Donald Trump was brought into Raw to win a ratings war. It cost the WWE a great deal of money, giving up commercials and refunding the show, but his Raw became the highest rated show the WWE has had in years. The question becomes, why was the show so highly rated?
Many wrestling enthusiasts are claiming the ratings draw was partially due to giving away the Wrestlemania Main Event for free. That’s surely how Triple H and Randy Orton will attempt to spin it. Of course, this ignores the numerous other Wrestlemania Main Events given away that didn’t draw this rating. No, it wasn’t the wrestlers who drew this.
The other two main theories. The first is that fans hate commercials, so they tuned in for a short while and never got to change the channel during commercials, so they never left. This certainly has a point, but the show was actively slow without commercials, with plenty of dragging spots for people to channel surf. No commercials helped draw an audience, but didn’t result in the huge audience alone.
The last major theory that has credence is that Trump owning Raw raised the curiosity factor through the roof and casual fans began tuning in again. That they tuned in in record numbers for this, but not Raw’s previous huge angle at Wrestlemania or the best boxer in the world, Floyd Mayweather appearing to face the gigantic Big Show makes the curiosity factor not likely the cause either.
One last cause remains, though its one few pundits have mentioned. That is simply that Trump owning Raw was the promise of something different. There are many wrestling fans out there, tired of the same old stuff over and over. Trump owning Raw was the promise of a new era with new chances being taken. That was likely the cause of the huge ratings jump and the reason ratings go up a bit usually for new champions. Wrestling fans are treated to the same type of angles, format and top guys for year. Trump owning Raw promised a change to that and so was given a chance by fans.
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