Why WWE Has Lost 1 Million Viewers

This year's Raw after WrestleMania was a box office bomb.

WWE Loses 1 Million Viewers Why
WWE.com

Last week's Raw after WrestleMania viewing figures weren't a disaster for WWE, but they were an embarrassment.

The show scored a 2.02 from 2,924,000 viewers, making it the brand's most-watched show since 15 February, which drew an audience of only 2,000 fewer. One might look at the 10.7% increase on the previous week's numbers and consider this a minor success, but no. Last year's post-WrestleMania Raw attracted an audience of 3,903,000. That's a decline of over 25%, and it came on the back of a 'Show Of Shows' that most fans seemed to enjoy.

Some of the slump can be attributed to this year's Raw going head-to-head with the NCAA men's basketball tournament finals, which pulled 19,630,000. For comparison's sake, 2018's Raw after 'Mania, which didn't face NCAA competition, achieved a 14.4% increase on the previous year.

SmackDown fared even worse than the red brand, and did so without basketball as a convenient excuse. The Tuesday show slumped to 2,199,0000. This represents a 26% fall on the previous year and, unlike Raw, the viewership is largely in-line with what Team Blue has been doing all year. There was no post-WrestleMania bump for a show that is generally regarded as WWE's most consistent.

This is bad, bad news, particularly when considering what went down at WrestleMania 35.

CONT'd...

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.