Author: Andrew Ravens

Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.526 million viewers with a 0.41 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This was a record low audience for Monday Night Raw.

Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Monday night, which was the final episode before Sunday’s WWE TLC pay-per-view:

• The first hour hour did 1.627 million viewers and a 0.44 rating (A18-49).
• The second hour did 1.512 million viewers and a 0.41 rating.
• The final hour of the show had just 1.441 million viewers and an abysmal 0.38 rating.

Monday Night Raw Ratings Fallout

This week\’s raw record low is not a statistical anomaly. WWE Raw viewership has been steadily declining all year. During the first quarter of 2020, viewership was consistently above 2 million viewers. The Covid-19 pandemic caused a negative affect to WWE programming. The lack of crowds makes for a worse atmosphere. However, ratings went off a cliff after WrestleMania.

The last time WWE Raw viewership was above 2 million was around SummerSlam in August. This chart by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics paints the grim picture:

For the first time ever, AEW Dynamite defeated all three hours of WWE Raw in the Adults 18-49 demo. AEW Dynamite last week did a 0.45 rating. This was higher than all three hours of WWE Raw this week.

Last week, WWE Raw had 1.736 million viewers and a 0.52 rating in the 18-49 demo. Just one year ago, the show 2.150 million.

Raw had some tough competition this week. The NFL on ESPN game between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens topped 12.422 million viewers. However, NFL competition is nothing new. It does not explain the overall trend.

Vince McMahon and company have tried many \’quick fixes\’ to turn the low ratings around. Unfortunately, it will take more than a new gimmick like Raw Underground or a wildcard rule to turn things around for WWE.

Bully Ray\’s Take On Raw Viewership

Former WWE Superstar Bully Ray commented on this week\’s Raw viewership on the Busted Open show on SiriusXM. He said the time for making excuses is over. “You can talk to me until you’re blue in the face about how people watch TV differently or it’s a different time, blah, blah, blah.”

Bully Ray thinks that WWE needs to get back to basics. “If you build your roster and people are over, [fans are] going to tune in. I don’t care what you have to do to get eyes on your product. If you have something that the people want to see? They’re gonna tune in, no matter what.”

Conclusion

WWE is making more money than ever thanks to lucrative television deals. If WWE does not address the foundational cracks at the root of declining viewership, the company\’s biggest cash cow is in jeopardy.

WWE has posted a new job listing as they are looking to hire a new talent brand manager. 

The company launched a new talent management group function. Thus, they want a Manager and Director-level professionals to join them by working at WWE headquarters in Stamford or at their office in Los Angeles. 

WWE noted this person will look over digital and social media marketing to collaborating with internal and external parties to drive new opportunities for top TV and social media personalities.

This comes after they posted a job alert for a GFX Motion Designer, to help “create motion graphics, animation, and content optimized for Twitch.” This was all part of their Twitch expansion. Here\’s the ad: 

WWE Talent Management Group will deliver outstanding 360-degree support to our Talent across all lines of business and external partners, amplifying Talent brand value by improving monetization outlets for Talent and WWE.

The Talent Brand Manager (based in NY or LA) will have the opportunity to handle and grow the brands of leading television/social media personalities within the WWE. This person will be a self-motivated, positive, and interpersonal branding professional who has directly led multiple projects for celebrity brand campaigns across any industry.

Responsibilities:

• Work and collaborate across multiple business units to develop and execute growth strategies for our talent.
• Drive opportunities for talent brands internally and externally.
• Align talent goals and personal interests to WWE critical initiatives.
• Develop and maintain talent marketing materials.
• Collaborate with talent third parties to solicit and assess new opportunities.
• Assist in benchmarking economics for talent engagements while providing market intelligence and standard methodologies for holistic brand development.
• Able to travel for business as needed (approximately 20-25%) and work a flexible schedule as needed

Qualifications:

• 5+ years’ experience in entertainment, brand management, social and media relations or similar field.
• Bachelor’s degree in Media, Communications, Marketing, or related field.
• Strong understanding of social and digital ecosystems as they relate to brand value and engagement.
• Experience in client services across a variety of brand management functions.
• Outstanding project management and time management skillsets, with the ability to lead multiple projects in a fast-paced environment
• Understanding of WWE\’s audience (demographic and psychographic) a plus.

Kevin Owens first worked with Goldberg in 2017 at the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view event. 

Owens defended the WWE Universal Title against the legendary pro wrestler. The match lasted only seconds as a distraction thanks to Chris Jericho, who was feuding with Owens at the time, led to Goldberg not only beating Owens but winning the Universal Title. 

