Vince Mcmahon: 3 things the WWE Chairman can do to save their falling TV ratings
This week’s episodes of Raw and Smackdown saw them record historically low ratings. Raw recorded its lowest numbers of the year while Smackdown managed their lowest ever non-holiday ratings.
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Here are 3 things that Vince Mcmahon can do to turn the numbers around.
Respect the fans intelligence and loyalty.
WWE is a weekly program that millions of fans tune in to every week. They invest their time in their favorite characters and follow their progress. When WWE ignores an aspect of these characters without giving an explanation, they inadvertently end up insulting their fans for being loyal to their product. One example that comes to mind is when right before last year’s Survivor Series, Becky Lynch hugged Charlotte Flair as she announced The Queen as her replacement. They continued to brawl again next week pretending like nothing had happened a week before and we were expected not to remember.
Create meaningful storylines
Storylines are what differentiates WWE from other similar sports. One could say it brings the ‘Entertainment’ in Sports Entertainment. It is therefore very important for WWE and Vince Mcmahon to create storylines that are easy to follow. Much of both Raw and Smackdown in the last 2 weeks felt like filler. You could avoid watching them and still be caught up by next week’s episode because nothing happened!
The Biggest story heading into this years Wrestlemania was Kofi Vs Bryan. It was a simple underdog story. But it was told with consistency, simplicity and every week added another chapter to the journey. It delivered because people understood the story and related to it. They wanted to see what would happen next and got behind it. If WWE want people to tune in then they will have to create meaningful storylines and not just have their superstars fight it out in random tag matches day in and out.
Give new Superstars a chance
The WWE apart from its regular weekly TV program, also does tours, and live events. With more than 30 hours of Television per month and 200+ working days, there is a good chance of over saturation. People are already tired of Charlotte Vs Becky with many even comparing it to the Cena Vs Orton Matches (notorious for how many times they clashed with each other). WWE can mix it up by having their newer stars involve in feuds with other stars and give their viewers something fresh.
There are plenty of new stars in the company but for some reason Vince seems to hesitate to put them in major storylines. Lars keeps rounding up people every week (in the same manner) and for months Ricochet and Aleister Black partnered together in random tag matches. While others like EC3 continues to be overlooked. To have these newer stars (Who are extremely talented by the way) go against established names could create excitement and fervor for something new among its fans; something that the company has miserably failed to do so off late.
