Is Raw Dying?

Raw, WWE's flagship show, the longest weekly episodic program in the history of television, a 25 year old phenomenon that has gone from ballrooms to the biggest arenas around the world and has played host to thousands of spectacular matches, may very well be dying.

According to Cageside Seats Raw only managed to draw an average of 2.35 million viewers this past week, it's lowest audience in history.  Smackdown is generating around 2.2 million viewers a week making WWE's 'Premier Show' not so flagship and more sinking ship, something which comes as no surprise to any one us, you only have to look at the product and the roster to understand why.  Before we take a look at the current mishaps, let's just take a glance back at viewership of years gone by.  19 years ago in 1999, in the heart of the Attitude Era and the shows most popular time, Raw was pulling in about 5.5 million viewers, 10 years ago we it was watched by 3.5 million and only 5 years ago was still at the same figure as 2008.  This means that Raw, whilst Smackdown has been increasing viewership, has been gradually declining since Steve Austin was Stunnering Mr McMahon....not a good sign at all. 

In the modern day the Raw roster really does lack an edge and all seems to wooden to be a genuinely entertaining product.  With the likes of Ronda Rousey and Roman Reigns holding the top level gold, and Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar filling out the main event scene, the Monday Night mainstay has become a wood fest, with repetitive in-ring action and a lack of 'character' being the prominence behind the shows demise.  If you take a look at Smackdown you get the sense of edginess, a product that is evolving to suit the talents it has at the writer's disposal.  Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy are killing the mid-card, Andrade Almas is obviously the next big star, and AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Becky Lynch are are the top of their respective games.  Whilst the Blue show is pulling out all the stops, Raw is giving us the B-Team, who lack any real charisma, Jinder Mahal, and stale storylines that do not have the 'it factor', so much so that fans have often left Raw tapings and previously exclusive PPVs early in order to be put out of their misery.

The problem has escalated to the point where even appearances from The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels can't salvage decent viewership figures.  In order to fix this situation WWE are going to have to drop Raw to three hours to ensure that the segments and matches are meaningful and not on TV for the sake of it of filling some time.  Both Smackdown and NXT are exiting, and at time, tantalizing, where as Raw is disappointing.  I really want WWE to fix this problem but the injection of Rey Mysterio and the draft of Jeff Hardy or Andrade Almas may be what's needed to resolve the stagnating Monday Night show.

What's your opinion, is Raw dying or is this just the new styles? and what needs to happen in the future?  Thanks folks, see you all soon!