Raw took a crazy dip in ratings this week. There have been signs of major slippage over the past three years, but things just keep getting worse. It certainly wasn't the NBA and NHL playoffs this time. Specifically the NBA had a very bad game on Monday night that started an hour after Raw. I think there about 100 reasons why Raw has been so poorly viewed, but for now here's my top 5.
1. No Champion on TV
Brock Lesnar had his run with the title back in 2014 into 2015. He deserved it, but it put the company in an awkward spot because Brock wasn't on TV at all and Paul Heyman only came on TV to tell us why he wasn't on TV. The ratings and reviews weren't good as WWE did everything they could to stall. The title is the focal point of the show and the brand. It's the underlying reason why were are all here. Without Brock around everything just feels like stalling again and stalling is boring.
2. Roman's Endless Face Push
I get all the reasons why the WWE feels the need to push Roman, but at some point they have to waive the white flag. You have show that basically he is the feature guy, but the fans have rejected the character. I've never seen a large WWE wrestling crowd tell someone to F-off ever and it happened to Roman the night after Mania. Yet the WWE continues on with this push. Roman's character is not being helped by the fact that he now walking around reminding everyone that it's his yard and he beat and retired the Undertaker. It's almost like Vince has forgotten how beloved the Undertaker is and how that is really just sticking a hot poker into an open wound.
Far too many people just don't want to see Roman as a face at this time. Especially in a situation where you are giving fans an alternative brand the next night it's a huge mistake by WWE to just keep going down this path. You can now just skip Raw and tune into Smackdown and get no Roman. Although you are about to get a big dose of John Cena if my crystal ball is being read correctly.
3. Mishandling the Extra Hour
The extra hour has been killing Raw for the last few years, but they are getting paid huge money for it and even when WWE does bad they are still one of the top shows on TV Mondays. So they are trying to endure the extra hour. Yet, when they did the brand split they had multiple chances to address this problem and manage it better. They could have just went all in on the cruiserweights and gave them the first hour, but instead they have turned them into a bathroom break and they signal it by changing the ring around for all their matches.
I think the better play was to keep the women all on Raw and give them that first hour every week. Instead of watering down the division and creating an extra title they could have kept some greener talents in NXT and stuck with a one hour weekly live show to start Raw. The women have been given the main event spot on Raw and they have been using women who put on good matches. This made all the sense in the world to me instead of what they are currently doing.
Instead of doing this we are just getting stuck with weekly filler. If you watch Raw you start to get trained that the beginning, end, and top of every hour are the only necessary times to watch. Which leads me into my next point.
4. So many repetitive matches
We are treated over and over to the same matches or mash ups that nothing really feels like it means anything anymore. The Big Show and Braun have twice main evented Raw. They had two good matches, but did we really need to see it a second time so soon? How many mash up tags can we watch.
If the repeats aren't draining the fan interest enough when they finally do a good job of building a good PPV match they love to then give an insta-rematch the next night on Raw. Which makes you feel like why did I even bother getting invested all those week leading up to the PPV?
A good example of this is the Hardy's winning the titles at Mania and then opening the Raw the next night against Anderson and Gallows. This match had no promo build. It just happened? Why not play this match off at the next PPV, which was only a few weeks away? The shake-up didn't move any of these guys around. They could have avoiding beating Sheamus and Cesaro and instead had them turn and then take on the Hardy's. It probably would have given that entire angle more of a solid feel.
5. Just Bad Creative
Anyone that knows me knows that I think the overall problem with WWE is just dreadful story telling. Yet, I still think it belongs on this list somewhere. How do you heat the Miz up like they did before Mania only to have Cena whitewash him in the match. Then turn around and put him back in a feud on Raw with Dean Ambrose who's been as bland as can be and expect people to tune in?
How do you have Roman and Finn face off on Raw with no build up then have a one arm Roman win? To me this really marginalized Balor.
I just got nothing when it comes to Bray Wyatt who the company has all, but ruined.
How does Seth get jumped by Samoa Joe and Bray Wyatt to end Raw and Roman does nothing to help him? I'm not a huge fan of Roman clearly, but I would think that when stuff is going on in his yard he should be around to police it.
Just in general there are no great story's going on right now. The WWE loves to make the most of the #1 contender matches, but they do it so often they have less and less meaning. They refuse to really get anyone hot beyond Roman. Even Braun ate a pin to Roman before Mania and then was only allowed to beat Roman after when they portrayed Roman as seriously injured. No one is safe from 50/50 booking so no one feels special or important.
The WWE can downplay winning matches all they want, but it's killing the perception of every character. I still contend this mantra came into place to make Roman stand out from the rest of the roster as the winner because he wasn't able to to do it with the character presentation he was given. I also think it has a lot do with never allowing another Daniel Bryan to emerge that forces the hand of the WWE brass. I think that is a big reason why the Sami Zayn character is getting stuck with a bad direction.
So there's my top 5. I could go on and on, but I think overall those are the five things that I think need some improvement. I don't see WWE doing anything to react to anyone of them. I think instead they will rush back HHH and Steph because fans have been trained to view those two characters as the only two that can really advance a story line. The WWE views it as they are a big draw, but really and truly the fact that they are the only two characters on the show that aren't portrayed as toothless.
I'll continue to watch from afar, but I don't think things are going to improve anytime soon.
