[murder]

Just three weeks ago, Raw got 6 million viewers. Granted, it was Raw 1000 but no 6 million people would watch if the current direction (Punk as champ) was bad. And he was in the two longest and most successful segments of the evening.

The reason why ratings have gone down again since that is because of bad booking and writing. If every Raw was as hyped and as well booked and written as Raw 1000, it would constantly be around 6 million viewers with Punk as champ.

[Warrior]

I feel there is no buzz for the WWE title picture and people just don't care. I mean there hasn't been any real developments going into Summerslam for the WWE title picture and it feels like the pay-off to this Cena vs Punk feud will be perhaps at Night of Chamions or Survivor Series. A match with CM Punk and Big Show doing the lowest quarter in a while isn't good per say, but like I said there is no buzz for the WWE title scene.

[Kid Kablam]

Did it ever occur to anyone that part of the reason the show started out so poorly is that this 3 hour thing is kind of a mistake in its current form?

It's not what people are used to, it hasn't been used for anything other than the usual opening interviews (except for this week), it's full of the wrestling equivalent of pop up ads, and the WWE hasn't exactly been doing a great job of getting people excited for the longer shows. Add in the fact that they re cap everything ad nauseum, and there really is no reason to watch the first hour.

[ChickMagnet12]

Originally Posted by Falkono

Dude your the one living in fantasy land...

Go back a year and a half and your see Punk HAS been the main focus in many of the storylines and ppvs. Just look at this time last year. To try and imply we ruined it is stupid. Fuck even a few weeks ago on the biggest WWE show for almost a decade (1000th episode) it was all about Punk. He was on air longer then anyone and in the end took out two of the biggest stars in wwe history is Rock and Cena. After that he has opened and closed raw almost every week... what else could they do for him?
Wwe have given Punk one of the best years in recent memory and after everything he still can't get people to tune in.

While you talk about Punk haters I think your wrong. People don't hate Punk they are just tired of his reign. One which has gone on for nearly a year and has overall not been that memorable.
Some people seem to want to believe Punk is this great wrestler who is popular. That Wwe are to blame for him not being a megastar. Which is total bollocks. Punk just isn't good enough and seems people such as yourself would prefer to look for any excuse going to defend him. JTG just got a biggest rating then Punk. If that doesn't open your eyes then nothing will.

WWE have gave Punk a great year? Sure hes been the champ, but hes played 2nd or even 3rd (wrestlemania) fiddle in terms of storylines. Even when he won the title at Survivor Series, the Cena/Rock tag team match was billed as more important.

It was only around October last year (after Punk had came to prominence) that the haters started growing for Punk in droves. It always happens when a IWC underdog gets his time around the main event, hes turned on (Ryder earlier this year and now Bryan). People start looking for excuses to bash him.

Sure, it wasn't a great rating. But the first hour of the 3 hour Raws are always low, and this Raw in particular was lower than average due to MNF. Lets not forget that Cena and Bryan were in the first segment (only a fool couldn't guess that Cena was going to get involved somehow in the match, does this mean Cena can't draw?).

You think it was JTG who drew 63k? Under that logic (Ryback and JTG both drawing), Big Show, D Bry and Cena can't draw either.

Still the championship is playing 2nd fiddle to HHH-Lesnar. There's where the problem lies.

[Starbuck]

Mega ouch at that opener. Wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't advertised although it has to be said that it wasn't advertised on TV but only online and over twitter etc, right? Even still, that's not good. The tag match later on in the evening which by all accounts, was a pretty fun match, didn't do too well either and didn't even get over a 3.0. The build for the title has been pedestrian at best so I'm not surprised, even with Cena in there. I think the highest rated segment during the build for this match was Cena/Show if I'm not mistaken. It seems like an anomaly when you look at it lol but whatever. My interest in the match couldn't be any lower than it is and it's no surprise to me that others feel the same.

I guess we can say that the average gain for 9PM is 500,000 based on the last few weeks. In that regard Piper's Pit was on the dot. Can't complain there given who was in the segment. The Divas drawing is a surprise but kudos to them I guess. Outside of that and the first hour, everything else lost viewers. Looking at DMN's breakdown they had 5 quarters under 4 million and that is the real thing to worry about, if anything, 3 of which involved the WWE title picture.

Combined, the Brock/HHH stuff gained over 1.2 million viewers and was the highest rated stuff on the show. The contract signing happened at a very unusual time slot but it still pulled in over 400k which is very good. The car accident bit lost viewers but iirc that quarter was full of commercials and in general, the placement of segments during the last half hour was all over the place. The end did a very nice number. Big gain of over 800k and right on the money at 5 million viewers. That's about the only positive thing to be taken from this breakdown lol. 5 million is the magic number and 5 million people watched the hard sell for Summerslam at the end so they can take solace in that I suppose.

