Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.526 million viewers with a 0.41 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This was a record low audience for Monday Night Raw.

Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Monday night, which was the final episode before Sunday’s WWE TLC pay-per-view:

• The first hour hour did 1.627 million viewers and a 0.44 rating (A18-49).
• The second hour did 1.512 million viewers and a 0.41 rating.
• The final hour of the show had just 1.441 million viewers and an abysmal 0.38 rating.

Monday Night Raw Ratings Fallout

This week’s raw record low is not a statistical anomaly. WWE Raw viewership has been steadily declining all year. During the first quarter of 2020, viewership was consistently above 2 million viewers. The Covid-19 pandemic caused a negative affect to WWE programming. The lack of crowds makes for a worse atmosphere. However, ratings went off a cliff after WrestleMania.

The last time WWE Raw viewership was above 2 million was around SummerSlam in August. This chart by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics paints the grim picture:

For the first time ever, AEW Dynamite defeated all three hours of WWE Raw in the Adults 18-49 demo. AEW Dynamite last week did a 0.45 rating. This was higher than all three hours of WWE Raw this week.

Last week, WWE Raw had 1.736 million viewers and a 0.52 rating in the 18-49 demo. Just one year ago, the show 2.150 million.

Raw had some tough competition this week. The NFL on ESPN game between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens topped 12.422 million viewers. However, NFL competition is nothing new. It does not explain the overall trend.

Vince McMahon and company have tried many ‘quick fixes’ to turn the low ratings around. Unfortunately, it will take more than a new gimmick like Raw Underground or a wildcard rule to turn things around for WWE.

Bully Ray’s Take On Raw Viewership

Former WWE Superstar Bully Ray commented on this week’s Raw viewership on the Busted Open show on SiriusXM. He said the time for making excuses is over. “You can talk to me until you’re blue in the face about how people watch TV differently or it’s a different time, blah, blah, blah.”

Bully Ray thinks that WWE needs to get back to basics. “If you build your roster and people are over, [fans are] going to tune in. I don’t care what you have to do to get eyes on your product. If you have something that the people want to see? They’re gonna tune in, no matter what.”

Conclusion

WWE is making more money than ever thanks to lucrative television deals. If WWE does not address the foundational cracks at the root of declining viewership, the company’s biggest cash cow is in jeopardy.

Tommy “Tiny” Lister, better known to wrestling fans as Zeus, passed away last Thursday in Marina Del Ray, California at the age of 62. New details have become available regarding his cause of death.

According to Zeus’ manager, Cindy Cowan, he had been experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 in the days leading up to his death. Cowan told CNN that Lister’s symptoms “got really bad, really quick” and she added that he “couldn’t breathe and felt very weak.”

“It literally went so fast,” Cowan added.

Lister was supposed to be on-set filming in the days leading up to his death but he cancelled due to his illness. It is not clear if he ever did test positive for COVID-19, however.

“Tiny doesn’t miss movies; he took it very seriously,” Cowan added.

“Mr. Lister’s death appears to be of natural causes but will ultimately be determined by the Office of Medical Examiner-Coroner,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

Zeus officially wrestled in 5 matches during his brief in-ring career. His WWF matches took place at SummerSlam 89, Survivor Series 89, and then WWF No Holds Barred – The Match/The Movie that December.

Zeus also wrestled one match against Abdullah the Butcher in Puerto Rico the following July. He’d return to wrestling for one match in 1996. He wrestled as part of Kevin Sullivan’s “Alliance to end Hulkamania” at WCW Uncensored 96 in the Doomsday cage match against Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.

WWE has posted a new job listing as they are looking to hire a new talent brand manager. 

The company launched a new talent management group function. Thus, they want a Manager and Director-level professionals to join them by working at WWE headquarters in Stamford or at their office in Los Angeles. 

WWE noted this person will look over digital and social media marketing to collaborating with internal and external parties to drive new opportunities for top TV and social media personalities.

This comes after they posted a job alert for a GFX Motion Designer, to help “create motion graphics, animation, and content optimized for Twitch.” This was all part of their Twitch expansion. Here’s the ad: 

WWE Talent Management Group will deliver outstanding 360-degree support to our Talent across all lines of business and external partners, amplifying Talent brand value by improving monetization outlets for Talent and WWE.

The Talent Brand Manager (based in NY or LA) will have the opportunity to handle and grow the brands of leading television/social media personalities within the WWE. This person will be a self-motivated, positive, and interpersonal branding professional who has directly led multiple projects for celebrity brand campaigns across any industry.

Responsibilities:

• Work and collaborate across multiple business units to develop and execute growth strategies for our talent.
• Drive opportunities for talent brands internally and externally.
• Align talent goals and personal interests to WWE critical initiatives.
• Develop and maintain talent marketing materials.
• Collaborate with talent third parties to solicit and assess new opportunities.
• Assist in benchmarking economics for talent engagements while providing market intelligence and standard methodologies for holistic brand development.
• Able to travel for business as needed (approximately 20-25%) and work a flexible schedule as needed

Qualifications:

• 5+ years’ experience in entertainment, brand management, social and media relations or similar field.
• Bachelor’s degree in Media, Communications, Marketing, or related field.
• Strong understanding of social and digital ecosystems as they relate to brand value and engagement.
• Experience in client services across a variety of brand management functions.
• Outstanding project management and time management skillsets, with the ability to lead multiple projects in a fast-paced environment
• Understanding of WWE’s audience (demographic and psychographic) a plus.

Kevin Owens first worked with Goldberg in 2017 at the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view event. 

Owens defended the WWE Universal Title against the legendary pro wrestler. The match lasted only seconds as a distraction thanks to Chris Jericho, who was feuding with Owens at the time, led to Goldberg not only beating Owens but winning the Universal Title. 

Owens did an interview with Metro UK and was asked about a possible rematch with Goldberg. 

“I’d love to work with him again if he was here to work. I’m not saying this is his fault, but he’s not – his career has never been about long matches or anything like that. ‘To me, I don’t see much positive out of wrestling him for two minutes, or 20 seconds or 30 seconds or whatever, you know what I mean? I’d love to work with him again if you got to do a story beyond – all we did was, what, two weeks, maybe three weeks?”

He continued by noting that if they did some cool promos where they would exchange words then have a quality match then he thinks that would be great. 

“But that’s just not usually what he’s here for.”

Owens noted that Goldberg’s style of work does get over and he’s not against it, but not something that he’s interested in doing. He brought up that even while as a kid, he didn’t like it because that’s not what he’s looking for in wrestling. 

Paul Heyman & Kevin Owens Have Intense Segment On Talking Smack (Video)