New Record Low Raw Rating

Ill tell you what is a real turn off, the production. Im not talking about the glitz and glamour aspect, WWE is cutting edge with their production BUT the commentating aspect in regards to ring announcers, pre show commentators, in ring interviews like when Hogan, Flair and Michaels were interviewed a lot of months back, its all very...CNN. Its too professional and it doesnt mix well with wrestling and I get bad vibes everytime they do stuff like that. I find it a real turn off.

0_o

Anyway, they have a serious issue with their product. They have the talent for something great but they seem so hesitant about pushing the new guys and keeping them relevant. We can point the finger at Vince, which is probably accurate. He seems so out of touch.

It may have some effect, but not as much as people think. Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Dexter and various shows on MTV and Nickelodeon still get great ratings so that means people are still tuning in at a specific time to watch TV.

Austin may as well not have been there tbh, Undertaker and Lesnar's segment was a bit of a let down I'm rooting for Undertaker but I wouldn't have minded Lesnar coming out on top just a small slice of action would have been good. I cant actually remember what Flair did, Shawn probably had the most impact. There was no mention of Orton or Harpers disappearance, Rowan's return was BS
"Eric Rowan is back in the fold" how lame is that for a return..

As always I enjoyed the show, but its understandable why people turned off at some points.

In WWE's case, it's basically irrelevant.

The reason is because their basis of negotiation when hammering out their last right's fees contract was that they were DVR proof, like football. Evidently, they aren't. They're not even close. Now, if they could point to football (and other so called "DVR-proof" content) and show ratings drops, they'd probably be off the hook. But they can't. Those other products still do huge numbers relative to their projected audience, so WWE can only blame themselves. They've blown their only major bargaining chip when it comes to the next round of negotiations. That basis got them a better deal than they probably deserved, but sponsors won't be so kind next time when they see these numbers. If anything, a higher number of views on Hulu might hurt them in that scenario, because it shows proof that they're not at all what they say they are.

The current situation has very little effect on the day to day operations of WWE creative because it's a delayed domino effect. The rights deal is in place, so, short of cancellation, WWE is drawing the same amount of advertising dollars each week regardless of the fact that their ratings are in a full-blown free-fall. If they don't start working to change things, though, they're going to be in a world of trouble when the deal is up in a couple of years.

Sure, they can use it as a scapegoat if they'd like, just like their excuse for phoning it in the fall is "cause football", but they'd be ignoring the bigger picture. It's irrefutable that cable TV and TV subscriptions are in a sharp decline, but the numbers are still there. NFL games are still pulling millions of people every week. The Big Bang Theory is shattering records (why, I'll never understand, but that's a different conversation entirely.) Wade Keller recently had a pretty good piece of audio regarding WWE's viewership decline in relation to the overall picture of television. As you correctly pointed out, things are down across the board, but WWE is trending downward faster than just about anything else. They've dropped upwards of 20% of their viewers on Raw in just under a year. That's incredibly alarming under any circumstance.

Their business model will change with the times, and you could argue that they've already got a leg up with the Network in place. However, that doesn't excuse their complacency and general decline in product quality, and they're going to have to do something about it sooner rather than later.

We'll get a much clearer picture of the situation in a couple of weeks when the quarterly report comes out. I have a hunch that Lesnar/Taker was hot-shotted to Hell in a Cell because WWE saw an alarming drop in Network subs after Summerslam. I could be wrong, of course, but it's a pretty logical explanation for throwing that match out there with absolutely no additional build and a completely unorthodox announcement.

Was this week's Raw another record low?

You obviously dont watch if you think Rollins is sloppy and a hack.