Cup of coffee in the big time: Writing three hours of TV every week is f’n hard

Raw’s ratings are spiraling. They’re spiraling so bad, in fact, WWE television acknowledged it via Seth Rollins’ promo to start Monday’s episode.

Ironically, after Rollins’ wink and nod “we know we’ve been screwing up” promo, Monday’s ratings declined hour-over-hour, resulting in a new record low rating.

Via Wrestling Observer:

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.35 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.19 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.05 million viewers

Not even the promise of a very rare TLC match on TV kept viewers around for the final hour.

Indie wrestler and former member of the WWE writing team Jimmy Jacobs had a bit to say about why the show has been so bad lately. In a blunt tweet, Jacobs simply said it’s “fuckin’ hard” to write a three-hour wrestling show very week.

Fans like me have long wanted to eliminate the third hour of Raw. The show is tough to get through many times and SmackDown shows the value of a more compact approach.

So, why not go back to the old days of two-hour Raws? Jacobs had an answer for that too.

The reality is, it is hard to write three hours of TV every week. But the writing team can’t be let off the hook for writing bad segments or utilizing talent poorly.

And with Rollins’ promo, it’s like they’re yelling at themselves without doing enough to change. But as said yesterday, maybe they can build on those baby steps from this week.

• SmackDown Live’s recap and reactions can be found here. It was really hard to not write about that awesome women’s match but I’m saving that for tomorrow.
• Video highlights for the show are also available.
• Naomi was supposed to wrestle Mandy Rose, but that match didn’t happen. And Naomi isn’t thrilled about that.
• Ruby Riott vs. Natalya has been a little bit nasty, but could use some more hate.
• ROH wants to get into the four-hour PPV game.
• The Elite keep dropping hints about their future.
• Colt Cabana is still trying to sue CM Punk because adult friendships are hard.

It’s only Wednesday?