Mid-2016 Ratings Review

Numbers have not been that great for the two major wrestling promotions. Football season will obviously hurt the WWE in a few months. Before that, the brand split will have an impact on ratings. I get my numbers from here and here.

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.

Mid-2015 Ratings Review

I was going to wait a few more weeks before talking about ratings. Since there is talk again about TNA being cancelled, I decided to look at the numbers now. I am going by the numbers at Gerweck and Wrestlingdata.

Let me start with TNA. Viewership numbers are so low, you typically do not even see actual ratings numbers. Since moving to Destination America, the magic number seems to be 400,000 viewers. I would go by the numbers from Wrestlingdata for TNA. Some of the numbers on the chart at Gerweck are just way off for TNA. Impact Wrestling has seen a few numbers above 500,000. A few more below 400,000. The majority seems to be in the 400,000s. The average for the year up to this point is 416,000. That is far below what they had on their previous network, but it is to be expected. I get Destination America, but most viewers do not. You have the show moving to Wednesdays now. Have to wait to see how that plays out.

Then you have the talk about TNA getting cancelled again. If it has anything to do with ratings, it is kind of unfair. They have not even been on Destination 6 months yet. Whatever the rumors are based on, you cannot jump to the conclusion that TNA is dead or out of business. I see a lot of fans acting like that. Stupid. They still have television deals in other countries. They can still find another network in the United States. They are still announcing dates for events. People jump to conclusions. They acted the same way last year. TNA found another home. Is this all a sign of TNA succeeding? No. But they are not selling out to Vince McMahon, yet.

Onto Smackdown. The 2015 ratings average so far is 1.85. Ratings and viewership are steady with what you have had the last few years. Consistency might seem boring, but it is better than a steady decline. Of course, Smackdown will be up against NFL action on Thursdays in a few months. That will hurt their numbers. Aside from that, the WWE continues to produce a product on Smackdown that draws a consistent number of fans. And that is okay.

Raw continues to be the issue. I have seen some fans and wrestling journalists act like it is a big deal that Raw has gotten bad numbers recently. Well, 2015 started out poorly for the WWE's main show. Wrestlemania season brought mediocre numbers. What did people think would happen when Raw went against the NBA and NHL playoffs? This was just easy to see coming. When that competition is not there, numbers will improve a little. When football season returns, Raw will likely be destroyed.

Looking at the actual numbers, the 2015 average is 2.88. The average for all of 2014 was around 2.95. Raw is already below that average without even entering football season. Yeah, that does not look good. They are struggling to get Raw to the magic number of 3.0 this year. There is really nothing they can do to stop the bleeding. There are too many things wrong with the product. Instead of improving the main product, the WWE continues to bolster NXT, which has become a brand in itself, in addition to being their developmental territory. When these guys come to the main roster, they are part of a sloppy product and are not all utilized efficiently. That provides no boost. Celebrities can't do it anymore. Part-timers? That doesn't work as well anymore. Again, there is nothing they can do to save this year. You might see a very interesting final average when the year ends.

State Of The TNA KO Division: January 2015

The major development for TNA's women's division is obviously the return of Awesome Kong. She returned during their first show on their new network to start a feud with Havok. She can obviously bring more credibility to a women's division that was already more respectable than what the WWE offers. TNA might even generate a little hype with her back. They need it.

How will Awesome Kong be utilized in this KO division? She was featured very well during the time she was there a few years ago. TNA is used to rotating around stars. During her final weeks of her last run, it looked like they were legitimately rotating her out of the KO title scene. Luckily, there were tag titles back then to make having more than one KO feud going even easier. Those titles have gone and TNA sometimes fails to properly keep the ball rolling with their women these days, despite still trying to feature respectable women's wrestling. After Awesome Kong wraps up her feud with Havok, I am sure it will be only a matter of time before her and Gail Kim feud again. I am sure many fans are looking forward to that. Another title reign for her will most likely also be on the table. Right now, there are many options for her.

How about the feud between Awesome Kong and Havok? On paper, this is a great feud. You have a dominant KO that has been doing great in recent months facing possibly the most dominant KO ever. I just feel it could have meant more. Havok has only been in TNA a few months. When you keep in mind that TNA stopped airing original content way before the year even ended, the audience has had even less time to really connect with her. They have still kept her dominant and protected her until what will happen now that she is feuding with Awesome Kong, but this feud could have been more epic. Can't blame TNA. They didn't really botch this. More time just would have been nice. You could have developed Havok to be something like a female Goldberg. For what it is, this is a good feud.

The decision in general to bring back Awesome Kong shows one of the good things about TNA's rotational system. They had women on their roster that they could push as their top stars. They had options. I talked about how someone like Taryn Terrell could be a diva-like centerpiece. They had women they could push in the periphery. Outside of that, all you need are credible jobbers to rotate around. Awesome Kong is not here to be a credible jobber. If this was a closed system like the WWE diva division, the people running the show would have the philosophy that they already have women they want to be stars and exclude signing someone like Kharma back, in addition to holding down their own talent on the roster they do not view as stars. I wouldn't be surprised if a promotion like this would also bring back Mickie James in time, regardless of whomever else they have on the roster. If they only did a better job creating and featuring stars, they might be even better than they are.

