Raw And Impact Have A Bad Week

Last week, both Raw and Impact saw their lowest ratings for the year, but for different reasons. Raw fell on Memorial Day. Impact moved to a new time and went live.

I'll start with Raw. 2.7. That is low, but is it really anything to panic over? This is not the first time Raw has dropped below a 3.0 this year. Last year, they dropped all the way to a 2.4 for Raw on Independence Day. This year, not only did Raw have to deal with a holiday, but there was stiff competition on other channels. Very stiff. I was in shock to see Hatfields & McCoys get over 13,000,000 viewers. Got my numbers from here. Just for the sake of comparison, Memorial Day last year brought Raw a 3.07. The week prior, it got a 3.4 Jump back to this year. The week before Memorial Day, Raw had a 3.03. A drop was bound to happen, and I don't find that 2.7 shocking. The WWE didn't even bother using Cena on the live show to stop Big Show from attacking those faces. Ratings will go back up. This will definitely hurt the overall average for the year, but it is not really the ultimate sign of doom for the WWE, yet.

Impact got a 0.9. That is the worst number since 2010. Impact did not fall on a holiday last week. They switched to a new time and went live. In theory, these should have led to some kind of ratings boost. At least, that is what TNA would have liked. The show also featured the return of Sting to in-ring action, again, and Brooke Hogan coming to run the Knockouts division, but no women wrestled on the show. Comparing back to last year, the lowest number Impact got in May was a 1.15. This year, TNA has not seen anything near a 1.15 since February. Needless to say, it will not be following the great direction in the ratings it was heading last year. I usually read spoilers for Impact, but I did tune in to certain parts last week. They had some good matches here and there, which is not shocking, but the tone was still too serious and dull for my liking for too much of the show. If I were a casual fan, that show would not rope me in. Of course, I am not speaking for all casual fans. But it just seemed like a lot of the same usual thing that was failing to draw great numbers. You could only hope that ratings will bounce back, but considering that this should have been a show that had a spike in the ratings, will things get worse?