Go back to the debut of AJ Styles. I have said for weeks that the WWE dropped the ball with that debut. They could have used it to create a big storyline to help them create real buzz and draw for them. Instead, Styles just debuted at the Royal Rumble and has been a regular ever since. His debut feud against Chris Jericho has been pretty mediocre. It is not over yet and now involves Jericho turning heel, so there is still time to take it to another level. Regardless of what they do, it still will not be a huge angle to create buzz. The only reason I have not criticized the WWE's mediocre handling of this more is because the return of Shane McMahon is that kind of angle that can create buzz.
The debut of Sami Zayn is not something you would expect to get treated with the level of hype as the debut of AJ Styles. Zayn is talented, but Styles is an even bigger name to wrestling fans than him. Despite that, I will say the WWE could very well drop the ball with how they handle Sami Zayn's debut. As I said, there is a history between Owens and Zayn. But most of that is from NXT. It is from a show that most of Raw's audience does not even watch on the WWE Network. How are they going to care about Sami Zayn and this feud? Wrestling fans know the story here and can get all excited for this feud. But many other fans will not be that into it. If the WWE does not develop this feud well, it will not win over those fans. Wrestling fans will eat up the matches between Owens and Zayn, but great wrestling matches are not enough to draw. AJ Styles has not exactly brought a huge ratings bump since his debut. He's definitely a talented wrestler. The WWE needs to put the work in to create stars.
Of course, there is no reason to be too critical of the debut of Sami Zayn. He's a midcarder. This is a midcard feud. The Intercontinental Championship is on the line, so that might be enough to interest some fans that require a little more than just great wrestling. Moreover, the injury issue is not going away. The WWE debuting people from NXT to fill some open spots makes sense. And it isn't always easy to come up with a creative way to debut someone with the issues the WWE has to face. I would cut the WWE some slack, but they cannot get comfortable with just appealing to wrestling fans and thinking everyone cares about what happens on the WWE Network.
Let me look at this week's Raw ratings. Ever since Shane McMahon returned and that big angle involving him facing The Undertaker started, there has been a good reason to pay attention to ratings. If this kind of angle cannot draw big for them, there pretty much is no big angle that can be a huge, consistent draw. The WWE has to start actually changing. This week's Raw averaged around 3.55 million viewers. That is down almost 200,000 from the previous week and down about 300,000 from that Raw Shane returned. It is not a good sign when Raw is around a 2.6 in the ratings for Wrestlemania season. Raw was still able to get over a 3.0 a few times just last year at this time. I doubt the return of Roman Reigns will help. And guys like Sami Zayn and AJ Styles are not going to draw. The WWE is just failing to create big buzz for what is supposed to be the hottest time of the year for them.
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