Opinion

Rob: Enough with the Ratings Talk!

A very popular topic with the IWC since AEW airs against NXT and RAW has had historic low viewership. Do you share Rob’s exhaustion?

Published

4 years ago

December 18, 2020

Rob Bonnette

So here we are, back to ratings talk. Why? Because things have gotten extra stupid over the past few weeks. It started off with two excellent weeks for AEW Dynamite where they rolled out Shaquille O’Neal to start hyping a future match, had a World Title match where Kenny Omega defeated Jon Moxley to become champion and revealed his alliance with longtime friend and Impact Wrestling producer Don Callis, and gave us the surprise return of Sting to pro wrestling on TNT where he used to star on WCW Monday Nitro in a truly magical moment. The numbers soared, dwarfing rival NXT on USA and prompting that esteemed journalist Bryan Alvarez to tweet that NXT was ‘in the mud’. Now why someone who does not work for AEW would be tweeting so triumphantly to provoke people is beyond me, but that’s what he does. But he didn’t stop there; he felt the need to share with us that last week’s AEW Dynamite did better ratings demo numbers than Monday Night Raw did this week. Never mind that Raw was up against Monday Night Football and an address by President-Elect Biden while Dynamite was up against…….the usual Wednesday night cable fare that it faces every week. But he was not done, because then this past Monday night happened.

This Tuesday may have been the peak for stupidity in wrestling ratings talk. You see, RAW had it’s ‘worst night ever’ and that launched a thousand bad takes from Alvarez to damn near every clickbait site to random people on Twitter. Alvarez gleefully guessed that Dynamite this week would beat all three hours of RAW since the total viewership number was so low this week. And then………plans changed, I guess. Dynamite fell from 995,000 viewers to 806,000 this week and more importantly dropped hard in the demo numbers, so hard that all three hours of the Worst Ever Raw audience number rated better. So now for this week at least Bryan Alvarez is, in his words, in the mud. And completely by his own doing! But this week should have demonstrated once and for all the sheer stupidity of both Wrestling Twitter and narrative pushing buffoons like Alvarez and his boss Dave Meltzer when it comes to the subject of TV ratings.

There are a few rules that always apply to ratings talk. Here they are:

Most of the people who make hay about them are lying, ignorant, or both
90 percent of the ratings related tweets are people trolling for engagement
What actual TV people say matters, not dirtsheet writers
If you spend a whole day tweeting about ratings you’re a dork
Ratings are not a reflection of quality (see cable news)

Now let’s look at these ‘worst ever’ numbers. For each of it’s three hours RAW did 1.627 million, 1.512 millon, and 1.441 million viewers. The three hours finished 6th, 10th, and 12th in the cable TV ratings for the night. It’s the 1.441 that’s getting all the attention. The Monday night game was a nailbiter that was tied late in the fourth quarter and had a lot of exciting plays. It was the best Monday night game of the season, easily, and it did 12 million viewers. The top 3 shows were the game itself, the pregame show on ESPN, and the Sportscenter that immediately followed. Monday Night countdown, the pre-pregame show, was 9th. As for the rest of the top 12 four shows on CNN either carrying or talking about Biden’s address were there at 5, 7, 8, and 11. The only show in the top 12 that wasn’t about football or Joe Biden was Below Deck on Bravo that finished 4th. By contrast AEW Dynamite finished third on Wednesday night with 806,000 viewers and demo numbers lower than all three hours of RAW.

What does all that mean? Well, half the total viewers and a lower demo number (.32 for Dynamite vs .44, .42, and .38 for the three hours of RAW) was enough to get them third place on Wednesday whereas on Monday those same numbers would have put them in 16th, and that’s if we’re being generous and saying that they wouldn’t lose any viewers to Monday Night Football (it chops a few hundred thousand off of RAW, no reason it wouldn’t do something proportional to Dynamite). The short version is that more people watch cable TV on Monday and there’s more competition for viewers right now, so you don’t have to score as high on Wednesday night to finish higher in the ratings. RAW has been up against the biggest show on all of cable every week, several other shows that feed directly off of it, and the first night of the week for cable news in a year with a pandemic, protest marches galore, and presidential election coverage and still manages to get all three hours in the top 12 every week. Dynamite runs against………..the third WWE offering of the week, some other standard cable fare, and night three of the weekly news coverage. So it finishes third but with a smaller audience and demo numbers against far lesser competition.

