Today’s Top Story breaks down the WWE Raw ratings reports from the various wrestling news websites, looking at how each characterized the numbers, and analyzed the viewership patterns. We have charts and graphs and all sorts of great stuff to help properly frame the numbers, too. So, for those of you who’ve been missing the News vs Plugs reports and graphs…
Speaking of which, News vs Plugs will probably be making a return to the site as its own column, and not just as part of the news updates. We’ll also put a few new twists on it, too.
In case you missed it, we have a story on the site today looking at the inaccurate reports from last week (started by PWInsider’s Mike Johnson) that Dolph Ziggler had signed a new multi-year deal with WWE. We break down the various coverage of the story, including where Johnson may have gone wrong.
Tuesday News Update
** Awesome column by Will Pruett over at ProWrestling.net looking at Cesaro’s “Many Breakout Moments” among other topics.
** Jason Powell from ProWrestling.net has this week’s Raw Hit List (and Misses) here.
** For the second time in as many weeks, Wade Keller on his VIP Hotline, called into question Vince McMahon’s motives when it comes to Rusev/Lana in WWE, and whether the company (and McMahon specifically) is purposely manipulating things in an effort to break the two up because of that thing where a star diva the company has big plans for should not be tied down to a mid-carder.
** James Caldwell from PWTorch analyzes Raw ratings for the past first half of the year, and then the last 9 years here.
** It’s a lot of numbers, and he’s no Chris Harrington so… be warned.
** F4Wonline reported today that Nattie Neidhart will actually be heading home to spend more time with the recuperating Tyson Kidd. Yesterday they had reported that she was back for tapings, but that wasn’t the case. She was in for a Be A Star rally.
** Hector Guerrero, brother of the late Eddy Guerrero, uncle to Chavo Guerrero Jr. (aka Kerwin White) and also the Gobbledy Gooker, was the guest on Wrestling Observer Live today, and on the member’s only Figure Four Daily show.
** The guest appearing on the show couldn’t have come at a better time, after some members had started getting restless about the slight decline in content over the past couple of weeks.
** It’s been noted that, following Todd Martin’s departure and subsequent signing with PWTorch, there was a big increase in the number of shows with long form interviews on the site, but that has since slowly declined. Members are also calling for a more long term replacement for the apparently retired Steve Dr. Lucha Sims, who no longer appears regularly on the Figure Four Daily podcast.
** Dave Meltzer earlier Tuesday put up a report of two completely disparate stories under one headline: Wrestling News: Young Bucks to face Rey Mysterio for the first time, Jeff Jarrett to speak on GFW, TNA relationship
** Okay, it was a nice try but… would it have been THAT hard to put them in two different articles on the site? Or hand the stories off to Tuesday daily news writer David Bixenspan?
** PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reports that internally, WWE is unhappy with Raw’s viewership numbers from last night. He also wrote:
** Our pal Billy Krotchsen sent word that the audience number is actually the lowest since the late 1990s for a non-holiday Raw.
** Billy must be an F4Wonline reader.
** Also, the 11 year old in me finds the notion that Johnson has a pal named Krotchsen funny.
** PWInsider also reported that CM Punk will be writing an ongoing series about Drax the Destroyer (the character Dave Batista played in Guardians of the Galaxy)
** Young Bucks will be facing off with Alberto el Patron and Rey Mysterio Jr. on August 1st in Fishkill, NY according to this article on PWInsider which didn’t mention anything about Jeff Jarrett talking about working with TNA.
** In its own, separately posted story, unrelated to the Young Bucks match, according to a tweet covered by PWInsider’s Dave Scherer, Jeff Jarrett will be sitting down with Mike Tenay to discuss working with TNA and Destination America.
If you haven’t already, check out the latest episode of our podcast Talking Sheet where myself and Hugh Little break down the week in wrestling news coverage, and then look back at a Wrestling Observer Newsletter from the past. We’re currently on March of 1987.
