WrestleMania is the peak of the wrestling year. Its the time that lapsed fans come back to check out whats going on, and see what they've missed out on. For some reason thats not happening this year. After the initial surge in interest in Shane McMahon's return, people are leaving Raw. Four weeks in a row now, the show has gone down in the ratings from the prior week. The Feb. 22 edition did a 2.73 rating, the March 21 episode drew a 2.44. Last year in the four episodes of Raw before Mania they averaged a 2.86. The year before that a 3.065. And in 2013, a 3.18. Yes, the increasing popularity of DVRs plays a factor in that, but that cant be everything. Some people are just gone. They didnt come back this year to see which McMahon is upset about something. They found something else to do with their time. Theres tons of reasons why so many have lost interest for Mania season: Roman Reigns failing to connect as a top guy, bad booking, the end of The Streak, no Daniel Bryan or John Cena, and The Authority hogging all of the spotlight. All those years of WWE pushing the wrestlers as interchangeable, and subservient to those in power has caught up to them, and it's coming at the worst possible time. The WrestleMania brand itself should be fine for a few years, but every time the hype is this bad its chips away at the shows' prestige. Big changes need to happen before Mania 33, but sadly theres no indication that anything is about to give.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
