Vince thinks ratings are declining because they're building new talent and no Brock Lesnar

[Leon TrotSky]

https://whatculture.com/wwe/why-vince-mcmahon-thinks-wwes-ratings-are-declining

Yesterday's Q1 2020 financials showed that WWE Raw ratings are still declining at a faster rate than cable as a whole, losing 16% of the audience compared to the top 25 shows' 5% average. SmackDown, however, is up, posting a 16% increase following the move to FOX, though this is considerably lower than other shows on a network that saw viewership increase by 36% across their channels.

WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon shared his thoughts on the viewership during the accompanying quarterly investors call, pointing to Brock Lesnar's absence as a reason for the slump.

"We no longer have Brock Lesnar, but we have a new champion and a lot of new performers coming in," he said. "That's the reason. How you use those performers in this story or that story. With new talent, it's going to take a little while. I'm convinced the Raw ratings will bounce back considerably."

Vince also said that "SmackDown has virtually been no change," and Raw "has suffered, but not necessarily because of the environment. It's suffered because we bring in a lot of new talent and it takes a while to get new talent over."

Interesting stuff, particularly as Lesnar has worked more dates than usual in 2020. WWE is clearly banking on the likes of Drew McIntyre to get over as ratings draws - so let's see how they do going forward.

 

[Chris]

I'm just happy a source is finally talking about WWE ratings relative to all of TV's decline instead of just saying "ratings are down thats bad" when context is key. This context is not good for WWE regardless though

 

[Benoit's Weight Machine]

Take it from someone who stopped watching in 2004 and was completely lapsed until AEW brought me back in 2019. The ratings are down because of bad creative and the overpushing of Cena for 10 years.

 

[Dale]

Firstly, I can't watch these empty arenas show at all, they're just so lifeless and bland and just goes to show how important the fans are. I watched WrestleMania and that was it and caught maybe one or two segments on Youtube.

I'll cut them some slack though during this pandemic though, i'm gonna assume it's a mixture between people being glued to the news and the empty arena shows not being a good watch.

Obviously they're in a massively sticky situation just like everyone else is but I feel like they should take this uncertain times we're in and treat it as a free swing so to speak. I'm pretty sure the networks are going to be forgiving for the ratings with everything that's going on, so take advantage of that and start bringing through a new wave of people. I've seen they've brought up a few people but have no idea how well they've introduced them. They should be making sick video packages / mini-documentaries to fill a bunch of the time on some of the new superstars aswell, help introduce them and break up the monotony of the empty arena shows.

 

[Benoit's Weight Machine]

Firstly, I can't watch these empty arenas show at all, they're just so lifeless and bland and just goes to show how important the fans are. I watched WrestleMania and that was it and caught maybe one or two segments on Youtube.

I'll cut them some slack though during this pandemic though, i'm gonna assume it's a mixture between people being glued to the news and the empty arena shows not being a good watch.

Obviously they're in a massively sticky situation just like everyone else is but I feel like they should take this uncertain times we're in and treat it as a free swing so to speak. I'm pretty sure the networks are going to be forgiving for the ratings with everything that's going on, so take advantage of that and start bringing through a new wave of people. I've seen they've brought up a few people but have no idea how well they've introduced them. They should be making sick video packages / mini-documentaries to fill a bunch of the time on some of the new superstars aswell, help introduce them and break up the monotony of the empty arena shows.

I say screw the empty crowds. Start playing raws from 1997 and watch the ratings skyrocket.

 

[Pat]

I don’t think he’s necessarily wrong. When you have a lot of staples such as Styles, Lesnar, Roman, among others just out it can hurt ratings for sure.

 

[Davey Wrestling]

The ratings have been going down steadily for years though, not just since the "crowdless era" started.

There's lots of problems with the company, their presentation is too sterile and generic, their commentators don't convey excitement for what they're watching, the wrestlers no longer have real character about them and the shows are too long as just some starters. There's also things beyond their control such as new shinier things being on the scene like UFC, and easy access to any wrestling promotion via the internet.

From what I understand from what I've seen/heard of the call - they aren't going to be too bothered about crowds (as in live events) because the big money is the TV deals - as long as they can produce those shows and they draw a tv audience then they won't care.

I imagine the TV companies have some sort of rating clause in the contracts but even that's a nothing right now because there's currently no more live sports anywhere...

They should be making sick video packages / mini-documentaries to fill a bunch of the time on some of the new superstars aswell, help introduce them and break up the monotony of the empty arena shows.

This is exactly what they should be doing - 3 hour Raws, how about 30 minutes of this each week to introduce wrestlers and build stories? Whether there's a crowd or not, for me, they need to mix things up.

 

[Kim Jong Umb]

vince thinking its the talent fault and not the fact he pushed Brock Lesnar for 5 years straight could of built new talent by putting them on tv instead of 55+ year old men

 

[Lady Redfield]

Man, Vince will never just admit his product is plain garbage, always gotta be some other excuses.

 

[Showstopper]

Not that this is the reason, but why would he choose to have AJ, Owens, Brock, all out at the same time for Raw? Why are AJ and Owens even gone? Neither guy is injured. Owens, in particular, just won clean at WM against one of the company's top guys, and then just disappears. And then on top of that, he thinks Drew is gonna increase the ratings...and with all of those guys I posted above, not on the show? There is no way Vince even believes this. He's just trying to keep his stockholders at bay.

There is cause for concern, though. Brock hasn't caused an increase in the ratings in years. Austin's most recent appearance on the show (March 16th for '316 day') didn't even increase the ratings, and this is STEVE AUSTIN we're talking about here. None of the other part timers cause an increase, either. I guess Rock does, but that's it. And even for the first SD on FOX (which is Network TV and has more potential viewers than USA or any cable network does), they only got 3.9 million for that.

