Analyzing Impact of Brock Lesnar's Absence on WWE Programming
Brock Lesnar slunk away from the WWE spotlight.
In the wake of his absence, a debate about the viability of a part-time champion rages on. The world champ not appearing on TV isn't the only issue, though.
Looking at WWE's programming without its top champion, The Beast Incarnate, one finds a number of missed opportunities. While leaving a marquee star out of the frame is not the tried-and-true means to success, the company could be using Lesnar's status as a way to focus on wrestlers on the rise and highlight other championships.
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Dean Ambrose is benefiting from a less crowded stage. Beyond that, WWE hasn't hit many bulls'-eyes to make up for Lesnar's absence.
The ratings reflect that.
Ratings Heading the Wrong Way
There are more factors to ratings than the presence of any single wrestler, but there's a clear trend of ratings boosts with Lesnar's appearances.
Raw has stumbled in the ratings department in recent weeks; it's no coincidence that those weeks have been Lesnar-less.
Having The Beast Incarnate on the show has led to a boost in viewership. The numbers for four recent editions of Raw that featured the world champ were as follows:
The ratings for recent shows without him weren't as good:
That's an average of a 2.99 rating with Lesnar on board and a 2.78 average rating when he's not around for this recent span. Raw has not surpassed the 3.00 mark without Lesnar since May 5.
Of course, the Aug. 11 edition got a bump because it was the go-home show before SummerSlam. The Raw from Aug. 18 was the post-SummerSlam show, one that naturally gets some added interest. Even with those disclaimers, the numbers can't be ignored.
Lesnar draws eyes. Minus his presence, Raw has tumbled in terms of ratings.
The issue is not just that Lesnar hasn't been onscreen, but that the WWE World Heavyweight Championship hasn't either. The company hasn't focused enough on the chase for that title.
That's left a void at the top of the card.
A Champion in Absentia
The WWE title is the prize that the company's wrestlers are supposed to step over each other to grab. That piece of leather and gold has been the reason for friendships imploding and rivalries forming. It's often the path to one's career peak.
Those are stories that aren't unfolding right now with the championship out of view.
There's an argument to be made that having the champion make limited appearances is a positive thing. It makes the times he does show up much more special. It places him on a tier on which no other man stands.
In order to handle a less present titleholder, WWE has to place its focus on the wrestlers looking to become the No. 1 contender.
That hasn't happened of late. Randy Orton is busy attacking John Cena and Ambrose. Ambrose and Cena are fixated on taking out Seth Rollins. Not only is no one demanding or earning a shot at Lesnar, but there have been too few mentions of the title itself.
That may be by design. According to the Wrestling Newsletter Observer (subscription required; h/t Wrestling Inc) WWE has been keeping Paul Heyman because it doesn't want to call attention to Lesnar and the world title not being on TV.
That's the wrong strategy. Pulling a Jedi mind trick on the audience won't work.
Clashes over the right to be named the top contender could fuel WWE programming the same way that a rival seeking a champion can.
Without this element, Raw has felt incomplete. Without a mountaintop to strive for, Raw has had too much of a preseason vibe.
That's a chance for the company to slide the spotlight over to its other champions, something it hasn't done enough.
Highlighted Instead
The Lunatic Fringe has been the biggest beneficiary of Lesnar being out of the picture.
Raw and SmackDown has been rather Ambrose-heavy in the last few weeks. He's wrestled in main event matches and has been a key component of WWE programming. Last week, he crashed the Cena vs. Rollins, Kane and Orton party with a hot dog cart in tow.
If Lesnar was on every Raw, he'd surely get more attention—and likely pull it away from Ambrose.
Should the former member of The Shield become a megastar partly because of these additional opportunities, WWE can look back at this stretch of low ratings as necessary growing pains. It's surprising, though, that the company hasn't made more use of the midcard titles.
Sheamus hasn't defended his U.S. title since Night of Champions. Dolph Ziggler is getting more work than The Celtic Warrior, but his feud with Cesaro has still felt like a low priority.
The creative energy that normally goes into booking the feud over the world title hasn't been transferred to The Showoff. Sheamus is worse off, thrown into random tag matches with little mention of the belt he wears.
There has been a move to rely more on guest stars of late.
In the past few weeks, WWE has featured Jerry Springer hosting a segment and Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford showing up on Raw. On Oct. 13, NeNe Leakes will step in front of the cameras next.
Bringing in names like those makes it feel as if WWE is grasping for easy fixes to its rating issues.
The Lesnar-less WWE has also seen more comedy acts get airtime. The Bunny and Mini-Gator didn't get at-bats until Lesnar stepped away.
The Bunny got thrown into tag team action on Sept. 22. Mini-Gator took on El Torito on the Oct. 6 edition of Raw. Those were both shows where Lesnar didn't appear.
With no top champion and no top challenger on the card, the company appears to be coping by digging down to the bottom of its talent pool.
That's something fans may have to get used to. The Wrestling Newsletter Observer reports (h/t Wrestling Inc) that Lesnar is not scheduled to return until January. That's a long time to be without the world champion.
To keep ratings from dipping, WWE needs to showcase champions instead of celebrities and challengers instead of jesters.
All ratings information from ProWrestling.net.
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