WWE's Ratings Problems Lie in Raw's Predictability

WWE's flagship program, Monday Night Raw, has been in a ratings slide for months, hitting its low point last week by averaging less than three million viewers—the worst week for WWE since The Attitude Era, according to WrestleZone.

Some fans argue that WWE's PG programming is to blame; the problem is much simpler: WWE has gotten too predictable in its storytelling, leaving little for fans to tune in to watch. 

Even the smallest tweaks to its formulaic programming could do wonders. Instead, the company continues to use the same scripts week in and week out while viewers continue to lose interest.

PG Rating No Excuse for Plummeting Viewership

A common refrain from the Internet Wrestling Community is the fact that The Attitude Era was edgy with its storytelling, using sex and NSFW language to draw millions and millions of viewers every Monday night. 

Unfortunately, that's not true. As former WWE writer Vince Russo recently said on his Nuclear Heat podcast (h/t Wrestling Inc.), Raw had the same PG rating in both The Attitude Era and The Reality Era: 

"

People say it can't be dangerous and out of the box because it's TV-PG. [The Attitude Era] was TV-PG, the same exact rating, and we saw language, violence and sexuality ... WWE is nowhere near the TV-PG line, they're TV-PC, politically correct. That's what they're rated. Their limitations have nothing to do with the TV-PG rating.

"

Russo's right. WWE is more concerned with drawing a wide audience than creating compelling stories for its diehard fanbase. In some ways, it should be: WWE is a publicly traded company that needs a varied fanbase from all generations to watch TV shows, buy merchandise and attend live shows. 

It's not just Russo complaining. According to WrestleZone, former WWE NXT Creative Assistant Rob Naylor said WWE's problem is that the company as a whole is complacent: "There needs to be a COMPLETE overhaul from [WWE Executive Producer Kevin] Dunn and how the show is shot and produced. It’s just SO SAMEY. Every week, same template. It’s all got to change. Presentation, look of the show, all the tropes need to be phased out."

Small Surprises Can Make a Big Difference

In some lesser angles, WWE showed that it does have the capacity for change. 

The surprise appearance by Tommy Dreamer to team with The Dudley Boyz against The Wyatt Family created a huge pop. It was an organic surprise: Dreamer and The Dudleys' connection is easily justified, the need for De'Von and Bubba Ray to have backup apparent. 

Credit: WWE.com

Will there be a four-on-four tag match with another ECW Superstar? Will we see tables, ladders, chairs or all of the above involved in their match? No one knows, but everyone will be asking those questions and talking about that moment. It was a small addition to a minor storyline feud that will keep diehard fans interested. 

In another move, after months of floundering with its Divas Revolution angle, WWE showed signs that it's ready to move on from the failed team concept. Having Divas champion Charlotte cheat in her match against friend Becky Lynch, in a non-title match no less, is certain to create animosity among the NXT call-ups. 

Giving Charlotte heat, having her father, Ric Flair, complicit in her actions, and having Paige call the match and continue speaking truths about the division were all great touches. It makes the Divas Championship story more compelling, something that's been lacking for more than a year. 

WWE now needs to take the next step and implement such storytelling into much larger angles. By the way the rest of Raw unfolded, however, that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.  

WWE's Major Storytelling Problems Continue

The Nov. 30 episode of Raw highlighted this problem throughout the show. A typically cold open, multiple disqualifications and weak storytelling through most of Raw will surely lead to another subpar showing in the ratings this week. 

The running thread throughout Raw was Roman Reigns' chase for Sheamus' WWE Heavyweight Chaampionship, a logical angle that could have been so much better. 

The night started with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon offering Roman Reigns a challenge: He could reclaim the WWE title if he beat Sheamus in five minutes and 15 seconds or less. Lose, and he would lose his title shot at the upcoming pay-per-view, WWE Tables, Ladders and Chairs.  

Unfortunately, WWE took a good thing and went too far. The Authority told Reigns' counterparts, Dean Ambrose and The Usos, that they would also lose their title shots at WWE TLC if Reigns lost. This guaranteed a Reigns victory, whether by pin, count-out or disqualification, as WWE has built programs for those Superstars heading into a major pay-per-view. 

WWE telegraphed the outcome, something diehard fans knew the moment the threats were issued. 

WWE Creative wants fans to disregard everything that's happened months, weeks, even days prior; to become lost in the moment and suspend disbelief. Raw is being written as an episodic comedy when instead it should be following the footsteps of long-running shows like E.R., where plot devices from the past remain relevant in the present.

Could Reigns have won Monday night, captured the gold and still headlined WWE TLC 2015 with Sheamus? Absolutely. It would have been a complete swerve for fans, who no longer expect titles to change hands outside of pay-per-view events. 

Instead, WWE gave its fans a false ending (one of four during the evening, if anyone was counting) and a subsequent multi-person handicap tag team match, WWE's go-to main event of late. 

Lather, rinse, repeat is the motto for WWE Creative of late, which is the reason WWE's ratings continue to plummet.