The Problem With Edge That No One Wants To Talk About
Though Edge's Royal Rumble 2021 victory was generally well-received by those watching, people weren't interested in the follow-up.
Marketed largely around Edge's celebration, the 1 February episode of Raw hit an average viewership of 1.892 million across its three hours. This was actually up on the previous week, but only by 72,000, which falls well within the Nielsen system's accepted 10% margin for error. These numbers compare poorly to the 2020 Rumble fallout show, which drew 2.402 million viewers and a 0.76 P18-49 rating.
WWE got next to no post-PPV rub following a show that closed on Edge's grand triumph, as was the case with McIntyre in 2020. Additionally, Raw lost 500,000 viewers from the previous year.
Edge then appeared on NXT two nights later, announcing it on Twitter the day before. This was a disaster. NXT plummeted by 110,000 viewers to 610,000, with the demo plunging from 0.21 to 0.15. The quarter-hour featuring The Rated R Superstar got smoked by Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford's wedding on AEW Dynamite, outdone 868,000 vs. 618,000.
Two nights later, with the intrigue of Edge's WrestleMania 37 decision the supposed selling point, SmackDown suffered a minor decline from 2.304 million viewers to 2.257 million.
On all three shows, the supposed "buzz" of Edge's win yielded negative results - and the following week's Raw was down even further.
Subjectively, anyone can receive Edge as a star. He is a big name with a glittering kayfabe past and his comeback run is a great story with plenty of fresh feuds and matches ahead.
But numbers don't lie, and they tell us, objectively, that Edge isn't currently pushing business in the right direction.
In February 2021, Edge is not a star.
CONT'd...