A Look at WWE's ratings decline beginning with 2001-Present Day (Kliq stans tryin to deflect LOL)

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Part 1

WWE has been in the news lately for RAW's ratings decline and there's a number of factors like easier accessible on the internet, Hulu, YouTube, people cutting cable, increase in population, there's no way to pinpoint one single factor, they all add up but I thought it'd be interesting to look through the years and see what was going on then.

We see our first ratings decline in 2001. the average rating is 4.64. The previous couple years the ratings were well over 5. My guess:

- WCW folds in February. With no competition and nothing to compare WWF to, some things start to stick out like sore thumbs.
- Invasion angle starts following WrestleMania and it's a disaster. WWF punks the WCW talent and stars like Sting, Goldberg, Steiner, Flair etc. don't make the move.
- Stone Cold is the hottest babyface in the company, him and The Rock. Stone Cold is turned heel for no reason and is singing and reduced to a chickenshyt heel.

2002. Average rating is 4.01. After the WCW debacle and the Austin debacle, Austin ends up leaving for a while due to creative differences. The Rock is becoming more of a movie star, part time talent and is gone for a while following SummerSlam. There's a brand extension. Smackdown! ends up becoming the better show with guys like Rey, Eddie, Benoit, Angle, Edge, Lesnar throughout the fall and into the new year.

2003. Average rating is 3.76. Another big decline. RAW is focused around Triple H vs. HBK as the main feud (Booker T is the WM feud ). Goldberg is brought in but is never built as the monster he was in WCW.

2004. Average rating is 3.67. Evolution is in full swing.

2005. Average rating is up to 3.81. Batista is built up as a new star and John Cena is brought in to replace everyone as the face of the brand. John Cena is still doing the throwback gimmick.

2006. Average rating up again to 3.90. Ruthless Aggression in full swing. Cena and Edge. Also everything surrounding ECW and them receiving their own brand.

Everything starts to seem like it's heading in the right direction.

But then 2007 happens. Average rating is down to an all-time low. 3.61. Worse than the Evolution days But why? A number of factors at play.

- John Cena began doing his MARINE gimmick last year but in '07 he's full on corny, no edge left to his character at all.
- ECW is a failure. Cokeboy completely destroys it and Heyman walks away. It's nothing like the old ECW. RVD who had seen a resurgence is punished for getting caught with weed with Sabu.
- Then the Summer comes and Chris Benoit decides to murder his family

2007 is a turning point and a year they would never really recover from.

 

[Riley Escobar]

Good looks

You could add to 2007 that mass Wellness Policy violation that got about 15 guys suspended, only months after the Benoit situation and after WWE stressing Benoit's abuse of prescription medication and steroids was an isolated incident

 

[Metal Face]

Good breakdown.
That 2006 bump back in the day really surprised me. But then again they started doing more edgier type of stuff and you had a fresher main event scene.

Notice the down periods are when they start giving these long ass title reigns to HHH and Cena.

 

[Kunty McPhuck]

2006/2007 is also the time when UFC surpassed WWE as competition and was beginning to leave them in the dust. They bought up Pride and WEC, PPV numbers were growing steadily, we talking 500k+ buys for a couple of the cards and they were equal/surpassed boxing, when it came to sports betting.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Part 2

2008. Down to 3.27! Vince overreacts? Well, you be the judge. In 2007, you could already see a change in the direction of the company. The last great bloody brawl was probably early in the year between John Cena and Umaga

John Cena is really becoming this Hulk Hogan of the new era and while he's successful with children and I understand wanting to appeal to kids and build a new generation, they go way too far with it. Throw in the Benoit murders and Vince is like

He decides they need to be on their best behavior. They product is downgraded from a TV-14 to PG. I'm not someone who believes that the only way you can be successful is sex and violence but it helps.. PG can be good if creative storytelling is at play but obviously it was not. Poor booking, watered down product and RAW is headed south very quickly.

2009. Average rating is 3.57. So what happens here? I thought PG and creative ruined the product? Well, Vince has a few gimmicks left up his sleeve. They do a fake Trump buys the WWE storyline. They do celebrity guest hosts. We remember this all being awful right? But the casual audience disagreed. RAW becomes Sabado Gigante for a year and it works. But only for a year.

2010. Average back down to 3.28. Right where they were. Now the talk becomes "Vince needs to make new stars" but he's very slow on that. Ratings are back down, PG product sucks, Cena is stale.. what can you do? Vince replaces ECW with NXT. It's an intriguing concept and thought to maybe find some new stars.

2011. Another all time low. Now we're down to 3.21 but something did happen. Finally Vince puts over CM Punk and it creates some buzz. Did Punk really leave? Did he sign? Will he defend the belt on ROH? Nothing interesting happened. The buzz fades quickly because they aren't ready to give him or anyone the ball and run with it. Not just Punk, there's other new talent there but Vince keeps going back to the retreads.

