Starting with Raw, the WWE finished the year with a 3.01 for their main show. They managed to stop the bleeding that comes at the end of the year and not finish below a 3.0. I did not think they would manage to do it. The Slammy show helped. Creating hype by unifying the World titles also helped. Nevertheless, that 3.01 isn't exactly a big difference from the 3.0 average in 2012. I still believe you are likely to see Raw's ratings slip below that 3.0 within the next few years, unless they can turn things around. As far as viewership goes, it's nice to see them getting over 4 million fans again recently.
Moving on to Smackdown, the annual average was a 1.92, up from the previous year's 1.89. One thing you saw this year on Smackdown was the decline of importance in the World's Heavyweight Championship. During Alberto Del Rio's reign, they started to feature the title less prominently on that show. The main-event scene on Smackdown went to Daniel Bryan, The Shield, and other guys not directly involved in major title matters with Del Rio. How did that work out for the WWE? Ratings for that period of time in 2013 were about equal to what they were for the same period of time last year. What does that tell you? I would say you can make the conclusion that it really doesn't matter too much if the show is focused mainly on title matters. I still think they usually should be, but that is another issue. If they had done a better job creating good storylines and feuds for Alberto Del Rio, maybe things would have been different. The main rise this year from last year came at the end of the year. This is when you had John Cena as Champion and ran the feud to unify the titles. If I remember correctly, John Cena was not even featured on some of these Smackdown airings. People tuned in just to see if he would be on? Maybe. Whether you want to talk about the title or John Cena, both will continue to not be featured prominently on Smackdown on a regular basis. John Cena is not a main player on Smackdown now. The WWE World's Heavyweight Championship is not exactly the main focus right now on either of the two top shows. Smackdown's main-event matters is still going to other top guys. We will see what impact this change has.
As for TNA Impact Wrestling, that was the show where Gerweck.net is missing some numbers. Looking around the Internet and plugging in the numbers I found, the average for 2013 still rounds to a 0.99. That is down from the 1.01 from the previous year, although not by too much. Nevertheless, Raw may not have dropped below a 3.0, but Impact dropped below a 1.0. In case you are wondering, this is the worst annual ratings average for the show since 2006. What was the big move by TNA in 2013? I would say it is what they did with their PPVs. They stopped having regular monthly PPVs. They would have these themed PPVs, which would be taped. They would also have more special episodes of Impact. That is a good idea, but did what they chose to do with their PPVs have an impact on their TV ratings in a negative way? Did it lead to them developing storylines and feuds in a poor way? If I were working with a set PPV schedule, I know I would be using that to help me plan when I would want certain feuds to end or take them to another level. TNA has had an issue with being consistent in developing and featuring stars for a while, but it seems their game plan might have gone further down the drain by not properly developing feuds. If you do not have those PPVs there to help you map out things, it becomes harder to do it yourself. Of course, they lost top stars, like Hogan, but I feel their main problem last year in comparison to previous years was their overall strategy not working. The change in the PPV structure might have had a negative effect in the proper development of their feuds and storylines. Some might have dragged on too long, some might not have lasted long enough, and some just might have been developed horribly.
Overall, I wouldn't say there is a huge difference in the numbers between 2012 and 2013. There definitely have been changes in the shows, but no drastic changes in ratings have happened. TNA having the worst ratings since 2006 is bad, but it was heading in that direction. Not a huge drop. The WWE is still in the same general area it was before. Let's see if the two promotions keep on following the strategies they have now. Neither promotion is jumping to new heights in the TV numbers, but they could settle for not dropping even worse.
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