WWE’s Monday night RAW is the longest periodic show in the history of television. USA has been the home of RAW for years and now network executives are starting to see the competition catch up as TNT’s AEW Dynamite is closing in on RAW’s viewership.
AEW Dynamite’s December 9th episode already beat RAW in overall 18-49 key demographic ratings and now WWE officials are starting to discuss ways to bring up RAW’s ratings to prevent their competition from gaining even more ground in the industry.
Currently RAW is averaging just around 1.7 million viewers per episode and last week’s RAW episode drew a staggering 1.527 million viewers which was the lowest ratings RAW has ever got in the history of the show and was a hot topic among key WWE officials and board members.
The general census feeling is that before when WWE ratings would bomb that they would eventually increase during the hyped up WrestleMania and SummerSlam seasons but now with AEW in the market and growing at rapid pace, WWE officials are concerned that Dynamite will overtake RAW in overall ratings and that is bad for business.
If RAW is no longer the most watched weekly program and Dynamite overtakes that spot then WWE will have challenges when it comes time to re-negotiate the big money television deals with the USA network which make up for a great amount of WWE’s overall wealth.
WWE has been discussing ways to improve RAW programming and as we head into Royal Rumble season we will see some of those improvements.
Vince McMahon has personally reached out to certain legends and past WWE stars on possible returns to help bolster the RAW brand and upcoming returns should give WWE the boost it needs.
Will AEW Dynamite be able to overtake RAW in ratings in 2021 ? that is up to the audience and the storytelling, but if December is any indication AEW definitely has a shot. Stay tuned to SW for the latest updates.