10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 2013

8. Old School Raw Is Biggest Show Of The Year

Paul Heyman CM Punk
WWE

Kicking off something of a tradition that WWE probably wishes wasn't the case, the year's highest-rated edition of Monday Night Raw was a pre-WrestleMania "Old School" edition.

An eye-watering average of just over five million tuned in to see the company embrace nostalgia and welcome back select legends midway through the build to WrestleMania 29.

The show heavily promoted the return of The Undertaker, a stand-off between John Cena and WWE Champion The Rock, and Triple H addressing Brock Lesnar. Various other historic figures were brought in to add some extra flavour, and the show made significant effort with the old fashioned aesthetics.

A second hour watched by 5,239,000 people pulled the overall average up to 5,002,000 - a figure the company wouldn't hit again for the rest of the year. More worrying was the sharp decline in the summer months - the company were staving off gradual decline just to keep above the 4,000,000 mark by June, which made for a pattern that continued into 2014.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett