Let me start with TNA. Fans have been waiting for TNA to go out of business for years now. They keep hanging in there. They didn't last too long on Destination America. How have they been doing on their new network? They are averaging over 290,000 viewers. That is down from the over 330,000 they averaged last year. I wouldn't say that is too terrible of a drop. Some numbers this year have been just as good as last year. Of course, they are no longer near the million viewers they once had just a few years ago.
What does the future hold for them? They will not be going head-to-head against NFL games in a few months, so their numbers will not suffer because of that. I think they have shown some signs of doing some good things here and there. Even though many fans may not respect the Matt vs. Jeff feud, it is the kind of thing that at least has people talking with how crazy it is. It is one of those things that is so bad that some people might find it good. And it features two big names in wrestling. Well, as big as TNA can get right now. If they keep giving fans something to talk about, they might have an easier time rebuilding.
Onto the WWE. Let me start with Smackdown. Smackdown just seems to have everything going for it. It is moving to Tuesdays, away from Thursday night NFL games. It is going live, which will surely help it get more viewers than a taped show. And the brand split means there will be some stars regularly featured on the show and storylines exclusive to the brand. There is no reason Smackdown should not improve in terms of ratings.
How have the numbers looked so far? They are what you would expect. 1.7 average for the year so far. They averaged 1.69 for all of last year. Around the same area, but football season coming up would have ravaged them. Luckily, they are avoiding that. I will not give a specific number or range I would expect the average for 2016 to be by the end of the year, but there should be a good improvement.
Raw is a different story. It will face NFL action on Monday nights. The brand split will hold back the WWE's ability to use their full roster for their top show. Yes, there is all this talk about bringing back stars and all that. Who can they get that will legitimately save them? The WWE also has shown issues managing the talent they have. There are consistently reports of Raw reaching new lows with their ratings. I see no way for them to avoid a killer drop in the coming months.
Raw has averaged a 2.45 for the first six months of 2016. They averaged 2.64 for all of last year. I could probably stop typing right here. They are already far below last year's average, and football season hasn't even started yet. Let me just bring up a few recent numbers. Two weeks ago, they averaged 2.97 million viewers. NBA playoffs was the main reason. Okay, that was to be expected. They bounced back to 3.47 million viewers last week for the Raw after Money in the Bank. Raws after a PPV usually do well. I saw fans saying Dean Ambrose was a draw. They said Sasha Banks was a draw. They said Roman Reigns losing the title was a draw. Yeah, that's nice. I was expecting a drop this week. This week had 3.09 million viewers. That is a terrible drop. Second-lowest viewership of the year, only better than that 2.97 million I brought up. This wasn't even the norm for football season last year. Was this just one bad night? Will things get even worse? Is Roman Reigns really a draw? Probably not. Expect terrible numbers for Raw on July 4th, but what happens after that will be interesting.
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