Sheamus was a face the last time he was around. You can say Rowan has been filling in for him during his absence. Is that the spot Sheamus should get when he returns? Should he be used as another supporting player against The Authority? Ziggler and Ryback currently have that role and they lack true direction right now. Putting Sheamus in that position is a more credible option than Rowan, but it does seem like a waste.
What if Sheamus returns as a heel? That is where I think there is better potential. I don't mean just for Sheamus. I am talking about those other faces with no clear feuds for themselves. You can develop a feud between a heel Sheamus and either Ryback or Dolph Ziggler. These guys should not just be jobbers to the stars. How likely is it that they get dumped into some kind of multi-man match at Wrestlemania? And after Wrestlemania? Will they start utilizing them better then? In the meantime, Sheamus turning heel can at least lead to some different encounters for these performers.
Sheamus returning is not that big of a deal. Nice of them to hype it, but he is really just an upper-midcarder. They need to be efficient with him. They need to put him in a position where he can make things interesting. He does have a fighting style many fans appreciate, but in terms of creating matches and feuds, you can create some great situations with him. You can create situations that benefit other guys with nothing to do. Give the fans a variety of legitimate feuds to talk about. Simply adding Sheamus to the list of faces with nothing important to do will not help. Turn him heel and help some of those other faces with nothing important to do get something to do.
This week's Raw viewership was terrible. 3.79 million viewers for the first hour, 3.67 million for the second, and 3.52 million for the last. The average was 3.66 million. These are the kind of numbers you would expect during football season. Football season is over. NBA playoffs are not here. No major sports competition. This is also Wrestlemania season. Brock Lesnar was there this week. They teased Sting appearing, although he did not really show. You have Cena, Bryan, and most of your other top guys.
I have seen some people say that the Seth Rollins incident caused viewers to tune out and check what was going on on the Internet. That is ridiculous. People can check Twitter on their phones. They have laptops. They have computers in the same rooms as their TV. Besides, if that issue was really so hot, why wouldn't fans tune in to see if it gets mentioned or leads to changes in the program? Viewership just kept dropping from an already low first hour.
It is not surprising that Raw's ratings would be bad. I pointed out just a few days ago that January's numbers were down from previous years. Mediocre numbers is something you might have expected. But to get the kind of numbers you usually see only during football season in the midst of Wrestlemania season is horrible. That is worse than I could have expected. And they do not have anything that can bail them out. Fans know what is happening this year for Wrestlemania. They know Sting is here. Brock Lesnar is defending the title. There are no other legends or top draws rumored to be a part of Wrestlemania that can really create hype to get numbers booming.
Raw was still the most-viewed show on cable on Monday night. It didn't lead in the 18-49 demographic, but no need to worry too much about that. I don't think it will continue to slip. I don't think it will remain as poor as it is. The number will go back up, but I do not see how they can do anything amazing to get the stellar numbers you would expect for this time of year. It is obviously not enough to have all these stars floating around. You have to utilize them better and do better with the other guys on the card.
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