How about the other KOs? First of all, TNA continues to be efficient and respectable with their women more than the WWE is with their divas. And TNA does not even have the number of women the WWE has. Not counting Christy Hemme, who doesn't wrestle anymore and doesn't get involved in angles on a regular basis, TNA has 9 KOs. The WWE has much more than that on their main roster. And yet, most of those women are not utilized efficiently and some are not great wrestlers. TNA could have continued running a solid division with just 8 women. Just rotate some fresh blood in now and then.

A lot of the women seem to have some angle going for them right now. I talked about Awesome Kong and Havok. Taryn Terrell is still holding the KO title. Brooke is back and feuding against her former Amazing Race partner. Velvet Sky and Angelina Love have a periphery angle going for them. Rebel has her periphery angle. Very few women have no real angle going and are just floating around. Gail Kim happens to be one of them. Not shocking. TNA does not run a true centerpiece system like the WWE does. TNA is just putting the spotlight on other women now. Gail Kim is still wrestling, but she is neither a major focus nor getting some kind of periphery angle. That will not last long.

Since I am on the subject of TNA, how about the ratings for their first show on the new network? Viewership averaged 263,000. That is worse than I was expecting. A loss was obvious. A bad loss was even obvious. But TNA has gone down to about a quarter of what they would typically get a year ago. The WWE would probably go out of business before seeing Raw's numbers slip that low. Keep in mind, this was a live show and there was some hype around it. What happens for those taped shows and when the product gets staler? It will get worse. Of course, it could get a little better if the product improves and the star power is there.

You obviously should look at how TNA Impact is doing in relation to other shows on Destination America. Moreover, the network could be viewing this program as something that can help them expand. Pro wrestling has that power to attract all types of fans. It can attract men and women. It can attract young and old. It can attract various races. It can attract people entertained by different things. If TNA can put out a quality product, that might get people who do not watch Destination America tuning in or people that don't even get that channel trying to get it. TNA can help Destination America. The network is doing a few things to help them. I wouldn't rush to say TNA has flopped just yet.

EDIT: I rarely do these kind of things. I have to make a correction. I said TNA did 263,000 last week. This report says they did 359,000 viewers. They cite TV By The Numbers as their source. I trust that source. I go there a lot. Going by the new number, that is more respectable and closer to where I was expecting. Still not amazing, but it was to be expected that there would be a drop.

2014 Ratings Review

I get my numbers from here. Some of the data is not in, but you still have enough to get an idea of what is going on. I will not be talking about Total Divas.

I'll start with TNA Impact Wrestling. It didn't even last the full year on Spike. Of course, they will be on a new network this year. They will continue to tape episodes, with a few live ones sprinkled in between. Getting to the actual numbers, the annual ratings average in 2014 was a 0.94. They didn't have enough original content to finish the year, so they were doing "Best of" episodes. Even if you allow for that, the ratings average is still below what it was in 2013. Steadily sinking. They did switch nights in the middle of the year, which did have a negative impact on initial ratings after the switch. Regardless, had they not switched, football on Thursdays would have still murdered them. How will they do on a new network that is not too mainstream? They will need time to build back up. Aside from the numbers, they have lost a lot of top stars in recent years. They cannot properly create stars. They need to get over that to stay above a 1.0.

Smackdown is also making a move this year. It is moving to Thursdays. Football will not be an issue until the end of the year, but it will surely hurt them. Smackdown averaged an 1.89. That is in line with what Smackdown has been doing in recent years. Amazing. Smackdown can do stable numbers even without any World Champion showing up, no John Cena there on a regular basis, and just rotating around a bunch of guys in the main-event spotlight of that show. The numbers are not huge, but there is something to be said for not consistently dropping. Problem is, I will probably be saying something else one year from now, if I am still blogging then.

And how about Raw? Still the most important wrestling show on television. 2.96. That is down from 2013's 3.01. Raw finally dropped below that 3.0 benchmark. Viewership for this week's Raw was also pretty bad. The final Raw of the year averaged 3.17 million viewers for the first hour, 3.48 million for the second, and 3.73 for the final hour. This episode of Raw featured a few big things going on and was not against any NFL competition. The college bowl games that night were not even too great and did not draw killer numbers. Imagine how horrible Raw would have done if it actually fell on New Year's Eve. People would be out partying. Who would watch Raw? You would actually see at least one hour of Raw drop below 3 million viewers. That is something you might see in a few years. The WWE has been able to slow the bleeding in recent years, but they have not been able to stop it. There has been a steady decline. They need to do a better job of entertaining fans to draw them in. Simply picking and choosing guys to develop them to be stars is not the way to go. It is better to build around individuals that can naturally connect with fans. Forcing guys like Roman Reigns and Captain Work Ethic is not working.

I once read that a financial executive in the WWE said that their TV contract is structured in a way in which they do not need to worry about ratings from a money standpoint. Does that mean that ratings do not matter? I always see some fans acting like that. The numbers are going down because less people watch TV today than a decade ago. There are so many other ways to watch Raw. There are more channels on. You can make some arguments. The stupidest argument I have ever seen is that the same number of viewers watch today as they did in the Attitude Era. I have actually seen some fans argue that Raw always gets the same number of viewers. It isn't true.

Are there more channels? Yeah. Thing is, a lot of these channels are not even mainstream. I have talked about before that I had never even heard of Destination America, TNA's new home. And these channels and these other shows are really supposed to be slowly killing the WWE? The population is growing in the United States. The population growth rate might have slowed in recent years, but it is still positive. There is more competition for wrestling shows, but there are also more people to win over. Pro wrestling is supposed to be competitive. The business isn't dead, but it should not be this stale and in such a decline.

