10 Decisions That Helped Kill WWE Raw's Ratings
3. Daniel Bryan's Injury
It's not very often that a star gets so popular without the backing of WWE that the company has no choice but to push him, but that's what happened with Daniel Bryan. Initially, Bryan's feud with The Authority was supposed to kill time in the fall of 2013, and by WrestleMania, Batista would be challenging Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. Instead, fans demanded Bryan, and he was added to the show's main event.
Bryan ended up winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXX, making for one of the all-time great moments in the company's history. Unfortunately, during his title chase he began to suffer from neck issues related to an injury incurred the previous year. After WrestleMania, Bryan's first real reign as champion actually led to a brief boost in ratings (both over the same period in 2013 and over pre-'Mania numbers), but it ended when Bryan had to take time off to deal with his injury.
Eventually, it was determined that Bryan would need surgery and that would force him to miss an indefinite amount of ring time. He forfeited the title, and with the fans' choice out of the picture, ratings continued to tumble.