What’s the story?
Jinder Mahal became the 50th man to hold the WWE Championship after defeating Randy Orton at Backlash this past Sunday. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter claims that Mahal’s push may have prevented the company from selling out the arena.
In case you didn’t know...
Backlash took place at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois this past Sunday and was headlined by the main event between Orton and Mahal for the WWE Championship. Mahal became the number one contender back in April when he won a six-pack challenge on SmackDown.
Mahal’s rise to the top was considered controversial by many fans who felt he had spent too much time losing to justify winning a major title so soon. Despite objection from the fans, the WWE’s desire to tap into the Indian market was rumoured to be the reason for Mahal’s latest push.
The heart of the matter
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer attributed the recent decline in SmackDown’s ratings to Mahal’s push, which began on April 18, 2017. The decline in viewership from the Superstar Shake-up edition of SmackDown and the show where Mahal becomes the contender for the WWE Championship equalled a loss of over 500,000 viewers.
Since that show, the viewership has decreased even further with SmackDown hitting a record low of 2.175 million this past week. Meltzer also went on to say that the WWE probably sold a lot of high-value tickets to make good money for the gate, but the building was not sold out for this pay-per-view.
The Allstate Arena approximately seats 18,000 people, but the numbers reported by eWrestling News claim that the attendance was only around 10,000. Meltzer claims that ticket sales stalled when the matches were announced; the first of which was Mahal vs. Orton.
What’s next?
Whether Mahal’s push is responsible for the severe decline in viewership and ratings can only be determined as his championship reign plays out on TV. Look out for ratings and viewership updates to see what effect Mahal’s push has on the show.
Author’s take
Mahal’s push isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the way the company went about it may have turned fans off. Many fans are currently debating whether this push represents something new or if it’s just a sudden change and that will factor into SmackDown’s viewership going forward.
SmackDown’s viewership has been decreasing ever since the episode after the Superstar Shakeup and this latest development will either help or harm the Blue Brand going forward.
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