Numbers do not have to be declining like this. I think back to 2011. TNA's ratings average actually grew from the previous year. At a time when Raw's average dropped, TNA's grew. I look at Smackdown maintaining around the same number even though it does not get the same focus that Raw gets. I look at the great numbers Raw got just a few weeks ago the night after Survivor Series. Against a lot of competition, it still drew a ton of viewers. The potential is definitely there. The WWE can do things here and there that usually lead to a ratings spike. Even though those part-timers draw, you actually have to give the fans a quality product to get them to stay after those part-timers leave. You have to go in the direction of what is working out.

Regardless of whether or not ratings matter from an immediate financial aspect, they are still an indicator. They help you to determine how successful your product is. Are they the only indicator you should look at? No, but they are an important one. And you have to analyze them to understand what kind of fans you have and what draws them in. If you look at 4 million viewers for one episode of Raw and think you have 4 million A+ fans, you are making a terrible mistake. And you usually have to take these things into consideration before you make costly investments. If you misjudge your worth, you might end up flopping. Look at the WWE Network. The WWE misjudged how many subscribers they would be able to get. For such a cheap price and everything they were offering, you would think they could reach their benchmark easily. Nope! And as those ratings continue to steadily decline, do you think that is a good sign for the health of your business?

One last thing, you shouldn't make too much of a small change. If Raw's ratings drop 0.01 from one week to another, no need to panic. Even that kind of change from year to year is not bad. What do you look at before you say things are going good and bad, and not just being stable? If you see huge drops or gains, that is worth talking about. If you see a steady decline or increase over time, that is worth talking about. You can even set a certain benchmark. I like to go by 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and so on. When TNA drops below a 1.0, that is bad. Now that Raw's annual average has dropped below a 3.0, that is worth talking about. Whenever Raw can get a 4.0 or better, you should pay attention to why. If numbers are dancing around the same area, that's fine. But it is when things are definitely moving in a certain direction that you should be paying attention. My overall point is that these pro wrestling shows should at least be stable. They do not have to declining the way they are.  

Your New Knockout's Champion...

Were you expecting someone else? Havok won the KO title on this week's Impact Wrestling airing, but because TNA tapes so many weeks in advance, you might as well start talking about the woman who is really holding the title right now. I think it is just ridiculous that they tape so many weeks ahead. Taping for 2 weeks' worth of shows in one week is one thing. We just entered October and TNA has already taped into November.

I shook my head a few days ago at the WWE shooting around titles so much. TNA just did the same thing. A lot of the title changes they do are questionable, but what they just did is just bad booking. It is not shocking that Havok would be a transitional champion. And it had been a long time since TNA had a brand new KO Champion, but they didn't really develop up to it well. And they did an even worse job by just shooting it to Taryn Terrell after what will end up being a little over a month. It has not aired yet, but I doubt TNA will develop things properly.

I am not against Taryn winning the title. I think she should have won it a long time ago. She was out for a while due to her pregnancy. She came back months ago and could have won it earlier. She proved last year that she has become a solid performer in the ring. She is beautiful. If this was the WWE diva division, I would say she should be centerpiece. She has what they would want to fill that position. Will TNA stick with her and develop her in that spot? I doubt it. They never do. But for now, I hope she has a good reign. I hope it is better than what Havok got.

Assorted Topics

Dolph Ziggler beat Miz for the Intercontinental Championship at Summerslam. That's great. When Ziggler and Barrett had that great match for the title on Raw, I had a feeling Ziggler would eventually win it. Barrett suffered an injury. Miz ended up getting it. And his title reign did not last that long. I would have had Miz retain at Summerslam in some cheap fashion and have Dolph win it at Night of Champions. I can't think of any title changes that might happen at that PPV that will give you that "feel good" moment. Fans like Dolph Ziggler and wanted him to get some gold. Extending the journey to that title win for another month would not have been that bad. Ziggler still would have gotten the title and it might have been a great moment for Night of Champions. It isn't like Summerslam lacked moments and title changes.

Speaking of title changes, Paige regained the Diva's Championship. That was quick. Birthday gift? Or was there more to it than that? The title was on AJ Lee. She dropped it to Paige. Paige dropped it back to AJ Lee. AJ Lee dropped it back to Paige. That is peculiar booking. It is not unusual for a centerpiece to win consecutive title reigns like that, but she's usually trading it with different women and not the same woman over a matter of months. I know I compared this feud to Orton/Christian, which featured Christian regaining the title before dropping it back to Orton, but I didn't really feel they needed to drop it back to Paige, especially so soon.

Is there more to it? There are rumors that AJ Lee will be leaving the WWE, possibly for good this time. Jim Ross predicted that Paige would regain the title at Summerslam and AJ would distance herself from the WWE. That is a bold prediction to make. He didn't make it sound like it would definitely happen, but half his prediction came through. If it looks like AJ really is leaving, I'll talk about it more then.

How about Jack Swagger? That wasn't a true flag match he had with Rusev at Summerslam. That was disappointing. The way they had the match, I can agree with Rusev winning. And the feud is now over. How is the WWE handling Swagger after this feud? He was obviously connecting well with the fans during that feud. It was going to be interesting to see what they did with him after. They took Zeb away from him. He seems to be getting a losing streak. He does seem to be entering a feud with Bo Dallas.

