By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Tuesday’s WWE Smackdown Live averaged 1.977 million viewers for USA Network, according to Showbuzzdaily.com. The number was up from the 1.948 million count from last Tuesday’s edition.
Powell’s POV: Another disappointing week for Smackdown, which seems to be widely regarded as being better than Raw these days, yet is stuck in the same viewership slump. The December 12, 2017 edition of Smackdown delivered 2.481 million viewers.
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It surely doesn’t help attract new viewers when the first five minutes of Raw is telling viewers (through one of its main attractions no less) that “our ratings are at an all-time low” essentially saying tune into Minday Night Football. Don’t watch our product. Therefore, much more difficult to get people to tune into Smackdown. If WWE knows that it is producing hours of crap, then a major chance needs to take place. There needs to be stronger characters on TV. They need to have a good back story to the characters, both faces and heels. You build up the character and make fans believe in the face character, then you can have a strong heel character and vice versa. The writers should know how to not only develop characters and/or personas, but they should also be able to write a solid beginning, middle and end to various stories. Look at why people tuned in the 90s. You had Stone Cold Steve Austin, the everyday blue collar man working at his job vs the evil, corrupted boss trying to make his employees do exactly what he wants and screw them in every way possible. Stone Cold of course was the rebel who stood up to authority, carrying out the fantasy that the “everyday” man wanted to say or do to his or her’s boss. This is a major factor of why casual viewers tuned in the 90s and why WWF beat WCW Of course Raw had other great personalities such as The Rock, who owned the mic everytime he stepped in the ring. Look at Jericho’s debut in WWF. It was weeks of anticipation of who the Millennium Man was. The build and the delivery was perfection. The exchange between Jericho and The Rock was a delight to see. The ratings were through the roof. This is what is needed right now. Yes, there were lots of things wrong in the Attitude Era, but strong segments are what people miss and the reason why the viewership is at all time low.