7 Things Monday Night Raw Must Do To Increase Television  Ratings

Monday night Raw has suffered a historic drop in ratings recently and while some think the dip has to do with The Shield being the focal point of the red brand, its actually a little bit more complicated than that. In fact, the ratings for The September 24th episode of Raw, which was the brand's lowest showing in years, had a lot of competition to deal with.

Unfortunately for Raw, it comes on the same night as Monday night football, The Big Bang Theory, which is in its final season and countless other shows that take the attention away from WWE. Of course all hope isn't lost however, as WWE could quickly rebound if they are willing to put the right storylines and feuds in front of fans.

With that being said, what does WWE need to do in order to bring fans back to Raw and make the red brand great again?

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#7 Give Ronda Rousey a quality opponent

Ronda Rousey with the RAW Women's Championship on her shoulder

Ronda Rousey has been in WWE for less than a year now, but she has already accomplished a lot in that short time as well. The only problem with that is she is mowing through opponents at a pretty rapid pace, which is only going to give her and WWE less options going forward.

What WWE needs to do here is start bringing in quality opponents, whether from previous eras or from NXT, and give Rousey something new to work with. For example, WWE could even call up Shayna Bazsler to the main roster and have her face off against her real life friend for The Women's title

In the end, at least this way, WWE would be creating something new and finally giving Rousey the quality opponent she deserves. The WWE could also go back to the match with Nia Jax, if they really want a realistic opponent, but they would probably be much better off to continue to try and find new blood instead.

#6 Introduce The Women tag team titles

Let's be honest. Sasha Banks and Bayley need a run with the women's tag team titles.

WWE has already teased doing this countless times and while it would be pretty cool to see on the blue brand, it would absolutely change the landscape of the three hour show known as Monday Night Raw. Not only is that evident by another belt being thrown into the mix, but also by all the interesting tag team options the red brand hands.

Think about it! Bayley and Sasha Banks, Ember Moon and Nia Jax, Ronda Rousey and Natayla and even Alexa Bliss and Alicia Fox would be fun to watch mixing it up for this belt. Furthermore, it would be a great way to take away from the filler that Monday Night Raw has become known for over the past couple of months.

#5 Bring back John Cena

WWE absolutely needs John Cena right now to boost ratings.

WWE needs to make Monday Night Raw great again. Of course the best way to do that would be to bring back John Cena in some capacity, but one has to wonder why they haven't done that already. Maybe its due to how confident WWE was in The Shield and their success as a team again, but maybe Raw needs some extra star power to push forward.

Not only that, a lot of younger fans are probably becoming disinterested in Raw due to Cena not being there anymore, which would be a great reason to bring him back. At least that way, WWE can bring him back every once in a while for younger fans and can than hopefully entice the audience into watching the full show.

#4 Do something with Finn Balor

WWE needs to make Finn Balor great again!

Believe it or not, FInn Balor is an crucial part of The Monday Night Raw experience. In fact, his entrance is one of the most interactive on the Raw brand and his fan following is indicative of WWE needing to do more with him. Unfortunately for Balor, WWE doesn't exactly feel the same way and keeps giving him next to nothing to do.

With that being said, WWE needs to do something big with Balor down the line to put these major problems to rest. WWE already made fans angry by pushing Balor out of the title picture so quick the night after Summerslam, but could quickly put together some momentum if they do something of note with him.

Whether that is putting him in the tag team division, giving him a love interest, making him the next Raw general manager or having him replace Dean Ambrose in the Shield remains to be seen, but WWE needs to do something. Either that, or risk more fans leaving due to WWE choosing to do next to nothing with Balor.

#3 Keep Brock Lesnar away

Does WWE really even need Brock Lesnar anymore?

How does keeping your biggest box office attraction off television help ratings? While this usually wouldn't be the case, Brock Lesnar has gone as far as he's going to go as a heel character and really needs some time off television to make things feel fresh. Unfortunately for The WWE Universe, the company doesn't feel that way and keep bringing him back.

The problem with this is that it takes away from other stars that could be filling that role in the title picture right now and also takes a character that WWE is tired of seeing and keeping him on television. If nothing else, WWE would absolutely benefit from keeping Lesnar as far away from Raw as possible, even if it means putting him on Smackdown Live for awhile.

In the end, fans don't want to see Lesnar go on another run with The Universal title and they probably don't want to see the possibility to be teased either. Of course bringing Lesnar back does give WWE a chance to have Strowman lose without looking weak in defeat at Crown jewel, but its not worth seeing Lesnar again to have that happen.

#2 Create a power struggle between Kurt Angle and Baron Corbin

Kurt Angle versus Baron Corbin. Who wins?

WWE is already doing a decent enough job of this with their ongoing bad blood between Baron Corbin and Kurt Angle, but they haven't really capitalized on it as fast as they probably should. Sure, Angle was removed from television and Corbin was given the role of General manager, but the two superstars need to collide soon in order for anyone to care.

With that being said, watching Corbin take advantage of his role on Raw is fun, but it hasn't gone anywhere. Furthermore, WWE made sure to show that Stephanie McMahon wasn't happy with how Corbin used his role as GM to get a Universal title shot, which seems confusing with her being a heel character.

If nothing else, WWE needs to speed this up a bit and get a little more concrete with their storytelling. That's not to say that Corbin versus Angle isn't a great feud that fans want to see play out, but they really need to increase the incentive to do so and they really haven't succeeded in doing that as of yet.

#1 Break up The Shield

How much longer will The Shield last in WWE?

Blasphemy right? While it might appear so, especially with how happy some fans are that The Shield is finally back,, there are others that see the reunion as just a way to help Roman Reigns get over. Of course WWE is making a pretty penny on merchandise in the mean time as well, but the main focus is still on Reigns

With that being said, The WWE Universe is still not into The Roman Reigns experiment and no amount of Shield matches or beat downs are going to make things better. If nothing else, WWE is doing the right thing by teasing The Shield's breakup soon and should move it along as quickly as possible in order to rid the title scene of Roman Reigns.

In the end, maybe Dean Ambrose turning heel on The Shield is what WWE needs right now. At least then WWE can has an intriguing story to tell. Not only that, they would also have a plethora of new options for the title picture, including Ambrose versus Reigns or even a triple threat match between the three Shield members to settle things for good.