Of course, there are a few casualties. Where's Christian? Besides him, you might remember that Tensai and Tyson Kidd had a mini-feud going. Why didn't I say anything about that weeks ago? I didn't have much faith the WWE would go anywhere with that. Kidd is a lower-midcarder and Tensai has fallen. I would have been more surprised if the WWE followed through with a singles push for Kidd. Having the feud phase out, that isn't a shocker. Kidd can still be relevant in the tag division revival. You can also bring up other guys in the same rank as Kidd who are not being pushed well, like JTG and Riley, but things seem to okay in general. You can't push everyone. If the WWE rotates the lower-midcarders getting focus, and I mean more than just being squashed, things could still work well.
Beyond all that, the only thing I find annoying about the new Raw format is all the social media. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that social media stuff. If I was, I would probably have a lot more readers by now. Nevertheless, I don't mind having the fans vote for match types or who gets to face who. I like that. I don't like having celebrities giving their opinions during the shows. I know that it sells the idea of how popular the WWE is, but I find it annoying. I also don't like Tout. These days, wrestlers give mini-promos via the Internet. It was useful when Sheamus stole Del Rio's car, since it would be crazy to have a cameraman riding with Sheamus. But besides that, it is really a waste. Most of the stuff these wrestlers say in those few seconds can be typed up on Twitter, which they still do, anyway.
How about the ratings? How have Raw's ratings been since the 1000th episode, which brought in what will most likely be the highest ratings of the year? Keep in mind that the first hour of 3-hour Raws typically drag the overall number down. That being said, Raw is actually still getting the same range of ratings as it did last year, back when Raw was still 2 hours long. How will they contend against football? Raw's yearly average last year was about a 3.2. This year, it is already a 3.16. There is no way they will be able to legitimately get the ratings up to avoid doing even worse than last year.
And Smackdown's ratings? The thing to look for there is how ratings have done since around May. Last year, shortly after Randy Orton won the World's Heavyweight Championship, Smackdown's numbers dropped. Was it because of him? Ratings killer? Or was it something that happens around this time of year? In other words, just a coincidence? Just glancing over the numbers, ratings this year for the last few months do seem better than they were a year ago. Slightly better. I still wouldn't jump to the conclusion that Orton killed the ratings on Smackdown last year. This year's summer ratings were still lower than earlier this year's ratings, which would lend credibility to the idea that ratings are cyclical. That is to say, it was probably baseball or whatever else is on TV during the summer that people love to watch.
As for TNA, they had a very high viewership last week. Ratings were not the highest of the year, but I like paying attention to viewership more than ratings, but there isn't exactly one chart for yearly viewership, like there is for ratings. The combination of their summer storyline and Hulk Hogan got the viewers to tune in. But how will they follow through? The yearly average is still far below what it was last year, when it was at its peak. Right now, it is at a 1.03. If you just stop and think about it, if they get some horrible numbers in the months left in this year, their yearly average might just drop below a 1.0. That would be very pathetic, but possible.
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