Hi, Scott.
With Raw’s viewership hitting 3.23M (the second-lowest non-football viewership since 1997, according to the Observer), it looks like whatever Mania season buzz/boost there was is now gone.
Some questions for you:
1- Which fan base do you think is more responsible for the post Rumble/Mania drop in viewers this year: "hardcores" or "casuals"/families?
2- These may depend on your answer to 1, but what do you think of these explanations?
A: Hardcores have tuned out because Roman is "the guy," even if wrestlers like Owens and AJ and NXT callups are getting some attention now.
B: Casuals don’t think any of the guys getting attention now – Roman but also guys like Owens and AJ – are really top level stars and are waiting for people like Orton and Cena to return.
C: The boost was due to interest in part-timers like Lesnar and Taker, so those new/returning viewers bailed once those names left.
D: There isn’t that much interest in yet another McMahon family squabble for control of the company.
Thanks.
It’s not like they were doing gangbusters numbers between Rumble and Wrestlemania as it is. There was a slight uptick for the Shane stuff, which would be 100% casual fans, but really the entire Roman Reigns story post-Rumble has been one giant flop from start to finish. The actual drop in ratings I would definitely attribute to a combination of B & C, and unfortunately B is going to be a side-effect of trying to have a rebuilding season. That being said, Roman is not the guy that people want to watch the company build around, so I don’t think there’s a magic bullet to bring things back up again. Basically we’re just gonna have to wait for Aurora Rose Levesque to be old enough to ascend to the top of the card in 10 years or whatever.