So what do we take from all this? The same thing I’ve been telling you to take from it ever since Dynamite went on air, that ratings talk is dumb because every one of these shows from RAW to Dynamite to NXT to Smackdown on Fridays to MLW and Impact Wrestling on their respective channels is doing what their channel needs to do for them. And that’s all that matters. I told you before that TNT didn’t have one show that finished in the top 150 on Wednesday night before Dynamite debuted and that all that they needed was to regularly make that list while not costing the network too much money. I told you that outside of RAW, USA Network had Todd Chrisley and nothing else so as long as NXT charted on Wednesday night at all they’d be safe no matter how they fared against Dynamite. And finally I and many others here at the Chairshot have told you that as long as RAW remains in the top 5 to 10 every week they are in no danger on Mondays. Right now there is no evidence of that changing anytime soon so all this Wednesday Night War talk is a bunch of nonsense ginned up by charlatans and people desperately seeking attention on the internet, as is all the gloom and doom on Monday night talk. It is literally trolling for dollars and traffic.

And now for the last rule on my list. For years the internet wrestling discourse has gone like this in several places:

Dirtsheets/podcasts/YouTube guys rant about how RAW sucks, predict impending doom for WWE
Some people disagree
Ranters point to ratings as proof that they are indeed right, because if it was so good the ratings wouldn’t be going down
Those who disagree try to put things in proper context regarding ratings, and get called WWE stans or bootlickers or enablers
Rinse and repeat

Now look, nobody (and I mean nobody) is saying that all three hours of RAW are perfect every week. It’s a three hour show, it has ups and downs throughout. But proclaiming that it is terrible and then pointing to declining total viewership numbers, as if those aren’t down for everything because people don’t watch TV live like they used to, as proof of your take is a joke. But it speaks to an ongoing issue the IWC displays on an almost daily basis: the need for validation of our fandom. It’s why so many people use the Attitude Era as a reference point. It’s not enough for you to watch a show and like it; no, if wrestling is not a topic for common folk to discuss lovingly then they must be doing it wrong. If it’s not out there at the forefront of pop culture then it’s failing. No, not really. When it had it’s biggest footprint you had four of the biggest mainstream attention getters and money draws ever working at the same time – Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, Hulk Hogan, and Randy Savage. They literally had a guy on every Monday who was so talented a performer that he would go on to become the biggest movie star in the country a decade later. That my friends is what we call an anomaly.

Another thing is that if you go back to whatever period you consider to be the good old days and read what was being said about the WWE (or WWF) then, it’s very similar to what you see being said now. Dave Meltzer has said or implied that Vince McMahon doesn’t know what he’s doing in 1985, and in 2002, in 2020, and all points in between. Seriously you can read some of his reports from 2002 and they sound like they were written in 2020. It’s not uncommon to see people on Twitter pine for the days when things were better in 2016, which is really rich when it’s still fresh in our mind how much people were trashing it then. Regardless of how good bad the shows really are these guys write and say the same things year in and year out, whether it was the middle of the boom period or the dark times in 2007 after Chris Benoit’s murder/suicide came really close to taking he business down. The business would so much bigger if Vince didn’t have his head up his ass……pick a year and Dave or one of his contemporaries is saying something like that. Is that really true though? Is a clueless man the most successful in the business, or is it just that these gus don’t like what he does?

The reality is more like what we have now. Everyone knows pro wrestling exists but most people don’t watch it and can’t name but maybe a few people who are active today. But the major companies can still find avenues to make good money regardless. WWE is posting higher revenues and profits now than ever. AEW is on prime time every week on TNT. Impact’s owners, Anthem, bought a whole TV network (AXS TV) so they had somewhere to broadcast them. MLW has re-upped and is looking to expand on the BeIn network. The indie scene was doing well before COVID hit. So as fans we have little to worry about for the time being, and absolutely nothing to prove. Ratings in every case are good enough to keep every company on TV, and they all know how to scale their operations to be profitable. So what are we fighting for? Do you really need people to co-sign what you watch to feel good about it? If you do, get some help and learn to accept that you’re a wrestling fan which means you’re a bit of a weirdo by society’s standards. Deny it all you want but if you got this far then you’ve read over a thousand words about TV ratings numbers for shows about fake fighting. So yeah, you’re a bit out there just like the guy who wrote it. But who cares! Be who you are and enjoy this stuff for once, will ya?

About Chairshot Radio Network

Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!

MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)

THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)

FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!

All Shows On Demand

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

Up Next

Cook’s WWE TLC 2020 Gambling Picks

Don't Miss

Cook: Can’t Blame Divers For Diving

Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: Money In The Bank

Extra, extra read all about it… Chairshot Staff picks are in!!!

Published

1 week ago

June 6, 2025

PC Tunney

Sing it with me… money money money money moneeeeeeeeeyeeeeee… everybody’s got a price! MONEY IN THE BANK is here!!! How money will our staff picks be?!?

