Circling The Wagons

Has WWE given up on trying to attract new fans? The Brand Extension Sequel seems more like an attempt to boost Smackdown’s ratings by keeping the 1 million or so Raw viewers who aren’t currently watching the taped Thursday night show. Certainly Raw isn’t going to grow with half the roster.


And while it may make financial sense to do the live shows on back-to-back nights, five hours over two nights (and eight in three on PPV weeks) is a lot to ask of your diminishing audience, let alone trying to attract a new one.

Is this USA calling the shots to shore up their flagging ratings? WWE trying to prove itself as a valuable live-TV commodity for the next TV contract? Stockholders determined to squeeze every last drop out of the current (and aging) fan base?

​100% USA. Vince would much happier doing two hours of RAW and dropping Smackdown completely, I feel like. Smackdown moving to USA was completely the network’s decision and going live was also their decision. And yeah, they’re gonna burn out their fanbase even faster. ​