Let me start with TNA. They have been rebranded to Impact Wrestling. I might still call them TNA just out of habit, and because it is just shorter. They averaged 296,000 viewers in January. They averaged about 300,000 viewers in January last year. I had said I believed TNA could do even better than last year, if not at least remain the same. So far, I would say they are still in a good position to do as well as I predicted. Impact Wrestling has not shown to have the same seasonal roller-coaster pattern that you see with Raw. They will likely suffer on Thanksgiving, but that's just one night. Football season won't hurt them too much. As long as they don't make too many stupid mistakes, don't try to do what the WWE is doing, and build on what is entertaining the fans, they should remain at least decent.
It might be unfair to compare Smackdown's ratings in January 2017 to the numbers they got in January 2016. They were live back then, but they were not yet their own brand. They have averaged an 1.86 so far. They averaged 1.84 in January 2016. Again, much like TNA, they are in the same area. People give Smackdown a lot of praise. They are a little more efficient than Raw in some ways, but they do have issues. I can picture them getting derailed sooner or later. If it does happen, will it hurt the ratings?
Onto Raw. This is the show to really pay attention to. They averaged 3,225,000 viewers in January. It was 3,623,000 viewers in January of last year. We're not talking about around a 1% difference here, like what you had with TNA's viewership and Smackdown's ratings between January 2016 and January 2017. We are talking about a 10% difference. In terms of ratings, it dropped from a 2.56 last year to a 2.21 this year, once again over 10%. When numbers for Impact Wrestling and Smackdown have stayed about the same from January 2016 compared to January 2017, I don't think you can let Raw's drop off the hook.
I saw some people get excited for Raw's numbers last week, which was the Raw after the Royal Rumble. 3,615,000 viewers and a 2.49 in the ratings. This is worth getting excited over? Shows after a PPV typically do well. And this was one of the biggest PPVs of the year. It is to be expected it will do well. Even then, very mediocre numbers. These same people that thought Raw's numbers last week were impressive will be left in shock in a few months at how far it will drop. What went wrong? Was KO not a draw? Was it a bad idea to put the title on Goldberg? Blame it on Rollins getting injured? None of these things. Raw was just always trending towards bad numbers. Some people just got fooled by a ratings boost that was just obviously going to happen, and wasn't that impressive to begin with.
Where are the viewers going? For one thing, to Fox News. Numerous shows on that channel get more viewers than Raw. They might not be drawing more in the young adult demographic, but their numbers are up from last year around this time. Also, TNT is now featuring Monday night NBA games. It is true that NBA TV used to feature games on Monday nights, but now a network with a broader audience has them, and TNT is no stranger to beating Raw in the ratings. Most of these games are not likely to get more viewers than Raw, but it is still sports competition. The NBA playoffs will do more damage in a few months, but Raw still has more to deal with until then.
Of course, aside from looking at competition, the WWE just needs to look in the mirror and recognize their own faults. Last year, they had a lot of excuses. It was an election year. You had the summer Olympics. Then, football season. Okay, you are out of excuses now. The last time they dealt with an election year, and the summer Olympics, was 2012. They bounced back well in 2013. It hasn't happened yet this time around. And it is unlikely to happen. What's their big surprise to draw this year? Goldberg is already back. No other fresh part-timers that can draw are on the horizon. Will Shaq do anything? Things are going to look very bad.
What can the WWE do to help Raw? End the brand split. Some people can say cut the third hour, but ending the brand split would be my #1 step. It just holds back the WWE from having their full roster of stars available to them. And they need to get back to entertaining and stop with the self-righteous garbage. It really starts with the atmosphere. If you have a sour atmosphere, it doesn't matter how much potential your talent have to be entertaining, the sourness is likely to turn a lot of people off. Their general identity should be entertaining, not to play with what smarks want. With Impact Wrestling and Smackdown holding steady, it is inexcusable for Raw to still be doing as poorly as it is.
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