>>14318915The only thing for sure about the business of this angle is it has not moved ratings. The first week after the angle was 7/4, which did the lowest Raw rating in 14 years, but that was more due to the holiday. But even figuring in the percentage of people who were out and not watching TV, Raw did equivalent to its lowest number of the year, below the level of the previous week. Getting a lot of talk doesn’t equal ratings, or else the Denver debacle and David Arquette as world champion would have meant ratings and the opposite happened.
On 7/11, Punk returned, and the show did a 2.91 rating, the lowest non-holiday number in months. There was a lot of competition as Raw was only No. 8 on cable for the night, behind Pawn Stars (7.58 million viewers), The Closer (7.23 million), Major League special (6.78 million), American Restoration (6.74 million), Home Run Derby on ESPN (6.55 million), Rizzoli & Isles (6.38 million) and American Pickers (6.31 million). Home Run Derby has historically hurt Raw, but last year’s show against it did a 3.3. Home Run Derby did an identical rating last year. (both years did 4.6 ratings).
The question becomes if this angle is only appealing to a small percentage of the audience and won’t do business. For all the talk Punk has generated, this is not like the Nexus angle last year which saw ratings increase right away.
