The Real Reason WWE Brought Back In Your House

Asuka Becky Lynch
WWE

TakeOver: In Your House is coming, beautiful graphics and all, to the WWE Network in front of no fans other than those watching at home, and the company will hope beyond hope this includes more than have been watching the weekly show. An offer of their over-the-top service for free shortly after the whole world went inside for a while was shrewd, and likely locked more viewers in front of the empty venue WrestleMania than they otherwise could have hoped to achieve. But this isn't translating to television.

Raw's numbers plunged to record lows following the 'Show Of Shows'. This is not unfamiliar territory anymore (the % drops for the red brand over the past decade have been stark and not in keeping with natural wastage, regardless of the changing face of the television landscape), but less than people than ever have chosen wrestling as their escape recently, despite there never being a greater need for the service they supposedly provide.

There have been rule-proving exceptions (a Raw heavily promoted with the major Becky Lynch announcement, the SmackDown where pro wrestlers Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville paid off a pro wrestling storyline with a pro wrestling match that drew some pro wrestling viewers...who knew?) but the graphs for all programming are pointing downwards, with NXT's looking all the more perilous thanks to their inability to gain real ground against the opposition.

CONT'D...

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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