9 Most Desperate WWE Responses To Low Ratings
Sex sells. Hence the image below.
Anyone who took leave of the never-ending wrestling news cycle to enjoy the sunshine at the back end of last week could be forgiven for thinking they'd been hurtled back in time twenty years when they logged back in to see the squared circle happenings.
Almost two decades since the Monday Night Wars ended, suddenly two of its main protagonists, Paul Heyman and Eric bloody Bischoff, were once more slap-bang front and centre of the industry, inexplicably handed Executive Director roles for each of WWE's flagship shows.
Appointing the ex-ECW impresario to the Raw role made some sense; Heyman is already a regular presence on the red brand, and though to some extent inoculated to the wider wrestling world by his current employers, has his finger somewhere near the industry's pulse.
Bischoff, on the other hand, was bizarre. Honestly, WWE might as well have appointed Ivanka Trump in the role. It's arguable the President's daughter knows as much about pro-wrestling in 2019 as 'Easy E' (so about as much as she knows on any other subject, then).
This hasn't happened through a loose ceiling fan accidentally dropping on Vince McMahon's bonce. It's entirely deliberate - and it reeks of desperation. The whiff is regrettably familiar...
9. The Wild Card Rule
Before Vince McMahon slowly pecked Eric Bischoff's number onto his touchtone last week, WWE had already pulled in to Desperation Station back in May. Raw's lowest modern-day rating outside holiday seasons prompted an angry influx of e-mails to Stamford from concerned TV networks, who demanded an immediate improvement in numbers. The very next week, McMahon personally attended Raw to introduce the 'Wild Card' rule, which would allow up to three superstars to cross brands every week.
Or was it four? Nobody really knew - and they still don't. So vague were the stipulations of the latest effort to dowse the growing fire that they'd already been contravened by the close of the first episode, prompting one poor WWE staffer to write up an article trying to explain what the flip it was all about.
As you might imagine, watering down the prestige of superstars by having them overexposed even more has done little to nothing to improve viewership. Hence where we find ourselves today.