Owens did an interview with Metro UK and was asked about a possible rematch with Goldberg. 

“I’d love to work with him again if he was here to work. I’m not saying this is his fault, but he’s not – his career has never been about long matches or anything like that. ‘To me, I don’t see much positive out of wrestling him for two minutes, or 20 seconds or 30 seconds or whatever, you know what I mean? I’d love to work with him again if you got to do a story beyond – all we did was, what, two weeks, maybe three weeks?”

He continued by noting that if they did some cool promos where they would exchange words then have a quality match then he thinks that would be great. 

“But that’s just not usually what he’s here for.”

Owens noted that Goldberg’s style of work does get over and he’s not against it, but not something that he’s interested in doing. He brought up that even while as a kid, he didn’t like it because that’s not what he’s looking for in wrestling. 

Paul Heyman & Kevin Owens Have Intense Segment On Talking Smack (Video)

An interesting report emerged this week noting that Vince McMahon is unhappy with the in-ring work of several of WWE\’s larger wrestlers.

According to the Wrestling Observer, “Vince McMahon threw a fit about the working ability of certain guys on the main roster, mad in particular about some of the big guys.\”

He reportedly sent a batch of talent to return to the WWE Performance Center for training. The wrestlers in question include former NXT Champion Keith Lee, Otis, Dabbo Kato, Omos and Mace from RETRIBUTION.

The main roster talent sent back to the Performance Center will be working with PC coaches Adam Pearce and Drew Gulak.

Fightful Select has provided new details on the situation, including the backstage reaction to this shakeup. It was pointed out that many people were “baffled” that Keith Lee made it on that list because he’s considered to be one of the better workers in the company. Some tried to make sense of it by assuming he was lumped in with the rest of the \”big men\” despite being more than a capable worker.

Regarding Otis, he is still well-liked by the WWE Chairman. However, there have been some spots over the last few months that have caught the attention of those in management and there\’s a feeling that he could work safer.

Scott Hall & Kevin Nash Talk About Training \’Big Men\’ At the WWE PC

Goldberg has two years left on his current WWE deal, but he’s not getting any younger, which leads to fans wondering how much longer he plans to wrestle for. 

He commented on this question when doing an interview with Bleacher Report. 

\”We always have to cross that bridge when we come to it,\” Goldberg said. \”I\’m 53 years old, I\’ll be 54 here in a couple of weeks. Hey, as long as my body can still do it, I\’m still going to do it.”

He continued by noting that it’s very tough to be a power wrestler at this age as he’s not the same person that he was in the past and he has the sense of questioning whether to continue is ruining his legacy. However, he still has to put food on the table for his family.

\”There are a lot of things that come into consideration, and at the end of the day, I\’m a businessman,\” he continued. \”I do what I got to do to stay afloat and stay out there. I don\’t see myself hanging it up any time soon, but then again, I also don\’t see myself wrestling until I\’m 60.\”

Earlier this week, he made headlines by calling out WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and saying that “The Big Dog” is next. 

It’s been reported that WWE is looking to book Goldberg against Reigns at WrestleMania 37 next year. 

• Roman Reigns Called Out By Goldberg, WrestleMania Plans

Fans can expect to see a new WWE NXT brand be launched next year and it’s going to be in India. 

On Friday, a new report from Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics and John Pollock of POST Wrestling was published that revealed the news. The article states that the new NXT India TV series will air in the Indian market.

It’s expected to begin filming in January. As of this writing, there’s no word yet on the talent that will be working on the brand, but it was noted the plan as of several weeks ago was to feature an eight-man single-elimination tournament for the new series. 

Plans change all of the time in WWE so this was not confirmed as a fact, but the idea behind it is for the tournament to crown the first-ever NXT India Champion. WWE did a tournament to crown the inaugural NXT UK Champion as well. 

The belief is the new NXT India series will air on linear TV in India as well as on WWE’s streaming service, WWE Network.  

WWE does have a distribution deal with Sony Pictures Networks in India. This past March, WWE announced a five-year renewal for that deal, which also includes Sony having the rights to the WWE Network for its audiences through SonyLIV, which is their own OTT streaming platform.

Fans should look at this being India\’s version of the main NXT brand in the United States as well as the NXT UK brand based out of London, England.

• Vince McMahon Sending Several WWE Stars Back To The Performance Center

Jaxson Ryker is back on WWE television, but just not on RAW or SmackDown. Instead, he appeared in the opening segment of this week’s episode of Main Event. 

