USA Network Thinks WWE Tough Enough Sucks As Well

The television ratings for WWE Tough Enough are down this season from where they were at in 2011 and according to the Wrestling Observer, the belief from people at USA Network is that wrestling's popularity is cycling downward. Considering that the ratings for Monday night Raw are down this year as well, that seems to be a fair assessment by the network that airs Raw, Tough Enough and will also air Smackdown in January 2016. This Tuesday's edition of Tough Enough was at 1.22 million viewers, which is up 17% from the previous week. Those numbers pale in comparison to the 2011 season average of 2.4 million viewers when Steve Austin was the host and the format of the show was different. It was noted by Dave Meltzer that USA Network officials feel that the format of the show is a problem because it's a combination of taped portions for a week and then live aspects in the last 15 minutes of the broadcast. it really isn't working because the judges (Hulk Hogan, Paige and Daniel Bryan) have such a brief amount of time to make decisions while fans only get a few minutes to vote. Another big reason that USA isn't happy is that Steve Austin was such an important part of the show last season. When he would get in the face of the final three contestants and scare them while trying to motivate them, it was compelling television. Chris Jericho is in a role where he isn't allowed to offer his opinions or do much other than making sure the show is running, which is less interesting for the viewer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0pq3bBqAz0 The final point mentioned by Meltzer is that previous winners of Tough Enough really didn't amount to much except John Morrison, which was over a decade ago. Fans remember that the last winner Andy Leavine didn't amount to match at all, so why should they tune in to see who wins? If winning the competition show ultimately means nothing in the end then the viewers have little reason to tune in.