Stomping Grounds PPV Numbers Said to be Stunningly Low, WWE Popularity Reportedly Declining

– Combined with last night’s reportedly poor attendance numbers for Monday Night Raw, it looks like the numbers were nothing to write home about either for WWE Stomping Grounds 2019. Speaking on today’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the pay-per-view numbers for Sunday’s Stomping Grounds event, which he remarked were “stunning,” and not in a good way.

Meltzer noted that while pay-per-view is now a relatively minor part of WWE’s overall business, it still currently represents about “11-13 percent” of the total WWE viewership. He added that when he first saw the numbers for Stomping Grounds, he first thought they had to be a “computer glitch.”

He went on to say that WWE is “legitimately” in a “bad period” right now. He stated, “I still want to believe it’s a computer glitch, but I got different markets individually. And there’s — I dunno. It’s absolutely stunning. So, there’s something — there is a very negative — you know, this is a bad period. This is legitimately a bad period.”

Meltzer continued by saying that WWE is in luck since they don’t necessarily have to make most of the company’s money through the pay-per-view business like ECW or WCW back in the day, but it’s “significant” that WWE is definitely declining in popularity. He added on WWE not having to address the decline due to the recent TV deals, “They don’t have to address it because they’re lucky. They signed those great TV deals, but they’re in a worse decline than I thought, especially with the big show stuff.”

Stomping Grounds was held on Sunday, June 23 at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. The event was broadcast live on the WWE Network.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Wrestling Observer Radio, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.