Before we answer the question, why don't we look at where WWE was just a few years ago? It was at it's peak during the attitude era, and it was steadily rising during the golden era. During the years of 1999 and 2001, WWE was achieving ratings of 7.0 + weekly. Now, that is something that is completely out of reach. At the moment, WWE's best ratings tend to be the occasional 4.0 for WWE's Raw.
So we must ask ourselves, "Why exactly were the ratings just so large back then?" Well, it's pretty simple. WWE was just simply more entertaining at the time. With big name such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, WWE was at the apex of it's existence. These two men are probably was allowed the WWE to get such a high rating. At the time, these two had some of the best microphone skills that anybody could have.
The Rock spoke without any fear of saying the wrong thing, and when he did say the wrong thing he kept going nevertheless. His character was just so flexible, that it could work both as a face or as a heel. As a face, The Rock would play with the crowd and even go on to call himself, "The People's Champ" in order to say that he represents the people and he is doing all of this for them. As a heel, The Rock would go on to insult face characters such as The Hurricane (which is something his face persona did, except he would step it up with the insults and insult some in the audience). Almost everybody that you would ask, would tell you that The Rock is simply better as a heel. He was outright entertaining. He was an asshole to the crowd, but about half of them loved being insulted. He always had a mixed reaction, and that's always good with WWE characters. In addition to that, The Rock showcased his seemingly infinite amounts of charisma to the crowd and just got them excited for whatever it was that was coming. Sure, The Rock may not be the greatest wrestler in the world (in terms of wrestling) but what separates him from the rest is that he was just so outgoing and got the crowd involved with his theatrics.
Stone Cold Steve Austin is also another name that comes to mind whenever you mention the attitude era. This man not only took the WWE by storm, but he eventually became the face of WWE. When you compare The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, the latter tends to get a better and positive reaction. The reason for this is because The Rock could have kept going with his WWE career but decided to ditch it and head on to movies. Stone Cold Steve Austin on the other hand, didn't quit because he wanted to make more money, he quit because he simply just couldn't continue. Every single match that he went through shortened his career (which should' have been over long ago) and when the time came to stop it all, he did just so while being true to the fans. S
tone Cold Steve Austin was a unique character that could be easily liked by the crowds. He was just a bad ass that did the things he wanted, and didn't give a damn about what anybody else though about him. He would beat the living hell out of the owner of the company, and even go on to drive a beer truck in the ring and spray not only the owner and his grunts, but his very own family as well. The man was highly entertaining and he just glued people to the television screen leaving them thinking about what extreme will he go to next.
The main problem that WWE wrestlers are facing right now is the fact that they just seem unable to get any sort of reaction from the crowd. Either the crowd doesn't find whatever it is they are doing entertaining or the whole, "wrestling-fad" has truly died out. However, if were to be declared, "dead" then why do we still get good ratings like 3.0's to 4.0's? Mind you, these ratings are very good and still can compete with the best. However, why are WWE still sticking around?
Who are some men that come to mind that existed during the attitude era that still continue to entertain us fans week by week? One would be The Undertaker, another would be Chris Jericho, another Triple H and finally, Shawn Micheals. Usually, these four are the ones that would come to mind. Let's take an example. On June 7, 2009, Triple H returned and the next week, ratings just soared through the rood as compared to the previous weeks which had been lackluster. Let's also take for example The Raw righr before Wrestlemania. That raw achieved a rating of 4.0 which is something the WWe is begging for at the time. Who can we thank for that high rating? Both Shawn Micheals and The Undertaker. People just couldn't anticipate such an epic bout between the two, so they tuned into RAW to figure out what will happen next. It's huge hyped up things like this that draw in fans.
At this moment, the main characters which receive a pretty hefty reaction are John Cena, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton and Edge. Edge is an exception to the following comment, but John Cena, Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton were all a blessing for WWE. Had it not been for them at the moment, who would we be tuning in to see? More Triple H? No. the fans have had their fun with him. It's good to occasionally use him and even put him in the center of the spotlight, but for the most part... the fans have seen everything that Triple H has to offer. Unless he changes his gimmick up, people won't pay to see him which is why I mentioned these four wrestlers.
Over the last few years, all four of these men have become huge in the company. Take John Cena for instance. The way that the WWE built him was absolutely perfect. He was a nobody trying to be a somebody, and he took a chance by facing off against Kurt Angle in his debut match. He may not have won, but during the match with Kurt Angle's egotistical comments, the crowd just ached for him to lose to this nobody. When the nobody lost, the crowd cheered him and applauded him for the honest effort. Next match, bang! He was placed in a match which included not only Kurt Angle , but The Undertaker. Nowadays, new guys tend to be put up against "jobbers" which don't exactly give any of the new names any credibility. A good example of this would be Vladimir Kozlov. It was only up until he defeated The Undertaker in a one on one match that people started to think to themselves, "Maybe this guy IS dangerous!". Of course knowing WWE, they ruined it when they had him lose to Undertaker. Not only that, but after that match, he lost four consecutive matches ultimately losing any credibility he had gained. Jeff Hardy has always been popular with the fans, mostly the female demographic. It's good to have somebody like him around, and centralizing storylines around him is a good deal. However, having him do the same ordeals week after week is getting both him and the WWE nowhere. Jeff Hardy needs to mix it up a bit, and change things up. WWE is staring at a gold mine and they are doing nothing with it. They can easily have Jeff Hardy go to talk shows and what not to gain popularity but all they do is put him in highly predictable storylines that get the company absolutely nowhere. Randy Orton is something which the WWE have been getting right suddenly. Having this man kick the owner's head, his family and others is just something reminiscent of the attitude era. It's people like Randy Orton that the WWE needs to continue to make. It's things like these that stir up controversy and lure in people to watch the product.
Ever since WWE became kid-friendly, they have been pretty limited as a whole. Even having the whole Randy Orton and Vince storyline was a bit risky considering how the majority of the viewers at the time are children. Because of this, WWE now needs to utilize wrestlers such as John Cena, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton and even Edge in order to bring in the ratings. These four men are the ones which are essentially carrying the WWe company on their backs. Maybe having a John Cena and Jeff Hardy storyline can bring up merchandise sales. Not only that, but it would essentially separate the whole fan base into two separate fan bases. What results of this? Controversy and more merchandise sales which is what WWE needs.
In conclusion, the WWE has just fell off a very steep mountain. By looking at last year's ratings and this year's ratings, we can safely say that they are starting to pick up the pace. They will never get ratings like they used to, but they can try to make something out of their big four wrestlers to get the ratings up. Once all four of these men are gone, the WWE will be nothing but considering how young all of these men are, they can safely hold on to these four for at least another five years. Before that time is up, they need to plan and make sure they know who will carry the company in five years. At the moment, it seems like John Morrison is somebody who will be one of the newly selected few. Which brings me to my final point, John Morrison is exactly what WWE needs. He plays both the heel and face role well and with the proper tuning up and what not, he can make an adequate WWE and maybe bring in some ratings. The WWE has reached a plateau. They cannot go more than .5 in the ratings less, the only way they can go is nowhere at all or up.