Jim Ross Shares His Thoughts On Why WWE Ratings Are Down
On the December 14th episode of Monday Night RAW, WWE garnered a new record low audience for the show. RAW drew an average of 1.527 million viewers that night, which was down 12% from the week before.
During the Grilling JR Podcast, Jim Ross gave his thoughts about what WWE's issues are with their product and why the ratings have been down. Ross noted one issue that the company has with their television product.
"They don't have anybody hot," Ross said. "They have nobody that has momentum. Nobody is on the proverbial role. You can't start, stop, 50-50 booking, I'll beat you with a small package and then you beat me up; how do you get any [momentum]? 'He did the job so I have to give him something back,' what? Bulls–t. Not tonight, not now, it makes no sense."
"That's 50-50 booking. You can't have it both ways. Do you want the people to be happy or sad? Do you want them angry or do you want them laughing? 'Well I want them both,' well then, you're an idiot! You can't have that."
Ross also talked about Ric Flair during the podcast and infamous stories about him showing off his penis to members of the company. He said Flair loved to mess around and the way he'd do it sometimes is by dropping his pants.
"He only revealed himself when he was erect," Ross said. "Arn Anderson called it a hockey stick. That was Naitch. His spirit was undeniable. He was back to having fun again. He probably had several drinks and he was just having fun."
Ross continued to talk about Flair and stories he's heard over the years about him showing the other wrestlers his body. He said Flair enjoyed having fun with the guys and would always take everything to the next level.
"They're always embellished," Ross said. "If a high jinx happened on the 12th floor at midnight, by 12:15 they'd already been embellished in pro wrestling. They're already inaccurate. You always hear those stories, especially when he's in the room. Ric Flair with knee high socks, some sort of reptile shoes, his rope and then you had the new accessories, the mask and then bam he's going to show you the batman uniform.
"He just got a kick out of that. He was just having fun. I've seen his penis more than I deserve to admit. That was his calling card. It was all in the spirit of having fun with the boys. Naitch as he did everything, took it to the next level."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.