[JY57]

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/wwe/8_13_

RAW_Breakdown_CM_Punk_vs_Big_Show_Opener_Lesnar_s_Attack_on_Michaels_and_More.html

8/13 RAW Breakdown: CM Punk vs. Big Show Opener, Lesnar's Attack on Michaels and More
By Marc Middleton
Aug 16, 2012 - 7:47:20 AM

- As noted before, the August 13th WWE RAW did a 2.85 cable rating with 4.14 million viewers - not good numbers for the SummerSlam go-home RAW.

In the segment breakdown, CM Punk vs. Big Show opened with a 2.60 quarter rating - the lowest quarter for RAW in months. JTG vs. Ryback gained 63,000 viewers while Heath Slater vs. R-Truth gained 186,000 more. Tensai vs. Sin Cara lost 105,000 viewers.

Piper's Pit with Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho, The Miz and Roddy Piper at 9pm gained 516,000 viewers. Jericho vs. Ziggler vs. Miz lost 96,000 viewers. Backstage segments with Shawn Michaels, John Cena and CM Punk lost 374,000 viewers while the Divas match with Eve Torres and Beth Phoenix vs. Layla and Kaitlyn gained 45,000 viewers.

John Cena and CM Punk vs. Big Show and Daniel Bryan gained 247,000 viewers for a 2.94 quarter rating at 10pm - not a good increase for that timeslot, even with Cena featured. Christian vs. Damien Sandow lost 121,000 viewers. The contract signing angle with Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Paul Heyman and Shawn Michaels gained 431,000 viewers. The angle in the parking lot where the camera went out lost 394,000 viewers and the in-ring angle where Lesnar broke Shawn's arm gained 817,000 viewers for a 3.44 overrun.

[DFUSCMAN]

LET.THE.MARK.WARS.COMMENCE.

[-Skullbone-]

Originally Posted by ChickMagnet12

WWE have gave Punk a great year? Sure hes been the champ, but hes played 2nd or even 3rd (wrestlemania) fiddle in terms of storylines. Even when he won the title at Survivor Series, the Cena/Rock tag team match was billed as more important.

It was only around October last year (after Punk had came to prominence) that the haters started growing for Punk in droves. It always happens when a IWC underdog gets his time around the main event, hes turned on (Ryder earlier this year and now Bryan). People start looking for excuses to bash him.

While I certainly agree that WWE have not made their main title and Punk (as well as when put together) the hot commodities they should've, that number is worrisome (especially with Show in there). Even if I'm of the belief that Cena is one key reason why little else matters in most fans minds the overall reception to Punk and this long reign is spotty when put under the spotlight. We'll see if he can attract some more interest when some further tweaks are added into his character though.

I've also got to add this: the guy brings all this smart fan hatred and disdain on himself for being a knucklehead. Being the real-life dweeb that he gives the impression he is I can't say he doesn't deserve having the boots laid into him even if those people don't matter in the great scheme of things (him replying to them at times is quite funny).

[BrosOfDestruction]

LITTLE JIMMY = DRAW.

[Gamblor]

Punk the past couple of weeks has done okay in the opening slot. What's the difference this week? This week he was in a match (last week he was in a match after Q1 if I recall). But even then, the angle has been turned to shit, and it's proof in the fact all three men in the triple threat plus Daniel Bryan couldn't pull in at least a 3.0. The whole compelling thing about Punk/Cena in the first place was Punk's heel turn. However once again he's been put in the backseat of the feud and they added Big Show into the mix. That being said it's not good at all this Raw opened the lowest in months, but WWE gets what they give. They give shit, they get a shit amount of viewers. I don't know about everyone else, but I certainly didn't care to see Punk/Show.

As far as Punk/Show getting promoted, I remember hearing about it maybe once in the last week. They got about as much promotion as HHH/Lesnar did last week.

As far as Lesnar/HHH/HBK/Heyman goes, no matter how shit the angle is, with that starpower it's going to draw big when advertised. As expected, it did. Even in a random quarter hour it does well, and then the overrun gains 800,000+ viewers, second only to the Cena/Show with Punk on commentary from a couple of weeks ago since moving to three hours.

But yeah, not good for the go home show, but as someone else pointed out last year's go-home show did pretty poorly as well for Summerslam. Next week will be interesting. I'm fully expecting Cena to become WWE Champion at Summerslam, and if so it will be very interesting if that brings in viewers. We also have the fallout of Lesnar/HHH, which hopefully will be more than just a video package, but if the two destroy eachother that's all we'll get.