[dxbender]

http://www.gerweck.net/tv-ratings/2002-ratings/

With the other topic mentioning that it's been 10 years since they changed their name, something I really want to know...why did so many people suddenly stop watching Raw the second they changed from WWF to WWE? It was still the exact same product/roster in May 2002 as it was in April 2002(brand extension started April 1st)

Average rating in 2002 for WWF Raw was around 4.5. Average rating in 2002 for WWE Raw was about 3.7

That's about .8 rating. So over a million people consistently tuned out of Raw just because of a name change?

 

[Headliner]

It has more to do with Austin leaving, and the brand split.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

People are stupid.

 

[dxbender]

It has more to do with Austin leaving, and the brand split.

But like I said, brand split started April 1st. And april rating was still so high. The first episode of WWE Raw ended up dropping ALOT.

 

[Rocky Mark]

wrestling was getting less interesting by the time , the late 90's/early 00's wrestling boom ended and it was declining ever since

 

[Bossdude]

Hulk Hogan as champion - he cant draw, brother!

 

[dxbender]

wrestling was getting less interesting by the time , the late 90's/early 00's wrestling boom ended and it was declining ever since

The rating from 2003-2006 were fairly consistent. The topic isn't so much talking about the annual "decline", it's more about how so many people tuned out the second that the name changed from WWF to WWE.

 

[rizzotherat]

People are stupid.

Yes the product was so great, right?

 

[dxbender]

Yes the product was so great, right?

People were complaining about the product,even during the attitude era(there's archived proof to this statement)

 

[Headliner]

But like I said, brand split started April 1st. And april rating was still so high. The first episode of WWE Raw ended up dropping ALOT.

It has nothing to do with the name. You're talking more than April here. It's more about the long term.

 

[Green Light]

Austin and Rock both leaving

 

[ben_fletch]

They took the marketing campaign literally

 

[JoseDRiveraTCR7]

Headliner is right. If you look at the ratings you provided, the ratings drop was gradual, it didn't happen in one week.

 

[Riddle101]

I reckon it was a number of things that did it. The two biggest draws of that period The Rock and Austin leaving WWE, The Rock leaving to pursue a movie career, Austin retiring because of his neck. No more competition from WCW because it was bought out, and so there was no exciting Monday Night War anymore to keep the fans excited. The attiude era had ended which was a boom period, and like every other boom period in wrestling there's always that aftermath period where business starts to fall. As well as that WWE just seemed to change, their product was different, their wrestlers were different and there booking was different, a lot of people didn't like that, they were still nostalgic for the past which might explain why WWE gave Hulk Hogan the Undisputed Championship.

 

[kokepepsi]

Why did the 3million people who were sill watching WCW near the end never tuned in to WWF?

I mean seriously were the fans that fucking loyal.

 

[-Halo-]

No Austin, make fans smash.

 

[doinktheclowns]

Trends come and go, WWE is the same.
WWE late 90's early 00's was over inflated and massive at the time with a massive bunch of new wrestling fans, it was a massive craze mainly due to Stone Cold, HHH, The Rock, The Undertaker and many more, but what goes up must come down, and the biggest and most successful period in WWE history almost destroyed itself.

The recovery period took years of time to end and was followed by the era we are in now, the transitional talent period were new talent is being pushed.

Durring the years when WWE struggled and the audiences drop off, WWE put everything into making John Cena a superstar and in hindsight they probably invested too much in him, and thus we are left with the Cena we have today.

This is why it confuses me when people slate the likes of CM Punk, Bryan, Barrett, Sheamus, Ziggler, Rhodes who are finally giving us some alternative options to the usual reign of Cena.

In short WWE was a massive trend in the attitude era and it spreads like wild fire once it goes mainstream.
WWE will probably once more become bigger than it is now, but it needs to occur naturally, there trying to over force it with youtube, twitter facebook etc, but if they are getting new viewers but still pushing Cena they are hardly going to stay interested for long.

 

[DisturbedOne98]

The evolution of the internet and recording devices can do amazing things...

 

[The-Rock-Says]

Viewers started to leave near the end of 01. Austin heel turn was a big cause for it.

No one wanted to see him side with Vince and become a comedy act. Everybody wanted him to stay the same and when he did turn, it put a lot of people off and they never came back. Even when he turned back.

 

[ice_edge]

To give you a simple answer here OP it was because it was time to get the "F" out and put the "E" in if you know what I mean:cool2(in all sense of that word).

But hey nobody wants to hear easy answers so to keep explaining further..no wait people here already done that.

I would include most things people said here but also the power of the internet which saw one massive rise during 2000's.

People are stupid.

That explains everything doesn't it?

The evolution of the internet and recording devices can do amazing things...

You do have something there. With the rise of the net during RA era I would believe massive amounts of time where stolen while people started to watch other sorts of entertainment provided there.

Recording devices sure didn't do ratings any favors either.

LOL can we safely say that internet is killing WWE?