Burial? Are they slowly deflating him? Are they taking the training wheels off to see how Swagger can do on his own? Is it a lack of good opponents to develop for him? I don't see this as a true burial or anything bad for him. Some guys go on losing streaks for months that eventually turn into some kind of storyline. After his loss on Raw this week, it was obvious Swagger was already in a storyline and feud. And that is good for him. You have some former World Champions that just seem to float around aimlessly. Sheamus, despite having a title, seems lost in the shuffle. Swagger has an actual story going for him. I see Bo Dallas as a future lower-midcarder, unless they do something different with him, but he is still relevant right now. And this is a feud I can picture Swagger winning. That is, if they are serious about giving him a fair opportunity. If Swagger continues to connect well with the fans, they might start pushing him up again. I am not going to complain about what they are doing with Swagger now.

TNA is switching Impact Wrestling to Wednesdays. That kind of ruins my predictions for how their ratings will do this year. It is actually a smart move. No NFL on Wednesdays. If the WWE should move Smackdown to Thursdays, which would have killed TNA, TNA won't end up having to deal with that. I don't think their ratings will jump all the way to a 2.0, but they will avoid competition that would have hurt their ratings a lot.

TNA's TV Deal & The WWE Network

If you were wondering why I didn't bring up the hot topic from earlier this week about TNA possibly being cancelled, I was waiting for the numbers on the WWE Network to come out. Now that that info is out, I can talk about both.

Let me start with TNA. There were reports circulating that Spike TV has dropped TNA Impact Wrestling. The way some fans were acting, TNA is already out of business, the WWE has bought it, and Dixie Carter will be debuting the Raw after Summerslam to start an invasion angle. Slow it down a little. TNA still has time to negotiate their deal.

Let's assume they do lose the deal with Spike TV. That does not mean they are out of business. They can still negotiate with other networks. They are not dead yet. Let's say they have trouble finding another home prior to their final episode on Spike. Okay, they can run their shows on the Internet. That would be embarrassing, but TNA has been embarrassing before. Thing is, that would only be a short-term fix. They will eventually have to find a new TV deal. They will have to downsize to be able to keep going. They may not be able to afford the few true stars they have left. And that is when you would expect them to finally go out of business. We are not at that point yet. If they ever get to that point where they have no TV deal, I will talk about this again.

The WWE Network has 700,000 subscribers. From the last time they announced a number, they gained 161,000 subscribers and lost 128,000 subscribers. Because the WWE has done a lot to cut costs, they no longer need over a million subscribers to make a profit off this venture. Regardless, I still feel like holding them to that 1,000,000-subscriber benchmark they had put up for themselves. I am surprised they lost so much. I am not surprised there would be some people that would want to drop it before the 6 months ran out, but over 100,000 is more than I expected. Just a waste of money. And how many more will they lose when 6 months are up? I doubt they will be able to pull a million before the end of the year. They might even get to a point where they are losing more than they are gaining.

What kind of things can the WWE do to get more subscribers? They had offered another free trial a few weeks ago. They are now going to offer an option where you can pay $19.99 a month, instead of $9.99 with a 6-month commitment. Pretty much the same idea as just paying for whatever PPV you wish to see. That might appeal more to casual fans. They can also put up more content. I still think the best thing they could do is have major angles happen on programming exclusive to the WWE Network. Have title changes. Have big promos. If you put mediocrity on there, people won't feel like they are missing anything.

Scott Steiner recently did an interview and said some things that relate to the WWE Network.

All the social media and other things, a lot of it is manure. It doesn’t mean you’re going to draw or people are going to see you. You look at Charlie Sheen and then how many Twitter followers he had there and on Facebook. Then he tried to capitalize on it with a tour, and nobody came to watch him. Just because you have Twitter followers and Facebook doesn’t mean a whole lot and [doesn't mean] people are going to pay to see you. A lot of that is misjudged. Just because you have people on their phone or Internet doesn’t mean they are going to pay. Same for the Network. I think they misjudged the popularity of it.”

Just because somebody follows you don’t mean they are going to pay for it. A lot of people are misjudging the popularity of people or characters. It’s manure. I think they did the same thing. A lot of those wrestlers have a lot of Twitter followers, but all that combined they should be able to get $9.99 for the Network. They found out they don’t pay…When do you concede that you failed? They live in their own little box and think they are all geniuses. So when are they going to concede that they are not as smart as they think they are?

I agree with the idea. Just because you have a lot of Internet support, that does not mean that the support will translate when it comes to buying your merchandise, coming to see you, and really standing by you when it counts. I have a Twitter account. I don't follow a lot of people. I follow Ted DiBiase Jr., but don't ask me why. I have no idea. I'm not even a fan of the guy that much. My favorite singer, Shakira, recently became the first person on Facebook to get 100,000,000 likes on their page. Does that mean her music and videos and everything else is always #1? No. The music industry is still very competitive. Shakira is still successful, but the fact that she holds that record in social media does not mean too much. I don't care. She's still my favorite. 

It's the same idea I brought up months ago. Casual fans are not going to be that interested in the product to want to subscribe to the WWE Network. And a lot of those Twitter followers are just casual fans. The WWE misjudged the portion of their total fanbase that actually care enough to subscribe and are capable of subscribing. They will likely not meet 1,000,000 by the end of the year and had to cut a lot of expenses, including laying off workers, just to make their business more manageable. By trying so hard just to make the WWE Network a success, they may still end up putting themselves in a bad position.

