A new editorial at Forbes has taken a look at the dwindling ratings of wrestling on cable and suggests that this could pressure WWE into building up the WWE Network as a way to ensure that they still have a place for programming. You can check out the full column at the link, which looks at how Raw and SmackDown brought in lower ratings over the summer and looks at TNA’s trevails over the last couple of years.
An except of the article is below:
TNA Wrestling, the closest thing to “competition” that WWE has had since WCW, has had a disastrous stretch over the last couple of years. After losing its spot on Spike TV, TNA moved to Destination America earlier this year, and there are already all sorts of indications that Destination America will drop TNA soon, too.
Could the WWE suffer a similar fate? If officials at the USA Network truly believe that pro wrestling’s popularity is “cycling downward,” then the answer is a resounding “yes.”
Tough Enough couldn’t even draw a million viewers for some episodes, and it likely won’t be back—at least not on TV—as a result. After a strong start, Total Divas on E! has struggled in the ratings department in recent seasons as well, and of course, Raw and SmackDown don’t seem to have any shot of turning things around until perhaps when SmackDown moves to the USA Network in 2016.
But unlike TNA, the WWE has something to fall back on. It’s the aforementioned WWE Network.
