RINGSIDE
WWE IS MAKING more money than ever, with more viewers and consumers than at any point in its history. Fox Broadcasting agreed to pay WWE a billion dollars over five years to air Smackdown Live. WWE stock reached an all-time high of $97.69 this past fall. The WWE Network has defied Wall Street analysts and now boasts 1.5 million subscribers. NXT rivals Ring of Honor and New Japan in terms of critical acclaim. International events, such as Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia, nearly equaled WrestleMania in live-gate receipts and overall match quality.
Yet Raw and Smackdown, the traditional measures of WWE’s success or failure, are experiencing record ratings lows on USA Network. Is this merely a reflection of cable television’s declining influence? Or does it signal bigger problems?
The overall rating for Raw—WWE’s flagship program—plummeted to a record-low of 1.61 on December 3. Raw was up against tough competition, including the death of former President George H.W. Bush being covered on all the cable television channels (interestingly, Raw was held in Bush’s adopted hometown of Houston that night) and ESPN’s Monday Night Football.
It’s easy to and blame Creative: being booked to take on all three members of , and breaking up seemingly overnight, and the spectacle of a SWAT team wearing gas masks to attack on behalf of . Add those factors to urinating on ring robe the previous week, and there’s plenty of reasons to blame Creative as of late.
