The most recent edition of Monday Night Raw drew the lowest rating in the history of the show. That says a lot, given the 25+ year run of the show. While the company is working to make sure things change on that front, it won’t be something people have been saying.
Yesterday, it was reported the USA Network had been furious at the rating and asked for WWE to start producing “darker” content in a more violent vein as opposed to sexual and scandalous like the Attitude Era. While it’s true suggestions have been made by the network, “darker” content was not the direction suggested.
Ringside News confirmed the story that USA did not make that suggestion, their source telling them the report was “complete bullsh*t.” However, they were also told “of course they’re upset” when it comes to the ratings because “nothing sits well with Vince McMahon if the narrative is negative.” While McMahon sees things only in the WWE, he sees the ratings and he sees them losing to the competition.
It seems the biggest problem is the echo chamber Vince currently resides in. Bruce Prichard is considered a “yes man” and spends more time telling Vince what he wants to hear potentially over what he needs to hear. It’s worked for Prichard, however, as he’s widely considered one of the most powerful people in the company. Sources have described him as the second most powerful person in the WWE outside the McMahon family, the top being Kevin Dunn.
Another situation that people think have led to the bad ratings is the backstage climate and a severe lack of leadership. It’s been reported before that it seems “the inmates are running the asylum” in regards to Raw. The biggest problem, however, may be that WWE will decide what to do and nobody will know until Vince has actually done something. With nobody knowing how to handle the new decisions from up top, it leaves everyone scrambling.
A tenured member of the creative team told Ringside News “Vince will make his move and nobody will hear about it in advance.” Right now, whatever move the WWE makes in regards to the low ratings may not be known until Vince does whatever he does.
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