Ways To Boost The Raw Ratings

Raw ratings are floundering, hitting a new low every week. As a man who achieves a new ratings high every week in my TEW 16 games, I feel perfectly qualified in giving WWE advice on how they can create the next boom area. Eat your heart out, Vince Russo.

Turn Roman Reigns: I know it’s not happening, but if they want to spike the ratings, turning Reigns is their best bet. The spike may only last a couple of weeks, but if they get desperate enough, this is the obvious choice.

Establish A Top Babyface: This is my main issue with Raw. All of the babyfaces are dumb and lack proper motivation. Who is Seth Rollins besides a guy who says he’s “Seth Freakin’ Rollins?” His feud with The Authority made sense and worked, but since then he’s just a guy in wrestling matches. Dean Ambrose is supposed to be some uncontrollable lunatic, but what does he actually do besides bad comedy? Finn Balor being fine teaming with the guy who took the Universal title from him and then failing to secure a match for that same belt that he never lost just makes him look dumb. Reigns is pushed as the top babyface, but even he has become just another guy since WrestleMania. The Hardyz are the easiest faces to connect with and that’s only because they’re a nostalgia act who everyone loved 10+ years ago.

Even the women’s division is lacking in a true #1 babyface. Sasha Banks hasn’t done anything of note since the Charlotte feud and Bayley is the dumbest loser since Eugene. And that might be an insult to Eugene.

If there isn’t a good guy for fans to get behind, fans aren’t going to watch. We just want someone to root for and invest in. WWE gives us very little reason to invest in any true babyface.

More Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman: I’m fine with Brock being the Universal champion and not appearing on every show. But he has to appear more, just to remind fans that he’s the champion and the belt is important. Do pre-tape segments and interviews if you have to. But if there’s no belt in front of the audience, we begin to think that none of what we watch matters. And if you’re not going to do more with Brock, do more with Heyman.

While Heyman has cut seemingly the same promo over and over again as Brock stands in the ring and bounces, he’s still better than 99 percent of the roster on the mic. He’s not only good at getting Brock over, he’s good at getting the opponent over. Why wasn’t Heyman on the Raw before Extreme Rules, talking up all of the potential challengers? Why wasn’t there a video package of Brock discussing the five men vying for a title shot? You can keep Brock off TV and still center the show around him more than, “these guys will fight to face Brock.”

Figure Out Bray Wyatt: For some, Bray is past the point of no return. He’s not just damaged goods, he’s been thrown in the wood chipper. However, he still gets a decent enough reaction and plenty of people still believe he’s a good promo, despite never saying anything of substance. If WWE still has some type of hope that Bray is the next Undertaker and that he can be a longterm supernatural star, they have to right the ship, and do it quickly.

First off, give him some followers. A leader with no followers is just a lonely man who looks crazy as he preaches to no one. Sanity are spinning their wheels in NXT, bring them up and give Bray some people to play off of.

Second, and most importantly, have him accomplish one of his goals. I don’t actually know what his goals are, but I do know that he loses every important match he’s in. Come to think of it, it’s no wonder he doesn’t have any followers. Who would want to follow a guy that constantly fails?

Finally, just commit. Commit to the character and the wackiness it entails. WWE’s failure to go full on campy or full on creepy with Bray has been a major problem. Instead, everything just comes off dumb. Commit to the character or don’t bother.

Switch The Belts on TV: I’m not saying do a title change every week and then immediately switch it back on PPV like the Women’s title, but a title change on TV every once in a while makes the show feel important. Chris Jericho won the United States title on Raw in a 2-on-1 handicap match in January. The belt meant nothing at that point because it was on Roman Reigns, who didn’t care about it. That’s been the only male title switch on TV for Raw since the brand split. Meanwhile, Smackdown has seen two Intercontinental title changes and two Tag Team title changes on television.

The Universal title was decided on an episode of Raw, but those were special circumstances. Ironically, that episode was the highest rated episode of Raw post-brand split up until this years post-Rumble show. Pretty surprising that people would want to tune in with the guarantee of a new champion being crowned.

Switching the title on television gives the show a sense of importance. In the Network Era where PPVs buys are non-existent, WWE can afford to give away more on television as fans don’t feel as cheated as we did when we paid $40 for a one-night event.

Got your own ideas? Let me know on twitter @jeremylambert88