2013 Ratings Review

I go by the numbers found here. It took a while for them to get some of the numbers up. Some of the numbers are even still missing. That is why it took me so long to get around to doing this. I just decided to look for the missing ratings myself.

Starting with Raw, the WWE finished the year with a 3.01 for their main show. They managed to stop the bleeding that comes at the end of the year and not finish below a 3.0. I did not think they would manage to do it. The Slammy show helped. Creating hype by unifying the World titles also helped. Nevertheless, that 3.01 isn't exactly a big difference from the 3.0 average in 2012. I still believe you are likely to see Raw's ratings slip below that 3.0 within the next few years, unless they can turn things around. As far as viewership goes, it's nice to see them getting over 4 million fans again recently.

Moving on to Smackdown, the annual average was a 1.92, up from the previous year's 1.89. One thing you saw this year on Smackdown was the decline of importance in the World's Heavyweight Championship. During Alberto Del Rio's reign, they started to feature the title less prominently on that show. The main-event scene on Smackdown went to Daniel Bryan, The Shield, and other guys not directly involved in major title matters with Del Rio. How did that work out for the WWE? Ratings for that period of time in 2013 were about equal to what they were for the same period of time last year. What does that tell you? I would say you can make the conclusion that it really doesn't matter too much if the show is focused mainly on title matters. I still think they usually should be, but that is another issue. If they had done a better job creating good storylines and feuds for Alberto Del Rio, maybe things would have been different. The main rise this year from last year came at the end of the year. This is when you had John Cena as Champion and ran the feud to unify the titles. If I remember correctly, John Cena was not even featured on some of these Smackdown airings. People tuned in just to see if he would be on? Maybe. Whether you want to talk about the title or John Cena, both will continue to not be featured prominently on Smackdown on a regular basis. John Cena is not a main player on Smackdown now. The WWE World's Heavyweight Championship is not exactly the main focus right now on either of the two top shows. Smackdown's main-event matters is still going to other top guys. We will see what impact this change has.

As for TNA Impact Wrestling, that was the show where Gerweck.net is missing some numbers. Looking around the Internet and plugging in the numbers I found, the average for 2013 still rounds to a 0.99. That is down from the 1.01 from the previous year, although not by too much. Nevertheless, Raw may not have dropped below a 3.0, but Impact dropped below a 1.0. In case you are wondering, this is the worst annual ratings average for the show since 2006. What was the big move by TNA in 2013? I would say it is what they did with their PPVs. They stopped having regular monthly PPVs. They would have these themed PPVs, which would be taped. They would also have more special episodes of Impact. That is a good idea, but did what they chose to do with their PPVs have an impact on their TV ratings in a negative way? Did it lead to them developing storylines and feuds in a poor way? If I were working with a set PPV schedule, I know I would be using that to help me plan when I would want certain feuds to end or take them to another level. TNA has had an issue with being consistent in developing and featuring stars for a while, but it seems their game plan might have gone further down the drain by not properly developing feuds. If you do not have those PPVs there to help you map out things, it becomes harder to do it yourself. Of course, they lost top stars, like Hogan, but I feel their main problem last year in comparison to previous years was their overall strategy not working. The change in the PPV structure might have had  a negative effect in the proper development of their feuds and storylines. Some might have dragged on too long, some might not have lasted long enough, and some just might have been developed horribly.

Overall, I wouldn't say there is a huge difference in the numbers between 2012 and 2013. There definitely have been changes in the shows, but no drastic changes in ratings have happened. TNA having the worst ratings since 2006 is bad, but it was heading in that direction. Not a huge drop. The WWE is still in the same general area it was before. Let's see if the two promotions keep on following the strategies they have now. Neither promotion is jumping to new heights in the TV numbers, but they could settle for not dropping even worse.

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?

2011 Ratings Review

Happy New Year! First post of 2012, so I decided to look over the ratings for the 3 major shows, since I have been mentioning it a lot. I get my numbers from here, as usual.

At the time of writing this, some numbers are not in yet, and you always have to allow for a little bit of error or differences in rounding, but I think enough data is down to get the overall average yearly rating. Raw scored a 3.21, Smackdown an 1.95, and Impact an 1.17.

Not surprisingly, Raw did indeed score the lowest yearly average in over a decade. It is a lot lower than the 3.27 from 2008. I mocked the WWE a little for Raw scoring a 3.2 during their big CM Punk storyline during the summer, and it is funny that they pretty much walked away with a 3.2 for the year. What do you attribute the bad ratings to? NFL would not be a good answer. The WWE has always had to deal with that. You can say that Raw had the bad luck of falling on Independence Day and Halloween this year. That logic does not stand. Why do I say that? 2005. Raw had to deal with falling on these days that year too. They got a 3.81 that year. To put things in perspective a little, the yearly average was a 3.67 in 2004. It actually went up in 2005, even with the excuse of certain holidays. You have to look at the WWE's product if you want to understand the poor ratings for Raw. And you cannot say that the WWE did not try to boost ratings to nullify the effects of the Independence Day ratings. They brought back The Rock! The best ratings from 2011 came because of him. The CM Punk storylines and Triple H's COO matters were definitely meant to make things interesting again too. In between the 3.27 in 2008 and 3.28 in 2010, 2009 had a 3.57. What was the most memorable stunt from that year that most likely caused that great boost? Celebrities being a part of Raw. The WWE definitely tried to bring that back in 2011 too. The WWE also brought in Trish Stratus, Steve Austin, Vince McMahon, a little bit of Stephanie McMahon, Kevin Nash, masked Kane, and other such WWE names and characters that might have caused some buzz. Buzz was definitely there, but at the end of the say, horrible ratings.

