Some diehard fans, in particular those who cannot stand Reigns, won't like to hear this, but WWE did not make the smart choice at WrestleMania 34. It was time for "The Beast" to drop the Universal Championship, and Reigns was the right man for the job.
Let's start with Lesnar, who held the Universal title for more than a year because he's considered to be WWE's biggest draw but during his title reign had done little to prove that's actually the case. According to WWE's Key Performance Indicators, Raw's TV ratings increased exactly 0% by the end of 2017, at which point Lesnar had held the title for nearly nine months. Likewise, the average WWE Network subscriber count dropped by more than 200,000 from Q2 (when Lesnar won the title) to Q4, while average live event attendance was at 4,900 in Q3, the lowest during any quarter over the last three years.
It seems that the supposed drawing power of Lesnar vanished into thin air in 2017 and that his on-and-off presence was, well, a major turnoff to fans, who didn't seem to be very interested in the happenings surrounding "The Beast." Yet, WWE inexplicably pushed Lesnar above anyone and everyone on Raw, having him mow through top stars like Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman in the process, which stifled their abilities to truly reach the pinnacle of WWE.
Let's start with Lesnar, who held the Universal title for more than a year because he's considered to be WWE's biggest draw but during his title reign had done little to prove that's actually the case. According to WWE's Key Performance Indicators, Raw's TV ratings increased exactly 0% by the end of 2017, at which point Lesnar had held the title for nearly nine months. Likewise, the average WWE Network subscriber count dropped by more than 200,000 from Q2 (when Lesnar won the title) to Q4, while average live event attendance was at 4,900 in Q3, the lowest during any quarter over the last three years.
