10 Terrible Decisions That Led To WWE Raw’s Lowest Ever Rating
5. Stephanie McMahon Takes Over Everything
Somehow worse than her role as backstage gaffer, Stephanie's return to television as a semi-permanent oppressor in 2013 resulted in a minor increase in television ratings being converted into permanent decline. A 0.1% reversal of an annual average ratings decline that year provided an anomaly, with the company dropping year on year ever since.
Stephanie McMahon's oppressive owner gimmick is obviously not the entire reason for the company's terminal viewership collapse, but her character's egomaniacal control over every other persona on the broadcast has reduced the star aura of virtually every single performer.
On the very first episode of Monday Night Raw, Razor Ramon threw a toothpick directly in Vince McMahon's face as he concluded his in-ring promo with the convivial host. Real life boss McMahon could have improvised any reaction he wanted, but he followed the money and ensured his top heel wasn't exposed as a coward in the face of real authority. Stephanie's gimmick forces the literal opposite. Everybody cowers in her presence, ensuring nobody has any self-respect until she disappears from view.
Kurt Angle is the latest performer to take a Raw General Manager job that nobody in their right mind would actually want. It's perhaps why the bewildered Hall of Famer took the job - and why the equally frazzled Mick Foley gave it a go before him.