The news came out this week that the September 15th edition of Raw had a rating of 2.6 with no quarter hour segments getting over a 3.0 rating. It was the lowest rating on Raw in 11 years. I'm not going to claim that I'm some expert on TV ratings because frankly all I know about them is that they are the best way for people to measure how many viewers are watching a television show. I'm sure the biggest question at WWE headquarters right now is simply, "Why? Why such a low rating?"
The first thing people will point to is the excellent Monday Night Football game that happened this week as the Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles in one of the better MNF games ever. It was very entertaining from start to finish featuring two very popular teams. The thing is, in the past eleven years there have been other big football games that went against Raw yet they didn't put the same kind of dent into the Raw rating that this game did. All I'm trying to say here to anybody in WWE that may be reading is that it's not one football game that's the problem. It's the current philosophy of the company that is the problem.
Earlier this year all WWE programming had their TV rating changed from TV14 to TVPG meaning it was fun for the entire family. They welcomed you bringing kids to an event or watching the show at home with them. Want to watch Vince McMahon suffer a major accident because he doesn't want to give any more money away? Bring the whole family! You'll love an explosion! I guess. By the way, how is Mr. McMahon's health? Oh, yeah, I forgot he's a private man. How rude of me to ask! Calling Vince McMahon a private man is like saying Paris Hilton is a talented actress, singer or whatever the hell she is.
Moving on, I think one of the biggest factors in terms of losing viewers has been the growth of the Ultimate Fighting Champion, as well as Mixed Martial Arts in general. A lot of people that watched WWE from ages 16-25 probably aren't watching them as much as they are watching MMA these days. Ten years ago it was different. The WWF was the cool thing to watch. Now it's MMA. People are enjoying the real fights that they provide on a regular basis with PPV events as well as regular shows on Spike TV. None of the UFC TV shows get more viewers than Raw or Smackdown, but their PPV shows have done better on a much more regular basis. It's a lot to ask people to spend $40 or more on more than one event per month, so a lot of people, especially in the key male demographics, seem to be choosing UFC over WWE. In the next two months people are going to be talking way more about the Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar fight (go Brock!) than they will talk about whatever is going to headline Survivor Series. UFC is cooler to more people right now even though WWE probably has a tough time admitting that.
The switch from TV14 to TVPG has influenced three major areas that once were reasons why people were tuning into WWE. These areas helped WWE a lot ten years ago (and beyond) in terms of bringing in viewers. You know when you watch a mature TV show and you see three letters up there such as LSV. That's language, sex and violence.
Language - There were many reasons why Steve Austin became arguably the biggest star in company history, but two of the things that really helped his character was all the swearing and giving the middle finger to just about anybody that crossed him. The Rock with his constant mentioning of shoving things up people's asses and Degeneration X telling people to "Suck It" also pushed the language barriers. Even two years ago they brought DX back with dick jokes filling up the entire broadcast. They were the leaders of WWF Attitude. Now? Do they even say ass anymore? It reminds me of the '80s when Hogan would talk about kicking the butt of the big bad giant he was fighting. The same John Cena that won fans over five years ago for being edgy with his rapping is now Hulk Hogan like in his lameness. I don't blame him. He's a hard worker who I've enjoyed for years. It's the philosophy of the company these days that you should boo, not John Cena.
Sex - There are still a lot of gorgeous and talented women working in WWE, no question about that. When you see a woman on WWE TV these days she's usually in the ring. They're not hiring many women that are unable to wrestle. If you can't wrestle then you'll be in the ring training. This philosophy is different than what we saw for most of the last decade when shows were regularly filled with things like lingerie contests, bikini contests (I think Torrie Wilson's had a tremendous record in those) and other sexually degrading events. I remember going to a house show five years ago where Torrie, Dawn Marie and Sable were in a tiny teddy contest that saw them walking around the ring in lingerie. I loved it because they're gorgeous. Now? Women are told to cover up more than they are told to show off. The good thing is it seems like women are treated with more respect these days since they're considered more like athletes rather than objects. The bad thing is fans are not that into the current state of women in WWE. Going back to ten years ago again, you know who one of the top five draws in the company was? Sable. And not because of her wrestling ability. Sex sells. Always has, always will.
Violence - When I watched Summerslam last month I was most looking forward to the Undertaker/Edge Hell in a Cell match. I liked their chemistry and their ability to get good matches out of one another. What shocked me at the end of the match, which I did enjoy, is that nobody was bleeding. Then Unforgiven a month later when Jericho and Michaels had their big unsanctioned match again there was no blood. That disappointed me because I think having one of the competitors bleed is part of the story that should be told. They like seeing the babyface come back despite blood being all over his face or the heel getting busted open because a bad guy like that deserves it for the horrible things he's done. It's a simple story to tell without words. Obviously Vince McMahon made the call to cut back on the blood due to the PG rating, but I don't think it's for the better. I won't even get into the lack of logic involved in having a show named Extreme Championship Wrestling when you refuse to put on any matches with weapons. I know the name is established, but does the name ECW have any value now? No, I don't think so.
I understand why the company started focusing more on kids. After the Benoit family tragedy, WWE got more bad press than they ever had before. While I don't think it's fair to solely blame the company for what happened (it was a mentally sick man that did a disgraceful thing), a lot of people were going to blame them. It's been tough for people to get into wrestling the way they did before that tragedy happened. To WWE's credit, they've developed a tougher drug testing system that has seen more people suspended this year than the one prior and maybe they saved a life too when it came to finding out about MVP's irregular heartbeat. They deserve praise for all of that.
I'm not going to end this without mentioning that business is still good for WWE. Vince McMahon is still a multi-millionaire many times over. The international tours that they've had the last few years have been as good as they have ever been. Countries overseas are starving for live WWE action and as a result of that the company travels abroad more than ever. The PPV business is down a bit, but they're still making more than they are losing on average. It's just that the TV market is what has driven WWE to so much success over the years that there has to be concern about the decline in ratings on Monday nights.
The time to panic is not yet here. If a trend occurs where there's a month worth of ratings under 3.0 then it might be time. Until then, a loose plan has to be in place in order to make some changes. Doing nothing or admitting there's no problem would be a mistake. Changes have to be made in the creative process. I don't blame the wrestlers. They're a talented group for the most part. I think it's internal more than anything.
Vince McMahon, the ball is in your court. What's the next move?
Smell ya later,
John C. - oratoryjohn@gmail.com
MSN: oratoryjohn@hotmail.com - Do not email me here! Will not be read!
I will be writing more often in a format such as this. More columns that are shorter than what I'm used to. Occasionally there will be longer columns, but my goal is to write at least three opinion pieces in the format as this one. Of course I've said this in the past and was unable to meet my goals as a writer, so we'll see how that prediction works out.
Next week's column hopefully on Thursday: "Twenty Simple Ideas to Help WWE" - Got an idea? Drop me an email.
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