A switch back to a two-hour RAW may be the only answer to sinking ratings.
Due to the injury of WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, the main event picture of WWE was going to be shaken up. This lead to the announcement of a WWE title tournament, starting on RAW this week. This should have led to one of the most anticipated RAW episodes in recent history, with the announcement of the tournament bracket and the continued rivalry between the Wyatt Family and the Brothers of Destruction.
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Instead, RAW was the lowest viewed non-holiday episode since the format changed to three hours. (h/t Wrestling Inc) The show drew 3.17 million viewers, down from last week’s 3.25 million. The most important thing to see from this week’s viewership is that the last hour of the show did just 2.86 million viewers.
This graph from Voices of Wrestling shows the decline in ratings outside of WrestleMania season up until Aug.:
voicesofwrestling.com
The product itself is not the root of the problem. While many top stars like John Cena, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, and the aforementioned Seth Rollins are either injured or out of action, WWE still has exciting wrestling and a talented roster. Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt & Kevin Owens represent a top echelon of stars, and there are talented grapplers up and down the main roster. Feuds have been given direction, and the Divas and tag-team divisions are deeper than it’s been in recent times. Why the decline in ratings?
The show could simply be too much of a decent thing.
There is an abundance of WWE programming every week with three hours of RAW, two of SmackDown, and for some viewers one of Main Event, one of Superstars and one of NXT. That is eight hours of new programming each week to keep up with for a WWE fan, which makes keeping up with WWE programming like a marathon.
The biggest problem though is viewer fatigue.
The main event is supposed to be what keeps viewers watching for the entire show. The main events have been good for the past month while viewership sinks. The problem is that people are worn out or tired by the time the show reaches the main event. Shows are more often than not full of repetitive, meaningless match ups. There is too much filler between the thriller. While the show attempts to have good segments at the top of each hour, it is obviously not enough.
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WWE needs to move back to the two-hour format to give viewers a break. The show every week is as long as a pay-per-view, which used to be a special occasion. Now the show each week is a marathon and an exercise in patience. Instead of being hooked on the whole show, you are forced to sit through more meaningless segments that are on RAW to fill time. Some viewers don’t even start watching RAW because they know they will be unable to finish it.
Going back to the two-hour RAW would also make SmackDown and other programs more important. It would give meaning to the shows and keep them from becoming glorified RAW recaps. The more important the other shows feel, the more their own ratings would increase as well.
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Do you feel WWE needs to go back to the two-hour RAW? Let us know in the comments below.