Truth is, ratings have been going down for ages. Since 2000 to be exact. Then, when they had Cena shit on the entire roster for 10 years straight, that drove more away. To make it even worse, before Cena was done in that spot, they didn't even have him create a new guy to take his spot and have a big coronation for that new guy. He just left...and that was it. And as much as I like some of the roster today, there just isn't anyone who's gonna create another boom. Add onto that with how many more channels and options there are out there like Youtube, Netflix, the internet in general, and I don't see any wrestling company (WWE or otherwise), having increasing ratings going forward. This is what it is, and alot of it is on Vince. And as Vince gets older, it's only going to get worse. It's been made painfully obvious that Vince doesn't have any aces up his sleeve like he did in the AE or with Cena in the RA era.

He better come up with some better/more creative excuses for his stockholders. SD this past week just did it's lowest rating ever on FOX. The clock is ticking.

 

[Hoss]

That doesn't seem very fair to Cena. He's put over lots of guys since he started winding down his career. Bryan, Styles, Reigns, Balor, Rollins and even Fiend at Mania just a month ago. True, there was never that "passing of the torch" moment. Bryan beating him at SummerSlam 2013 was probably the closest thing to that. But, I doubt that was his call. Nonetheless, I don't think it would make too much difference in the grand scheme of things. We've had Rock endorse Reigns, we've had Rollins conquering Lesnar, we've had every legend you can think of try to crown Becky Lynch... ultimately I don't think it matters what cosigns wrestlers get from the old guard, the product just isn't exciting enough to keep people's attention. Especially when you're talking about the weekly shows, there is hardly ever anything that makes you feel like you don't want to miss next week's show. Or for people who aren't watching, there isn't anything going on that is going to make them regret missing the show. Bottom line is you're really not missing much when you skip the weekly shows. People can try to say all this shit about the Attitude Era being overrated, or not aging well, or whatever but you can't deny that they gave you a reason to tune in week after week.

 

[Chris]

Not that this is the reason, but why would he choose to have AJ, Owens, Brock, all out at the same time for Raw? Why are AJ and Owens even gone? Neither guy is injured. Owens, in particular, just won clean at WM against one of the company's top guys, and then just disappears. And then on top of that, he thinks Drew is gonna increase the ratings...and with all of those guys I posted above, not on the show? There is no way Vince even believes this. He's just trying to keep his stockholders at bay.

There is cause for concern, though. Brock hasn't caused an increase in the ratings in years. Austin's most recent appearance on the show (March 16th for '316 day') didn't even increase the ratings, and this is STEVE AUSTIN we're talking about here. None of the other part timers cause an increase, either. I guess Rock does, but that's it. And even for the first SD on FOX (which is Network TV and has more potential viewers than USA or any cable network does), they only got 3.9 million for that.

Truth is, ratings have been going down for ages. Since 2000 to be exact. Then, when they had Cena shit on the entire roster for 10 years straight, that drove more away. To make it even worse, before Cena was done in that spot, they didn't even have him create a new guy to take his spot and have a big coronation for that new guy. He just left...and that was it. And as much as I like some of the roster today, there just isn't anyone who's gonna create another boom. Add onto that with how many more channels and options there are out there like Youtube, Netflix, the internet in general, and I don't see any wrestling company (WWE or otherwise), having increasing ratings going forward. This is what it is, and alot of it is on Vince. And as Vince gets older, it's only going to get worse. It's been made painfully obvious that Vince doesn't have any aces up his sleeve like he did in the AE or with Cena in the RA era.

He better come up with some better/more creative excuses for his stockholders. SD this past week just did it's lowest rating ever on FOX. The clock is ticking.

I agree with this overall but as for your first paragraph I don't think he "CHOSE" this lol talent obviously has the option of not working if they don't feel safe, then there's border problems potentially as well. I'm sure he did send quite a few people home for now but not those guys lol

 

[Benoit's Weight Machine]

True, there was never that "passing of the torch" moment.

WWF has a horrible track record when it comes to passing the torch.

- Hogan to Warrior - horrible booking set him up for failure.

- They failed to properly utilize Savage who could have passed the torch to Bret or Michaels in 93 or 94.

- WWF's so-called reset in 1987. An argument can be made that Andre passed the torch to Hogan but that was only backstage. The audience never got a sense of a torch-passing nor was it booked in that way. I'm sure Sammartino could have passed something to Hogan even if it was a passionate retirement promo after a short lived tag team with Hogan. Perhaps Bruno was unwilling as he had a very poor attitude regarding the business.

- Hogan to Rock - this was probably the best attempt at passing the torch they ever did but unfortunately it was all pissed away when Rock quit the business shortly thereafter.

- Hogan to Lesnar - similar situation to the Rock.

WWE was pretty screwed when Lesnar left in the early 2000s. They had zero star power and had to strap the rocket to people. This was not organic at all and ratings fell off a cliff.

 

[Jimmy King]

I think Owens is in the same boat as Roman and has decided to stay home while this thing is happening. I’m not sure if that’s really the case, but that’s what I’ve figured and it would make sense given his unexplained absence.

 

[Showstopper]

I agree with this overall but as for your first paragraph I don't think he "CHOSE" this lol talent obviously has the option of not working if they don't feel safe, then there's border problems potentially as well. I'm sure he did send quite a few people home for now but not those guys lol

If Owens chose to stay home or can't come there, to me, that makes the case even stronger that he should've lost at WM. I mean, if he's really not gonna be back for months, there's not much of a reason for him to win if the other guy is going to be there every week after. Just my opinion.