AJ – Roxanne Perez
Andrew – Stephanie Vaquer – *Bubba Sparxxx Impression* I don’t tell stories, I let them tell theyself.
Dave – Guilia – A stacked field but I just like her here.
DJ – Naomi
DPP – Roxanne Perez
Jason – Alexa Bliss
Patrick – Roxanne Perez
Rey – Naomi – If Naomi loses, we riot!
Rob – Naomi
Greg – Alexa Bliss – Bliss has had huge reactions since returning and is moving a ton of merch. While I can see them wanting to build Roxanne Perez, Giulia, or Stephanie Vaquer, I think Alexa Bliss.

Tunney’s Take: Rhea Ripley – I’ll make my case short and sweet… Mami in the Bank! You can’t leave that money on the table.

Chairshot Pick – Tie – Naomi 3 & Roxanne Perez 3 (Alexa Bliss 2, Giulia 1, Rhea Ripley 1, Stephanie Vaquer 1)

AJ – LA Knight
Andrew – El Grande Americano – Feels correct given his push and the fact he’s over.
Dave – Seth Rollins – Got to push that new faction.
DJ – LA Knight
DPP – El Grande Americano
Jason – LA Knight
Patrick – Solo Sikoa
Rey – LA Knight – Looks like another push, and he does have history with Cena.
Rob – Solo Sikoa
Greg – Seth Rollins – This company is extremely high in the El Grande Americano gimmick, but this match comes down to Seth Rollins or LA Knight. Given the Rollins storyline, it’s his briefcase to win.

Tunney’s Take: El Grande Americano – Picture this: Chad Gable wins the AAA Mega Championship and El Grande Americano wins MITB! WHAT A SATURDAY in LA!!!

Chairshot Pick – LA Knight 4 (El Grande Americano 3, Seth Rollins 2, Solo Sikoa 2)

AJ – Becky Lynch – Sadly
Andrew – Becky Lynch – I still don’t care about Lyra.
Dave – Lyra Valkyria – Starting to warm up to her and Becky has a lot to do with that.
DJ – Lyra Valkyria
DPP – Becky Lynch
Jason – Becky Lynch
Patrick – Lyra Valkyria
Rey – Becky Lynch – Put some fire on the Irish Beef.
Rob – Becky Lynch
Greg – Becky Lynch – I don’t think you do a rematch here just to have Becky lose again. Unless Bayley shows up to help Lyra.

Tunney’s Take: Becky Lynch – A big part of me feels that winning this title checks off a major box for Becks in her HOF career.

Chairshot Pick – Becky Lynch 8-3

AJ – Cena & Paul
Andrew – Rhodes & Uso – Easy way for Cena to lose without eating the pinfall.
Dave – Rhodes & Uso – Get the QB back on the winning track.
DJ – Rhodes & Uso
DPP – Rhodes & Uso
Jason – Cena & Paul
Patrick – Cena & Paul
Rey – Rhodes & Uso – Heels usually lose these kinds of matches. Logan takes the pin.
Rob – Cena & Paul
Greg – Rhodes & Uso – I hope Jey isn’t an afterthought here like Cody was last fall when he was paired up with Roman. I think Cody pins Cena to set up Cody-Cena 2 at SummerSlam.

Tunney’s Take: Cena & Paul – I don’t think Cena is involved in another loss until he loses the WWE Championship. I also think Logan Paul is NOT done trying to capture Jey Uso’s World Heavyweight Championship. …Travis Scott in the house?

Chairshot Pick – 6-5 Rhodes & Uso

In closing I want to thank everyone on the panel for participating with their picks! You can follow each prognosticator/podcaster on X @ the handles below. We all enjoy Pro Wrestling so remember three things… be respectful of others, comparison is the thief of joy and HAVE FUN!

AJ – @PhenomenalAJB
Andrew – @IWCWarChief
Dave – @AttitudeAgg
DJ – @TheMindlessPod
DPP – @itsmeDPP
Jason – @JediFett
Patrick – @WrestlngRealist
Rey – @itsreycash
Rob – @rbonne1
Greg – @gregdemarco44
PC – @PCTunney
TheChairshot.com – @ChairshotMedia

prowrestlingtees.com/TheChairshot – a PLETHORA of GREAT designs…MAKES A GREAT GIFT!

About Chairshot Radio Network

MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY – 4 Corners Podcast (sports)

WEDNESDAY – The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)

THURSDAY – POD is WAR (Los Tres Friends)

FRIDAY – DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY – The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY – Keeping the news ridiculous… The Oddity / The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

Chairshot Radio Network
Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts… Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!

All Shows On Demand

Listen on your favorite platform!

iTunes | iHeart Radio | Google Play | Spotify
Listen, like, subscribe, and share!

About Chairshot Radio Network

MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)

THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)

FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!

All Shows On Demand

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

Opinion

Chairshot Staff Picks: Backlash St. Louis

Chairshot Staff picks!!!

