On Monday, July 13th, 2015, RAW only managed to bring in 3.54 million viewers, which led to one of the lowest Nielsen ratings for the program in seventeen years. This was despite the fact that the show featured a great triple threat match between Rusev, Cesaro and Kevin Owens, as well as the main roster debut of Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks. Clearly theres something wrong with the WWE product. Because if everything was as great as Vince believes it is, and the company was as popular and profitable as WWE press releases have indicated, then this ratings drop shouldnt have happened. So the big question to ask is, whats wrong with RAW? What caused so few people to tune in to the last episode before the Battleground PPV? The answer to that question is a multifaceted one. RAW has many problems, some of which can be seen on a regular basis, while others linger in the backstage area, beyond the perception of most fans. RAW was once a cant miss show, with something exciting and unique happening on each episode. Now, however, RAW has been stripped of most of the elements that made it so unique, with everything from matches to stories to merchandise being thrown into one big mixing bowl, with the same combination of ingredients being churned out on a regular basis. On one hand, the July 13th episodes low ratings couldve been a fluke, as theres a lot going on right now that might shift popular attention away from WWE. Whats more realistic, however, is that WWE has several problems that need to be fixed as soon as possible. If not, then the shockingly-low ratings might not be so shocking the next time(s) they occur.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