The show was taped on Monday night before RAW went live. Those who appeared in the crowd for the taping noted that Ryker made an appearance as he was in a segment with Elias. 

R-Truth, who is the WWE 24/7 Champion, interrupted the two WWE stars. Thus, it appears that WWE has paired the two stars together. Keith Lee vs. Angel Garza was also taped for this week\’s WWE Main Event. 

This marked his first appearance on WWE television since The Forgotten Sons were pulled from SmackDown back in late May. At the time, they were in the middle of a big push while contender for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. 

Last week on SmackDown, Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler made their returns to WWE programming. They did so by aligning with Baron Corbin in order to help him score a win over Buddy Murphy.

Ryker found himself in hot water after pro-Trump comments he made on Twitter. There had been talk of WWE possibly releasing Ryker, but that may have changed. 

Backstage Update On The Status Of Jaxson Ryker

Pat McAfee is selling the damage he suffered while working the main event of Sunday’s WWE NXT TakeOver: WarGames event. 

The headliner saw The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Bobby Fish, Kyle O\’Reilly) defeat McAfee, Pete Dunne and NXT Tag Team Champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch.

McAfee was sporting a neck brace on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday for what he called precautionary reasons. 

“Hell of a match, my guys and I ended up losing to the scumbags that are Undisputed ERA. And I’m not happy about it.”

McAfee noted that he was awaiting test results he had done earlier in the day regarding his neck. He joked that he felt like his body was broken this morning to the point where he couldn\’t get out of bed, couldn\’t walk or move much at all. 

“So, not an overreaction. This is my life now, okay? And although we did not get the W, I will let you know we did not go down without a fight. And the next time we get our hands on them, they’ll be the ones wearing the neck braces.”

As of this writing, there’s no word yet on when McAfee will be back on NXT TV. After his first pro wrestling match, the former NFL punter took several weeks off before returning. 

Undisputed Era Wins Men’s WarGames Match

Mauro Ranallo parted ways with WWE for a second time earlier this year and now has opened up on it. 

Ranallo’s first run saw him as the lead announcer for SmackDown Live before he left the company only to return and be in that same role on WWE NXT brand. 

Ranallo did an interview with POST Wrestling where he opened up on his decision. 

“WWE is one of the most mentally grueling places — and that\’s not necessarily a criticism by any means — there\’s a reason Vince McMahon has built a multi-billion dollar empire. Is it perfect? Not by any means, but neither am I.\”

Joining WWE was a dream come true because of his love of pro wrestling. He brought up how his childhood friend envisioned him working for the company and although his late friend didn’t get to see it, he did get a chance to join the company. 

Ranallo felt good chemistry with Jerry Lawler and Bryon Saxton on SmackDown, but WWE made changes. He can work with anyone, but he wasn’t a fan of having several people on the broadcast at the same time such as a four or eight-man booth. 

“I get it, but that\’s not what I want as a commentator. I get the stressful situations, I get the changes on the fly and the system there, but for my mental health, even moving to NXT. When we were live, it was the best experience I could ask for, and that\’s a testament to what Triple H and everyone down in NXT have done. I just felt, for my own mental health, even doing the show from home, it was to the point where I would have a panic attack in the morning of the recordings in the last few months.\”

He continued, All respect, I didn\’t like what was happening and who was involved. I didn’t like…all due to respect to all announcers, I believe in chemistry. Maybe I was the problem. On show day, I\’m not a great guy to be around because I\’m completely focused. I\’m prepared and I expect everyone else to be the same. There’s another reason, I\’m a play-by-play announcer, and I think I\’m one of the best in business, I need to be left alone at times.\”

He thanked WWE for everything, noting that his work there improved his standing in the world. It opened other doors for him, as well.

\”It was like my life, it was filled with ups and downs and aberrations. Sometimes when a dream comes true, it doesn’t remain a dream, sometimes you’re not supposed to meet your heroes.”

Ranallo voiced his appreciation for the company and while he didn’t see eye to eye with Vince McMahon and vice-versa, he still respects him. NXT was Vince McMahon\’s vision, and ultimately it became too much for him. 

• Mauro Ranallo Has Finished Up With WWE

Check out the full interview in the YouTube player embedded below. His comments about WWE begin around the 17-minute mark.

The 2020 chapter in WarGames history has been written as the men’s version of the match was memorable. 

WWE held the match at the NXT TakeOver: WarGames event with the expected main event It featured The Kings of NXT (Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, NXT Tag Team Champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch) vs. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly) in the headliner. 

