the ratings a boost. It’s inadvertently proving that the current generation of WWE stars can’t bring ratings by themselves.
To aide in this situation, Vince McMahon is bringing back their biggest star for WWE Raw next week. According to TopRopePress.com and PWInsider.com , Brock Lesnar is returning to Monday Night Raw a bit early to help the poor ratings.
“According to PWInsider , Brock Lesnar has been added to Monday’s RAW in Boston, Massachusetts, in an attempt by WWE to boost low ratings.
“This past Monday’s edition of RAW drew 3.32 million viewers, down from the previous week. It was the worst rating for RAW since 1997 (excluding a Christmas show in 2012), and the second worst rating for RAW since moving to three hours.”
What does this have to do with the ratings falling? It proves the hypothesis proposed earlier in this article. WWE superstars right now cannot generate enough audience members. At a WWE house show in Albany, New York, a fan posted a picture on Twitter that showcased the lack of attendance WWE is encountering.
The upper section is taped off #WWEAlbany #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/XfJiCr6gp4
— casey michael (@badboicasey) September 29, 2015
Theories will always come about as to why the wrestling juggernaut isn’t generating enough interest. One of those is actually an idea that came from Daniel Bryan. The former WWE superstar worries that they aren’t creating enough huge stars.
“One of the things I think it shows is that we have not really created enough new stars, to where we put new stars on the front of the video game, so that should be the overall bigger concern. We need to not just rely on people from the past. There is almost this mentality these stars are bigger than the current stars, and they keep going with the mentality when the guys now are every bit as good as the guys from before, it is just they need to be given the platform.”
Bryan is correct in the fact that not enough major stars haven’t been developed. Look at the landscape of the WWE in 2011 and 2012. They had Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. Add John Cena to that list, as well as Alberto Del Rio. Kevin Nash and Triple H joined the mix to help develop that talent, but nobody has given the WWE the boost they needed since Bryan and Punk.
Is that the fault of the WWE or the superstars themselves? It’s a problem that stems from both parties. A wrestler must have the capabilities to market the character on a giant level. Punk’s character was himself, but a more exaggerated version.
Daniel Bryan and John Cena are exactly the same type of character on WWE television. Their personas are relatable and likable to the general public. Seth Rollins is the closest thing to being a star on multiple platforms. New WWE stars will generate ratings long-term and older stars will only help on a temporary basis.
[Images via sportskeeda.com, youtube.com]