2012. Another all-time low down to 3.0. Is some of that because of the failed Punk angle? Maybe but I think a bigger factor is this is when the show shifts to 3 hours. It's impossible to make a 3-hour show interesting if they are unwilling to take chances.

I've seen some on here say well, Bryan and Punk killed the business further when they were finally pushed because nobody wants to see these vanilla indy midgets at the top of the business. But how do we know for sure? Lets see what happened here..

So with the shows down to 3.0 ratings with the new 3 hour format. Did Bryan and Punk at the top help things? No, they didn't. But, I think it's inconclusive. By this point fans are tired of being disappointed. For every good match or angle, there's still a big letdown.

The truth is, Punk and Bryan didn't help but they didn't hurt ratings either. It about stay the same 2013 3.01. 2014 2.95.

Now Punk is done, Bryan is done. But what about that Cena guy? He's having great matches again right? Yes, he is but the show is no longer focused around him. Instead the show is focused around Roman Reigns and The Authority and Stephanie and Triple H.

2015 2.64
2016 2.34

You think maybe audiences are tired of Roman Reigns and The Authority? Ratings killers.

 

[prophecypro]

Pretty well thought analysis
I liked how you distinguish why Punk and Bryan were not ratings killers when they werent put in the main spotlight

Speaking as a casual who left in the early 00s (Around 05), once Austin/Rock fully left and the WCW guys I was hoping would come and make things interesting came and went (Hogan, NWO and Goldberg) I kinda lost interest (Also college and being away from cable tv regularly for like 4 years). I was a casual even as a hardcore watcher as a kid so I dont think I appreciated sticking around for RVD/Guerreo/Benoit but I did check out a bit of Thuganomics Cena cause he was entertaining and only tuned back in once say a Austin, Rock or Hogan would pop around. The Evolution and Triple H and Batista shyt just wasnt my thing. But I didnt fully watched when Bret showed up out of interest and then slowly back in when the Bryan and Punk reality storylines made things interesting (And finally got me to appreciate workman style wrestlers for the first times since Macho and Bret and got into RoH, New Japan and NXT) It also helped when the Network launched, legends made cameos and podcasts like Cheap Heat popped up and now Im all in after a slow 5 year return
But generally speaking the Ruthless Agression era wasnt that interesting cause it just felt like they were trying to recreate the attitude era.

 

[mrken12]

Good breakdown.
That 2006 bump back in the day really surprised me. But then again they started doing more edgier type of stuff and you had a fresher main event scene.

Notice the down periods are when they start giving these long ass title reigns to HHH and Cena.

Kliq runs the business..........into the ground.

 

[NotAnFBIagent]

Got tired of writing at the end there

 

[Playaz Eyez]

I can't remember the exact thread name, nor what they coined the era from like 2009 to possibly now, but they were spot on something like the Heatless Watered Down Era or something.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Got tired of writing at the end there

No its just that we've all seen what's been going on the last two years and discussed it to death so I didn't feel like reiterating the points..

The authority and roman's superman push I believe are the culprits for the recent downswing

 

[GodinDaFlesh]

I quit watching consistently during the Evolution era. Yeah I really want to watch a 2 hr segment of HHH giving boring 15 minute promos and burying all my favorite wrestlers at the time (RVD, Jericho, Booker T, Kane, etc).

Cena era could have been lit but they turned him into a stale boy scout who always overcomes the odds.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Kliq runs the business..........into the ground.

Notice how Evolution and The authority all over the shows are some of the lowest periods

Kliq stans seem quiet tho.

 

[Playaz Eyez]

Notice how Evolution and The authority all over the shows are some of the lowest periods

Kliq stans seem quiet tho.

They'll eventually be in here to move goal posts and convince themselves of something that's furthest from the truth

 

[mrken12]

Notice how Evolution and The authority all over the shows are some of the lowest periods

Kliq stans seem quiet tho.

Don't forget about Nash being the lowest drawing champion and Hickenbottom getting Cena heat and making the ratings plummet.

 

[richaveli83]

Good analysis . I stopped watching wrestling consistently in 2002 and didn't start actively watching again until after I heard the buzz about CM Punk's pipe bomb. I was always a hardcore WCW fan so when the went out of business and the invasion angle flopped it wasn't really that hard to stick around.

Watched Wrestlemania 19 to see Booker T beat Triple H only to be disappointed. . Tuned into Raw a few times but it seemed like almost everytime I would tune in I would see Triple H(don't get me wrong I actually liked Triple H's run on top in 2000).

I have to say though that the Ruthless Aggression era had some of the best wrestling in the history of the WWE.