Smackdown got turned on the right track. 1.81 in 2010. That 1.95 falls short of a nice 2.0, but going up is better than what Raw is doing. Ratings on this show started out well, while Edge was centerpiece. The collapse occurred after they gave Randy Orton the World title. The Mark Henry push managed to get some Smackdown ratings back above a 2.0. You can say that Mark Henry got the job done for Smackdown better than CM Punk did for Raw.

On the other side of the horrible ratings of Raw, Impact has indeed ended 2011 with the best ratings in its existence. That 1.17 beats out the 1.15 (1.14 according to Gerweck.net) from 2009. Not much, but still heading in the right direction and still a new high. I read one site say that they went the entire year without dropping below a 1.0. That goes back to what I said about differences in rounding. Did Impact score a 1.0 or 0.99 on Thanksgiving? Is it really a big deal? Considering that this may make this the first year where Impact did not drop below that 1.0, some might think so. I don't really feel like debating it, but the fact that some can even consider that the show stayed that strong throughout the year is good. Who do you thank? Well, TNA has to be glad to still have Sting. Ric Flair and Hogan are still there to draw with their names. Gail Kim is back to add more credibility to the women's division. You cannot deny that Mickie James has helped. A number of KO segments in 2011 did indeed continue to draw the best ratings of the night. Considering some of the names TNA has called up for their India project, they can definitely debut more talent on Impact that may cause a little interest. Keep in mind that this was not a perfect year for Impact. Jeff Hardy. Matt Hardy. And their booking and storylines are sometimes boring and stupid. That is a problem that they may not be fixing fast. Nevertheless, TNA is heading in the right direction.

I am not saying that the WWE is about to collapse and TNA will have a 4.0 by the end of the 2012. Impact has not beaten Raw in the ratings. It hasn't even beaten Smackdown. It outlasted Superstars. In terms of gains and losses, however, Impact is at a high, while Smackdown dances around a low and Raw is at a low. The ratings battle has not been won by TNA, but this can be seen as a moral victory that might give them some momentum. What has to be going through the WWE's mind when they see Raw's ratings?

Gail Kim Back To TNA

Don't want to spoil too much, but with her WWE contract officially expired, Gail Kim has wasted no time in returning to TNA. She will appear on this week's episode.

Overall, this is a great thing for TNA. The KO division was already more respectable than the diva division, but regaining one of the women that helped to really create it will definitely help. Gail Kim was the first true centerpiece of the division. Things have changed in some way since she left, but I know a lot of fans are happy about this move. Gail Kim is too.

There is one obvious problem. I have pointed out many times that there seems to be a lack of continuity in some TNA matters when it comes to the women. This is due to the fact that they have multiple women whom they want to treat well. If this was the WWE, 9 out of 10 women would be getting screwed over for the benefit of one being made to look great. TNA is not like that. That is respectable, but it can be a problem when you have too many women.

ODB and Jackie returned a few months ago. Since they have become official members of the roster, what have they done? I heard ODB is losing to Brooke at house shows, but that really is nothing.

Christina Von Eerie debuted in TNA with Ink Inc. to feud against Mexican America. As long as that feud is going on, she has a purpose. Even after, she might be left as part of the stable. That is fine.

Velvet Sky is the new Knockout's Champion. That is fine. With the way the feud was going, it does not surprise me. For as long as I could remember, TNA has always tried to find something for her. She has definitely been one of their centerpieces, despite never being one of their best female wrestlers pushed in the ring.

And Mickie James? She is one of the highest paid female wrestlers in TNA for a reason. They want her. She is popular and she works to promote TNA. Don't forget that she was in TNA even before Gail Kim. While Gail Kim deserves a lot of praise for her involvement in helping TNA make their KO division, Alexis Laree was proving her worth at a time when there was no title for the women to aim for in TNA. Mickie James definitely deserves some credit for what she has done in her first year back in TNA.

I can run through the list of other women, but I don't think I need to now. They're all working hard, but not all are bringing the same kind of results as others. How can TNA really keep them all and use them all right? It is a good thing Gail Kim is back, but the division is not the same as it was back when she left. TNA has been leaning slightly towards the diva side. Look who has the KO title. Velvet Sky is pretty much TNA's Kelly Kelly. And with TNA rotating the women who get pushed, you may not be seeing Gail Kim every week. Would be kind of unfair if you did. Why can't more of the other women get that regular treatment? In any case, I am sure she is being paid better than before. That is why she left TNA in the first place. With TNA becoming a little more successful, they can definitely afford to pay the women they feel will draw well for them better. Gail Kim deserves to be in a TNA that will pay her what she deserves. Mickie James deserves to be in a WWE that will treat her as she deserves. As it stands, both are in a TNA with a whole lot of other women TNA will have to try to juggle around to use well. This does not look good.

