Kofi/Barrett And A Look At Ratings

It looks like there will be a feud between Kofi Kingston and Wade Barrett for the Intercontinental Championship. They put on a very good match on Raw. This should turn out to be the best thing for Barrett since his return. Even though it is just a basic title feud, and one that has happened before on Smackdown, I just have this feeling like it is fresh. Barrett has developed a lot on his own now. This guy has a lot of potential to be a big star. And this feud doesn't even need a fancy storyline to it. They both have the skills to go in the ring. The WWE just has to pace it out a little bit. Don't rush the title match for next week, then kill it all off. At the same time, don't drag it on for months. If they pace it properly, this should be a great feud for the midcard.

How about the ratings? Haven't talked about that in a while. Smackdown's numbers are down from last year. The yearly average was  1.95 in 2011. It is currently at a 1.89 this year. I don't think it's that huge of a tragedy. Most of the bad numbers have come about for those live editions they had this year. Live editions did do well last year, but have been drawing lower ratings this year. If the WWE had not done those live editions this year, Smackdown's numbers wouldn't look too bad. That's why you really shouldn't worry too much for Smackdown.

Raw is on a roll. A roll all the way down. They have not seen a 3.0 in 11 weeks now. December will not be kind. There is no way they will be able to avoid this being their worst year in the ratings in over a decade. Did I say that same thing last year? Well, they would need to get this year's average up to a 3.2 to meet the 2011 annual average. They are currently at a 3.06. It cannot be done, especially with the recent trend of ratings below a 3.0. They are pretty much just fighting not to have the annual average drop below a 3.0. That is at least a possibility, and an embarrassing one.

TNA's ratings have dropped from last year, but that's not what I want to talk about. Last week's rating was a 1.1. So what? That's the highest number they have gotten since August. Yeah, and? Last week's episode was a taped episode and did go against football. A taped episode that went against the NFL still saw a better number than some of the live episodes this year that did not go against that kind of competition. Part of it is probably due to this episode coming off a PPV, but the ratings for similar episodes in recent months haven't been as high as a 1.1. It makes you wonder, going live was supposed to gain more viewers from those who would rather read spoilers and skip the show if it doesn't look interesting, but a taped show ends up getting you a good number? Don't expect this week's ratings to be any indicator of a trend, since it is Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, would it even matter if TNA decided not to be live anymore?