WWE desperately needs to combat the consistent drop in TV ratings it is been experiencing for the past couple of years. A complete reboot of the show’s format may not be a terrible idea, which may mean not featuring the McMahon family as much. Can the McMahon family look at options, new formats and more to give the universe the boost it needs to continue thriving? It’s not about control or who manages everything or who gets the most air time, it could simply be putting people, resources and storylines in place to optimize the business.
In reality, the reason Vince McMahon came up with the wild card rule is to attempt to provide a solution to the low TV ratings in the recent past. SmackDown has experienced a 13% drop in viewership over the past year and Raw has experienced a very similar drop, which is pretty significant over just one year’s time.
Nonetheless, it was still great to see the top three superstars from SmackDown Live on Monday, particularly since I was in attendance. A Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan rematch was a great idea that was initially assumed to transpire at Money in the Bank. It seemed a little unnecessary to have a title match on Raw, but no one should be complaining.
Also, despite the fact that it has not been announced, a rematch between Shane McMahon and The Miz appears to be inevitable. I can’t be certain as to why Roman Reigns appeared on Raw because he did not necessarily help to further any storylines, but I could never complain about seeing him. It is perfectly understandable for WWE to want to try to fight through this period of very low TV ratings with its biggest star spearheading the Army, but WWE needs to be very strategic in the amount that Reigns is exposed to audiences because overexposure could lead to boos once again.
What fans are really demanding is innovative storytelling in order to build new and compelling stars, which is exactly what occurred during The Attitude Era to build up people such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H and The Rock.
Sami Zayn and Braun Strowman gave us a funny segment in which Strowman threw Zayn into a dumpster. Samoa Joe also displayed his ridiculous promo skills by intimidating Rey Mysterio’s son Dominik. We will have to wait and see if Mojo Rawley’s segment turns into anything more.
It was good to see Ricochet pick up a victory against Robert Roode. Now the two are even, and a third match is sure to take place at Money in the Bank. It’s somewhat surprising WWE did not elect to change Roode’s entrance music, as Vince contemplated changing it down the road when Roode first came to the main roster because he didn’t think a heel could get over with such a catchy entrance track.
The Viking Raiders appear to have earned their way into a match for the Raw Tag Team Championships by defeating the champions Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. They look poised to dominate the tag team division for quite some time, despite the fact that WWE can’t seem to figure out that their name was really good as War Raiders. WWE seems to spend too much time contemplating superstars’ names and perhaps unnecessarily shortening them.