Mickie James Wins The TNA Knockouts Championship

Tonight, Mickie James made history by becoming the first woman to have held the WWE Women's Championship, WWE Diva's Championship, and TNA Knockout's Championship. Overall, this is her 7th female title from a major promotion. She also completely squashed Madison Rayne to do it, ending her 6-month reign.

Let's talk about the quickness of the match. Everyone who read the reports, followed Mickie on Twitter, watched Impact and bought kayfabe as reality, or just heard it through the grapevine, all pretty much knew Mickie James had suffered an injury a few weeks ago. As I have said before, rather than write Mickie off and work some other woman into the match (Tara being the obvious choice), they gave Mickie the time to heal as best as she could, worked in a storyline to explain the injury, and allowed Mickie to work. Honestly, she didn't disappoint. She didn't botch anything horribly like I have seen certain other wrestlers do when they either work through an injury or are just returning from one. Moreover, you frequently see short matches that end with a face squashing a heel. Do not forget that Mickie James defeated Michelle McCool for the title in a short match as well, and neither woman was injured there. And however long tonight's match was, it was still at least twice as long as Christian vs. William Regal at Summerslam a few years ago.

Going back to how I was saying TNA was finally raising the bar in this feud as of late, the quick finish is also passable in my eyes for that reason. For months, Madison and/or Tara have made life difficult for Mickie James. They kept pushing this routine of Tara saving Madison reign from losing the title right as Mickie was closing in on it. They did this twice. Third time? Madison decides to go at it without Tara. Mickie's hair is on the line. Mickie is recovering from a real injury. Combine all that with the months of torment that I just mentioned, which sounds quite familiar to the backstory to Mickie's squash victory over Michelle McCool last year, and you have a storyline reason to have the cocky Madison Rayne get beat as she did by Mickie James. It was a "feel good" moment.

TNA really owed Mickie James that victory, in my eyes anyway. This is her first TNA PPV victory. They easily could have given her the title in her 3rd or 4th month in the company, but they dragged it on. For the ninth or seventeenth time, I am once again going to say that they finally started really raising the stakes prior to Lockdown. Mickie James has worked hard to do her part since coming to the company, taken risks to perform (including working through the injury), has had to work with Madison Rayne, who is obviously not as solid in the ring as most of TNA's other women, and still was willing to fulfill her duties, both in and out of TNA (a lot of appearances while she was injured). How would it look if Mickie did ask to be written off in favor of her recovery? Just as I am sure there are some fans who don't even know Mickie James was really injured, I am sure some fans would feel Mickie weaseled out because she didn't want to lose her hair. Really? After all the build for the moment, it would be a letdown if Mickie was replaced at the last moment. As much of a letdown as Jeff Hardy vs. Sting from last month? No. Had the performance tonight have been as awkward as it was there, then I would see reason to still see a letdown. But Mickie James was given the shot by TNA to still perform. She came through.

What happens now? The obvious choice would be a triple-threat match. Mickie vs. Tara vs. Madison. You can have a very good feud there, with Tara turning face. Should TNA, in their infinite wisdom, decide to write Mickie James off and have her lose the title on Impact this week, with the idea that she will be out to recover properly for a while, that still will not undo what she has accomplished. I admire her desire to work through this injury, and not just wrestling tonight but also traveling all over just to be at events and interact with fans. That is commitment. As I said before, TNA owed her that shot to perform on her own tonight. They are lucky to have her. Congratulations to Mickie James.

Different Person, Different Date, Same Idea

TNA ran a video at the end of Impact to tease a return for next week. Because it was taped already, everyone should know it is...if you hate spoilers, you are going to hate me...Sting.

The video was in the same style as WWE's promos for Taker's recent return. I know that leads many fans to just laugh at how unoriginal TNA is. What's new? Many people, however, were hoping Sting would be the one coming to WWE a few days ago. They saw signs of Sting in those WWE videos, or at least the first one for sure. In a way, TNA is taking a shot at the WWE. Yes, an Undertaker promo hyping his return has been done many times before. He is a regular there. Yes, a Sting promo in TNA is not anything too spectacular either. He was used in TNA regularly up to just a few months ago. And while WWE may have gotten Nash and Booker T, two men who had competed there after their rise to fame before anyway, they could not get Sting. This would have been a huge deal. TNA is taking a shot at the WWE. End of the day, neither surprise is original, but it may be a moral victory for TNA.

Nature Boy Makes It A Win

On this week's TNA Impact, Ric Flair got a win over Jay Lethal. Before these two first faced off a few weeks ago, I was saying that they should let Flair get a win over Lethal. Lethal could always get another win against Flair at the following PPV with more hype to it. Something like that happened, but somewhat the opposite. Lethal got the big win. Weeks later, in a less-hyped match, but one with still a good stipulation to make it interesting, Flair got the win.

Going back, my rationale for letting Flair get a win was mainly based on the fact that he was trying to make a stable of winners. How would it look if the leader of the group could never win a match himself in TNA? Is Flair's history all the momentum he needs? It would be a mistake to make the man a complete jobber, always going to the well, yet not having it refilled. You have to give people momentum, even the jobbers you want to give someone a credible rub with.

Moving forward to the recent match, it was not like Lethal looked too weak out there. Flair needed help to win. Lethal is still protected and has a new man to feud with. Moreover, the match had some entertaining spots to it. It is always funny to see a heel like Flair get humiliated. He knows this. He does it for the fans.

