You have to give credit to WWE for trying. Creative isn’t just sitting back and taking the thumping that the BCS national championship game featuring #1 Florida State and #2 Auburn will give it in the ratings.
And yes, you can bet on it, FSU-Auburn is going to kick WWE’s ass in the ratings.
Look back at last year. The game between Alabama and Notre Dame drew 26.4 million viewers to ESPN and a 9.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic, while WWE’s Raw that night drew 4.65 million viewers and a 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demo.
Now, keep in mind that those numbers for Raw are actually above where the show has been lately. Just last week, for instance, Raw’s best hour, 9-10 p.m. EST, drew 3.96 million viewers, and it’s been a while since Raw had more viewers than it did last year up against the BCS title game.
Maybe the strategy is to take advantage of the additional TV sports viewers who will be tuning in Monday night for football with hopes that FSU-Auburn will turn out like last year’s ‘Bama-Notre Dame, an early blowout that sent viewers scurrying for something interesting to watch in place of the dud of a championship game.
FSU-Auburn doesn’t seem headed in the same direction as last year’s title game. Auburn, the ultimate comeback kids, has made a habit of keeping games interesting until the final horn sounds. That would come sometime after Old School Raw has already gone off the air.
This Raw may be something that a lot of wrestling fans end up DVR’g and watching later in the week. That’s a credit to WWE creative, because they’re making it hard on us to just ignore this one and catch up next week.
Column by Chris Graham
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