Published

1 month ago

May 9, 2025

PC Tunney

May is upon us and with that, so is Backlash from St. Louis! What does the first PLE after WrestleMania have in store for the WWE Universe? Let’s see if the Chairshot Staff can properly interpret the crystal ball of rasslin’ future.

AJ – Pat MacAfee – Gunther has to start losing control and who better than an announcer.
Andrew – Pat MacAfee – Goldberg getting involved does seem correct here.
Dave – Gunther – He’s not losing to a broadcaster.
DJ – Gunther – Pat is sent to the shadow realm until football season is over.
DPP – Gunther – Post match beat down leads to Pat time off.
Jason – Gunther – One massive spot and or bump from Pat.
Patrick – Gunther
Rey – Gunther – RIP MacAfee, t’was a good life.
Rob – Gunther
Greg – Pat MacAfee – Why? Goooooldbeeerrrrrgggggg!

Tunney’s Take: Gunther – Seems like the right pick here. Pat may be getting some time off and Gunther needs more heat.

Chairshot Pick – GUNTHER 8-3

AJ – Lyra Valkyria – Becky’s hopefully putting her over, still mad about Dakota.
Andrew – Becky Lynch – I have no real interest in Lyra currently.
Dave – Becky Lynch – Lyra is boring AF!
DJ – Lyra Valkyria – Bayley interferes.
DPP – Becky Lynch – Becky cheats and steals the title.
Jason – Lyra Valkyria – Bayley costs Becks.
Patrick – Becky Lynch
Rey – Becky Lynch – Story needs to jump up a bit, Becky Charlotte’s Lyra.
Rob – Lyra Valkyria
Greg – Becky Lynch – It’s been fun, Lyra. (It kinda hasn’t)

Tunney’s Take: Lyra Valkyria – Bayley’s interference should set up some type of program with Becky as we head towards Summer(Slam).

Chairshot Pick – BECKY LYNCH 6-5

AJ – Jacob Fatu – Great way to put him over w/ two former WHCs and LA Knight.
Andrew – Jacob Fatu – He’s Jacob Fatu!
Dave – Jacob Fatu – Too soon to pull the belt off him.
DJ – Jacob Fatu – Priest and LA can’t decide who’s is bigger.
DPP – Jacob Fatu – Your hardcore match, tables and chairs involved.
Jason – Jacob Fatu – The Champ retains due to or in spite of Solo.
Patrick – Jacob Fatu
Rey – Jacob Fatu – All gas. No brakes. Ain’t losing.
Rob – Jacob Fatu
Greg – Jacob Fatu – Someone from The Samoan Dynasty ain’t winning a title just to drop it.

Tunney’s Take: Jacob Fatu – Uncle Mo is on Fatu’s side and other than Knight, I don’t see Drew or Priest holding the US title in the current circumstances of this title’s landscape.

Chairshot Pick – JACOB FATU 11-0

AJ – Dominic Mysterio – Judgement Day shenanigans just leading up to Finn turning on Dom later.
Andrew – Penta – Dom’s fine having a short reign, could also work for pushing AAA.
Dave – Dominic Mysterio – He’s probably more over than Penta.
DJ – Dominic Mysterio – Dirty Dom takes home the gold and the girl.
DPP – Dominic Mysterio – Big Head helps Dom pull out the win.
Jason – Dominic Mysterio – By hook and crook.
Patrick – Dominic Mysterio
Rey – Dominic Mysterio – Latino Heat keeps burning. Finn gets closer to the edge.
Rob – Dominic Mysterio
Greg – Dominic Mysterio – Someone from The Guerrero Dynasty ain’t winning a title just to drop it.

Tunney’s Take: Dominic Mysterio – That belt looks good with the king of chicken tendys. I can see Penta and Rey reforming as a tag team sooner than later.

Chairshot Pick – DOMINIC MYSTERIO 10-1

AJ – John Cena – Why? Cena wins, lol.
Andrew – John Cena – Shenanigans ensue so it’s not a clean win.
Dave – John Cena – The last time is now.
DJ – John Cena – Randy hears voices telling him he needs an Attitude Adjustment.
DPP – John Cena – Cena tries to cheat but the ref doesn’t call for a DQ.
Jason – John Cena – Nefarious means, Randy not ready for Evil John Cena.
Patrick – John Cena
Rey – John Cena – Cena just counting down the dates. Should be fun though.
Rob – John Cena
Greg – John Cena – You know they want Cody to be the hero in the end.

Tunney’s Take: Randy Orton – Once upon a time Randy got himself intentionally disqualified and it cost John. Saturday, history repeats itself with a 180-degree twist. Cena retains via Orton DQ victory. This time, Travis Scott’s appearance takes care of that task.

Chairshot Pick – JOHN CENA 10-1