----Jerry Lawler continues his streak of losing viewers and the show does a horrible holiday number of 2.8 [45,777 viewers] overall. I try not to bring up any other show numbers, because I believe that wrestling is a niche program, so wrestling fans watch wrestling. But, with it being the holiday and one of the biggest football games of the year on TV, I would believe that the ratings were affected because of it. ----The show actually started strong at a 3.5 [57,595 viewers] with the Derrick King vs Foley bout and ended in the middle of the 10-Man tag. 10,986 viewers turned off the show after the first quarter and the next two quarters both scored a 2.8 [46,609 viewers] as the viewers watched for 30 minutes. Those two quarters featured the finish of the 10-man tag, the horrible Jethro bout and “Opening the Vault” on Lawler. The 4th quarter scored a 1.9 [32,127 viewers] with the Lawler/White/Starr vs Flanagan/Flex/Grind dropping 14,482 viewers. The 6th week in a row that Lawler’s live match has lost viewers and they also lost a disturbing 25,468 viewers total turning off the show from start to finish.
----The show was not good this week and then combined with this horrible numbers probably does not set well with the Memphis crew. I believe the fans turned on the show and watch the first quarter and said, “I am tired of watching TV and they are not putting anything on I want to see..”, so they turned it off. Numbers do not lie and the Lawler streak continuing along with them just losing viewers overall is not good. I think the overall number will bounce back next week, but it will be interesting to see if Lawler continues his streak.
A closer look at the Lawler streak…..
*9.30. 06 –“The third quarter dropped to 4.2 [70,579 viewers] decreasing 13,317 viewers. That quarter had the finish of the “Opening the Vault” segment and ended with the Brown/White/Lawler vs Cowboys/Foley bout.”
*10.07.06 – “The final quarter lost 22,639 viewers dropping to a 4.4 rating [73,575 viewers], which included the Derrick King interview and King vs Lawler.”
----Lawler was gone from 10.14.06 to 10.28.06 - a total of three shows. The biggest drop of any of those shows was from the 10.14.06 show – “The 4th quarter dropped 4660 viewers with a 4.4 [73,076 viewers] rating. That last quarter featured the “Opening the Vault” segment and the tag team title match.[ “Too Cool 2” [Tim Grind/Flex] interview. $5,000 vs Southern Tag Team Titles: Kevin White/Brickhouse Brown vs Flex/Grind ended No Contest.]”
*11.04.06 – “In the final quarter, which started with the finish of the Ford interview and ended with the 6 man tag featuring Jerry Lawler [Lawler/White/Starr beat by DQ Grind/Flex/Flash] dropped a whopping 11,153 viewers to a 3.9 [64,919 viewers].”
*11.11.06 – “The final quarter then dropped to 3.7 [61,091 viewers] for the Flex/Grind/Flash vs Lawler/Dustin Starr/Kevin White bout. That quarter dropped a surprising 18,507 viewers…..”
*11.18.06 – “The last quarter scored a 3.5 [58,427 viewers] dropping 23,138 viewers for rest of the King vs Tatt2 bout and Lawler vs Flanagan.”
----103,236 viewers have turned off the show for the last 6 times that Lawler has stepped in the ring LIVE on TV. That is an average of 17,206 viewers turning off the show. The sad thing is that the matches and storylines that they have turned off have been good. They have tried to get over some of the younger guys, but if the numbers drop like this it does not help them. Those most affected by these numbers along with Lawler have been Flex, Tim Grind, Flash Flanagan, Dustin Starr and Kevin White. Lawler could say that the fans do not want to see these guys, but as noted when he was gone for three weeks none of the matches dropped that many viewers. I have also been saying to put Lawler in another quarter [which I was reminded is not the thing to do with your #1 star], but Lawler did wrestle in the 3rd quarter on 9.30.06 when this streak started.
----Jerry Lawler continues his streak of losing viewers and the show does a horrible holiday number of 2.8 [45,777 viewers] overall. I try not to bring up any other show numbers, because I believe that wrestling is a niche program, so wrestling fans watch wrestling. But, with it being the holiday and one of the biggest football games of the year on TV, I would believe that the ratings were affected because of it. 