They put on one heck of a match that delivered. The order of wrestlers entering the match is listed as the following: Dunne, O’Reilly, Lorcan, Fish, Burch, Strong, McAfee, and Cole. 

McAfee hit a moonsault off the top rope sending Strong through a table. McAfee worked over the left knee of Cole throughout the match. There was a botched table spot until Strong sent Dunne and Lorcan through it. 

Undisputed Era did have a moment of revenge on McAfee. Later on, McAfee did a wild Swanton Bomb off the top of the cage to take everyone out. Fish speared Burch through a table. The finish saw Fish and Strong layout Burch and then O’Reilly landed a flying knee off the top rope to Burch’s face with a chair. 

Last year’s event saw Tommaso Ciampa, Donovan Dijak, Keith Lee and Owens beat The Undisputed Era while the 2018 version featured War Raiders, Ricochet & Pete Dunne beating The Undisputed Era. 

Keith Lee Opens Up On Feeling Like He Abandoned WWE NXT

It appears that Karrion Kross is very close to making a return to WWE NXT. 

Following a strap match between Cameron Grimes and Dexter Lumis at Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: WarGames show, a short vignette aired showing a vulture, a clear indication for Kross and his return. 

The video ended with the signature \”Tick, Tock,\” his trademark phrase. Following the segment, Kross acknowledged the vignette on Twitter when he wrote “Think about the future.”

Triple H was asked about Kross\’ return this week in an interview with Fox Sports’ Ryan Satin.

“He’s one of those guys that, again, you want to run through a brick wall for,” he told Satin. “But, he’ll run through the brick wall for himself. That’s the other thing. He’s not here to sit back and go, ‘Man, I hope this heals well.’ He’s going to. If it doesn’t heal well, it’s not on him. It’s not on lack of effort. He did everything conceivable to get there and he’s ready to rock and roll. It’s just a timing thing now.”

The former NXT Champion has been out of action since he suffered a separated shoulder during a match at TakeOver XXX on August 22.

He won the title that night but had to vacate the title on the next episode of NXT due to the injury.

Karrion Kross Could Return To NXT From Injury “Any Second”

Leon Ruff made his first title defense on a WWE NXT TakeOver special against Johnny Gargano and Damien Priest. 

It happened on Sunday at the WWE NXT TakeOver: WarGames event when a Triple Threat Match was booked with the North American Championship on the line. 

The match featured Priest being featured in the big man role and dominating his opponents. Ruff did some wild spots such as being tossed through the barricade by Priest. Three people dressed up as ghost face appeared and attacked Priest, but Priest took them out.

More came down to the ring and he took them out with a dive. The finish saw a person dressed up hit Priest with a pipe and Gargano connecting with a superkick then a springboard DDT to Ruff. Austin Theory was revealed as the final ghost face. 

This contest came about after Ruff shockingly won the title from Gargano on NXT TV three weeks after getting help from Priest distracting Gargano. The following week, Ruff and Gargano faced off in a rematch, but ended via disqualification when Priest punched Ruff so Gargano wouldn\’t be able to win the title back. 

Finally, the three-way contest was made official on last week’s NXT episode during a KO Show segment with Ruff that was interrupted by Priest and Gargano. 

Keith Lee Opens Up On Feeling Like He Abandoned WWE NXT

For the second straight year, WWE held a WarGames featuring female talent and it didn’t disappoint.

At Sunday’s WWE NXT TakeOver: WarGames event, this year’s version of this contest featured Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon, Rhea Ripley, and Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae, Toni Storm, Raquel Gonzalez, and Dakota Kai.

Moon and Kai started the match. Stars followed them in the following order: Blackheart, Gonzalez, Ripley, Storm, Shiri, and LeRae. 

Various weapons were used in this match such as kendo sticks, ladders, and more. There was a spot where Io was locked out of the ring after Indie Heartwell attacked her and stole the key. A notable spot saw Io put a trash can on her head before jumping on everyone from the top of the cage. The finish saw Gonzalez power bomb Io through a ladder between the ropes. 

Last year’s women’s match saw Rhea Ripley, Mia Yim, Tegan Nox & Candice LeRae beat Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai & Kay Lee Ray. 

The next special for NXT comes during Royal Rumble weekend with the NXT TakeOver: special in January.

Keith Lee Opens Up On Feeling Like He Abandoned WWE NXT

What are your thoughts on the outcome of this match? Did WWE make the right call? Sound off in the comment section.