This feud having been finished for Flair, he does not need one for a while. No reason to push him too much. Just have him be used well to build his faction. Give the young guys the rub. Things can still go well.

ECW Reborn In TNA

The closing segment on Impact this week involved Dixie Carter talking with the ECW guys that caused some trouble last week. Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer were the main players for the group tonight, but Raven, Rhyno, and Stevie Richards were there too. The main message was that these ECW guys just wanted one more chance to go out respectably.

This was a good segment. It had heart to it. This was not an invasion or attack, like Nexus is doing. However, it would be interesting to have the TNA guys play the heel role. In any case, this ECW angle should see some former ECW talent make appearances, beyond those we have seen already. The fans want Sabu. Depending on how TNA does this, it may be done with more class than the WWE's ECW return.

Abyss Framed!

Part of me wants to bash the current angle going on about Abyss as being stupid and not the most original. Then again, what is the most original these days? I like it. It has a small amount of intrigue to it. More importantly, it actually adds more of a story to the issues between Abyss and Desmond Wolfe. You can just have this be a straight feud between a guy who was on Team Hogan and guy on Team Flair. Lack of creativity.

I also like that it plays in somewhat with the gimmick Abyss still has. So many gimmicks just turn so generic and lose some creativity after a while. Undertaker can rant about taking souls all he wants, but what does that really amount to these days? A Tombstone? Lightning or some other fancy effect? Setting the standard for how slow one should walk to the ring? On Impact, I heard the commentators play into the fact that Abyss's demented nature may possibly make him a suspect. Of course, he is just being messed with. It is still nice to have these kind of angles where the monster is the victim. Again, that is not totally original, but when I see an angle I like, I have to give it credit.

Of course, the mystery and intrigue did not last for weeks. We know Wolfe set Abyss up. Would a bigger swerve have been nice? Yes, but TNA may have other plans for both guys after the PPV. They may not want to tie them into anything too epic. Nevertheless, the small bit of suspense and heart (and I do not want to argue about how small it was) in this night was worth more than the typical night you get of guest host comedy crap.

I Like Old People

One constant criticism I see coming up against TNA these days is that they push fossils and overlook the younger talent. I disagree.

Look at what TNA is trying to do. They are actually trying to compete with the WWE. There is nothing wrong with that. Problem is, how should they go about it? Frankly, if all they feature is good wrestling among names that are not very popular in the mainstream, they may never make it at all. Even I, a wrestling fan for so long, would have rather watched WWE over TNA in any given week at one time. Kurt Angle did not draw me. Knockout hype did not actually make me tune in. Mick Foley, one of my first favorite wrestlers, could not break my habit with the WWE. If anything, I would just read spoilers and watch what I wanted on Youtube. I occasionally would watch a segment or two of Impact, but I never stuck around for long.

I fell for the Hogan hype. On the day he was to make his big return, the WWE planned on the return of Bret Hart. Like it or not, fossils still seem to be a draw. But I actually was more interested for Hogan than Bret. I was never a huge fan of Hogan. I never gave him that much thought at all. I prefered Ric Flair. For some reason beyond me, it was still Hogan I was interested in at first, not even Flair. Back on WWE, I knew what to expect from Bret Hart. He was coming back to end what started a decade ago. I did not know what exactly to expect from Hogan and his crew. I only knew they would be sticking around. I actually felt the hype over on TNA. On Raw, what happened that night was a big disappointment for me. No huge swerves. Nothing really exciting. One kick, show's over. I did not like how the rest of the feud was developed, not to mention Bret's matches against Vince McMahon and equipment.

Am I happy that almost every impact seems to end with Hogan now in some way? No. Am I glad that Ric Flair refuses to leave the memories alone. Honestly, I would have respected him more if he did stay out, but I have not lost respect for him since he did return. He may not be exactly what he used to be, but I like to know he is still a part of the show, if he truly feels that is what he wants.

Last time I checked, the fossils have not been winning the TNA title since they came back a few months ago. They are not here for that. And new guys are being built up. I see it. I never knew what to think of AJ Styles, but after seeing Impact for a few weeks, I am liking this guy. I used to think Desmond Wolfe was completely overrated. After seeing him, some people may still overrate him, but I am liking him too. These are guys who never made a name for themselves in WWE and went to TNA. These are guys who made it in TNA. That is what TNA is going for. Draw the casual fans with big names like Hogan and Flair, but push the younger talent in a good way to create the hype in the next generations.

It is not like the WWE lacks fossils as well. Maybe not as old as Hogan and Flair, but the shows are built around the same draws. Cena? Triple H? Rey Mysterio attracts the Hispanic audience. And I am not even liking how they are pushing the younger talent in the WWE. They seem so generic so often. Many times, they just do not seem built properly. But the idea is still the same. The idea behind NXT was that top guys like Jericho and Christian would be involved, so the fans can think some star power would be there. You tune in for the draws, but also fall in love with the rookies. Last time I checked, NXT is not doing so well.

Impact may not be doing so well either, but the WWE had a huge head start over them. Will they ever catch up? I do not know. Whether they do or not, I do not latch on to the flavor of the week. I am a fan of what I enjoy. I am enjoying TNA. I will still watch parts of Raw out of habit. I am going to ignore Smackdown entirely from now on. No draw there for me. I can just read spoilers. Nevertheless, I am still waiting on something more refreshing. I think it is possible.