Report: CM Punk in danger of losing WWE title due to poor ratings

[Dash]

F4WOnline.com is reporting that WWE officials have been giving serious consideration to the idea of pulling the WWE Title from CM Punk due to what are being called "terrible ratings patterns" for his segments on Raw.

 

According to the report, the idea of pulling the title from Punk was discussed prior to the TLC PPV, however the decision was ultimately made to have him go over in his Triple Threat bout against The Miz and Alberto Del Rio.

 

It didn't help matters that Punk's Raw ratings continued to decline the night after the PPV, when his main event segment featuing a 6 man tag match between him, Zack Ryder & Daniel Bryan vs The Miz, Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler only gained 59,000 viewers for the show's over run.

 

The Wrestling Observer report noted that the main event segment of Raw only drew a 2.67 cable rating, which is by far the lowest rated Raw main event of 2011 and possibly the lowest Raw main event rating since 1997 for a non-holiday show.

 

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/247049-report-cm-punk-in-danger-of-losing-title-due-to-poor-ratings

 

Terrible if this is true, Punk has been solid. Its not his fault the booking has been garbage lately, WWE can't honestly think that ratings will go back up with Miz or Del Rio as champion.

 

This is transitional period, ratings are supposed to be down.

[fish7718]

Book better matches and more people will watch, simple as that..

[Dash]

Pair Punk up with a CREDIBLE heel and ratings might actually go up just like they did during Punk's fued with Cena. Granted Cena was supposed to be the face but might as well have been the heel with the majority of crowd behind Punk. What I don't get is why Del Rio is even in the main event picture now, they should have gotten the hint that nobody cares about him.

 

Jericho needs to come back already.

[Lkr]

who wants to watch a six-man tag....

[fish7718]

Ziggler needs a WWE title push...

[Dash]

Ziggler isn't ready for a title push yet but I wouldn't mind seeing him and Punk duke out a few more matches on Raw. Honestly though there are ONLY 4 credible heels in the WWE:

 

John Cena

Triple H

Wade Barrett (anyone who watched the Nexus stable at its height know Wade can help carry a show as a top heel)

Chris Jericho

 

Two are faces Vince refuses to turn, one is in Smackdown and was buried for no reason but he is slowly coming back with his fued with Orton, and last still hasn't officially signed.

[fish7718]

I think Cody Rhodes is a good heel, I think Jericho is going to be the main heel to fued with CM Punk for Wrestlemania tho, great fued, epic match.

[Real Deal]

This is the result of Vince turning John Cena into a mega hero, and wrestling into a children's show. Without Cena holding the belt and involved in every main event, Raw will see declining numbers because most of the crowd is too young to care about any other wrestler. Guys like Punk, Rhodes and Ziggler will never be able to rebound from something like that, unless something devastating happens (ex. Raw going back to RAW, Cena turning heel and guys like us loving it).

[fish7718]

WWE should be leaving the PG era and entering a new era soon...

[Lkr]

Jericho has no plans of coming back according to his twitter. Tag matches are just boring though, its the same formula every week. Someone gets dominated very boring for 5 minutes, then they make the tag and you get a fast pin

[fish7718]

Jericho has no plans of coming back according to his twitter. Tag matches are just boring though, its the same formula every week. Someone gets dominated very boring for 5 minutes, then they make the tag and you get a fast pin

That's how it's been forever lol, Jericho is downplaying it of course, but everyone knows it's him, worst kept secret...

[Dash]

I think Cody Rhodes is a good heel, I think Jericho is going to be the main heel to fued with CM Punk for Wrestlemania tho, great fued, epic match.

 

Rhodes is decent but he's not an established main event heel yet.

 

This is the result of Vince turning John Cena into a mega hero, and wrestling into a children's show. Without Cena holding the belt and involved in every main event, Raw will see declining numbers because most of the crowd is too young to care about any other wrestler. Guys like Punk, Rhodes and Ziggler will never be able to rebound from something like that, unless something devastating happens (ex. Raw going back to RAW, Cena turning heel and guys like us loving it).

 

Most of the WWE fanbase are actually adult males (which is why I never got why they target kids) but kids do make a big part of it, which is why ratings will always plummet when a face besides Cena holds the title.

 

Agreed with the rest of your post.

 

WWE should be leaving the PG era and entering a new era soon...

 

Maybe but only If they keep going forward with this potential new era we could have with Punk, etc.

[Dash]

WWE has two choices here:

 

1. They put the title back on Cena, get their mediocre rating back and in 2-3 years later find out they are [expletive]ED with no one to take Cena's place.

 

or

 

2. They take a chance and keep the title on Punk, feud him with a credible heel like Jericho (if he signs) until Wrestlemania, continue to develop their new and younger talent into established main eventers. Ratings will probably suck but maybe in about a year when the transition from the PG era to whatever we're going to get era is complete, and Punk is established as the top face with Cena/Barrett as top heels along with oodles of new main eventers, finally will things begin to look up.

[Lkr]

Is CM Punk a face right now? If so, just turn him heel. He seemed to have the most fans as a heel. I know WWE doesn't like having popular heels for whatever reason, but that is what has historically driven their business...